AMERICAN ACOUSTASONIC JAZZMASTER

TESTED BY JIMMY LESLIE

IS IT AN ACOUSTIC or an electric? Neither? Both? How about all of the above! The third iteration of Fender’s Acoustasonic moves the series forward with fresh sounds, features and colors on the Jazzmaster’s offset body shape while providing the hybrid platform and easy-playing electric neck profile of its predecessors, the Acoustasonic Telecaster and Stratocaster. The Jazzmaster form wears the Acoustasonic aesthetic particularly well, but there’s more to this story than a beautiful new body. Each incarnation of the Acoustasonic offers opportunities to fuel the Fishman-designed Acoustic Engine, which digitally interacts with the body’s unique properties to create a novel tonal palette. Being the largest Acoustasonic so far, the Jazzmaster naturally offers a bit more.

For the uninitiated, each Acoustasonic model features three pickups —a piezo under saddle, an enhancing body sensor and a model-specific magnetic in the bridge position — all on a bolt-on chambered body featuring an innovative ported chamber dubbed the Stringed Instrument Resonance System. The articulate analog tone is like a cross between a resonator, a banjo, a flattop and a naked electric guitar. A five-way voice selector and blend knob with A (counter-clockwise) and B sides offers 10 distinct voice pairs, plus myriad blending opportunities.