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fender J-P 90 whats the deal ?

#22
I found this old post. I have been playing gigging and recording with a JP 90 for years.I have a usa p and j bass the j is fret less.But I will admit when I go out the door to play the JP is in my hand....JMO I would sell my P or J before my JP 90
 
#23
Necroing just to put in my 2 cents.

My first bass was a JP-90; very workman like in my opinion. Decent Fender-y tones, Jazz style neck, pickguard is ugly as sin (though mine was black on black and didn't look *too* bad.)

Necks are prone to warping, per some other forums; mine is BEAD and has been bent a bit as a result, so...yeah don't BEAD them.

All in all, they're really solid instruments, especially for the price. If you want to pick up a bass for a nephew or something, and see one for $200 its a substantially better buy than an off rack Squier.
 
#25
Hello all! Found this Zombie thread. I have a JP-90 red with black pickguard. My serial number puts production year 1990. I bought it used in 1997 for $300.00. It has a ding in the body, bottom edge. No big deal. I changed the pickups, a Fender 59 original p-bass and a Fender vintage jazz pickup. Mine has two volume and one tone knob. I have not seen another one of these with this setup. All have a pickup selector switch, 3 position. Put a Badass II bridge on her. I put GHS Bass Boomers 95's. The neck is skinny and did not want to put a lot of stress on it.I like light gauge strings anyway. I still have it and it sounds awesome. I won't ever get rid of it being it was one of my first basses. It is light weight do to the popular body. Buy one if you can find one cheap. You won't regret it!! PEACE!!!!:)
 
#26
I played a good amount of fender basses over the past few days including a black on black JP90 at a local shop. The bass caught my eye. They are somewhat odd looking but with a unique appeal. It was an American made Fender that I had never seen before. It was fairly light weight and played as well as it could with the dead strings that were on it.

I also played a few Indonesian Squiers (new models)... Honestly the build quality and playability of the Indo basses was significantly better than the old "oddball" USA JP90.
 
#28
I traded for one earlier this year. I have a white with black pg. Pretty much stock except the knobs. It's a heck of a player as it has been pretty well maintained throughout the years, very happy with it. As D_Bag above, I've gotten to actually like the funky pickguard on it. I know you can get custom pickguards for it, but I kind of like the reverse tuxedo look on mine.
Fantastic deal if you can get one for a good price. My out of pocket cost (considering the cost of the bass I traded) was $280.
Picture of the JP with her sisters...Actually the "odd" one out in the pic is a better player than either one of the MIM basses. Also better than any Squier CV or VM basses I initially wanted to buy too. Make sure you find one with a good neck though.

Screen shot 2014-09-01 at 12.40.33 AM.png
 
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#29
I had a JP90 for a number of years. The neck felt really good but had 3 bad dead spots, probably due to the smaller headstock. My understanding is the JP90 was assembled in the U.S. of MIM body wood(poplar) and Asian hardware. I don't know the origin of the hybrid magnet pickups to this day, but I doubt Fender spent money to tool up for a whole 3 years to make them.
 
#31
A question for JP-90 owners: a lot of people talk about how skinny the necks are on these basses, but the specs I've seen list the JP-90 as having a 1.65" nut width.

Do the JPs actually have a Jazz neck, or is it just a thinner (shallow?) P-neck?
 
#33
Charley Umbria said:
A question for JP-90 owners: a lot of people talk about how skinny the necks are on these basses, but the specs I've seen list the JP-90 as having a 1.65" nut width.

Do the JPs actually have a Jazz neck, or is it just a thinner (shallow?) P-neck?
Click to expand...
It does feels like a jazz neck. Not anything like the p-neck. I think of it as a poor-man's Aerodyne with a funky pickguard yet made in the USA. :)

SanDiegoHarry said:
Good basses - a kind of budget version of the flagship P or J, but well made and very suitable for upgrade/customization (the bones are solid, if you follow). Just don't let someone tell you they are "vintage"!
Click to expand...

I agree...if you can find them, they're excellent basses to customize. Wolfman has an awesome JP-90.
 
#34
Lofreqwenc said:
Wanna hear something funny? If Geddy Lee played a wash bucket up side down with a stick and string attached to it and got good tone out of it. Everyone would want one! Talk about ugly as sin!!
Click to expand...

Yeah, they ain't pretty... but as has been said - tweak & peak it and you have a very cool bass. I'd put a nicer pickguard, good p'ups & preamp and have a *kill* PJ with a fast neck at a bargain price. What's not to like?
 
#35
SanDiegoHarry said:
Yeah, they ain't pretty... but as has been said - tweak & peak it and you have a very cool bass. I'd put a nicer pickguard, good p'ups & preamp and have a *kill* PJ with a fast neck at a bargain price. What's not to like?
Click to expand...
Just played one yesterday. I really loved the tone. Body had some dings, but liked the tone more than the MIM jazz. 359, but no case. Great sound, ugly pick guard.
 
#37
My favorite MIA Fender in the stable. Nothing not to like on them, as far as I'm concerned. I also have a 2004 MIM Jazz with an Alder body. I can hardly bear playing standing up with the Jazz now because it's so much heavier than the JP-90. Just a great axe. Like Scott, I paid $400 for mine but it's in excellent condition with only very minor dings & scratches.

Where are some people getting the notion that the JP-90 has no body contours and/or sharp edges? It's a contoured Jazz body. Of the 3 colors I am partial to the red-and-black color scheme.
Fender JP-90 Bass.JPG
 
#38
I traded my 1984 MIJ Squier P-Bass for a Red MIA JP-90 back in 1989. Big mistake in retrospect. While I loved the look and J-Bass contoured neck of the JP-90, it was a rare instance where the MIJ model played and sounded better than the MIA model. I was still learning back then. I ended up giving the JP-90 to my older brother as a gift a few years later. Unfortunately the JP-90 along with my brother's home fell victim to Hurricane Katrina in the mid-2000s. Major bummer.
 
#39
My first bass, good bass, amazing tone. After the upgrade even better.

- Fender Precision Bass Pickups - Original Vintage Design
- Single Super 55 Split Coils Jazz Bass Bridge Pickup
- Leo Quan Badass II bass bridge (with grooved saddles)
- New pickguard

I'm very happy with the results, sounds and looks amazing.

Fender%252520JP-90%252520%25252790.jpg
 
#40
I was given a red JP-90 a couple of years ago. It has served me well, but the neck needed to be adjusted which was done by a friend of mine that is also a bass player. Today was the first time I played it after being repaired and it was much more of a pleasure to play.
 

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