I had the opportunity to play a new Jaco fretless recently and really liked it. Does anyone know if these have a nitrocellulose or poly finish?
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Fender Jaco Pastorius Jazz Bass
- Thread starter Bassoballs
- Start date
AFAIK there are a few versions... a CS and a standard IIRC...
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Seems legit. The CS is nitro... no details on the standard... I'd say it's a regular poly finish!
RRJackson
Commercial User
Has anyone played the Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Bass Fretless? Cause that plastic "Ebonol" fretboard sounds a LOT like an epoxied fretboard to me. Of course the no-pickguard sunburst thing makes me think they're trying for a cheapie Jaco-ish option, but it's funny 'cause the el cheapo sounds more like Jaco's tone than the expensive signature bass does, IMO. YMMV.
-Rob
-Rob
I used to own the Squier vm fretless. In fact, I called it "Jaco Jr". And it was a decent bass for the money, but I had such a hard time with fretless, so I let it go. Sure, there's tons of ways I could've modded it, but those options would have cost 2 to 3 times as much as the bass did. And I just don't see the logic behind doing that.
I have one and I call it 'Jaco Jr' (I'm clearly not the only one). It actually sounds great with the SD-designed pick-ups and the neck feels great. Unfortunately, the neck on mine may also be fubared (terrible rattle and splat in places, especially above the octave, despite high-ish action). I haven't taken it in for an adjustment yet. If the neck is toast on mine I'm going to replace it with a Warmoth neck. Regardless, for the money I absolutely dig it.
The answer to the original question is yes, nitro finish both on the artist model and the custom shop relic.
RRJackson
Commercial User
I couldn't really see much that needed modding. The pickups sounded good. I might have put a Badass II bridge on it, but other than that it seemed pretty nice. Particularly for a dirt-cheap bass made out of some kind of New Zealand evergreen with a plastic fretboard. But of course Jaco got his sound by slathering boat epoxy over the fretboard, which essentially made it into a plastic surface, too.
RRJackson
Commercial User
I certainly wasn't knocking the work done on the "official" Jaco basses, but it seems like they focused on building a very nice bass and didn't really focus on what gave Jaco his synth-y sound.
I remember a lot of people grabbing Pedulla basses when the Buzz first came out because it was (as far as I know) the first bass that you could buy off the shelf that had a hard, slick finish on the fretboard that made that sound. This "Ebonol" stuff comes pretty close.
It would be cool if you could order the "Official" Jaco basses with an epoxy job on the fretboard, but there's always Kevin Kaufman. I wonder how many of the signature Fenders have ended up in his shop.
-Rob
Not to digress, but the Pedulla Buzz and the Jaco tribute fretless bass, are they similar in tone?
RRJackson
Commercial User
No, the Pedulla sounds like Jaco's bass.
Sorry, had to go with that zinger. Unplugged the Pedulla has that singing Jaco-ish tone, but they use active pickups and so plugged in they sound a little too hi-fi for Jaco, IMO. And they're too expensive to just gut one and install passive electronics.
-Rob
RRJackson said:
Kevin Kaufman has a shop and does sound systems up in Lake Worth, Florida and was Jaco's bass tech and did most of his work on his basses. Really nice guy and a whizz for all things bass and sound! I believe he rebuilt the heavily damaged Bass of Doom.
Aside from some sort of high mass bridge, I'd have put a set of nordstrand NJ4SEs in there. Excellent tone, lower mid boost, highs are cut a tad, but the harmonics ring out nice. Maybe cap it off with some DR nickel low riders. THAT would make it a real Jaco Jr.
