Fender Artist Troy Van Leeuween Jazzmaster Copper Age

PedalMaster

Troy is the ambiant guy in a pretty well know act Queens of the Clone Age. 3 guitars at times (he switches to the synth at times). Humbuckers blasting need a counter point the Jazz here is just that! This classic version with the rounded 7 and the low frets here is going to feel a little odd at first. Really there is a leaning curve here whether you have been a single coil or Humbucker player. Chances are tall gets and a flatter fretboard. The idea that you will fret out bending up the neck seems to be the argument against this profile. I have big hands and I bend in the wake of jimi hendrix and I don't fret out. Now the original bridge for these had to go. Troy swamped out for the Mastery bridge and oddly on this really perfect MIM it subs the Jag. You may not need it but I would upgrade to the Mastery. The curve needs your set up to be perfect and the Mastery gets your intonation spot on. The original you could bend the string off its groove which got you out of tune. But Jazz guys used to use fat strings and didn't bend. The vibrato unit for there's stays in the better than a strat but what you notice is it acts like a resonator. Unplugged these are as loud as a hollow body. I don't hear this mentioned much but it may be the hidden in plain sight secret of why this is a frame shifting guitar. You will use the entire length of you Skinny E string and you get a hard tail sustain with this odd cavity in that tail. The pickups look like P90's but in fact they are these thin wide design that makes them bright and not naturally prone to breakup. Of course you have that switch that Troy mostly uses as a **** switch I think. It lets you dial in the neck pickup and some use it as a rhythm choice..I just look at it to see that it is down. So Neils Kline and Troy here get this unique sound, which is likely some combo of the above and what that does to the soundscape in a band setting. Play this through any of your pedals and it will bring out nuance to Julia or your H9 that you just don't hear with your LP or Tele/Strat. It's not an ES 335 either. It's probably the pickups but the body with that resonator tail and long string pull has to be a part of it. So I suppose if metal shedding or power chord distortion is all you live for..take a pass. If you are inclined to sonic exploration and can hear the mix in a band setting you really need to give a Jazz a spin. These artist MIM guitars are the best price to performance guitars. I own several custom shop fenders and this is just a beautiful and tone full. I have the oxblood version and Troy nailed it.