Fender Japan is gone :(

[JonW]

Hi Guys,

Well, I’m at home, but the bass is still in the box. We just had a death in the family, a few hours ago. Not someone so close to me that I’m getting on a plane tomorrow to be with the family. Although I’m thinking about it, even though they said not to come. But we lost a really good guy. I wasn’t too sad yet until I heard the Jon Brion song that nerkoids posted. (I have always liked Jon Brion.) Anyways, opening up a new toy just doesn’t feel right tonight. So I’ll post later about how the bass looks and plays. Sorry about the delay. I will report back, with lots of impressions and photos.

 

[Malak the Mad]

Hi Guys,

Well, I’m at home, but the bass is still in the box. We just had a death in the family, a few hours ago. Not someone so close to me that I’m getting on a plane tomorrow to be with the family. Although I’m thinking about it, even though they said not to come. But we lost a really good guy. I wasn’t too sad yet until I heard the Jon Brion song that nerkoids posted. (I have always liked Jon Brion.) Anyways, opening up a new toy just doesn’t feel right tonight. So I’ll post later about how the bass looks and plays. Sorry about the delay. I will report back, with lots of impressions and photos.

Aww man, that sucks. I'm really sorry to hear about your loss. Do what you've got to do and get back to us when it feels right, 'kay?

In the meantime, I'm gonna smack @nerkoids upside the back of the head, left-handed (he's a lefty, so I don't think he'll see it coming ), for making you sad. And on that note, want me to take down the Gary Jules vid? I'll do it in a heartbeat.

 

[nerkoids]

Hi Guys,

Well, I’m at home, but the bass is still in the box. We just had a death in the family, a few hours ago. Not someone so close to me that I’m getting on a plane tomorrow to be with the family. Although I’m thinking about it, even though they said not to come. But we lost a really good guy. I wasn’t too sad yet until I heard the Jon Brion song that nerkoids posted. (I have always liked Jon Brion.) Anyways, opening up a new toy just doesn’t feel right tonight. So I’ll post later about how the bass looks and plays. Sorry about the delay. I will report back, with lots of impressions and photos.

Oh.

I'm sorry to make you sad, man. Kinda makes my longing for a CiJ or MiJ look really trite and insignificant. My sincerest condolences. Hopefully, by the time you read this message, you'll feel a little better.

Aside from enjoying his music, I have immense respect for Jon Brion. He's like my generation's Ennio Morricone.

 

[steelbed45]

Customs usually only takes a few hours but it depends on the time of day when it arrives there. You are getting VERY CLOSE NOW!

No change in status - this could take awhile. My "new bass" anticipation is gone, but I'm still digging the other thread and will post when/if it arrives.

 

[JonW]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the thoughts. You know, that Jon Brion sad song was just perfect to hear the other night. I listened to it several times, 2 or 3 hours after I got the news. And it helped crystallize how I was feeling at the time. Sad music has many purposes and I would not want to live in a world without it. The Tears for Fears cover is very nice, but has never striken me as particularly sad, even though the lyrics are not uplifting.

So last night I had a little chance to open up the package with my bass inside. I will make a whole thread about it. But here is the short version: Wow! I was not expecting anything this nice.

It’s almost perfect. The only thing that is not perfect is that I also have the extra pickguard holes that GG7 found. Maybe it’s a vintage thing or something? It’s fixed easily. Or left as is because it doesn’t really bother me, although I am curious as to their origins. That one teeny thing aside, I’d call the bass stunningly perfect. I didn't know that they came this nice.

The nitro finish is amazing and perfect. It feels sublime and luxurious. It shines. I think that it's the nitro that really brings it all together and elevates the bass into the "wow" category. My wife, who doesn’t play an instrument, was with me when I opened it up. She was amazed. I tried to give it to her to hold (I want to convince her to play) and she wouldn’t dare touch it, given how impressive the thing is.

Here are a couple quick cell phone shots. I’ll get out the real camera later, maybe this weekend. I ended up playing the bass for an hour, which came out of sleep time. It was either play the bass for the first time or take good photos for you monkeys. So you guys lost this round. Real photos in the coming days.

 

[GG7]

No change in status - this could take awhile. My "new bass" anticipation is gone, but I'm still digging the other thread and will post when/if it arrives.

Don't be surprised if your bass shows up while the tracking info still shows it inbound! Two of my JB62SS coming via Japan Post EMS still showed the guitar in Customs the day they arrived at my local USPS office. They don't always update that tracking status as often as you would assume or prefer.

 

[GG7]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the thoughts. You know, that Jon Brion sad song was just perfect to hear the other night. I listened to it several times, 2 or 3 hours after I got the news. And it helped crystallize how I was feeling at the time. Sad music has many purposes and I would not want to live in a world without it. The Tears for Fears cover is very nice, but has never striken me as particularly sad, even though the lyrics are not uplifting.

So last night I had a little chance to open up the package with my bass inside. I will make a whole thread about it. But here is the short version: Wow! I was not expecting anything this nice.

It’s almost perfect. The only thing that is not perfect is that I also have the extra pickguard holes that GG7 found. Maybe it’s a vintage thing or something? It’s fixed easily. Or left as is because it doesn’t really bother me, although I am curious as to their origins. That one teeny thing aside, I’d call the bass stunningly perfect. I didn't know that they came this nice.

The nitro finish is amazing and perfect. It feels sublime and luxurious. It shines. I think that it's the nitro that really brings it all together and elevates the bass into the "wow" category. My wife, who doesn’t play an instrument, was with me when I opened it up. She was amazed. I tried to give it to her to hold (I want to convince her to play) and she wouldn’t dare touch it, given how impressive the thing is.

Here are a couple quick cell phone shots. I’ll get out the real camera later, maybe this weekend. I ended up playing the bass for an hour, which came out of sleep time. It was either play the bass for the first time or take good photos for you monkeys. So you guys lost this round. Real photos in the coming days.

Beautiful Jon!

I can already see that your guitar has a really attractive woodgrain pattern on the body front. Interesting that your pick guard has those same "mystery holes" that my JB62-US has. As we both said, its no big deal. I have already kind of forgotten about them now that I am focusing on playing mine, which by the way has been a true joy! Now that I got the neck adjusted and action to where I like it, the sound and the playability combination is excellent! This guitar really reminds me of my long lost 76' Jazz in terms of how it sounds. Doesn't look anything like that guitar, which was a black body, white PG, maple board with MOP block inlays, but sound wise....Man! Almost dead on!

How was the action on your bass? Was it perfect out of the box like my four JB62SS Minis were? Just curious if my JB62 was the odd-ball in terms of not having that perfect out of the box setup I had come to expect from the JB62SS production.

Congrats again and sorry for your loss! That is always unfortunate when fate conspires like that.

 

[R&B]

What sort of weights are you guys seeing out of Fender Japan? Ishibashi is saying they average 4.2 kg (9.3 pounds). Not boat anchors. What say you?

JonW, condolences on your loss and congrats on your gorgeous jazz. Thanks for sharing.

 

[GG7]

What sort of weights are you guys seeing out of Fender Japan? Ishibashi is saying they average 4.2 kg (9.3 pounds). Not boat anchors. What say you?

JonW, condolences on your loss and congrats on your gorgeous jazz. Thanks for sharing.

I haven't officially weighed mine yet, but based on how it compares to my other J-Basses, I would say around 9 pounds. Not shockingly light, nor boat anchor heavy. These are made out of Alder, so you tend to get a lighter weight guitar than your typical Ash body, but with no loss of sustain. The choice of Alder had a lot to do with my decision to buy a JB62 in the first place. "Hoping it would sound like my Alder bodied 76', which it most definitely does!

My 76' was also around 9 pounds, and noticeably lighter than the same year instruments made of Ash.

 

[mr.mow]

Beautiful Jon!

I can already see that your guitar has a really attractive woodgrain pattern on the body front. Interesting that your pick guard has those same "mystery holes" that my JB62-US has. As we both said, its no big deal. I have already kind of forgotten about them now that I am focusing on playing mine, which by the way has been a true joy! Now that I got the neck adjusted and action to where I like it, the sound and the playability combination is excellent! This guitar really reminds me of my long lost 76' Jazz in terms of how it sounds. Doesn't look anything like that guitar, which was a black body, white PG, maple board with MOP block inlays, but sound wise....Man! Almost dead on!

How was the action on your bass? Was it perfect out of the box like my four JB62SS Minis were? Just curious if my JB62 was the odd-ball in terms of not having that perfect out of the box setup I had come to expect from the JB62SS production.

Congrats again and sorry for your loss! That is always unfortunate when fate conspires like that.

The holes are for the thumbrest and front pickup cover..

 

[hypercarrots]

i had always wanted a jb62ss smart size. i found out too late that fender japan was gone. now ishibashi is all out of them and ebay is so expensive.

 

[JonW]

The holes are for the thumbrest and front pickup cover..

That’s it! That’s it. Mystery solved. Thanks!

What sort of weights are you guys seeing out of Fender Japan? Ishibashi is saying they average 4.2 kg (9.3 pounds). Not boat anchors. What say you?

JonW, condolences on your loss and congrats on your gorgeous jazz. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks.

I have not weighed my bass yet, but I will when I get to taking all the photos and writing up a detailed review. I’d guess that it’s about average weight or maybe a bit above. It’s heavier than all of my guitars, but it’s also bigger. It does not feel particularly heavy for a bass, but it is definitely not a light one. I don’t really have too much experience to say for sure. The bathroom scale will tell. (“Does this bass make me look fat?”)

Beautiful Jon!

I can already see that your guitar has a really attractive woodgrain pattern on the body front. Interesting that your pick guard has those same "mystery holes" that my JB62-US has. As we both said, its no big deal. I have already kind of forgotten about them now that I am focusing on playing mine, which by the way has been a true joy! Now that I got the neck adjusted and action to where I like it, the sound and the playability combination is excellent! This guitar really reminds me of my long lost 76' Jazz in terms of how it sounds. Doesn't look anything like that guitar, which was a black body, white PG, maple board with MOP block inlays, but sound wise....Man! Almost dead on!

How was the action on your bass? Was it perfect out of the box like my four JB62SS Minis were? Just curious if my JB62 was the odd-ball in terms of not having that perfect out of the box setup I had come to expect from the JB62SS production.

Congrats again and sorry for your loss! That is always unfortunate when fate conspires like that.

Thanks.

Great that you can recreate a sound (in your head!) from decades ago. Not always easy, but satisfying, indeed.

The action and general setup is good, not amazing. I would put it right on par with all the guitars that I have bought from the US, Mexico, and Asia, which have all been good. I’ve been lucky. Except for the Danelectro, which has been poor. Playing the bass for an hour that first time, I didn’t even notice the setup, just being happy to play. Now I can look at it more critically. It’s quite playable as is. If the truss rod access was on the headstock, I’d give it a quarter turn. It might be worth taking off the neck to give it that turn. Probably is. That would be to get it from good to excellent. The bass is so perfect, otherwise, that I’m hesitant to even take off the neck. It plays well now. So it’s somewhere in there in terms of setup, if that makes sense.

That aside and now that we know about the pickguard holes, I’m so impressed with this thing. It’s pretty looking, but feels even better. Somehow, it feels easier to play than my Danelectro. Could just be the honeymoon phase or that it’s a more solid hunk of wood. The neck shape fits my hand so well. And the nitro finish on it is luscious. You really want to just pick the thing up and play. What more can you ask of a bass? I will try to take photos and write up details this weekend, but time is always too short, so we’ll see.

I’m really glad that you folks posted the news about Fender Japan going away and that I ordered this bass.

 

[GG7]

Mine ended up needing a little less than ¾ of a turn to the right on the truss rod to bring the action into where I like it. As low as it can go without any buzzing when you dig in with medium strength. I also ended up lowering the bridge saddles a wee bit on the other end.

This of course is with DR LO-Riders installed which are HEX Core strings and always pull harder than any factory string set I have come across. So, probably around ½ turn tighter for standard round core strings.

As far as the sound compared to my vintage 76's sound...I've got my 76 on a lot of recordings I did with it back in the 80s, so its not just remembering the sound in my head. I used a modified 1967 Fender Bassman head back in the day that also sounded very similar to my newer 100t Tube Head, with the same 4x10 speaker cab configuration.

 

[GG7]

As far as the pick guard holes... They don't all line up with those additional appointments a Jazz can come with. My 64' came with all those extra goodies on it, and there are still a couple of holes in the JB62 guard that don't line up with those things. Explains some of them, but not all of them.

 

[GG7]

i had always wanted a jb62ss smart size. i found out too late that fender japan was gone. now ishibashi is all out of them and ebay is so expensive.

I hear ya. Thing is, at this point in time, the JB62SS is only going to increase in price over time. A year or so from now, those eBAy prices are going to look average or even cheap by comparison.

I would suggest you keep looking around, and you might eventually find one for sale on the web that is cheaper than average. Maybe even here on the TB For Sale section? Not sure how many of those guitars were made, but there has got to be some come up at some point for sale used in the future.

Everything currently out there are either demo guitars or new in the box. I haven't seen a used one for sale by a private party since I have been looking. (About a year now)

 

[hypercarrots]

I hear ya. Thing is, at this point in time, the JB62SS is only going to increase in price over time. A year or so from now, those eBAy prices are going to look average or even cheap by comparison.

I would suggest you keep looking around, and you might eventually find one for sale on the web that is cheaper than average. Maybe even here on the TB For Sale section? Not sure how many of those guitars were made, but there has got to be some come up at some point for sale used in the future.

Everything currently out there are either demo guitars or new in the box. I haven't seen a used one for sale by a private party since I have been looking. (About a year now)

there is amazon japan, ikebe but they don't ship to usa and ebay is hundreds of dollars more. only one in the classifieds was sold by jazzish a year ago. i will just have to wait for something to come along at a decent price.

 

[mr.mow]

As far as the pick guard holes... They don't all line up with those additional appointments a Jazz can come with. My 64' came with all those extra goodies on it, and there are still a couple of holes in the JB62 guard that don't line up with those things. Explains some of them, but not all of them.

Show a pic of it, straight on preferably..

 

[JonW]

Mine ended up needing a little less than ¾ of a turn to the right on the truss rod to bring the action into where I like it. As low as it can go without any buzzing when you dig in with medium strength. I also ended up lowering the bridge saddles a wee bit on the other end.

This of course is with DR LO-Riders installed which are HEX Core strings and always pull harder than any factory string set I have come across. So, probably around ½ turn tighter for standard round core strings.

As far as the sound compared to my vintage 76's sound...I've got my 76 on a lot of recordings I did with it back in the 80s, so its not just remembering the sound in my head. I used a modified 1967 Fender Bassman head back in the day that also sounded very similar to my newer 100t Tube Head, with the same 4x10 speaker cab configuration.

Yup, as low as it can go without buzzing is also where I like to be. In checking out amps, I just stopped by the local shop and played a MIM P bass and it was better set up in this regard than my VSP. I would already have turned the truss rod if access was at the headstock. As it is, it’s been too busy here to get to that or take the photos that I promised. (Ugh, it’s Sunday morning and I’m at work again.) I’ll get to it all.

As far as the pick guard holes... They don't all line up with those additional appointments a Jazz can come with. My 64' came with all those extra goodies on it, and there are still a couple of holes in the JB62 guard that don't line up with those things. Explains some of them, but not all of them.

Yeah, the specs on little things like pickguards, pickup covers, etc. might be different for the Japan versus US models, I guess? In considering changing the pickguard to a lighter and redder tort, I read around and it seems as though you cannot use a US one on a Japan bass. So the pickup covers and such might also be different.

I think that Jazz and P basses look nicer with the pickup and bridge covers. They might get in the way of playing, I’d imagine. With the holes already in our pickguards, I could be tempted to add the covers. But there is no way that I will drill holes in the wood and finish for the bridge and bridge pickup covers. The perfect nitro and general fit and finish of the bass is one of the reasons that I am enjoying it so much.

Show a pic of it, straight on preferably..

If you’d like to see them, I can take and post some shots in higher resolution than a phone camera. Not sure when I’ll get to it, though. It might be a few days.

 

[R&B]

Finally! After extensive email correspondence, Ishibashi will be shipping a JB62-VSP in my direction. It's an extravagance for sure. But it is now or never unless you're planning to wait and buy used. (Not a bad plan unless prices go crazy. Yet since no one seems to have any money, risk appears moderate.)

I let a few other basses get by me during the hunt. Notably a PB62-US 3TSB that they sold while I was waiting for an email reply. Their stock is going fast. I hesitated on a PB70 as I didn't want to be greedy, now those are gone. Most of their remaining available basses are moderately priced basswood or very high end.

A few buying tips: Google does quick conversion of yen to USD so you can price things. The prices listed on the Ishibashi main site include 8% tax that you don't have to pay, so divide by 1.08. Then add 14,000 yen for shipping to the U.S. If your credit card company doesn't charge foreign transaction fees, the number you get from Google will be almost spot on. Phone your card company before buying, or their anti-fraud software will nix the transaction.

Ishibashi is open 11:30 to 8:30 JST, which is 16 hours ahead of Pacific time. They will respond to you in the middle of the night, close to closing time as a rule. Typically I was able to do only one email exchange per day. They don't warn you when they have a day off coming up. Challenging. The guy who answers your first email is your guy; some are more helpful than others. Decide what you want and offer to buy it without asking a lot of questions, or the delays will mess up the deal (as I discovered). Prices there are quite a bit more reasonable that what I've seen on the Bay with one or two exceptions. They only have weights on the used stock BTW.

Good hunting, friends!!

 

[SamJ]

It's an extravagance for sure. But it is now or never unless you're planning to wait and buy used. (Not a bad plan unless prices go crazy. Yet since no one seems to have any money, risk appears moderate.)
!

They're going for about $930 aren't they? that's not bad.. I get to Japan a lot and have been in their yokohama store... good group of guys.