A new Jazz thing from Fender

[Lightyear]

Even at 2K it's too much for me!  I'd just as soon pick up a Geddy Lee and be done with and spend a whole lot less.

Still, I'm with SK8 - I'm in the P camp and just can't really get into J's - and I've tried too

[Freuds_Cat]

I love my J but that 50th ann bass is less than appealing to me. I find standard Jazz pups to be too anemic sounding although I do like the way they sit and the necks (bound/inlays/high mass bridge please).

I kinda have to (almost reluctantly) agree that it does seem like Fender put this thing together the way they have so that they can still sell an original 60's reissue.

[nofi]

i like fenders but this is too pimped out for my liking. i don't like binding, blocks, matching headstock, chrome bridge and pick up covers, or red paint. my ideal fender would be a sunburst p bass with rosewood board and tord guard. not too exciting but what the heck.

[Basshappi]

I can understand Candy Apple Red, it was Leo Fender's favorite custom color and matchiing headstocks were common on custom color Fenders.
I like the way it looks except for the lack of binding on the neck, IMO if a Jazz has blocks it should be bound.
I would have liked to have seen the neck with binding and dots instead, this would have been a nice homage to the early era Jazzes (they changed to blocks mid '66).
It's probably best they didn't go with a stack knob config as those have never been overwhelmingly popular with players.
All-in-all I like it but I think that if they wanted to capture the "Jazz bass through the years" vibe then they missed it.

[JazzBassTbird]

I don't care what features came in what decade - absolutely could NOT care less.  All I care about is what I like to see in a bass.  IMO Fender is under no obligation to reproduce any "era".  Further, they specifically state: "...it boasts design touches from several periods in Jazz Bass history...".  They're absolutely clear about that.  Tuners not agreeing with the decal???  Pickups not agreeing with the neck?  Oh please, give me a break - the bass is correct for what it is - the 50th anniversary model.

Here's what I see and what I care about:

Color-matching headstock? Check!
Inlays?  Check!
Bridge and pickup covers? Check!
Tugbar?  Check!

As far as I'm concerned, it's not confused, it's lovely!  All it needs is binding on the neck and every one of my likes would be covered.

(As usual, opinion always available on request.)

Of course, Fender can do whatever they want, but if they're calling it a 50th Anniversary Jazz Bass, logic dictates that it should have some features of an original '60 J-Bass. Block inlays, (mid '66-'82-ish) binding, (Dec.'65-ish-'82-ish) thumbrest on top. ('74/'75-'82-ish) The chrome covers are common to all Jazz Basses form '60 through about '82, so that hardly counts. The matching headstock's cool and definitely vintage-like, but in fact custom color JBs before mid '62 (about the same time round lam 'boards appear) or so usually don't have one. So where's the beef? Nothing representaive of a '60 Jazz Bass. I have no problem with the bass itself, only what it's being represented as. Call it a "vintage amalgam Jazz Bass", whatever, but the 50th Ann. moniker is misleading and could've been applied to a bass closer to what the name implies.

For whatever it's worth, I started out (bought my first one in new '75) as a P-Bass guy, but after a year got my 1st Jazz and never really went back. Lover everthing about them, the shape, the narrow neck, the sound. Had a lot of gorgeous Pre-CBS Precisions over the years, (which I stupidly didn't keep) but for me, the J-Bass is the s**t. I need 2 pickups, kinda lost without 2.
I can always tell a Precision, Rickenbacker, or Gibson EB on record, Jazzes are a little harder to pick out. Which is why they fit any style of music, I guess...a Jazz is like club soda, it goes with everything!
As Greg Lake said in Guitar Player back in '74, the Fender Jazz Bass is one of the best basses in existence. (And he was playing a Gibson Ripper at the time he said that!) Still pretty true today...

[Denis]

As Greg Lake said in Guitar Player back in '74, the Fender Jazz Bass is one of the best basses in existence. (And he was playing a Gibson Ripper at the time he said that!) Still pretty true today...

Lake said that but was playing a what? 

[Pilgrim]

Of course, Fender can do whatever they want, but if they're calling it a 50th Anniversary Jazz Bass, logic dictates that it should have some features of an original '60 J-Bass.

I cheerfully and respectfully differ.  As far as I'm concerned, an anniversary bass can be the chance to pile on a bunch of good stuff from various years in order to make something different.  That's why I offered my list of favorites.

[JazzBassTbird]

Lake said that but was playing a what? 

A Gibson Ripper. (L9-S). He was one of the first, if not the first endorser of those basses. But that's a topic for the Gibson bass forum, right?
Lake played a late '60s or early '70s Jazz Bass prior to this, black with a tortoise 'guard with a black block inlay maple neck.

[JazzBassTbird]

I cheerfully and respectfully differ.  As far as I'm concerned, an anniversary bass can be the chance to pile on a bunch of good stuff from various years in order to make something different.  That's why I offered my list of favorites.

Obviously, Fender agrees with you!

[rahock]

i like fenders but this is too pimped out for my liking. i don't like binding, blocks, matching headstock, chrome bridge and pick up covers, or red paint. my ideal fender would be a sunburst p bass with rosewood board and tord guard. not too exciting but what the heck.

Sounds like my 70 However, it's got a maple neck on it now. The original is a rosewood and I've been thinking about seeing if I can get it straightened out and refretted.
I've been playing this one a lot lately. My lead player loves it and doesn't care for the dry sound of my 51. I like 'em both .
I never considered myself a traditionalist but I grew up looking at sunburst Precisions with tort guards and the bridge and pickup covers removed . It's pretty much stuck in my head that this is how it's supposed to be
Rick

[Pilgrim]

I never considered myself a traditionalist but I grew up looking at sunburst Precisions with tort guards and the bridge and pickup covers removed . It's pretty much stuck in my head that this is how it's supposed to be
Rick

When I think of a P, I think of one in Olympia White with a tort PG and covers.  That's how my '63 P started life, but I had it re-painted by an auto body shop around 1972.




I admit I have a fondness for the P over the J..but I have one of each.

[luve2fli]

I'm with Pilgrim on this ......

[eb2]

I am too.  But get that 70s neck off of there!

[rahock]

A Gibson Ripper. (L9-S). He was one of the first, if not the first endorser of those basses. But that's a topic for the Gibson bass forum, right?
Lake played a late '60s or early '70s Jazz Bass prior to this, black with a tortoise 'guard with a black block inlay maple neck.

I saw Greg Lake several times and he was always playing a Hagstrom
Rick

[Basshappi]

Lake with his Jazz in all it's glory!