The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Fender Basses => Topic started by: godofthunder on April 20, 2011, 02:45:34 PM
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I was at the House of Guitars last week and picked up a Fender RW Jazz Bass. I couldn't get over how much more I like it compared to my '08 American Standard Jazz, well mongrel now as I put a RW neck on it. The RW is light and resonant, it sustains like a mutha on the upper register. I am sure this is due to the thin finish on the RW. The American standard has a very tight bright sound while the RW is woody and open. Long story short I have parted out the MIA mongrel and now will be playing a RW for our Zep. shows. Pics soon !
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Aren't the Roadworn's MIM? They're killer basses, better than 95% of all the new Fenders out there that I've tried, but I'm pretty sure they're Mexican.
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RWs are the best Fender J's right now IMO. I got the same impression as you - "resonant, it sustains like a mutha on the upper register. ... woody and open."
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Yep MIM. The distinction between MIM and MIA is pretty blurred these days. It is a killer bass. I don't really care where it's made.
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Aren't the Roadworn's MIM? They're killer basses, better than 95% of all the new Fenders out there that I've tried, but I'm pretty sure they're Mexican.
The MIA RW was a typo yep Mexi for sure.
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Pictures! (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v102/godofthunder59/RWJneckandRWbass003.jpg)(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v102/godofthunder59/RWJneckandRWbass002.jpg)(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v102/godofthunder59/RWJneckandRWbass001.jpg)
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I wish they would offer them without all that "relic" crap.
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When they first came out I kinda turned my nose up at 'em, but after playing one I don't mind the relicing so much. It won't be long till it has some wear from me ;)
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I wish they would offer them without all that "relic" crap.
Yep. No matter how good it sounds, I wouldn't consider buying one with fake wear. At least CS relics have varied wear patterns. although that's bad enough. The road worns have mass produced fake wear.
It doesn't bother me anyone else buys them, though. Their money, their choice.
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"I am sure this is due to the thin finish on the RW."
Dave is getting toothless. Very worrying that is. :-X
Scientific evidence laid in its grave, sigh!
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"I am sure this is due to the thin finish on the RW."
Dave is getting toothless. Very worrying that is. :-X
Scientific evidence laid in its grave, sigh!
I just bit my tongue and kept quiet. But now that you're intent on stirring up trouble:
Compared to the American Standard, the Road Worn has different pickups, frets, neck radius, tuners, and bridge, and it doesn't have the graphite rods in the neck. It's much closer to the American Vintage than the American Standard.
IMHO any of the above are likely to have more influence than finish thickness. For that matter, has anyone even confirmed that the finish is actually thinner on the Road Worn? Distressed doesn't mean thinner.
I'm always open to being convinced. Just show me a double-blind test of basses that are identical except for the finish, where a statistically significant number of listeners can tell them apart. :P
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No statistic but the closest I can come is the Ric C64. The modded/natural one shot with a light sanding sealer sounds like no other Ric. Much warmer sounding and it does sustain better than it's Fireglo counterpart.
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"But now that you're intent on stirring up trouble ..."
I feel typecast here, Dave!
"I'm always open to being convinced. Just show me a double-blind test of basses that are identical except for the finish, where a statistically significant number of listeners can tell them apart."
No doubts on my side, Dave, but Fidel Castro and his brother Raul have declared for years that they want to introduce reforms and democracy in Cuba too!
But thankfully we're back to established, dare I say monolithic statements of great endurance. Finnish does not influence sound.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbDKASjAeDs
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No statistic but the closest I can come is the Ric C64. The modded/natural one shot with a light sanding sealer sounds like no other Ric. Much warmer sounding and it does sustain better than it's Fireglo counterpart.
If it's modded, then there's no reason to think it's the finish. Even if the finish is the only mod, it's still just a correlation until a test proves that it's the cause of the different sound.
Since every piece of wood is different, you would need more than one example. You could use six identical basses, strip three of them and run a series of double blind ABX tests. If you can tell them apart and others can too, that would show that finish type or thickness makes a difference.
I don't expect this to happen in the world of electric guitars and basses. Too many companies have vested interests in selling their finishes or processes as superior, they won't risk it.
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For that matter, has anyone even confirmed that the finish is actually thinner on the Road Worn? Distressed doesn't mean thinner.
It is MUCH thinner, to the point that I think they expect that even moderate use will only further "enhance" the relic job. They really are great instruments and, IMO, what the Highway One series should have been.
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I don't care for a fake-worn look as long as it sounds good. I'm currently building an Esquire using MIM RW tele body. Gonna see hot it will turn out...
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If I had need of good Jazz bass I'd pick one up in a second. As it is, every time I play the RW Precision, I have to talk myself out of it. I only have one Precision, a 92 MIM 'second' with an inch too short cutout for the neck pocket which gives it a 35" scale. It sounds great, but the extra length and a SD Quarter Pounder take it well out of "P" territory into something that actually sounds a LOT like a Gibson RD. I have a P/J combo in my Spector, but it sounds like, well, a Spector, (duh!) My Aerodyne Jazz that is pretty bright and hotter than hell even with the "P" pickup solo'ed and my homemade ESP/Mighty Mite J/P/J has the original pickup out of my Mexi Precision and it's not a good sounding one, the reason I took it out of that bass to start out with! It's funny; I have 18 basses and not a single one is "the standard." A buddy of mine had a 70's P in Olympic white that I played alot and loved, but it was stolen a few months back. It played and sounded better than most RW P's, but there was one in Nashville I tried that came close.
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Interesting reading. Seems a large part if the sound of a Stradivarius violin is due to the finish composition http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/oct/14/books.guardianreview2
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That article is 11 years old. Since then it was shown that Stradivari used very simple varnish.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/04/science/04strad.html?hpw
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All well and good but it has nothing to do with solid body guitars. The bodies of violins and other acoustic strings have vibrating tops that produce sound in a sound box. Finish thickness and type are known factors that affect sound vibrations.
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i agree with dave. finish does matter on acoustic instruments. the top must be able to flex to create a good sound. on an abg at least i think a thin satin finish is much better than a heavy laquer or paint finish. my 2 cents.
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We can agree to disagree, if small things like frets and tuners can affect sound surly the finishing process does. My 2 cents.
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I'm not inclined to argue when someone says that instrument A feels better and sounds to them than instrument B. Whatever the reasons are, if they're happy, that's what counts.
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I'm not inclined to argue when someone says that instrument A feels better and sounds to them than instrument B. Whatever the reasons are, if they're happy, that's what counts.
Yep. The difference may not be due to the reason they think, but it's still better sounding to them, and that's what matters.
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Just bought a road worn jazz brand new for 700.00!Feista red.And i gotta tell ya ...I have three early 60's jazz basses sitting here worth thousands of dollars that have NOTHING on the road worn!Its a killer bass and i'll be adding a sunburst one here shortly :mrgreen:
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One thing I dislike about the RW basses is this:
(http://i51.tinypic.com/f9dpxc.jpg)
Why couldn't Fender make the body without the routing pin hole (or whatever that is) and the stamped into the body "Road Worn" lettering? This prevents you from removing the pickguard and looking goofy. .
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I can understand them stamping Road Worn, keeps people from passing them off as something they are not. What I really don't like is the hole in the neck pocket, I would want the neck and the body to make the most contact possible. Taking the bass to rehearsal tonight I'll have a report tomorrow morning. :)
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Needs a refin... ;D
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Supposedly the holes are where they are held by a fixture for certain CNC operations.
You could always fill in that hole in the neck pocket for more contact.
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Needs a refin... ;D
My thought, too... ;D
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Needs a refin... ;D
But it would change the sound ;)
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Ok so I took this thing to rehearsal last night to run the Zep. show. This bass is a whole different animal compared to the American Standard Jazz. The overall tone is warm and woody with less focus than I am used to in a J which I like. Not the usual "brittle" tone I associate with Jazz basses. The upper register is very lively notes just sing, the G string in particular. I gave the bas a quick set up when I got it and put on a set of old Rotosound RS 66LDs. I ran the neck pup only and was able to get full round tones for Dazed and Confused to a sharper more treble tone for Houses of the Holy. I used my Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster to give the pups more output, all in all the bass performed just as I had hoped.
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Win-win...
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I'm glad it performed as you'd hoped, Scott. I'll have to keep an eye out for a RW Jazz or P. I have to confess that I like the beat up look. I know the wear isn't natural but with as much as you play I'm sure you'll add your own character to it fairly soon! ;)
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I'm glad it performed as you'd hoped, Scott. I'll have to keep an eye out for a RW Jazz or P. I have to confess that I like the beat up look. I know the wear isn't natural but with as much as you play I'm sure you'll add your own character to it fairly soon! ;)
Thanks George, Fenders for me are a bit of a struggle............................I struggle less with this one.
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I went into a local shop today and tried out a Jazz RW. Everything you said was spot on. I do understand you might need to use that Seymour Duncan pickup booster in a live situation as I felt the pickups were a little subdued. The store one (and I assume factory)was set up with cheap sounding rounds which probably had something to do with it but would have to get some flats quick on it for my liking. That coral reddish orange finish might take some getting used to but might be interesting as well. GOT did you say you swapped out the neck on you '08 American Standard and put the RW neck on it?
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I did put a RW neck on my '08 American Standard. It's gone I parted it out to pay for the RW Jazz.
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Weird thing for me is I am coming 'round to Fender again (after loading off quite a few of them over the years). The utter simplicity sometimes is striking. Like any production instrument one has to weed through them to find a contender. In the case of this RW perhaps a simple pup and pot change might rise it above the bedlam.
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I just traded my MIJ '62 Reissue Precision for a Sunburst RW Jazz. I gotta say, without gigging the bass yet, this is the best passive Jazz I've ever owned - bar none.
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My sold '99 natural USA Standard Jazz had that hideous hole too.
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Well well well. Today I was in a local shop looking at getting a new American Standard Jazz, all set to go because loved everything about it. While in serious consideration I picked up a RW>>>as stated earlier in this thread it just brought me down to earth with that woody tone.(fiesta red not really my cup but maybe I'll look into some flamenco style playing) So had to put my $ where the thing was right then and there. I can get the American Standard (a much more focused sound bot not enough wood)down the road. Funny thing is next to it was one of those Gibson RD Novicivich's (that TBird58 so aptly described as he was babysitting it for Uwe)(or whatever his name is/was) and that was a monster to hold but sheeit what a sound with that huge body, thick neck and those SD bass lines Jazz pups. But would have to shim the thing down in half to hold and play it standing up! GOT: how is your EW holding up after a year now? Still in your frontline? What I might do w/the RW is load it up w/some of the SD Basslines so I won't have to use the pedal.
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For a Jazz Bass I really liked the RW but Tbirds are my thing. The band dropped the Zep tribute set so I dropped the Jazz. Still a great bass at a great price imho.