After the Strat and Tele versions, Fender’s hybrid acoustic-electric idea reached its final form with the Jazzmaster. At least that is how it feels.
The Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster is one of the strangest guitars I have had in my studio. At the same time, it is also one of the most interesting.
In this Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster review, I wanted to find out whether this unusual instrument actually makes sense for worship guitar use.
Disclaimer: This content was sponsored by Fender. They sent me this instrument to use in my studio and I got to keep it as compensation for my efforts. However the company has no say in the things I mention in the video/post nor do they get to see it before it is released.
First Impressions
Unboxing the Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster was a slightly nerve-racking experience.
Not because I thought it had been damaged, but because I genuinely did not know how I would feel about it. This is not a normal guitar, and I knew that before even plugging it in.
The first good sign was the gig bag. It feels solid and gives a strong first impression.
After a quick tune-up, I played a few chords and immediately noticed something important. The Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster is not a traditional acoustic guitar. It is much quieter than a dreadnought, but it also does not feel like a normal electric guitar either.
That said, the guitar sits very nicely in the lap and feels well made. So the first impression was definitely positive.
What Is the Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster?
The Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster is a hybrid instrument that blends acoustic and electric guitar ideas into one guitar.
To me, it leans more toward the acoustic side. It has a sound hole, it is hollow inside, and it is genuinely fun to play unplugged. It is not loud in the way a proper acoustic guitar is loud, but it still works very well as a casual couch guitar.
The Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster uses three pickups:
- a piezo pickup
- a body sensor pickup
- a Tim Shaw-designed humbucker
Using the voice selector and blend knob, you can move between acoustic-style tones and more electric-style sounds. That flexibility is the whole point of this instrument.
Recording with the Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster
My first instinct was to use the Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster like a traditional electric guitar.
That did not work especially well.
Running it through my REVV D20 on a clean setting did not sound that good, even when I used only the bridge humbucker. I also did not enjoy how it reacted with my usual drive pedals. My more transparent overdrives did not really work with it at all.
So I changed my approach.
Instead of trying to force the Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster into a normal electric or acoustic guitar role, I plugged it directly into my audio interface and started from there.
That was the moment this guitar started making much more sense.
What the Acoustasonic Series Is Actually About
This was the point where I think I finally understood what the Acoustasonic idea is.
To me, the Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster is not really about replacing a traditional acoustic guitar or a traditional electric guitar. It is about giving you a collection of tones that are designed to sit well in a mix.
Once I approached it that way, the whole concept clicked.
Instead of asking whether it sounds exactly like a dreadnought or exactly like a Jazzmaster, it made more sense to ask whether the sounds work in a track. In that context, the Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster became much more interesting.
Using the Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster for Worship Music
This is where the Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster started to win me over.
I used it to record a full track, layering different parts over drums and bass. The acoustic-style tones worked beautifully, which was not a huge surprise. However, what surprised me more was how well the more ambient and almost-clean electric-style sounds worked for worship-style production.
Adding delay and reverb gave me some very usable “worshippy” lead sounds. The bridge humbucker also produced some unique nearly-clean tones that helped with layering. That made it easier to build a full arrangement with just this one instrument.
Some of the higher-gain tones sounded a little buzzy to me. However, that was easy enough to fix with a low-pass filter. Once that was done, the results sat in the mix surprisingly well.
In fact, in a blind test, I do not think most people would guess that some of those parts came from what is basically an acoustic guitar with a humbucker inside. That is part of what makes this guitar so weird and so interesting.
Does the Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster Make Sense?
Honestly, yes and no.
The Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster is one of the strangest guitars I have had in my studio. The build quality is great, it is a genuinely fun couch guitar, and I could easily imagine replacing a normal acoustic guitar with it in many recording situations.
At the same time, there is an obvious counterargument. For the same money, you could buy a very good acoustic guitar and a very good electric guitar instead.
That is the part that makes this guitar hard to recommend blindly.
I am sure there are players who will absolutely love it, and clearly Fender has sold plenty of these. I understand why. If the Acoustasonic concept fits the way you write, record, and play live, it can make a lot of sense.
Still, this is not one of those guitars I would recommend to everyone.
Is the Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster Good for Worship?
For worship use specifically, I think the answer is actually yes.
Not because it is the best acoustic guitar. And not because it is the best electric guitar. Instead, it is useful because it can cover a lot of ground inside one arrangement without fighting the mix too much.
That is a real strength in worship music, where layered clean parts, ambient textures, and acoustic-style tones often need to live together in the same song.
So is the Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster the ultimate worship guitar?
I would not go that far.
But I do think it is a genuinely useful worship guitar for the right kind of player.
Final Thoughts
The Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster is weird. There is really no way around that.
However, once I stopped judging it like a normal electric or acoustic guitar, I started to appreciate what it actually does well. It sits in a mix nicely, offers a wide range of usable tones, and works especially well for layered worship-style production.
It is not cheap, and it is not for everyone. Still, if you like hybrid instruments and want something that can move between acoustic-style and electric-style sounds in a very practical way, the Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster is definitely worth a look.
If you’re interested in acquiring the Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster and supporting what I do, you can use the affiliate link here:
►►Shop Fender Acoustasonic Jazzmaster here: https://www.thomann.de/intl/fender_am_acoustasonic_jazzmaster_tu.htm?offid=1&affid=394