For sale USA Fender Jazz Deluxe 4 string: UK / Europe.

Hi Rockin John.

Dont suppose you are interested in a standard USA Fender. Black with Maple neck only 3 months old. Reason for sale is I have just purchased a musicman and need to finance it.

Its a cracking Fender.

If of no interest no problems I would prefer to sell my Warwick but no one is snatching my hand off on eBay as of yet!

Steve

Steve.

Please tell me more about both basses, esp the £££ ypou're looking for.

Ta.

John

Rockin John,

The Warwick is a Fortress Masterman and its on uk ebay now. There is another Fortress on there at a lower price at the moment so have a look at that as well if you are interested in mine. Check ebay for all the details. Basically I am looking for around the £650.00 mark for a bass that I paid £950.00 in late December. Its a nice bass but I need to finance my Sterling Purchase and if possible I would rather keep my Fender than the Warwick. I think the Warwick is as good quality as the Fender but I find the Fender easier to play.

The Fender is all black with Maple board and plays really well. I bought it new 2/3 months ago for £720.00 and couldnt really let it go for less than £650.00 as its so new and so playeable.

If you are interested in either I can supply more pictures and I live in North Birmingham which is less than an hours drive from Nottingham if you would like to try either out.

Steve

Hmm. OK.

Really, what I'd like is an unlined fretless Jazz.

don't really think your two are up my street. Thanks anyway.

John

No probs, At the end of the day if I keep both guitars it will only be the wife who isnt happy

Steve

Hi Steve.

Just popped over to the Bay and checked your Fortress. I kind-a like it...Yep. I do. 'Colour looks sweet and I've always wanted a red bass.

Now, I've never played a Warwick and I'm concerned about others' comments about neck thickness and hand stress problems. And, as you've said it's harder to play then the Jazz, I've kind-a put 2 and 2 together on this point. Is that a genuine issue with you on this bass: is it difficult to play / hand stress problems because of neckthickness?

I tend to play a fairly light finger style and am moving from rock towards jazz. Does the Fortress fit that bill, do you think?

But I've seriously toyed with buying a Warwick as a special self birthday pressie for my 50th.

How, BTW, did the bass get those bumps?

Yes. A deal might be possible. But, my real quest is for a fretless. In order to realise this I'd have to have my Yamaha 5er defretted - already been looking into this before you responded - so your required £650 stretches me too far.

All other things being equal I would be able to go to £550 as I type this to you.

Over to you

John

John,

I will try and answer as best and honestly as I can...

Firstly I would have said its slightly more burgundy than red, maybe the pics arent great but it is a distinctive colour.

I dont think the neck is particularly thick and I DO find it playable for fingerstyle stuff. I have just found the Fender easiest to slap with, I have no idea why. I have set the action pretty low on the warwick maybe this is why.

One thing I have realised is that playability is subjective - I struggle with precisions and stingrays but like jazz's, this warwick and my new MM sterling. Its a close call as to which I would sell out of thw Warwick or the Fender as I do like them both but my wife wants me to get rid of one and the money would help towards MM.

I think it would be good for jazz, you can certainly get a lot of different sounds with it and its a pretty fast neck.

The scratches/bumps - I honestly have no idea where they came from. Believe it or not they were there when I bought it and I managed to knock £50 off the bass because of them. They really arent that noticeable I am just paranoid about getting a bad reputation on ebay and dont want to mislead anyone.

For a cash payment I would just about take £550. I would not go below this as I am not desperate to sell it. If it doesnt sell I will hold onto it and possibly consider having it defretted in the next 6 months or so but we will see.

You are welcome to come and have a look/play the bass. I am in Sutton Coldfield which is North Birmingham and so less than an hour from you. I am around tomorrow evening (thursday) and most of saturday.

Not sure how I stand with eBay if I did sell to you and then got a higher bid? I think you can withdraw before 24 hours?? Would need to check that out if you are interested.

Fully understand if you arent interested, thanks for the replies

Steve

Hi Steve.

Whew....You're makin' this difficult for me to refuse.

Here's the situation. If we went with this I'd prolly have to take a chance and buy it 'blind'. That almost certainly means no trip to SC. Reason = her indoors. If she knew I'd that dosh, there'd be curtains 'n' stuff turning up here quicker than you could say...."You're not buying a bass"!!! I guess a meet half way might be on as I'd like a try before I buy. But....

I guess you have to check up about pulling it with the Bay and, in any case, if you leave it up you might get that extra £100 that I can't give you? If it doesn't go, then a deal might be on?

Should that happen I've a few questions to ask: I'm sure you won't mind answering in the event. But, perhpas just one now:-

Would you please be kind enought to measure the thickness of the neck as close to the nut as you can; between the top of the fretboard and the underside of the neck. Warwick quote 21mm (I think) but apparently these do vary.

Ta.

Cheers.

John

Hi John,

I am not sure as to why you think the neck is thick but I have done some measurements of this and my Fender Jazz and new Musicman Sterling and if anything the Warwick has the smallest neck I think. Bear in mind I am not an engineer so measurements fairly approximate but here they are...

Neck width from fretboard to back of neck at fret zero...
The Warwick neck does go out at this point to accomodate the head so it isnt really a fair check but.
Warwick 30
FJazz 21
MM 21

Neck width at fret 1 (a true comparison due to the above shape)
Warwick 20
Fender 20
MM 21

Neck width at fret 12
Warwick 21
Fender 21
MM 21

I then measured ACROSS the fretboard (over the strings) at various frets

Fret 0
Warwick, Fender and MM all 38

Fret 12
Warwick, MM 54 Fender 57

End of fretboard (near bridge)
Warwick 62
Fender 63
MM 65

Lastly I measured the string spacings at the head and bridge

Head
Warwick, Fender, MM all 10

Bridge
Warwick, MM 19
Fender 20

I am pretty sure that you can adjust the string spacing on the warwick. To summarise I think the Warwick neck is as small if not smaller than the Fender and MM Sterling.

The pdf from the warwick website actually backs up my measurements http://www.warwickbass.com/specs.pdf

Useful measurements here.. http://www.modernmusic.co.uk/basses/warwick/war_fortress.htm

I know where you are coming from regarding the wife

I think that if you see and touch the bass you will either love it or hate it. With regards to buying it blind, if we meet up you could certainly say, nope dont wanna buy it as you dont appear like a timewaster and I know that guitars are very personel. I would be willing to meet you half way if you want to see it as I think you will like it for £550.00

I could do tomorrow evening (which may be preferable for withdrawing from eBay if you did buy it) or saturday morning which would be more tricky.

If you are still interested let me know.

Steve

Steve....

Thanks V much for taking the time and effort on the measuring. The reason I thought like that was the comments on here and elsewhere about 'baseball-bat' necks on Warwicks. And quite a few guys getting hand pain playing them.

I ran a check for Fortress Masterman in Basses, just to see what others though of that axe. Many, but certainly not all, speak about baseball bats. But it may well have more to do with the neck profile than it's actual thickness. Yamahas (my brand) have flatish, wide necks whilst people say Warwicks have a very full "D" profile. I remember in the 70s owning a Gibson EB3: a very full neck profile made it a real bummer to play. Then again, Gibson never made a good bass besides the TBird? Having said all that, I'm quite comfortable with a Precision which is more difficult for you, you say.

At the end of the day, it's prolly all down to personal preference and what you're uesd to / get used to.

Yes. I'm still interested. And, no, I'm not a time waster. I view it from the angle of treating others as I wish to be treated myself.....+ the fact that @ 51 this year, there's prolly less time for me to waste

At the moment, don't pull it from the Bay. I honestly think you should try to go for the most £££ you can get. If Ebay doesn't sell it, then a deal might be possible.

Unless I get fixed up in the meantime (there's a Yammy TRB5F on the Bay that does interest). I can do nothing this weekend whatever happens. So a sale between us would have to wait 'til next week @ earliest.

Cheers.

John

John,

Thanks for the honest replies. I will let you know via this thread what happens on eBay.

Thanks

Steve

Yeah, no problem.

It would be an awful shame for you to pull it only for me not to like it or something?

If I decide I definitely want to buy, and have to buy 'blind', may I email you to that effect? You then have the option of saying, No, and keeping it on the Bay, or pulling it.

There are a few more questions I'd like to ask before I go with you anyway: I'm sure you'd not mind that.

One way or another we'll be in contact.

But I am still V interested.......

Cheers.

John

Yea no problem eMailing me at all. You can either use the address from this forum or [email protected]

Steve

Hi Steve.

Look, err, really sorry but I don't think I can go any further over the Warwick.

That model is great, and I'm totally happy your bass is everything you say it is. And I'm convinced you're fully honest about everything you've said.

So it boiled down to the sound.

I know a guy who uses a Fortress MM. He's got (IMHO) a superb bassy sound from bottom to top. The one I briefly tried yesterday, though, was very glassy and not to my taste at all. Thing is, that guy I know also thought them too bright and I've now discovered it's not original: he spent a lot of money on Bartolinis and having it converted to passive, and so on.

I just couldn't afford to do that, Steve.

Sorry mate.

Why not pop it on TB classified.....?

Sorry....

John

Steve...

'Got to thinking that you'd think me a total heel.....

So i thought a bit more straightening out might be in order..

When I got you measuring this and checking that on your MM, I didn't know that the bloke I know (mate of a mate, sort of thing) had modified his MM to reduce the highs in the sound. He also fitted flats I now Know.

Until that point I had decided to buy your bass.

Anyway, so I believed his sound was the typical MM sound. It was only after having a quick go on one and the guy saying, 'Yes mate, that's how they sound: loads of top and not much else.' did I realise that the MM sound wasn't for me. I tend away from the zingy, glassy sound and more towards the passive Precision.

I would still like to buy your Masterman. But I can't afford the Barts - or whatever @ + £120 - to do the convertion this bloke did to such great effect, IMHO. Because, on it's own, the sound of the MM isn't really for me. But the modified MM certainly is.

Anyway, that's how it fell Steve.

I don't know what happened on the Bay. You may have sold it already for all I know. If not, and you think there might be room to move please contact me.

Again, that's how it fell.

John

John,

I fully understand what you are saying. The sound can be a bit toppy although I have managed to get some good bass out of it.

I emailed you earlier to say I didnt sell on eBay but will probably hold onto it and maybe get it defretted when got some money.

Sorry but I cant let it go for less than £550.00

anyway never mind! Nothing ventured nothing gained.

Cheers

Steve

No, Steve, no problem: I never honestly expected you'd sell for less than £550. And, in any case, it'd be a touch stupid of me to buy a bass knowing there's loads of mods to do on it.

Like you say, nothing ventured......

Take care.

JOHN