Nels Cline and his Jazzmaster

I remember a few years ago, I was curious about Fender Jazzmasters, but overall… frankly.. I thought they were not the guitar for me. Too many switches. Too goofy. I didn’t get it. About 3 years ago, I ended up buying an AVRI ’62 Jazzmaster for a project that required that sound, with the plan of selling it once the project was over. But, after cracking open the case, there was an immediate connection with this guitar. You know what I’m talking about? I noticed I was playing it all the time. Sure, there were issues that were annoying. The bridge sucked. I hated the trem bar falling off the guitar. But I added a Mastery bridge.. that problem fixed. I added a StayTrem trem bar.. that problem fixed. Now, this is by far my number one guitar for me (I’m sure this will change in the years to come).

Nels Cline is one of those dudes that I think of immediately with Jazzmasters (J Mascis, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Robert Smith, Elvis Costello as well). I came across this interesting video by Fretboard Journal where Nels talks about his ’59 Jazzmaster.

I thought it was interesting that he credits Thurston Moore for getting him to initially want a Jazzmaster. I would have figured that Nels would have been playing Jazzmasters for years prior.

Let me know what you think of Nels. What you thought of this video. What you thought about that array of pedals he’s rocking (You can view a break down here). Please leave a comment below!