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6 string Fender jazz

#4
Fender usually has some 6s on display at NAMM, although they are not exactly jazz basses (this pic is from a couple years ago):
fender_sixes.jpg
 
#7
a few weeks ago at nh bass fest steve bailey came a day early and we talked to him about the steve bailey coustom fender jazz bass fretless 6 he said that they were making one for him and they would be mass producing them when they got it tweaked just right

(he played a portotype in the master class lab and his concert that night)
 
#10
I've been waiting for a fretted Fender 6-string Jazz for years. I hope they do it right when/if they start making one. I'll take a 3tone sb one in simple alder without all the fancy woods thank you. Maple/rosewood flat neck, 17 mm spacing @ the traditonal style bridge and J style pu's please.
 
#16
mark beem said:
I'd rather have a Low End Jazz.. ;)

http://www.lowendbasses.com/

Check this one out!

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Not a 6er, but she's HOT!!!
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I also wouldn't mind an LEJ 6 or 7 some day.

Not to bash Fender, but sometimes it's best to stick with a manufacturer/luthier who has been in the 6 string dept. for a while. What kind of spacing and/or back profile will they use?? Will it be comfortable?? Will the low B be any better??
 
#17
spade2you said:
I also wouldn't mind an LEJ 6 or 7 some day.

Not to bash Fender, but sometimes it's best to stick with a manufacturer/luthier who has been in the 6 string dept. for a while. What kind of spacing and/or back profile will they use?? Will it be comfortable?? Will the low B be any better??
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First of all, the Fender 6's in the pic come out of the CS. So, bashing them doesn't make much sense; they usually turn out a fairly reliable instrument. But, they aren't really production instruments.

I have played one of those and actually was gawking at it again yesterday when I swung by GC where it lives. IME, it is a VERY serviceable 6 that I would be totally comfortable doing gigs with. The B is tight, the electronics package and pups are versatile with most of the useable stuff in there. String spacing is a tad on the tight side, which I'm OK with; but, if you are stuck on tradional J string spacing, you wouldn't like it. The neck is fine, but the heel block is massive; which I again don't care about, but some might.

OTOH, I believe the list is something like $7300 and they are trying to get a little over $5k for it. Out of my price range, considering there are some outstanding 6's on the used market in the $2k range. But, it does say Fender on the headstock.

All that said, a Fender J will always be a 4 to me. With all due respect to the attempts at 5's and 6's, the feel of the instrument can be close, but is never the real deal to me. Doesn't mean I don't like 'em, just not the same.
 
#18
bucephylus said:
First of all, the Fender 6's in the pic come out of the CS. So, bashing them doesn't make much sense; they usually turn out a fairly reliable instrument. But, they aren't really production instruments.

I have played one of those and actually was gawking at it again yesterday when I swung by GC where it lives. IME, it is a VERY serviceable 6 that I would be totally comfortable doing gigs with. The B is tight, the electronics package and pups are versatile with most of the useable stuff in there. String spacing is a tad on the tight side, which I'm OK with; but, if you are stuck on tradional J string spacing, you wouldn't like it. The neck is fine, but the heel block is massive; which I again don't care about, but some might.

OTOH, I believe the list is something like $7300 and they are trying to get a little over $5k for it. Out of my price range, considering there are some outstanding 6's on the used market in the $2k range. But, it does say Fender on the headstock.

All that said, a Fender J will always be a 4 to me. With all due respect to the attempts at 5's and 6's, the feel of the instrument can be close, but is never the real deal to me. Doesn't mean I don't like 'em, just not the same.
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Hmmmmm, not exactly a glowing review. For 5k, there are plenty of companies who have been making some killer sixers with variable specs for many years. Ya kinda want things to be right for that price. When you start making the neck wider, certain tricks are needed for the bass to be comfortable.
 
#19
I got a chance to mess around on a Fender Custom Shop 6 string similiar to the one owned by the bassist of Animal Ant Farm. I was at the 2003 Summer NAMM. I wasn't all that impressed. The bass felt okay but was sort of bulky. Definitly not worth the $8500.00 (list) dollar price tag IMO.

The thought going through my mind was "Why would Fender even build a 6 string?" There were a lot of great playing much less expensive sixer's on the market back then.

All that being said I do have Heartfield 6 string. Heartfield was a Japanese line that Fender ran from 1991 to 1994. Actually I have two Heartfield basses a 5 and a 6 string. They are my main two basses that I use.


Just a quick note: Steve Bailey played Heartfield basses in the early 90's when he first popped into magazine ads endorsing Pearce two channel pre-amps (Pre Bass Extremes). I have a frontline type Fender catalog that he autographed for me in 1996. He was in ad holding a cherry sunburst DR-6C neck-thru 6 string with the Fender name on it instead of Heartfield. I don't think they made many if any production "Fender" DR-6C model basses.
 

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