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A testimonial

vicenzajay

vicenzajay

Dec 21, 2004
1,622
41
Christiansburg, VA
#1
20 years ago, I bought my first bass - a 1986 Fender Jazz Special (made in Japan). About a year later, it was stolen from the church where I was playing. When I tried to replace it, all the music stores in town were only stocking the "Power Jazz Special" version of the MIJ Fender P/J model. So, although this is technically my second bass, I consider it my first - in that it replaced my stolen bass.

Almost two decades old - this instrument is simply fantastic and has been incredibly reliable week in/week out whether playing at church, a local club, with an orchestra, or with friends at a jazz jam fest. I have 5 basses now - and many of them are "best" suited for different venues/styles/etc. I'm not trying to detract from any of them as I love and play them all regularly. My 1987 Power Jazz Special, however, is always right...no matter what the genre of music or group instrumentation.

This morning I got a phone call from a church needing a bass player at the last minute. I got the call at 9:30 and service started at 10:00. I threw this bass into a gig bag, grabbed my ME-50B and a tube D.I., and made it to the service at 9:54. As always, it played like a dream and felt just like the old friend it has always been.

Just thought I would share some pictures of it with all of you. Mind you, it's been played....a lot....and it's almost 20 years old. I think it's beautiful. Enjoy:

FenderPowerJazz002.jpg


FenderPowerJazz005.jpg


FenderPowerJazz003.jpg


FenderPowerJazz004.jpg
 
#4
It's great to have a bass you can always count on.

Some of my other basses have given me problems, but my Steinberger always plays like a dream, no matter what.

I'll always stray away, and play many other basses, but none will ever be as dependable as my Steinie.
 
#5
Mine is a 1986 Power Jazz Special, and I feel EXACTLY the way you do. I played the bass exclusively from '86 thru '97, when I moved up to a 5 string.

Like yours, mine has some battle scars from a lot of years of working, but she hangs in there beautifully. I have the bass strung with LaBella flats and the tone is amazing :bassist: The best part of this bass is that my wife bought it for me, and despite the fact that I'm now a committed 6 & 7 string guy, the Power Jazz will always be with me ....

here are some pics .... :cool:


mij82005%20body.jpg

mij82005%20head.jpg
 
#6
I have the very same bass, in the very same color! It was my main instrument through the late 80's, and I still use it occassionally, although I use mostly 5's now.

I "upgraded" the electronics way back when to the seymour duncan pickups w/ the 3 tiny white switches on the pickup itself........anyone remember what those pups were called?

I also eliminated the pickup selector switch, the hole now contains a tone control, so my layout is vol-vol-tone-tone.

Great to see someone else feels the same way about "my old friend"! :)
 
#7
Driving to work this AM after the last post, I remembered some more stuff:

the small switch is now the pup selector, the large switch was, but now gone, replaced by a tone knob.

Also, a drop D tuner and a fathead.

This bass is coming out again tonite, I'm realizing i kinda miss it :crying:
 
#12
MrBonex said:
It's always amazing how we overestimate the class of people that hang out in churches. Scuzz is everywhere.:scowl:
Click to expand...

I have always been of the opinion that Church is the best place for sinners. (Don't wait 'til you're clean... Come to get cleaned up!)

Hence, I always keep track of my gear, even (perhaps especially?) at Sunday services.
 
#14
mimaz said:
duh, I get it now, refering to the original bass being stolen from the church. :(
Click to expand...
I learned a fairly valuable lesson. It was actually stolen sometime on a weekday night around 1:00-2:00 a.m. I was very fortunate in that other things were stolen as well, and the church's insurance covered the instrument.

Still would love to have the passive Jazz Special back, however.

Thanks for all the kind words, guys - I really think this is a special instrument.

Jay
 
#15
pointbass said:
Mine is a 1986 Power Jazz Special, and I feel EXACTLY the way you do. I played the bass exclusively from '86 thru '97, when I moved up to a 5 string.

Like yours, mine has some battle scars from a lot of years of working, but she hangs in there beautifully. I have the bass strung with LaBella flats and the tone is amazing :bassist: The best part of this bass is that my wife bought it for me, and despite the fact that I'm now a committed 6 & 7 string guy, the Power Jazz will always be with me ....

here are some pics .... :cool:


mij82005%20body.jpg

mij82005%20head.jpg
Click to expand...
I remember a thread quite a while ago where you showed off this beauty. Kudos to you for keeping it in incredible shape (much better than mine). For some reason, I also like a "non" roundwound string on my instrument - for now I've strung it with D'addario half-rounds - really feel like flats to me, but they seem to work well with the intrinsic voicing of this bass. I'll have to try the LaBella's soon.

Ciao,
Jay
 
#16
vicenzajay said:
I remember a thread quite a while ago where you showed off this beauty. Kudos to you for keeping it in incredible shape (much better than mine)
Click to expand...
No man, that's just a case of very careful photography ;).

She's got a lot of mileage on her, and in person you can see the dings and chips .... that bass worked very hard and she's getting a well deserved rest. But I just subbed for a old classic rock gig a few weeks back and it was my pleasure to be able to use it again at a gig. The bass played and sounded great, as usual .... :cool:
 

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