On the bench today we have the Fender MIJ Japanese Vintage (JV) Modified '50s Telecaster


The JV Modified ‘50s telecaster combines a '50s Telecaster with modern 9.5” inch neck radius, electronics, and tuners.


The tuners look vintage but are locking and the guitar comes with a four-position switch that adds in both pickups in series for a louder sound as well as a Push/Pull tone switch that puts positions two and four out of phase.


To me the JV guitar is basically the Japanese made version of the Baja series of Telecasters to some degree.


The body is made of basswood with a gloss White Blonde finish.


It has a maple neck with maple fretboard that has a satin finish on the rear and gloss finish on the front. The profile of the neck is a slightly more rounded version of a '50s style V profile with a Nut Width of 1.65", Fretboard Radius of 9.5", Scale Length of 25.5", and 21 medium/jumbo frets.


$1299 New and $672 - $914 used


Out of the box the guitar had no sharp fret ends or fret rocking.


The bridge pickup measures in at 6.71 k Ohms.
Both pickups in Parallel measure 3.53 k Ohms and the neck measures in at 7.31 k Ohms.


The guitar weighs 7 lbs and 5 ounces or 3.34 kilos.


I have a JV Modified '60s Custom Telecaster and at first did not like the new locking tuners but have grown normalized to them and by the time I see them on this guitar they are easy to use and do string changes.




The fit and finish on the guitar is excellent. I normally do not like the Fender gold anodized pickguards but think that it works really well with the blonde finish of the body. The blonde finish is beautiful when you look at it closely. You can see the grain through the finish, and it just makes for a beautiful look.


I love the soft V neck and how it feels. The fact they also made the back of the neck satin is always my preference.


I like the four-position functionality, primarily the two pickups in series and would like to see this as a regular functional add on to new telecasters.


The fourth position both in phase and out of phase kicks ass. The funny and disappointing thing is the neck position by itself is to me muffled and quiet. So is the second position with the two pickups combined in parallel. I would most definitely replace the pickups on this guitar if I keep it.


Overall it is a nice looking guitar with a lot of potential but I think it could use either a different neck pickup or wiring or both.