Fender Jazz American Ultra

[Calum Wakeling]

Hello bass friends. Today I bought an American ultra jazz bass, it's awesome. I did notice some of the strings don't line up between a few of the pole pieces, is this normal or should I be looking to return it?
Cheers!

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I don’t think you have anything to worry about if the sound is good.

 

[Bikeguy57]

What Cheese said. I'm not familiar with the Fender Hi Mass, but there may be saddle spacing adjustment to move the E over a little.

 

[MaxSpinrun]

That is close enough where it should not effect the sound but I know how the sight of that slight miss alignment would bother a lot of people.

 

[Calum Wakeling]

I see, yeah the High mass bridge doesn't seem to have the ability to shimmy the string over. The volume between the strings doesn't seem to be affected, but possibly a little bit of top end from the E string? Now i feel since I've seen it I'm imagining things though. Thanks for the responses!

 

[B-Mac]

Hello bass friends. Today I bought an American ultra jazz bass, it's awesome. I did notice some of the strings don't line up between a few of the pole pieces, is this normal or should I be looking to return it?
Cheers!

Nothing to worry about.

 

[Vincent Van Low]

Hello bass friends. Today I bought an American ultra jazz bass, it's awesome. I did notice some of the strings don't line up between a few of the pole pieces, is this normal or should I be looking to return it?
Cheers!

Its normal, if it sounds good with your eyes closed, and feels good to play, then its yours. I wouldn't get hung up on little stuff, I mean human beings still put these things together with hands, so there will be variety in finished products. Congrats have fun, stay low.

 

[lermgalieu]

It looks similar to mine (wrt the pole pieces), which sounds and plays great. Fantastic bass, btw.

 

[DrBnz]

Look at your bass neck carefully to see what the edge distance on the E and G strings looks like. It appears that your neck may be over to the right JUST A LITTLE. (see how much edge room you have on the E string as compared to the G)... But the guys are right, its not really enough to worry about and easily fixed by you if ya wanna. I have one that's off to the left a little bit, but since it gives me a little more edge room on the G string I don't see a need to fix it.

 

[joel the bass player]

There's plenty of room on the saddle to move the string over, you will just have to get a file out and make a new divot for the string to sit in.

Also peeked at Sweetwaters listings and the 4 string Ultras I pulled up all looked about like this, so it seems normal, but still annoying.

 

[themickster]

Hello bass friends. Today I bought an American ultra jazz bass, it's awesome. I did notice some of the strings don't line up between a few of the pole pieces, is this normal or should I be looking to return it?
Cheers!

Fenders and others can be like that.

 

[Bevan777]

Yep, looks like the neck has shifted slightly, loosen the neck bolts and give it a tug to straighten up the string alignment.

 

[smurfco]

mine looks the same and is a great bass. no need for concern!

 

[Altitude]

I have a boutique bass from a very well reviewed builder that is similar. The bass has been my #1 for 15 years.

Nothing to worry about.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

everything ok, do not return

 

[Killing Floor]

Nice bass. Enjoy.
The magnetic field is not linear, that visual alignment is not important.

 

[logdrum]

Hipshot adjustable bridge if it bugs you. Congrats on the bass

 

[Kerem Koseoglu]

The issue of bridge misalignment in the Fender Ultra Jazz series is an occasionally addressed topic on Talkbass. Having encountered this concern, I installed a HipShot drop-in replacement on my bass, a decision I couldn't be happier with. This modification not only rectified the string alignment issue but also resulted in a pleasantly lighter instrument and shim-less lower action overall.