It had a very distinctive and special smell... and sound
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Nice! Thanks for locating the photos. Love the Sonic Blue! It has a bit more saturation than the faded Sonic Blue of the AVRI series from a few years back. A much more pleasing color IMO. As much as I wanted to like it, the faded Sonic Blue always reminded me of what you get when you wash a white t-shirt with blue jeans.
There’s a guy who sold a Sonic Blue Cunetto here in the TB classified's a few years ago. I was somewhat tempted to purchase it but was a little leary of how quickly he was reselling it. I recognized it as a bass from an online shop I follow due to a wear mark near the bridge. The photos in his advert showed he had added copper shielding in the pickup cavities. But who knows, it could have been a great player.
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Who can help? At the Shop floor traveller, when it says .790 at Neck spec 1st, is that messured with the first fret in the middle of the fretboard? Or without the fret, or at the edge of the fretboard? I've tried a couple of Jazzbasses that stated .970 but were thicker in reality. My Flea sig is .970 including the first fret, but is way flatter than the FCS basses I've tried. Who can tell me what's going on?
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Photo of my Precision CS 1960 from 2020. The difference with my ‘Fiesta Red’ CS 1960 is that I replaced the pickup in this one with a standard Fralin pickup. The fretboard is very dark and she sounds great. Along with TI’s, it growls just as it should.
I always thought the measurement was just in front of the first fret. A majority of the FCS Jazz bass travelers show .790. Most, if not all, of the ‘66 FCS Jazz basses show .810.
Some action with my CS '57. Darkglass Amp sim + Ampeg 810 cab IR and SansAmp plugin through DAW.
I think it's time to properly introduce my 59 P-Bass NOS. I bought it back in February and after playing it now for six months I want to share my impressions. I start with some pics so you can see what I am talking about.
This is my first custom shop bass. I have always wanted to try one but the high price tag was really a problem. In February I happened to find a decent offer below 4K so I decided to pull the trigger. What helped a lot was the fact that it is a NOS one as I am no particular fan of relicing. I was not so sure about the two tone sunburst color but really like it in the meantime.
My expectations were high and when the bass arrived at my home I was really exited. And what a wonderful bass it turned out to be. The neck is 1.75'' wide, wider than all the basses I have played before. But I find it very comfortable to have so much real estate for my fingers especially when I am gripping a chord from time to time. And the 60s oval C shape of the neck is just wonderful. The neck really is key to my love for the bass. Another highlight is the sound. The slightly underwound 59-62 P-pickup gives me the broad and clean sound I love und prefer over the slightly compressed sound of higher wound pickups from later periods.
So does the bass meet all my expectations? Mostly yes but I have found some things that I would not have expected from a bass in this price range. First of all the tuners that were originally mounted were absolutely not up to the standard of a high quality instrument. They were sticky and hard to fine-tune. Following a recommendation in this forum I replaced them with Gotoh GB640N tuners. They are running smooth like a dream and allow much better for fine-tuning. And they brought the weight of the bass just under 4 kg compared to 4,1 kg before.
The other gripe I have is a more cosmetical one but also not what I would have expected. The pickup is not properly aligned with the pickquard and stands tilted forward which looks a little awkward. As it doesn't affect the sound I can life with it. But I am struggling if I should try to correct it. I am afraid to drill new holes for the pickup screws as they might be too close to the faulty ones and I end up with a messy situation.
Perhaps I should live with the small imperfections and see them as part of the Fender vibe
Aside from these little gripes I am very happy with the bass and think I have found 'the' bass for me. It plays wonderfully and the sound is just what I am looking for: a big warm sound that doesn't get muddy and is always perceivable even if I play some more intricate parts. I am not prone to esoteric stuff and so I hesitate to speak of a secret sauce in the custom shop instruments. But my bass definitely delivers more than just the sum of the parts suggested.
This is my first custom shop bass. I have always wanted to try one but the high price tag was really a problem. In February I happened to find a decent offer below 4K so I decided to pull the trigger. What helped a lot was the fact that it is a NOS one as I am no particular fan of relicing. I was not so sure about the two tone sunburst color but really like it in the meantime.
My expectations were high and when the bass arrived at my home I was really exited. And what a wonderful bass it turned out to be. The neck is 1.75'' wide, wider than all the basses I have played before. But I find it very comfortable to have so much real estate for my fingers especially when I am gripping a chord from time to time. And the 60s oval C shape of the neck is just wonderful. The neck really is key to my love for the bass. Another highlight is the sound. The slightly underwound 59-62 P-pickup gives me the broad and clean sound I love und prefer over the slightly compressed sound of higher wound pickups from later periods.
So does the bass meet all my expectations? Mostly yes but I have found some things that I would not have expected from a bass in this price range. First of all the tuners that were originally mounted were absolutely not up to the standard of a high quality instrument. They were sticky and hard to fine-tune. Following a recommendation in this forum I replaced them with Gotoh GB640N tuners. They are running smooth like a dream and allow much better for fine-tuning. And they brought the weight of the bass just under 4 kg compared to 4,1 kg before.
The other gripe I have is a more cosmetical one but also not what I would have expected. The pickup is not properly aligned with the pickquard and stands tilted forward which looks a little awkward. As it doesn't affect the sound I can life with it. But I am struggling if I should try to correct it. I am afraid to drill new holes for the pickup screws as they might be too close to the faulty ones and I end up with a messy situation.
Perhaps I should live with the small imperfections and see them as part of the Fender vibe
Aside from these little gripes I am very happy with the bass and think I have found 'the' bass for me. It plays wonderfully and the sound is just what I am looking for: a big warm sound that doesn't get muddy and is always perceivable even if I play some more intricate parts. I am not prone to esoteric stuff and so I hesitate to speak of a secret sauce in the custom shop instruments. But my bass definitely delivers more than just the sum of the parts suggested.
Anyone else having a hard time adjusting a string action on RDS bridge?
I would like G string to be lower, but it's already as low as it can get (Postmodern P bass).
I would like G string to be lower, but it's already as low as it can get (Postmodern P bass).
New Pino in Da house, not my first one though. But I am still impressed how great it is. It is already my third one and never dissapointed me.
Is the pickguard stock? Looks a lot better than the anaemic tort on my CS basses.
Unfortunately not stock, I do not like their tortoise shell..
Pickguard is Avantguard.
I should check this out. I like Spitfire guards but the one on your bass has real character.
Here are my two FCS basses, back to back.
Kind of a yin yang thing. Both are a joy to play.
Bones
Kind of a yin yang thing. Both are a joy to play.
Bones
My FCS Jazz is a stack knob “1960” with a U-shaped neck that I just LOVE and hand wound pickups that sound amazing.
I wish I could keep the pickup covers on, but I immediately anchor my hand on them and don’t want to develop a reliance on them.
The obligatory FCS decal photo:
I wish I could keep the pickup covers on, but I immediately anchor my hand on them and don’t want to develop a reliance on them.
The obligatory FCS decal photo:
Attachments
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Just had these two cool Jazz Basses in my studio. Couldn't resist not to make a comparasing video.
Thought some of you guys might be interested: I'm selling a practically brand new (one-month old) Custom Shop '64 Precision in Vintage White: https://www.talkbass.com/classifieds/fender-custom-shop-64-precision-basically-brand-new.1659539/
My car needs about $2,500 in repairs
My car needs about $2,500 in repairs
Hey, Custom Shop connoisseurs! I just bought a used CS 1960 Jazz Bass in sunburst from GC. It came without the COA, but it checks out in terms of appearance and features. The serial number doesn't show up on the Fender serial number lookup site, but it's R65XXX. Based on some Internet research, I'm thinking it's a Time Machine model, but I'm not sure. Can anybody help me with an approximate date for an R serial with five digits? Thanks in advance!
