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Post subject: general questions about fender jazz bass
Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 9:35 am
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hi all,

i am new in this forum, don't have a fender yet but that will probably change soon.

i've been playing with a tobias for quite some time and i eventually got tired of the sound. maybe it is because of the active pre-amp, don't know.

anyway, i am curious with fender jazz bass, love the sound but i actually never played with one. upon making some research, i have found myself with some questions and what better place to see them answered than over here?

note: my native language is not english so bear with me if there are ant grammar failures :)

1) what is the main difference between jazz basses? american deluxe, american standard, standard, etc? from my reading, i am leaning towards the american standard but let me know what are your opinions.

2) are all american standard passive? i want a passive bass this time around

3) i want the bass to be an unlined fretless but it must have the marks in the upper section of the neck. is it possible to have an american standard with this kind of neck? and if i want the neck to be in ebony?

4) is there anything else i should know about? like i said i am new to fender although i love them.


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Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 4:35 pm
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If you have the cash, go for an american bass. There are a lot of different models out there, but the american's are the top line.

The american standards are passive, and the american deluxe are active. I think you should definitely go with the american standard. I have one, and it's a fantastic bass that has a great neck. The neck finish feels better than almost any other fender I've played, the hardware and pickups are great, and the neck is very steady.

Now, if you want an American Standard fretless bass, it has to be lined, and it has to have rosewood. If you want these sort of custom features, you have to go to custom shop models, and expect to pay 3 times as much.


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Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:02 pm
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thank you for your reply mate. you sure got me even more pumped than i already am to got a fender j bass.

i am sad about having to go custom though, i really wanted to get a fender unlined with the ebony fingerboard. if the price goes up the way you described, it is better for me to forget about it!

what is your opinion on rosewood in comparison with ebony? i see top end models, all of them with ebony.. fbass is an example. is it because durability?


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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 1:07 am
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You might be able to find some fenders with unlined ebony fingerboards. I know fender currently makes the Tony Franklin signature model, but it's a P/j bass, not a jazz bass. You can check that out on this site.

Rosewood is a little warmer than ebony, and has a very different feel. Ebony is also far more durable than rosewood and doesn't wear away as much. If you're playing with flats, it shouldn't matter all that much. If you're using roundwounds, you pretty much need ebony otherwhise you'll wear down the board.


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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 8:01 am
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anubis16 wrote:
You might be able to find some fenders with unlined ebony fingerboards. I know fender currently makes the Tony Franklin signature model, but it's a P/j bass, not a jazz bass. You can check that out on this site.

Rosewood is a little warmer than ebony, and has a very different feel. Ebony is also far more durable than rosewood and doesn't wear away as much. If you're playing with flats, it shouldn't matter all that much. If you're using roundwounds, you pretty much need ebony otherwhise you'll wear down the board.


i see. i will have to ask for a budget first but i am leaning towards an ebony fingerboard.


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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 8:05 am
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a friend of mine borrowed me his fretless last night. i was playing all night long, i love it. however, it has some problems and despite not being a fender, i will post some pictures so you can tell me what you think of this model.

here i opened the bass, to see why it does not play. i remember him mentioning something about the jack connection having a problem or so.. this bass is passive as you can see:

http://img199.imageshack.us/i/p1000126c.jpg/

i will be honest, after playing all night long with this bass i am tempted to ask him if he is interested in selling it. more pictures to follow.

in this next picture, a wider view of this bass is presented. as you can see, it is a neck-thru body. i also like its shape. the finish is not the original as my friend did not like the surface and "milled" the surface. (don't know how to explain it in english, sorry).

http://img406.imageshack.us/i/p1000127l.jpg/

to be fair, the wood might actually need some oil or something because it is very dry. i think it is noticeable in the pictures

here, it is the front view of this fretless. ebony fingerboard, unlined, 5 string fretless, just like i wanted! neck-thru body with di marzio pickups :) and 28 "frets". lots of work with the wood. this is hand made too! you can also have a glimpse of my tobias and my hartke :)

http://img187.imageshack.us/i/p1000128.jpg/

the following picture, you can see its head! this is a JP bass. my friend mentionaed it was some Brazilian guy here in Portugal that made this bass. maybe JP are his initials?

http://img21.imageshack.us/i/p1000129j.jpg/

(did a fast google search, here you can find more information on this basses but these look good indeed :)

http://www.myspace.com/jpbasses

)

not everything is good though. i have to ask if my friend has the missing piece (the one that cover the truss rods!!!). it is ugly this way! it even has the hole of the screw to put the missing piece in its place!

http://img34.imageshack.us/i/p1000130p.jpg/

here you can see the fingerboard and some work with the F symbol. it does look cool and original in my opinion. i like it, it gives this bass its own soul

http://img12.imageshack.us/i/p1000131w.jpg/

di marzio pickups like i said earlier. one thing that is new to me (and correct me if i am wrong) is that the pickups are inside this wooden box. never seen this. looks good too! notice the wood work in the bass body. those little dots are intended to be like that, the picture does not favour it. it looks way better live!

http://img30.imageshack.us/i/p1000132j.jpg/

a look at the bridge. seems to have good quality like everything in this bass. no more dots, those are only in the middle of the body.

http://img190.imageshack.us/i/p1000133xur.jpg/

a new look in the bass body. clean lines and good shape. the wood combination is also of good taste.

http://img31.imageshack.us/i/p1000134n.jpg/

another look, this way you can see the entire bass. very pretty, the ebony fingerboard is just killer! side note: sorry for all the stuff in there, lol. too busy playing this beast! another bass over there, it was my first one! soundgear by ibanez, 4 string. once in a while i like to play with it, for the good old times :)

http://img10.imageshack.us/i/p1000135g.jpg/

a closer view of the F symbol. notice the string marks. the fingerboard has some of these across all the fingerboard but it is nothing too obvious. if i want to find these, it is easy to spot the marks but if no one asks, no one notices. besides, if i buy this bass i will put some flat strings in the first place!

http://img513.imageshack.us/i/p1000136h.jpg/

the jack like i said is not working. some splinters already popped out, maybe this bass got some falls, don't know.

http://img249.imageshack.us/i/p1000137.jpg/

a look in the back of its body. the wood needs something, looks dry doesn't it?

http://img35.imageshack.us/i/p1000138opy.jpg/

finally, the last picture. the machine heads. music man case in the background :)

http://img148.imageshack.us/i/p1000139t.jpg/

now, i've showed you like i can everything that can be shown with pictures. although i can tell you more based upon my contact since yesterday. for start, i haven't listened to the sound because of the electrical problem. the bass does sound good with the bass unplugged though. it has "body".

my arm got a bit tired after 3 hours of continuous play, i think the tobias is more comfortable than this one. but i also played for 3 consecutive hours and was not used to this bass.

also of note is that i don't know anything about JP basses. but looking in the webpage, these guys look like they know what they are doing. lol

the wood work might need some lumber oil because it is so dry.. this is because my friend milled the finish, he didn't liked it. never saw it before so i don't know if he had reasons to do such thing.

all in all, i like the bass. it has groove, even when turned off, it looks very good in my hands (yeah, i looked at me in the mirror :D ), it is a neck-thru body, is passive with di marzio pickups, 5 string unlined fretless with ebony fingerboard.

don't have a clue about the other woods in there but i believe it has bubinga too. it is well built overall. it is a shame it does not have the cover for the truss rods but maybe my friend removed it on purpose and has it in its home.

i had to tune this bass when i got it and it wasn't that much precise. the strings were boiled up so maybe that had something to do with it. i remember the A string totally relaxing after being tuned up.

the neck has some slight marks but nothing major. the volume controls, tone or whatever these are, i also think these could be better. these seem to not be that much precise, they have a "loose" and cheap feel.

like i said, i do like this bass. from what i've shown, what do you guys think? are these di marzio genuine? what do you think of the bass overall?

i am tempted to buy it from my friend and repair it, although i have afraid of not liking the sound later. but this leaves me an option. put it jazz bass electronics.

opinions are welcome.

i know this is a fender forum but this bass fell in my face yesterday, right when i was looking for fretless basses over here.

regards, hope to have some comments.


EDIT: just learned that JP Basses are killer. JP lives in Paris and is son of portuguese parents. i am also portuguese so it is an honour to have this beauty with me.


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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 11:58 am
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That is a very nice looking bass from the outside.

The electronics/jack splintering problem is unfortunate. The first thing I suggest is to confirm that the output of the pickups is actually present by connecting alligator clip leads directly to the termination points for the pickup leads on the pots and plug each pickups output directly into an amp bypassing the harness completely. If the pickups both work then you can rewire it and it should be fine.

I would want to know that the pickups actually worked and that the suspected jack issue is not masking other issues. I'm just a suspicious guy about non-working instruments. Sometimes the reason you think they aren't working is not actually the reason. I'd make sure the pickups were ok. If so just rewiring it properly will fix it.

I would replace the jack and install some sort of washer just under the exterior jack nut that is large enough to make the splintering a non-issue and replace the ceramic disc capacitors with smoother capacitors (like Paper-In-Oil Vitamin Q type or Orange Drop 225P Mylar film) and rewire everything. Just de-solder everything and start all over with all new wire using a passive Jazz bass diagram, silver solder and high quality wire. The wiring obviously has been modified from original and you are best off just starting fresh. I might also replace the aluminum shielding with copper so you can solder a ground wire to the shielding instead of having to tape it since taping down a ground wire is not a permanent solution.

Dryer wood means better resonance, so oil very lightly if at all.

Lots of players think they must conform to the expectations of other musicians in what brand or model of instrument they play. Others want one just like a top player they hold in high esteem. If you are the type who doesn't care what anyone but you thinks about your instruments then I see no problem in owning this. There will never be a lot of these French JP's around, so you might not run across one again.

The price should be very low since it is not working. So, if the pickups check out to be working and you like how it feels then buy it and fix the electronics. If you still aren’t happy with it after fixing it, you can sell it for a profit since it will then be working bass. The jack, capacitors and new wire will be a very small expense and probably cost less than a new set of strings. True Paper In Oil caps will increase the expense, so you might start out with the Orange Drop Mylar 225P caps (about $3 each in the USA) and then replace them later with Paper-In-Oil caps after you determine that you really want to keep it. Even the more common Orange Drop 715 or 716P polypropylene capacitors would sound smoother than the ceramic caps in there but if you can find the mylar film 225P’s I’d use them instead of the polypropylene film. I doubt there are problems with the pots, but you'll only know for sure only after rewiring it.

You can make the inside work correctly for very little money if the pickups are good.


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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:08 pm
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hey, thanks a lot for your answer!

but i do not know much about the stuff you talked about and would probably end up fried if i try those solutions lol.

i will ask if he wants to sell it, if so i will take the bass into a music store and ask them to fix everything for me. this bass really deserves it.


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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:13 pm
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read your post again.. making this a jazz bass would not be a bad idea at all if the sound does not work.. how much would it cost to make it an American standard jazz bass (passive)?


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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:40 pm
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In the USA with new wire, Orange Drop Mylar caps, CTS pots and Switchcraft jack the parts would be about $26 USD plus shipping. If you don't need new pots about $12 USD plus shipping. If you want to upgrade to the better Paper In Oil caps, add about $30 additional.

Switchcraft jacks here cost about $3. You need a very small quantity of quality wire, which is about $3. Two Mylar caps would be about $6. CTS pots cost about $6 each. If you wanted to copper shield the control cavity that would add about $6. Shipping costs extra usually except for caps when you buy them from Axegrinderz.

These parts may be way more expensive in Portugal. I also don't know what sort of import duties there are there.

I really think your existing pots are possibly OK and I'd just reuse them and only replace them if they turn out to be bad. But I'd start all over by removing all the wiring and replace the suspect jack.

If one of the pickups is bad, that means much more expense, which is why I would make sure they are working.


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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 7:00 pm
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went to a bar where i usually talk with the guy who borrowed the bass, he wasn't there but i learned that another bass player already asked him how much he wanted for the bass... he said 1500 euros, that is probably 2000 dollars.

it is way too much for a bass in this state.

i will try to talk with him but for that price tag i will have to pass. i could make this bass a beauty once again but for that price i prefer to buy a fender brand new

a bass with these characteristics should probably be sold brand new for like 3000 to 4000 euros over here.. damn, will have to think this through. how much do you think it is worth? you have the pictures and i described details, give me a number lol


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Posted: Sat Aug 15, 2009 7:45 pm
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Difficult to say what it is worth there but for sure it is only worth what someone is willing to pay. Offer him what you think it is worth at stick to it. When he wants to sell it badly enough he will come down and look you up. That would be what I'd do. I would first make sure the pickups were functional though.


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Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2009 11:06 am
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already tried to contact him but without luck.

will try again today


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Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 7:55 am
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While reading through your post, I saw that you were interested in an ebony fingerboard. If you want a Fender with an ebony fingerboard, you might want to try the Tony Franklin fretless model. It's a P bass, but I own one and it is a wonderful instrument. The main reason that I chose this bass over the MIA Jazz fretless was all the nice features that the Franklin bass has for not much more money.


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Posted: Tue Aug 18, 2009 9:58 am
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yes, i really want the fingerboard to be in ebony.

and thank you for pointing out the TF bass, however, i do not know if the sound is what i am looking for. the jazz bass sounds the way i want it and going for a precision just for the neck isn't reasonable. not that the precision sounds bad, just sounds different than a jazz.

the bass looks cool though.

but there is another variable, the borrowed bass lol

i still cannot contact my friend, he is off in a summer tounee!


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