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Fender Japan Double Neck Bass!!!! Seeking info/pics help!!

VillageIdiott

VillageIdiott

Feb 4, 2021
330
799
Eastern Ontario, Canada
#1
I recently bought this amazing bass. I would love to connect with anyone else who has one, has had one, or knows someone who has one!

I know it is made by Fender Japan. I know it is rare. I don't know much else. Any help/info would be appreciated. I am going to keep it and do some upgrades but for now... just enjoy it.

I have spent weeks and weeks scouring the internet for any info. Nothing. I haven't been able to find anything.

Thanks for your help.

By the way, it is very fun to play but heavy as F.

I'll post more pics later.

20210615_182734_HDR.jpg
 
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#4
Perhaps you guys are right.

Fender Japan definitely did make double necks. I have seen a few. They were all Strats though.

The bass in the picture is (in my opinion made by Fender Japan) It has a faded neck stamp on the Jazz neck pocket. I have been around Fender Japan for years. I have owned many Fender Japan strats and basses. I have 1/2 a dozen Fender Japan basses now. The fact that the neck is not stamped on both neck pockets but is definitely stamped on the Jazz suggests that, at least, the body is made by Fender Japan. The stamp is quite faded but definitely consistent with my other Fender Japan basses.

At least one of the necks has been swapped for sure. One is Crafted in Japan (the rosewood neck) and the other is Made in Japan. The stamp in the pocket matches the Made in Japan neck from what I can tell.

Actually, I have never seen a fretless UNMARKED PBass neck in Japan either. I guess there may be a few out there but I haven't seen one.

I used to live in Japan and spent quite a few years living there and collecting guitars/basses.

My long term goal is to swap the bridges to better Fender ones and perhaps find another Made in Japan neck for it as that is what it would have been built with (if it is actually a Fender Japan bass).

Just some thoughts.
 
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#5
Gorn said:
I'd be very surprised if that was put together by Fender Japan and not some guy somewhere.
Click to expand...

Maybe made by John Fendar?

Seems really odd that anything coming out of the Japanese shops, which have a reputation for attention to detail would have mismatched hardware and whatever is going on with that finish.

...By the way, what's going on with that finish? What do you call that 'style' burst?
 
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#9
I'd think if a company went to the trouble of designing a double neck body, they would design a proper pickguard and not use what appears to be two separate pickguards. That body design just seems off as a design. I'll buy 1/2 of it coming out of Fender Japan. It just has that feel of two separate bodies being joined together. Makes me think the poor finish down the middle is hiding the join. Hard to be certain based on the one picture and not disassembling the bass itself.
 
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#11
But I agree with the issue of the pickguard. Perhaps it was a FJ Jazz bass and someone made a PBass fit.

Although, that said, I think it would be very difficult to get a sheet of pickguard material long enough to cut the full PBass shape and also wide enough for the width of the PBass and JBass together. I have been trying to source a large sheet for myself to make one for this bass and I can't find anyone with sheets large enough.

If anyone knows of a place to source a large sheet, I would appreciate any info.
 
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#12
VillageIdiott said:
Fender Japan definitely made bodies joined in the middle. I have seen several in my days. Link Removed

View attachment 4303524
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I don't think anyone is doubting that Fender made double necked instruments. That in itself doesn't necessarily make this one of them though.


Jazz4Me said:
I'd think if a company went to the trouble of designing a double neck body, they would design a proper pickguard and not use what appears to be two separate pickguards. That body design just seems off as a design. I'll buy 1/2 of it coming out of Fender Japan. It just has that feel of two separate bodies being joined together. Makes me think the poor finish down the middle is hiding the join. Hard to be certain based on the one picture and not disassembling the bass itself.
Click to expand...

Agree. That finish job with the black running down the center looks like a spray-cover of a seam. Sort of how they covered laminate bodies by liberal use of the black around the arm relief, etc. Also, the controls for the two instruments aren't necessarily what you'd do if you were planning this out.
 
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#16
VillageIdiott said:
But I agree with the issue of the pickguard. Perhaps it was a FJ Jazz bass and someone made a PBass fit.

Although, that said, I think it would be very difficult to get a sheet of pickguard material long enough to cut the full PBass shape and also wide enough for the width of the PBass and JBass together. I have been trying to source a large sheet for myself to make one for this bass and I can't find anyone with sheets large enough.

If anyone knows of a place to source a large sheet, I would appreciate any info.
Click to expand...
Try some trophy making shops. They have a similar b/w/b layered plastic that is pretty close to pick guard material.
 
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#18
mikeswals said:
That is a straight-up lefty neck, complete with upside down logo.
This was not made at the factory
Click to expand...

Yes, that neck is definitely a swap. I knew that before buying the bass. Earlier in the thread I mentioned that one neck is a CIJ and the other is MIJ. Since these were made in different factories by different companies, I figured one was a swap. I will keep the rosewood neck I think and find a similar aged replacement from Fender Japan for the fretted neck.
 

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