Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Acoustasonic JM


This was basically in all my guitar-related news feeds yesterday - Fender's new Acoustasonic in Jazzmaster form. The fact that the Acoustasonic is now offered in a third iteration implies a certain degree of popularity which is making the manufacturer happy $$$. In any case, the JM version is the first to offer a humbucker & it's a Tim Shaw product so it adds significance to tone belief. It is also equipped with an internal body sensor pickup that captures all your taps & knocks on the body making it a good percussive segue in addition to being a normal guitar. The irony here is that, players prefer to hear the hollow resonance of the acoustic body when it is given this treatment compared to this not-so-solid / not-so-hollow design.


I noted the missed opportunity for the Acoustasonic to truly fly the Jazzmaster flag as that headstock design (L) is quite off the mark compared to the traditional Jazzmaster outilne (R). In fact, that headstock is more Strat-ish & we note the iteration before the Jazzmaster was the Stratocaster version.

I am still not interested in any of the Acoustasonic models not that it isn't a genius hybrid combining the best of both acoustic & solid body voicings but to begin with, the price is excessive. The instrument is also a niche appeal, you would not ditch every acoustic & solid body instruments you own just to embrace this hybrid design. I'm leaving you with this clip of Ola's off tangent belief of what the Acoustasonic JM should be. Have a good midweek, everyone.


Pics: Fender International

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