Yep, real flame maple tops/veneers. The are all over the place in terms of character/quality of the grain. If buying one, make sure your seller shows your pics of the ACTUAL bass you are wanting to purchase, and not just stock photos. Japanese eBay resellers are notorious about this.
Yes. So very yes.
Correct. You don't know/notice on the Celeste Blue where it bursts to a solid color, but it's obvious on the Aquamarine, Red Beryl, and Sunset Orange. It's not a thick cap like some guitars use, but at least they did do a good job making the veneer continue through the arm contour.
Pretty well right out of the box for the two I got. I may take my Aquamarine in to my tech Bro to have him look at maybe a fret level and/or pitch/shim. I'm getting just a little bit of choking out when I'm digging in around frets 13-17ish and the A and D strings. My attempts to quash it with saddle adjustments while keeping it at a reasonable action aren't successful thus far. This doesn't matter for 95% of my playing, but it's an annoyance for that other 5%. Adjusting the truss rod doesn't really matter this far up on the neck.
I've never had tall narrow frets on a bass before, and I kinda like 'em. I'm not terribly heavy with my left hand fretting, so pitch isn't noticeably affected, and vibrato feels smooth and glassy. Very nice.
Nope. Gotta buy from Japanese dealers like Ikebe (where I got my Celeste Blue model) or eBay resellers (where I got the Aquamarine, as Ikebe was OOS on that one when I was ready to buy)
I mean... he's not wrong. These are the 5th and 6th new Fender Japan models I've gotten in the past 2 years and they are fantastic. I only wish they had used the bridges from the American Pro line like they have on the some of the other stuff they've done recently. No biggie, just a personal preference. I think they just look nicer/classier on fancy finishes like these.
Here are my pair. They are both towards the top of my cast of "regulars" in the playing rotation. I really dig the pickups. They sound like Jazzes. Not overly peaky in any specific EQ region/overly voiced. They respond with great dynamic and range to attack/technique adjustments. Zero noise with both pickups on full, for both guitars. The two white and seafoam green basses hiding in the background are the Fender Japan Aerodyne Special P, Elemental J, and Jino Signature J.
They do, however, sound just a little different from each other. The Aquamarine is a little darker/smoother overall, while the Celeste with the maple board is a little more snappy & bright. I'm not jumping heavy in the tonewood debate here, but I will say it's an interesting data point in that both of these are the same models with the same hardware, electronics, pickup height-to-strings, and very close to the same setup, made in the same factory in a similar window of time. It's not so big of a difference that a smol adjustment of amp EQ can't make them just about indistinguishable, but it's there and I like it.
If anything, I might change the pickups on the Aquamarine out to some Fralins or Kloppmanns one day to really go for a thick vintage vibe. I like the brightness of the Celeste just the way it is and don't want to mess with it. I already have another (more bland looking) J that sounds just like the Aquamarine, so it's the perfect one to tinker with.
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