Swapped my MIA Jazz for a MIM Road Worn

[vates]

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...

[Psycho Bass Guy]

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.

[godofthunder]

 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

[ilan]

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

[Dave W]

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.

[nofi]

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.

[godofthunder]

We can agree to disagree, if small things like frets and tuners can affect sound surly the finishing process does. My 2 cents.

[Pilgrim]

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.

[Dave W]

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.

[weekend warrior]

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

[Hornisse]

One thing I dislike about the RW basses is this:

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.  .

[godofthunder]

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.  

[Highlander]

Needs a refin...

[Dave W]

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.

[Pilgrim]

Needs a refin...

My thought, too...