Fender American Professional II Jazzmaster - 3-color Sunburst with Rosewood Fingerboard Reviews

It makes me want to play till my fingers get numb.

I had been looking at these for a long time and then Fender brought out the '66 vintage model and I went back and forth between the two. Price wasn't a whole lot different and at the end I guess it was the fret board radius of the American Pro II that made the difference. I'm surprised how comfortable it feels and very well balanced on the strap. Sounds are sweet and the push push switch does thicken up the bridge nicely. Many thanks to my sales engineer Chris Shura for a great experience. Only issue was shipping with FedEx! 3 days of out for delivery and having someone waiting at my house to sign for it.

I'm an old Jazzmaster player and used the Jazzmaster as go to weapon of choice in the early 70's touring and recording days of the with Duke and the Drivers
Almost no one was using Jazzmasters at that time and they were subsequently discontinued.
Their string length, and biting tone were just different and I was hooked on them.
There were two things back then about the Jazzmaster, first, I never saw anyone play jazz with one. Second, the so-called rhythm setting, which was accessed by flipping a button on top of the neck pick up, was used by no one I've ever heard of. In fact, players used to take the tip of a pencil eraser and shove it in the slot so that switch so it would never be engaged by accident. If you went to the top level of controls, the sound of the guitar fell out completely, and became super mid range sounding, with very little to zero clarity. The tremolo bar was limited to say the least.
When the Jazzmaster returned after a few years of hiatus, it was pretty much the same in terms of controls and tremolo.
Not so with the professional 2 Jazzmaster
Fender has wisely decided to upgrade these initial flaws, vastly improving the sonic range and playability!
When you switch up to the back up "rhythm controls" it's a whole new sound, present, and even a bit gritty, I can't believe I'm using that circuit for leads occasionally now! They have also added a push button switch on the tone knob, which allows old Jazzmaster/newer sound to be easily accessed
The tremolo has been vastly improved providing much more range, and increased ease of use
The Jazzmaster has always been a beautiful instrument, solid and very playable, those attributes have remained and the new thoughtful flexibility of sound are a quantum Leap forward. I'm just loving this Axe!!

I bought the 2021 Am Pro II JM after lots of online research. Yup, I purchased via Sweetwater. At first I thought the deep C neck was a little too thick. Also thought the jumbo frets were a bit wide. But, I had a local luthier set things up. Side note: there's a famous guitar maker in Sonoma County California who sells $20k guitars who did the set up. I can't afford his stuff. But, I can afford his set up. Lol. Anyways, back to the JM review. After set up, the JM plays absolutely amazing. Got used to the neck really fast. That jangly JM Fender tone is 100%! The neck is fast and great for lead or rhythm. I play fusion types: blues, jazz, punk, original stuff, etc. The JM pairs tip top with amps, Vox or Fender twin. I would highly recommend this JM to a friend. Only neg is it's a bit heavy. Otherwise, total keeper.

This is my second Jazzmaster and a dream guitar for me. First off, the V-mod pickups sound fantastic (to me both more articulate and quieter than the True Vintage 65's in my other JM), and the rhythm circuit delivers an epic warm jazz tone. The middle position on the lead circuit is just sublime. The tremolo is amazing and can warble the strings forever and the guitar stays in tune for days. Seriously, I cant get over how great the new Fender Panorama tremolo is. The sunburst is classic and frets are so comfortable. Only nit-pick is that there are some minor tooling marks on the rosewood at the 10th fret at the high E. Nothing that affects playability and given the otherwise impeccable finish, I really can't complain. Thanks to Sweetwater and to Khaleed Matmati for fantastic customer service. If you want the Jazzmaster sound with contemporary playability this is your guitar.

I recently purchased the AmProII as my first Jazzmaster. The build quality is superb and the neck feels so smooth to play. As far as getting the "classic jazzmaster sound" this model sits well in between both modern and vintage feels. It gets the job done for what I need and I usually leave the push knob in the up position. If you do want the more "vintage sound" and are considering swapping the pickups just note the wiring is more complex and will require more involvement than just popping in the new pickups. I love this guitar and have no plans to change anything.. but if you are a purist that is something to consider!

Hello,

When I ordered this guitar I had to wait a long time to have it in my hands, but this was not the fault of Sweetwater. The wait was due to a retailer having a monopoly on Fender products in my country which barred any Fender products not coming through them.

All in all, I had to wait about 5 months for the guitar, since paying for it to be shipped through delivery companies proved to be too expensive. I had to wait for my brother in the United Stated to bring it with him when he moved back.

I have to say it was worth the wait. The guitar sounds exactly how I expected it to sound: earthy, yet gorgeous. Very nice mix of high and low frequencies coming from both the rhythm circuit and the regular tone and volume knobs. It synergizes with my pedalboard running through my Vox AC-30 incredibly well.

In conclusion, I'm very happy with this guitar. The only flaw I have found after hours of playing is that the G string pops out of the nut when I bend the second fret (and occasionally the first fret as well). I'm used to bone nuts which secure the strings really well, but this Jazzmaster's nut seems more plastic than bone. Other than that, the guitar is in great shape. The finish is beautifully done. Electronics and switches are of high-quality and perfectly do what they were intended to do. The guitar is great for fuzz and effect-driven styles. surprisingly, you can even shred comfortably since the neck feels great. The Fretboard is smooth and buttery. I think it's obvious to myself and others that at this point I'm quite satisfied with my purchase.

I've been playing since 1964 and recorded my first vinyl in 1968 on a borrowed '59 Jazzmaster and finally got my Pro II. The finish is gorgeous and it sounds great! I can roll the volume knob back without losing highs which is superb. My nitpicks are this: First, the plastic tip fell off the trem lever. I noticed that the lever has threads on it but the plastic tip does not. Easy enough to fix with some tape or glue but a guy shouldn't have to deal with this on a $1700+ guitar. Secondly the trem lever was loose and falls away when released. I had to remove the trem assembly and tighten the locking screw twice before getting it to my liking. These two issues were overlooked by both Fender's quality control as well as Sweetwaters multi-point inspection person, hence my 4 star rating. At this time I'm still waiting to hear from customer support. Other than that, I love the guitar and have no intention of parting with it.

I will start off by saying the ship time on this guitar was extremely fast and packaged very well. Upon opening the case I was introduced to a beautiful Jazzmaster that I could not wait to get my hands on. Overall playability was pretty decent out of the box with the action slightly higher than my personal taste. The guitar did sound very full and resonate acoustically though. This is where I ran into one of two issues I have with the guitar. Once I realized I wanted to adjust the action and neck angle to my liking I very soon noticed a glaring issue. The set screw to adjust the neck angle for the micro tilt feature was not in the guitar. I took the neck off, shined a light through, checked the case...not there. Just seems that it was never put in at the factory. Second issue I found with the guitar is that it has a high fifteenth fret closer to the bottom of the high e treble side. This has been confirmed with a fret rocker up and down the neck. Easy fix, but something you don't really want to do to a brand new guitar. As always Sweetwater was quick to address issues via email and they will send the missing set screw and even offered to swap out for a new guitar if needed. Did not see a reason for that but appreciate the offer and care. At the end of the day this is a wonderfully splendid guitar that fills me with inspiration and will see me through the years.

I write this as I wait on hold for Sweetwater support. This is a very cool guitar. It actually sounds more like a Strat than some Strats I've have. BUT...!!! The pickups are very noisy. If you're playing a venue with the slightest interference, you'll hear it loud and clear. The deal breaker for me is the fact that it won't stay in tune. That's even without using them tremolo. The term lock does almost nothing. The guitar also broke two strings in two days. And that was with normal playing. I feel that Fender could and should have done a better job in the quality department. Specially at this price. I'm still deciding whether to send it back. We'll see how my conversation with the guitar support folks goes.