The Fender Pine Jazzmaster: A 2017 Limited Run Cut From a 19th-Century Grain Elevator

The 2017 Fender Limited Edition American Professional Pine Jazzmaster is a regular USA Jazzmaster with a body made of cooked, reclaimed pine instead of alder. The pine has a good story behind it. The guitar plays like an American Pro, not like a vintage reissue. If you're thinking about buying one, you're mostly paying for the wood, the look and the paperwork. You aren't getting a different kind of offset, so check it the way you'd check any modern Jazzmaster, then add a few checks that are specific to pine.

What the Pine Jazzmaster is, and why Fender made it

For 2017 Fender released a group of guitars it called the Limited Edition Exotic Collection. Most of the series used unusual woods on standard production platforms. Three of them used pine: an American Vintage '59 Pine Stratocaster, an American Professional Pine Telecaster, and this American Professional Pine Jazzmaster.

Pine has a real place in Fender history. Leo Fender's 1949 solidbody prototype, the guitar that led to the Esquire and Broadcaster, had a pine body. Production Broadcasters were made of ash, and pine dropped out of the catalog for decades. The 2017 guitars refer back to that period. The hang card that ships with them says these pine-body guitars "pay homage to the very first instruments Fender crafted in the 1940s."

Where the wood came from (and a discrepancy worth knowing about)

This part is a little more complicated than most dealer listings say. The card included with this guitar is titled "Reclaimed Old Globe Cooked Pine Guitars." It says the wood came from the Globe Elevator in Superior, Wisconsin. Construction was finished in 1887, and the card calls it "then the world's largest grain elevator." It was built from more than 6 million board feet of old-growth Eastern White Pine and was used until deconstruction started in 1988. Old Globe, the company now reclaiming that timber, lists the elevator the same way: built in 1887, roughly 6 million board feet, mostly Eastern White Pine.

Fender's own launch article for the collection gives a different source: a stash of century-old pine from the Buckstaff Furniture Company facility in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Coverage from the launch also mentions "a few other unnamed sources." My guess is that Fender bought reclaimed pine from more than one place and the paperwork changed during the run. I couldn't confirm which source went into which guitars, though. If the elevator story is why you want one, make sure the guitar comes with the Old Globe card and don't rely on the model name.

What "cooked" means

Fender heat-treated the pine, the same basic process as roasted maple. Fender said the treatment cut the weight, darkened the color a little and was meant to give the guitar an "aged" sound. The card calls it a "controlled cooking process" that removes leftover moisture for stability. The stability claim is reasonable. The tone claim is the same argument people have about roasted maple necks, and I'd treat it with the same skepticism.

What's different from a standard American Pro Jazzmaster

Apart from the body, this is an American Professional Jazzmaster. Published specs for the model list:

• Body: cooked reclaimed pine, satin urethane finish, natural
• Neck: figured maple, Fender's "Deep C" profile, 9.5" radius maple fingerboard, 22 narrow-tall frets, 25.5" scale, bone nut
• Pickups: V-Mod single-coil Jazzmaster pickups in the neck and bridge
• Controls: 3-way toggle, master volume with treble bleed and master tone. Like other American Pro Jazzmasters, it has no separate rhythm circuit.
• Bridge: floating Jazzmaster vibrato with a tremolo lock button, screw-in arm and Mustang-style saddles
• Trim: black anodized aluminum pickguard, Limited Edition neck plate with an "LE" serial, laser-engraved headstock logo

The Mustang-style saddles matter more than they seem to. Players have been arguing about Jazzmaster bridges for 60 years. Most of the trouble with vintage-style setups comes from shallow saddle threads letting strings jump out of place, plus the bridge rocking. The Mustang saddles were Fender's answer to the string-jumping part. If you've heard that offsets don't stay in tune, read our article on whether Jazzmasters and Jaguars really have tuning problems before you rule this one out.

What to check when buying one

1. Dents in the pine

Eastern White Pine is noticeably softer than alder. Typical Janka figures put it at roughly 380 lbf against about 590 for red alder. A satin finish over a soft wood picks up dings from belt buckles, stands and case latches more easily than a gloss Strat does. Look closely at the lower bout and the back. The knots and streaks hide small marks, which is good for looks but means you need to look harder.

2. Stability around the knots

Knots are part of what makes the guitar look the way it does, but a knot is also a spot where the grain changes direction. Check for finish cracks running out of the larger knots, especially near the neck pocket and the vibrato cavity. Hairline lines in the finish that stop at the knot edge are usually cosmetic. Anything that crosses into the cavity or pocket should get a closer look from a tech.

3. The vibrato and lock button

Engage and release the tremolo lock and make sure it stops the plate cleanly. Then check that the bridge sits steady in its thimbles. These are standard Jazzmaster checks, but they're the ones most likely to have been ignored on a guitar people buy for its looks.

4. Matching serials and the paperwork

The neck plate carries an "LE" serial, and the certificate of authenticity should list the same number. Since the wood story is most of the value, the hang card and COA matter more here than on a regular American Pro. I couldn't find a published production total for the Pine Jazzmaster. Treat the LE number as an identifier, not as a count of how many were made.

How our example measures up

The 2017 Pine Jazzmaster we have in stock came in close to new. A few small marks blend into the grain, and nothing on it needs fixing. The figured maple neck has a dark skunk stripe down the back, and the satin pine body has plenty of knots on both sides. It has every original item I'd want with one of these: the Fender hardshell case, the COA (its LE serial matches the neck plate), the Old Globe hang card, hang tags, paperwork and the accessory pouch. It plays the way a well-set-up American Pro should. On the bench it sounded open and clear, with the classic Jazzmaster chime, and the simple 3-way layout makes it easy to dial in.

My honest take is that this guitar is worth buying if you want an American Pro Jazzmaster that looks like nothing else on the wall and has a real story to go with it. If you only care about the sound, a standard alder American Pro will get you about 95% of the way there for less money. If you want something one-of-a-kind that you can still gig with, this is a good choice. You can see what else we have in our current in-stock guitars.

FAQ

Is a pine body guitar any good?

Yes, as long as the wood is dry and stable, and Fender's cooking process is meant to make sure of that. Pine is light and resonant, and it's where Fender's first prototype started. The real drawback is that it's soft, so it dings more easily than alder or ash.

Does the Pine Jazzmaster have a rhythm circuit?

No. It uses the American Professional layout: a 3-way toggle, master volume with treble bleed and master tone. If you want the vintage rhythm circuit, look at an American Vintage II or American Original Jazzmaster.

How many Pine Jazzmasters did Fender make?

I couldn't find a production number from Fender. The guitars were sold as a 2017 limited edition with LE-prefixed serials, but the serial alone doesn't tell you how many were built.

Will a limited edition like this hold its value?

Complete examples with the original case and the Old Globe card usually sell better than bare ones, but a limited edition doesn't guarantee anything. If you own one and want to know what it's worth to us, our cash offer page is the quickest way to find out.