RatingsPros:Improved, more-stable vibrato system. Vast tone shaping possibilities. Noiseless pickups. Bend-conducive, super-playable, compound radius neck. Tuning stable. Cons: Noiseless pickups sound less characterful than vintage-style units. Street: $1,999 Fender American Ultra Jazzmaster fender.com
| Tones:  Playability:  Build/Design: Value:  |
Though the Jazzmaster ceased to be perceived as a cellar-dwelling freak of the Fender family decades ago, it's never really received the fancifying treatment so often given to its more famous Fender brothers. To date, variations and mutations of the model tend to be scattered and obscure—occurring primarily in the instrument's more affordable ranges and within the output of the Custom Shop.
The Jazzmaster Ultra is an overdue reimagining of the model. And with its compound-radius neck, noiseless pickups, phase- and parallel-switching options, and new body carves, the Ultra might soon be as revered as the Plus, Deluxe, and Elite models that marked important evolutions of the Tele and Strat.
Luminously Luxe
To Fender's credit, many Stratocaster and Telecaster re-designs helped pave new expressive avenues. And the extent to which inventive players like Jeff Beck (with his Strat Plus-like signature model) and Jonny Greenwood (Telecaster Plus) made next-generation Fenders cornerstones of their art attests to the enduring, practical, and creatively enabling upside of these evolutions.
Just as those guitars estranged some Tele and Strat originalists, the Jazzmaster Ultra's new features will engender skepticism from some vintage heads. But many of these refinements are unquestionably useful and inspiring. Cosmetically, the Ultra deftly walks a line between Fender classicism and new-world bling. The body profile and hardware (save for the knobs) deviate little from tradition. And if you opted for the pretty ultraburst finish (which adds metallic flake to a classic 3-color sunburst), you might even mistake it for an American Original edition at a glance.
Our two review guitars were more extroverted. The cobra blue finish is deep, shapeshifting, and subtly pearlescent, evoking the competition burgundy of the 1969 Mustang. The striking mocha burst specimen that appears in the First Look video flashes between copper and root beer hues. Both finishes morph beautifully in sunlight and under stage illumination.
On the cobra blue version, the neck and fretboard are black-bound maple. They recall the unusual maple-and-black-block-inlay Jazzmasters and Jaguars of the 1970s. But to my eye they look a little monochrome and plain against the complex, mutable blue finish. A rosewood neck option would be nice.
Tone Tourism
The other overt deviation from trad' style is the chrome 3-knob array, and the new control configuration opens up tone possibilities no standard Jazzmaster is capable of. Though the Ultra's switching and tone circuit deviate significantly from the original Jazzmaster system, they adhere to the notion that more is more when it comes to tone shaping. Rather than activating a filtered rhythm circuit, the upper bout slider switches the pickups in and out of phase. The two attendant roller knobs are dedicated volume controls for the bridge and neck pickups in the latter mode. The volume knob is also an S1 switch that selects series or parallel pickup configurations. The Stratocaster-like tone controls, meanwhile, enable super-dissimilar tone shades between pickups and super-specific blends. At first, the myriad tone options can feel labyrinthine. But as the controls become more intuitive, tone shaping on the fly starts to feel as much like painting as playing. It's a blast.
What else is fun? For starters, the neck feels great. The 10"-14" compound radius fretboard feels fleet under the fingers, and the medium-jumbo frets and flat radius conspire to make the simplest string bend feel full of expressive potential. If you have a preference for vintage neck profiles and more curvaceous fretboards, the “Modern D" shape will probably feel pretty thin. But there's little arguing how slinky the neck feels, and players with modern neck preferences—and maybe even a few SG loyalists—will find a lot to love here. What's more, the carve on the back of the treble-side cutaway and the slimmed, sculpted heel make access to the highest frets super easy. Between the high-fret access, the flat radius, and the fat frets, you can achieve otherworldly bends.
The improved vibrato is a tactile joy, too. Mechanically, it's identical to a vintage unit. But unlike vintage snap-in arms, which can wear out, the Ultra's vibrato arm screws into the post and can be set to swing freely or tightened to remain relatively stationary. Better still (at least for my preferences), the bend in the arm sits higher in relation to the post and strings, nestling the arm more deeply but comfortably into your palm as you pick and strum. If you use the tension screw to dial in a more elastic feel, the unit becomes ideal for Kevin Shields' glide techniques and nuanced vibrato accents.
Free From Horrible Hiss
The “Noiseless Vintage" pickups are among the Ultra's main attractions. And any player that has endured the hiss, buzz, and hum of vintage Jazzy pickups in bridge and neck positions can understand the potential appeal. In general, they have less output than vintage Jazzmaster units. And each of the individual pickups, as well as the combined middle position, are mellower and less bright. These differences are super apparent with a pre-CBS Jazzmaster and the Ultra side by side. In isolation, you primarily notice that the Ultra pickups are light years quieter.
The Verdict
It's nice to see the Jazzmaster in a more evolutionary guise. But the real joy is in playing it. The copious tone shaping control, noiseless pickups, improved vibrato, and shreddily delicious neck all extend and enhance the Jazzmaster's already ample expressive potential. The quality is superb. And while you could argue that the noiseless pickups lack the open and wild character of vintage units, the seemingly endless and lively tones you can extract from the guitar are a tradeoff well worth considering.
Watch the First Look:
Gibson originally launched the EB-6 model with the intention of serving consumers looking for a “tic-tac” bass sound.
The Gibson EB-6 was announced in 1959 and came into the world in 1960, not with a dual-horn body but with that of an elegant ES-335. They looked stately, with a thin, semi-hollow body, f-holes, and a sunburst finish. Our pick for this Vintage Vault column is one such first-year model, in about as original condition as you’re able to find today. “Why?” you may be asking. Well, read on....
When the EB-6 was introduced, the Bass VI was still a glimmer in Leo Fender’s eye. The real competition were the Danelectro 6-string basses that seemed to have popped up out of nowhere and were suddenly being used on lots of hit records by the likes of Elvis, Patsy Cline, and other household names. Danos like the UB-2 (introduced in ’56), the Longhorn 4623 (’58), and the Shorthorn 3612 (’58) were the earliest attempts any company made at a 6-string bass in this style: not quite a standard electric bass, not quite a guitar, nor, for that matter, quite like a baritone guitar.
The only change this vintage EB-6 features is a replacement set of Kluson tuners.
Photo by Ken Lapworth
Gibson, Fender, and others during this era would in fact call these basses “baritone guitars,” to add to our confusion today. But these vintage “baritones” were all tuned one octave below a standard guitar, with scale lengths around 30", while most modern baritones are tuned B-to-B or A-to-A and have scale lengths between 26" and 30".)
At the time, those Danelectros were instrumental to what was called the “tic-tac” bass sound of Nashville records produced by Chet Atkins, or the “click-bass” tones made out west by producer Lee Hazlewood. Gibson wanted something for this market, and the EB-6 was born.
“When the EB-6 was introduced, the Bass VI was still a glimmer in Leo Fender’s eye.”
The 30.5" scale 1960 EB-6 has a single humbucking pickup, a volume knob, a tone knob, and a small, push-button “Tone Selector Switch” that engages a treble circuit for an instant tic-tac sound. (Without engaging that switch, you get a bass-heavy tone so deep that cowboy chords will sound like a muddy mess.)
The EB-6, for better or for worse, did not unseat the Danelectros, and a November 1959 price list from Gibson hints at why: The EB-6 retailed for $340, compared to Dano price tags that ranged from $85 to $150. Only a few dozen EB-6 basses were shipped in 1960, and only 67 total are known to have been built before Gibson changed the shape to the SG style in 1962.
Most players who come across an EB-6 today think it was a response to the Fender Bass VI, but the former actually beat the latter to the market by a full year.
Photo by Ken Lapworth
It’s sad that so few were built. Sure, it was a high-end model made to achieve the novelty tic-tac sound of cheaper instruments, but in its full-voiced glory, the EB-6 has a huge potential of tones. It would sound great in our contemporary guitar era where more players are exploring baritone ranges, and where so many people got back into the Bass VI after seeing the Beatles play one in the 2021 documentary, Get Back.
It’s sadder, still, how many original-era EB-6s have been parted out in the decades since. Remember earlier when I wrote that our Vintage Vaultpick was about as original as you could find? That’s because the model’s single humbucker is a PAF, its Kluson tuners are double-line, and its knobs are identical to those on Les Paul ’Bursts. So as people repaired broken ’Bursts, converted other LPs to ’Bursts, or otherwise sought to give other Gibsons a “Golden Era” sound and look ... they often stripped these forgotten EB-6 basses for parts.
This original EB-6 is up for sale now from Reverb seller Emerald City Guitars for a $16,950 asking price at the time of writing. The only thing that isn’t original about it is a replacement set of Kluson tuners, not because its originals were stolen but just to help preserve them. (They will be included in the case.)
With so few surviving 335-style EB-6 basses, Reverb doesn’t have a ton of sales data to compare prices to. Ten years ago, a lucky buyer found a nearly original 1960 EB-6 for about $7,000. But Emerald City’s $16,950 asking price is closer to more recent examples and asking prices.
Sources: Prices on Gibson Instruments, November 1, 1959, Tony Bacon’s “Danelectro’s UB-2 and the Early Days of 6-String Basses” Reverb News article, Gruhn’s Guide to Vintage Guitars, Tom Wheeler’s American Guitars: An Illustrated History, Reverb listings and Price Guide sales data.
Originally released in the 1980s, the Victory has long been a cult favorite among guitarists for its distinctive double cutaway design and excellent upper-fret access. These new models feature flexible electronics, enhanced body contours, improved weight and balance, and an Explorer headstock shape.
A Cult Classic Made Modern
The new Victory features refined body contours, improved weight and balance, and an updated headstock shape based on the popular Gibson Explorer.
Effortless Playing
With a fast-playing SlimTaper neck profile and ebony fretboard with a compound radius, the Victory delivers low action without fret buzz everywhere on the fretboard.
Flexible Electronics
The two 80s Tribute humbucker pickups are wired to push/pull master volume and tone controls for coil splitting and inner/outer coil selection when the coils are split.
For more information, please visit gibson.com.
Gibson Victory Figured Top Electric Guitar - Iguana Burst
