Take a listen to Bitch's Brew and then put on Evol, and it immediately makes sense that Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth have been playing Fender Jazzmasters for the majority of their lengthy careers. Fender has finally deemed them worthy of signature instruments (I know, they had to get to Elvis Costello first (only last year. . .sheesh)), and these sure are a couple of lookers. Introducing the new Fender Lee Ranaldo Jazzmaster and Fender Thurston Moore Jazzmaster.

These new artist models are approximations of Moore and Ranaldo's heavily and oft-modded "Jazzblasters." While both guitars features similar appointments (they both only have a single volume control, for example), the guitars are distinctly dissimilar in several important ways:

The Fender Lee Ranaldo Jazzmaster is finished in Sapphire Blue and features two Fender Wide Range Humbuckers revoiced to Ranaldo's specifications. The Ranaldo model sports a Mustang bridge, and the volume control is slightly closer to the bridge pickup than on the Moore model.

The Fender Thurston Moore Jazzmaster is finished in Forest Green Transparent, and is loaded with a pair of Seymour Duncan Antiquity sopabar single-coils. The bridge is a Tune-O-Matic, and the volume control is closer to the output jack than on the Ranaldo model.

Both "Jazzblasters" share black satin-finished headstocks, black anodized aluminum pickguards, pickup selectors that are oriented to go from side-to-side (not up-and-down), and vintage nickle hardware. Both guitars also come with a 'Zine that collects interviews with the band (ho-hum) and a bunch of artist-designed stickers (word).

Just for kicks, here's SY making their network television debut (I'm assuming in '92) on The Late Show With David Letterman. Ignore the fact that Lee's not playing a Jazzmaster, and instead marvel at the dueling drumstick / baseball bat solos: