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Fender Basses / Building a Jazz from Fender parts
« on: July 25, 2020, 02:47:23 PM »
I've noticed that Fender have been selling both US and Mexican bodies and necks for some time. Oddly they have a line of roasted maple necks that seem to be exclusively available as aftermarket parts. I know that buying new parts is probably terrible value for money overall, but I'm going ahead anyway.
I'm always in the market for a Jazz Bass, but find it hard to bond to them. I'm giving it another shot, and I will document the process here.
As a rule of thumb I buy Mexican Fender basses second hand, and usually strip out the stock pickups and wiring and replace where necessary. I also tend to level, crown and polish the frets as well. However Covid-19 seems to have reduced the pool of available instruments, so I can't snaffle up a used bass at the moment. Beyond this, my preference is for Mexican basses built during the era they introduced the black headstock decal (maybe 2010s?) up until they revised the lineup as the 'Player Series'. In terms of the used market people tend to want the same money for a dinged up 1990s corner-cutter Mex bass as they do for a mint 2019 bass with the plastic film on the pickguard. There is no consistency in the price of used MIM Fender basses in my experience, and I'm shooting for a fairly small niche where I think they were at their best.
With all of this in mind, I've just bought a black Jazz body and maple Jazz neck online. I have most of the other bits I need already. Watch this space!
I'm always in the market for a Jazz Bass, but find it hard to bond to them. I'm giving it another shot, and I will document the process here.
As a rule of thumb I buy Mexican Fender basses second hand, and usually strip out the stock pickups and wiring and replace where necessary. I also tend to level, crown and polish the frets as well. However Covid-19 seems to have reduced the pool of available instruments, so I can't snaffle up a used bass at the moment. Beyond this, my preference is for Mexican basses built during the era they introduced the black headstock decal (maybe 2010s?) up until they revised the lineup as the 'Player Series'. In terms of the used market people tend to want the same money for a dinged up 1990s corner-cutter Mex bass as they do for a mint 2019 bass with the plastic film on the pickguard. There is no consistency in the price of used MIM Fender basses in my experience, and I'm shooting for a fairly small niche where I think they were at their best.
With all of this in mind, I've just bought a black Jazz body and maple Jazz neck online. I have most of the other bits I need already. Watch this space!