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Have you ever modified your Fender Jazz Bass?
Poll ended at Sat Mar 03, 2012 10:20 am
YES 67%  67%  [ 8 ]
NO 33%  33%  [ 4 ]
Total votes : 12
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Post subject: Re: Have you ever modified your jazz bass?
Posted: Sun Mar 18, 2012 9:31 pm
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Oh sure. I've had this ol' 73 Jazz since I was a kid. First I had a Duncan Quarter Pounder in the bridge, Hipshot D-tuner, moved thumbrest, and a steel & brass black bridge. Later, I added the Duncan Active EQ pups and removed the Hipshot.
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Then, after 20+ years, the Duncan Active pups died, and I just put a set of Super 55's in there.

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Post subject: Re: Have you ever modified your jazz bass?
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:10 am
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Nice.


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Post subject: Re: Have you ever modified your jazz bass?
Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:21 am
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the J-Retro active passive unit,a must have on a Jazz.


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Post subject: Re: Have you ever modified your jazz bass?
Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2012 8:02 pm
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I almost always put a Badass and at least one humbucker on any J-bass as long as it isn't some super valuable vintage model. I've wanted to do other mods to the fingerboard but that gets prohibitively expensive. As I mentioned in another post I would like to experiment on one by reducing the radius on the fingerboard slightly, and installing super wide frets up the 12th with regular jumbo frets the rest of the way.


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Post subject: Re: Have you ever modified your jazz bass?
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 10:03 pm
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what kind of humbucker? Why so many BA bridges?


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Post subject: Re: Have you ever modified your jazz bass?
Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 10:04 pm
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4001 Player wrote:
I have a 2010 MIM 60's Jazz Bass that I think is awesome. I added the brass grounding strip to make it a bit more authentic (and my luthier hooked it up to help with hum). I thought about adding the thumb rest, but I think it would get in the way.



How could it get in the way?-- it's down under the G string on 60's basses. They look cool I think. Do it.


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Post subject: Re: Have you ever modified your jazz bass?
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 7:36 am
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Any excuse to post a picture is a good one!

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Post subject: Re: Have you ever modified your jazz bass?
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 6:49 pm
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Treekiller and Ox fan, you should give me your "leftovers" - I'd be quite happy with a P-bass with a J neck.


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Post subject: Re: Have you ever modified your jazz bass?
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2012 7:02 pm
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Stroker Vance, I've been really happy with Seymour Duncan Bass Lines pickups and I think I saw someone else post that they are partial to DiMarzios. A lot of it comes down to what kind of sound and response you're looking for.

For me, the most important thing about BA bridges is that the saddles sit in "tracks" that keep the saddles from moving side-to-side when you play. It looks like a lot of the new Fenders might have tracks as well (at least it looks like it on their website photos, I haven't looked at one up close) so that may not be as big an issue. I actually had a problem with the last J that I bought - the saddles moved side-to-side so much that the height adjustment screws would turn and by the end of one song the saddles were flat against the bridge plate. I slapped on a BA and never had any more trouble.


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Post subject: Re: Have you ever modified your jazz bass?
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 4:27 pm
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I use a small drop of medium strength Locktite OR a small drop of Damar artists oil painting varnish to keep the bridge saddle and height adjustment screws from moving. It works great and doesn't keep you from turning the screws if you need to. After I readjust them I put another small drop on them. It doesn't take much of either product to do the job. The size of the drop I would say is not much bigger than the size of a pin head- maybe two times that. Just enough so you can see it "wick" around the edges of the screw and run down into the threads. I always look thru my magnifier light when I do it.
If your height screws come loose in the period of just a couple hours of playing I would either get some other screws and see if they fit better or I'd get some good saddles by Fender or All Parts etc. I've had saddle screws that will work but I can tell they are ever so not quite the right diameter and they slip. This has happened to me with cheapo bridges. I'd say though that as a rule even good fitting height adjustment screws will move from vibration or whatever. That's why I always use something to keep them from turning. This is true even with BA bridges. I've had those slip too back before I swore off using BA bridges for most applications pertaining to bass guitars.


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Post subject: Re: Have you ever modified your jazz bass?
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2012 6:17 pm
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So far I've had no trouble with the BA but I'll keep the Loctite in mind if problems arise. While we're on the subject of height adjustment screws (sorry this is getting off topic a lot), am I the only one who isn't thrilled with the "movement" away from slotted screw heads to allen wrench heads on git hardware? My first J had slotted or phillips heads for everything but it seems like after the 80's fad of Kahler whammies and locking nuts everything has become allen-headed. I curse the things because it requires the exact right size wrench and they strip out real easily. When I'm at a gig and a string breaks or starts fret-buzzing I hate having to dig around for my little allen wrench set and try and figure out on a dark stage which is the correct one. The allen-headed string release for the E-string on my old Strat got stripped out once and I had to have a luthier friend make a slot head out of it with a hacksaw. I eventually made all the string releases slotted.


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Post subject: Re: Have you ever modified your jazz bass?
Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2012 8:03 am
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I would prefer slotted on everything on bridges too. The little wrenches are always turning in the hole and stripping out the screws over time. I put a piece of neon green tape around the allen wrenches that work so I know which ones to grab. It took me alot ofyears to get that going for me!!!!


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Post subject: Re: Have you ever modified your jazz bass?
Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 12:05 am
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I hope that Fender's listening regarding the allen wrench thing. I'd rather that allen wrenches just disappeared forever. When it comes to tightening and loosening hardware, the fewer sides that the wrench or screwdriver has, the better. A slotted screwdriver has only TWO sides. Additionally, the closer that the wrench shape comes to approximating a smooth circle, the more useless it is and the more likely to strip out. I mean, if someone designed an allen wrench-type head that had like 40 sides they'd be nuts. The one's that get me the most are the ones that bridge designers use for string height adjustment - they are SO danged small. Sorry for whining but it's an issue that has been irking me since the mid-eighties. While I'm at it, I wonder if anyone has ever considered some type of easy-opening compartment for 9-volt batteries on actives, maybe something as simple as velcro or a sliding lid? Having to replace a dead battery mid-gig can be a bit nerve-racking.


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Post subject: Re: Have you ever modified your jazz bass?
Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 8:10 am
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Oxyfantastic- your basses always look so clean. Your shots are clean (Alice quote). ALSO the weather must be getting nice because the boards are getting boring. Either that or I'm just bored. Someone needs to do something to make things more exciting up in here. Ask a totally new question or something. Maybe something like " How do I get pie off my fretboard?"- nahh... that's boring. :D


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Post subject: Re: Have you ever modified your jazz bass?
Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2012 10:54 am
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Strokermatica! You are right! The boards pretty much suck. The absence of playfull banter and informative, educational and encouraging posts are few and far between. Everybody is quet, Brotherdave is forming an all Amish band, he can be excused because he's trying to grow his hair and beard to the proper image. I think they're going to call themselves, "The Yoders!"

Good luck Brotherdave! Part of their act will be to throw cookies into the crowd.

They want to be traditional, wonder how that no electricity thing is gonna work.

IT's going to be up to someone to start this circus all over again!


Let's have at IT!


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