Here is my review of my brand-new bass:
Features
The innovations on this instrument are relatively minor. For one, the body cavity is already shielded (sorry, not opening it up for pics just yet) out of the box. The pickups have staggered pole pieces and are remarkably quiet. It sports a stunning Lake Placid Blue finish (which is sort of like a toned down version of the blue-flake finish seen on flashier instruments aimed at the glam-metal market), seldom available on Fender basses in recent years. The pickguard is I believe a 3-ply parchment/black/parchment material, basically a matte white as far as I can tell (would look nice with white pickup covers; in fact, I just ordered a set). The logo is also a bit different. The "Fender" name is back to the 70s dimensions (cool), but the word "Jazz Bass" is small, too small if you ask me. And the notation "Made in Mexico" is gone, leaving the headstock looking a mite uncomfortably bare in my opinion.
Also remarkable is the availability of a maple fingerboard and the use of satin urethane for the finish instead of gloss. Nut and bridge appear to be standard-issue but time will tell. The electronics are unusually quiet for a Jazz Bass, I couldn't get it to crackle or produce hum or buzz no matter what I did or how high I cranked it!
Sound
I was both intrigued and a little disappointed by the sound of this bass plugged in. The tone is remarkably clean. You can really solo either pickup or blend them with no penalty in noise. The neck pickup is rich sounding and low, while the bridge pickup has some of the snarl and sparkle that Jazzes are known for. Yet it somehow lacks some of that J-Bass growl, at least in the few hours I have played this thing. I will send the jury back out because I'm not sure if this bass needs new pickups or not. Sounds very nice acoustically. In the hands of a TBer, I can see lots of people dropping DiMarzio Model Js, Nordstands, and '62 Original Jazz pickups in this thing to get the sound they really want. Haven't peeked inside the cavity yet, but I'll be darned if the pots are not excellent and the wiring flawless because this thing is dead quiet.
Playability
The neck is far and away the best thing about this bass, although as typical with MIM Fenders there's some "fret sprout" on the lower side of the neck that will scrape your palms a bit. This can be fixed, however. The satin finish is lighter than the usual poly one, and some, like myself, like the feeling of this. It's closer to raw wood, though clearly not raw wood (in fact, I at first thought it's laminate maple with a picture of a piece of maple photographed and printed along the top, but now I'm pretty sure each one is a unique piece of real wood). The body is nicely weighted alder, neither too light nor too heavy. Overall this thing has really nice "snap". The medium-jumbo frets (there are 20 of them) feel about the right size to me: not so big as to preclude low action, but not so small as to make slap-style sounds difficult to achieve (provided you have the chops).
Verdict (Tentative)
I really like this bass, although I'm a little concerned about the lack of immediate Jazziness to its tone. Perhaps in time I will discover it anew, especially when played with new strings and through a real gig-rig or into a mixer. Overall, though, for $550 plus tax, this bass represents a very good value. It's a serviceable instrument that should be able to handle studio and live gigs rather well. And for those who have been hungering for maple fingerboards on middle-range (or, if you exclude Squiers, essentially entry-level) Fender basses, your day has arrived!
