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Post subject: Short Scale Jazz Bass
Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 7:46 am
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I'm the happy owner of three Fender basses -- a Fender Mustang, a Fender Jazz Bass and a Fender Dimension HH. But there is one other bass I'd like to find. That's a short scale Jazz Bass. I see there was once a Fender American Player short scale Jazz Bass, but it I gather it is no longer made. Has Fender even made any other short scale Jazz Basses? Thanks for your help...


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Post subject: Re: Short Scale Jazz Bass
Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2016 10:52 pm
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I do believe they use to. http://www.iguitarmag.com/magazine-edit ... jazz-bass/

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Post subject: Re: Short Scale Jazz Bass
Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 5:29 am
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Also https://www.talkbass.com/threads/fender ... 990/page-5

This was apparently less than two years ago. Now it's dead. Same with the extremely sweet Leo Fender designed Mustang. And Fender's solid body short scale solution is for everybody to go buy a Rascal or a Bronco?! I find Fender's corporate behavior here extremely peculiar. What's going on?


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Post subject: Re: Short Scale Jazz Bass
Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 3:19 pm
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Maybe they didn't sell enough of them to continue manufacturing?

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Post subject: Re: Short Scale Jazz Bass
Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 4:14 pm
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PaulLF wrote:
Maybe they didn't sell enough of them to continue manufacturing?


That's usually a dead give away for no longer manufacturing a product. Ask Gibson about their 2016 Bass lineup. :roll:

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Post subject: Re: Short Scale Jazz Bass
Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 4:21 pm
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Bass is the redheaded step child to Gibson, it seems. :P You know, that short scale Jazz looked pretty interesting. I vaguely remember something about it when it came out. I'm not sure if it was promoted that much, though.

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Post subject: Re: Short Scale Jazz Bass
Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 4:28 pm
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Speaking personally, I know people who are looking to buy both a new short scale Mustang and J-Bass, and I know nobody who wants to buy the Rascal. Seriously, I've never known anybody who has ever owned a Rascal, or even played one.

So how about this -- let's kill one of Leo's classic designs (the Mustang), and replace it with a bizarre looking bass that nobody plays. Did you notice in Fender's YouTube PR video for the Rascal that not even the guy who designed the Rascal plays it; it just sits silent on his lap the whole time!

None of this makes either musical or business sense to me.


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Post subject: Re: Short Scale Jazz Bass
Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2016 10:02 pm
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I watched one demo of the Rascal and thought it sounded pretty good (I do like the Danelectro Long Horn bass, which has the same type of pickups,) but I've never played one, or even seen one in person. If I could check one out, I would. Then again, I happen to like things like that, even more so than a typical Jazz or Precision Bass.

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Post subject: Re: Short Scale Jazz Bass
Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 1:47 pm
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The original Mustang is my favorite short scale. The Bullet bass was also made in a short scale, which is a little harder to find than the 34. Another consideration would be the Fender, Stu Hamm Urge. I don't have one in hand so not sure if it was short scale or mid, but it was kind of a cool player making use of the "new" active electronics Phil Kubiki kicked off.

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Post subject: Re: Short Scale Jazz Bass
Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 4:11 pm
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I've played on the Stu Hamm Urge when it came out. It was a pretty cool bass. I thought it had the 32" scale, but I couldn't confirm that, either.

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Post subject: Re: Short Scale Jazz Bass
Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 5:28 pm
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Paul, I am pretty sure you are right, and I am thinking the same thing. Just not in a place to confirm right now - but I think you are correct.

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Post subject: Re: Short Scale Jazz Bass
Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 8:24 pm
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OK, there was both 34" and 32" scales. The MIM Standard was 32," according to the Wikipedia page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Urge_Bass I played on the 32" Standard model a couple of times when I was jamming with this dude over 20 years ago, who worked at a music store and had a bunch of gear from that, including that bass.

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Post subject: Re: Short Scale Jazz Bass
Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 8:23 pm
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Fender is making a 29.5 inch scale Jazz in Japan. It is the Fender JB62SS model and the SS may mean Short Scale but it is being marketed in Japan as the "SMART SIZE" Jazz Bass. So far as I know FMIC is not importing them to the USA at this time. You can buy one in Japan or online from a Japanese instrument dealer shipped for about $900 USD.

Here is a link to buy one online:
https://www.amazon.com/Fender-Japan-JB62SS-Smart-Size/dp/B0098F1XO0

Several used ones have already been sold on REVERB dot com going for about $650 shipped.


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Post subject: Re: Short Scale Jazz Bass
Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2016 2:08 am
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That's an interesting bass. 8)
By the way, isn't Fender Japan no more, or are they still making them?

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Post subject: Re: Short Scale Jazz Bass
Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2016 2:48 am
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PaulLF wrote:
...isn't Fender Japan no more, or are they still making them?


The joint venture of Kanda Shokai, Yamano Gakki and FMIC known as FENDER JAPAN ceased to exist March 31, 2015.

The next day April 1, 2015 FMIC took over total control of the Fender brand in Japan including letting contracts to manufacturers, product development for Japanese manufacture, marketing of all Fender branded products in Japan, support/warranty obligations on all Fender branded products in Japan, domestic Japanese distribution and the export of Japanese made Fender branded products to all other markets worldwide along with the import of Fender products made elsewhere into Japan. These are all tasks formerly handled by the joint venture partners, not FMIC.

The new Smart Size series guitar/bass models are the first new Fender models to come out in Japan since FMIC took over running things in Japan that I know about, but there could be others. The manufacturing of other products previously offered by the old Fender Japan continues as well.

So while Fender Japan as we knew it for 30 years is no more, Fenders are still being made in Japan, sold in Japan and exported from Japan, just not to North America as of yet. What changed is that the management, production contracting, marketing and distribution of Japanese made Fender products is all being handled solely by FMIC now instead of by the Kanda Shokai/Yamano Gakki joint venture partners, the two of which essentially had autonomous control over the Fender brand in Japan with very little direct input from FMIC at all. Technically FMIC had a vote on the Fender Japan board of directors while in reality FMIC had no direct control over day to day operations of the joint venture known as Fender Japan. Now everything related to making and selling Fender products in Japan is in the domain of FMIC management.

During the old Fender Japan regime FMIC picked what to import to North America from what was offered in Japan and I do not expect that to change just because FMIC is independently running the show in Japan now. We could see the Smart Size series imported to North America, but then again maybe not. In fact the new Japanese made Smart Size series was not at the recent summer NAMM. It could be that the Japanese series was deemed as competition for the new "OFFSET" short scale series that was shown at summer NAMM and is going to be marketed by FMIC in North America. We still could see the Smart Size Japanese made Fenders imported to North America later, but it probably will not be in 2016.


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