Got my Classic 70's Jazz back from the shop today. It's a 2008, and I picked it up pretty darn cheap ($350) from a guy moving out of town and needed some cash. It has a few bumps and bruises, but I love the neck profile and the way it feels, and the thing sounds surprisingly good and the low E is really fat and growly with both pickups.
I caught some flak from other members here for getting an MIM bass PLEK'd in a previous NBD thread, but I say why the heck would I continue to have a bass that isn't set up to play it's best? The bass had a bit of a ramp in the higher frets and was getting some fret buzz though the amp, and couldn't get the action and set-up where I wanted it before the PLEK. Took a chance and the PLEK solved the problem, the bass still sounds great, and now it plays wonderfully, and given what I paid for the bass plus the PLEK, I'm in it for around what one of these usually goes for used, actually probably less.
Another thing people don't realize or are aware of is most production made guitars and basses are not fret leveled, crowned and polished from the factory (Mim Standards, American Standards, American Professionals, American Originals, American Elites, etc.) It's a roll of the dice as some are better than others, but depending on a players preferred set-up, most would benefit of a level, crown and polish.
Either way, this is a surprisingly killer bass. Really chunky neck, binding and inlays with great pickups that sound better than the several other J's I've tried to like recently including a G&l Tribute JB-2, two American Professional Jazz basses and an older Road Worn Jazz.
It's average weight at 9.2lbs, but some may actually consider this lightweight given it's a "Classic 70's Jazz", and we all know that many of the real 70's Jazz basses were boat anchors.
Like any instrument, you have to evaluate them all individually and there are good, great and not so great examples of every model at every price range, but this one really is nice, and for what I paid for the bass plus the PLEK, I'd say it's a darn good value. Currently strung with GHS Boomers 45-105, and the only other thing I did was replace the stock white pickguard with a $10 aftermarket tort pcikguard, and it resides in a new Fender case that I kept when I sold one of the previous American Pro Jazz basses I had before.
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I caught some flak from other members here for getting an MIM bass PLEK'd in a previous NBD thread, but I say why the heck would I continue to have a bass that isn't set up to play it's best? The bass had a bit of a ramp in the higher frets and was getting some fret buzz though the amp, and couldn't get the action and set-up where I wanted it before the PLEK. Took a chance and the PLEK solved the problem, the bass still sounds great, and now it plays wonderfully, and given what I paid for the bass plus the PLEK, I'm in it for around what one of these usually goes for used, actually probably less.
Another thing people don't realize or are aware of is most production made guitars and basses are not fret leveled, crowned and polished from the factory (Mim Standards, American Standards, American Professionals, American Originals, American Elites, etc.) It's a roll of the dice as some are better than others, but depending on a players preferred set-up, most would benefit of a level, crown and polish.
Either way, this is a surprisingly killer bass. Really chunky neck, binding and inlays with great pickups that sound better than the several other J's I've tried to like recently including a G&l Tribute JB-2, two American Professional Jazz basses and an older Road Worn Jazz.
It's average weight at 9.2lbs, but some may actually consider this lightweight given it's a "Classic 70's Jazz", and we all know that many of the real 70's Jazz basses were boat anchors.
Like any instrument, you have to evaluate them all individually and there are good, great and not so great examples of every model at every price range, but this one really is nice, and for what I paid for the bass plus the PLEK, I'd say it's a darn good value. Currently strung with GHS Boomers 45-105, and the only other thing I did was replace the stock white pickguard with a $10 aftermarket tort pcikguard, and it resides in a new Fender case that I kept when I sold one of the previous American Pro Jazz basses I had before.
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