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American Vintage '62 Jazz Bass

K

KerryWood

Feb 22, 2009
44
1
#1
I have a possibility to buy a brand new Fender American Vintage '62 Jazz Bass for $1200.-.

My questions: It the reissue better than the neu American Standard Jazz (+/- the same price). What's the quality/playability of the neck? How is the tone?

I have/play the vintage '62 Preci and vintage '57 Preci and both are wonderful instruments...

Any comment is welcome...

Thanks a lot, Kerry
 
#2
They will sound differnt as I believe the pick ups are spaced diferently on the 62RI vs the new MIA Jazzes. The rave over the new 08+ MIA Jazzes is overwhelming. Seach the forums and you will see many a thread on theses and how great they are. I love mine and I wouldn't even dream of using another bass.
 
#5
Yeah the spacing is the same. As far as I'm aware they have different pickups. The vintage likely has vintage spec wound pickups. The Standards have a thin coat of Poly lacquer, whereas the vintage has a nitrocellulose lacquer.

The neck on the vintage is going to have a steeper radius, meaning the top of the fretboard will be rounder than the 08 standard. Significantly at that. Standard radius is 9.5 and the vintage is likely a 7.5 radius. YMMV. More modern basses tend to go in the range of like 10.5 and up.

Vintage has old style bridge, Standard has newer, more mass bridge. Essentially it makes the Standard less susceptible to neck dive and makes the Standard have a slightly more modern sound compared to the vintage style.

Standard has medium jumbo frets, vintage has lower profile frets typical to the vintage fender basses.

Bottom line is they are both great. Just depends on what you prefer as far as feel and sound go. They are the same and not the same all at the same time. :ninja:
 
#7
I love tweed cases (hate plastic ones), and I like all my Fenders to have their chrome covers. So my taste would be the 62RI, and I've loved all one the ones I had. I also love the darker sound from the stack knob layout over the 3 knob layout.

The Am Std are great players though. Both are great playing instruments.
 
#8
I found myself in this same boat last year trying to decide what Jazz bass I wanted and ended up with the AV 62 reissue. Love that bass! Mine has LaBella 760FL flats and really delivers that old school tone I was looking for. I'll never need another Jazz bass.

But you may prefer the new American Standards -- which also rock. Try a few and see what sound you like and that's the one for you. There is no "right" answer to your query.
 

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