Fender Japan Info

[boyet]

If price is going to be the basis of comparison, I'd go with MIJ. I used to own a MIA Jazz and I am not satisfied with the quality especially with the wood. Yes they do have better hardware but the wood on MIJ basses are way better.

 

[grenadilla]

Yepper: P-Bass with blocks has me all tingly! Thanks for clarifying. Probably buying one very soon.

On my blue Jaguar, the blocks look good. Now I am wanting that Precision with blocks and binding. I wish it had a Badass like the Getty Lee Jazz Bass.

 

[Johnny Alien]

The MIJ line is a little difficult to work out. Not only do they have top, bottom, and middle level instruments, they also have lines that are export and non-export. Generally speaking - their bottom of the line basses are basswood, the better ones are alder and top of the range have "American Vintage" pickups.... which is marketing speak for god knows what.

There are some rules of thumb when shopping for used MIJ - the larger plated tuners are the usually the alder instruments, smaller ones (similar to that of the HWY 1) are basswood..... but there are exceptions to this, particularly in the 90s.

Fender was pretty much blown away by copies coming out of Japan in the late 70's and in 80/81 contracted FugiGen to start putting Fender stickers on what were previously Fernandes/Tokai/etc... Early 80's Fender in the US was a strange time. They were making outstanding reissues of their 60's instruments (Fullerton RI's), but the 'Standard' line was an excercise in cost cutting - quality nowhere near what was coming out of the Japanese factories... (IMO)

IMO a great way to judge the quality of a bass is by looking at the at the maple woodgrain in the neck. The higher graded wood reflects on the standards employed by the company at the time of manufacture. Good quality maple has a fine grain texture to it that sometimes goes flame or birdseye. Have a close look at a Musicman neck compared to a Fender MIM and you'll see what I mean. 80's MIJ instruments are sought after but IMO early 90's basses seem even better.

Great post.

 

[GreenWithEnvy]

I understand the concern about buying a bass and then immediately modding everything. Why don't you just buy that bass you want without having to mod it? But I still see used MIJ reissues going for around 500 bucks in great colors, in alder, with decent hardware. You can replace the guts for less than 100 bucks (if you want to) and have a spectacular bass for 600 bucks. When I see a reissue on eBay for 5 or under, and especially when it's in CAR or some other great color, I'm always tempted to buy another one, but I need another one like a hole in the head. But my point is, it's a great value.

 

[bobm2112]

I just got a CIJ 62 RI P-Bass last week. Couldnt be happier with the look, sound, feel. Serial # tells me it was made 94-95

 

[Masashi is God]

I have a Fender Jaguar Bass and the only issue that I have is grounding. After completely shielding the bass, it is now dead quiet. The neck is absolutely perfect for my feel and I can set the action really low. I think overall, MIJ's, qualitywise are just as good or even better than MIA's.

Ditto here. Way happy after a few hours shielding and soldering my jag.

 

[garp]

I played, and now YEARN for a MIJ 75RI Jazz.

I’ve got one in the natural finish. It’s a very tasty instrument. I had always wanted a Jazz with a maple fretboard with pearloid blocks, but that permutation isn’t available on the American Vintage '75 Jazz, so I went for the MIJ instead. I wasn’t disappointed in the least.