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Fender Jazz Bass Gold Foil

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I got a pair of these Curtis Novak gold foil bass pickups for Black Friday. Still looking for the right bass to install them.
 
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So I've been thinking about this bass over the last few days. My excitement has waned a bit. As I mentioned earlier, I just got the new Aerodyne Special in blue a couple weeks ago. It is a FANTASTIC bass, and one of the highest quality builds I've held. This is my first Japanese Fender, and it lives up to the hype!

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With the MIM Gold Foil being almost the same price (only $50 less), I'm not sure I'm on board. The neck pocket pics shared earlier are a bit disapponing, but I thought maybe just isolated to that particular instrument. Yes, the shot was taken from an angle that highlights the gap, but I just checked Sweetwater's site and their blue one looks like it may be about the same, taking picture angle into account.
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I do agree with the ideas that this is similar in vibe to the Mark Hoppus Jazz ethos, and I do love that about it! If you notice in my first pic, I kinda made my own version of a Hoppus. It is one of my favorite basses!

I still think this Gold Foil Jazz is a cool idea, but I don't that it's $1,300 cool for me. I tend to believe that a tight, secure neck fitting helps a lot in the magic wizard bag of things that make a great bass, and it's a little disappointing to see two examples right out of the gate that look... not so great in this regard. :( Here's to hoping that they play and sounds great regardless!
 
The neck pocket pics shared earlier are a bit disapponing, but I thought maybe just isolated to that particular instrument. Yes, the shot was taken from an angle that highlights the gap, but I just checked Sweetwater's site and their blue one looks like it may be about the same, taking picture angle into account.

I am pretty sure the pictures on the Thomann and Sweetwater sites are from the exact same bass, i.e. stock photos provided by Fender. Check the string spacing, there is a larger gap between the middle two strings, and the bridge saddles are set up identically.
 
I am pretty sure the pictures on the Thomann and Sweetwater sites are from the exact same bass, i.e. stock photos provided by Fender. Check the string spacing, there is a larger gap between the A and D string and the bridge saddles are set up identically.

That very well could be the case, and sounds like it probably IS the case in this....... case!

I mentioned a similar idea while back on a completely unrelated thread (the idea that sometimes they are all just using Fender's provided marketing images and made up ad-speak, and not their own unique images and experience when referencing new "coming soon" products) and a fellow forum member excoriated me for that idea, saying that Sweetwater gets stuff LIGHTYEARS ahead of everyone else because they are such a big dealer, and INFLUENTIAL in product creation/R&D. I have worked for a large US based guitar manufacturer, and that never happened with them. Regardless, I have not worked for EVERY manufacturer and I don't know everything, so I let it go and have tried not to make assumptions about that since, lol!

I hope that you are correct, and that the rest of them look a little more well put together in this regard. :)
 
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So I've been thinking about this bass over the last few days. My excitement has waned a bit. As I mentioned earlier, I just got the new Aerodyne Special in blue a couple weeks ago. It is a FANTASTIC bass, and one of the highest quality builds I've held. This is my first Japanese Fender, and it lives up to the hype!

View attachment 4937819

With the MIM Gold Foil being almost the same price (only $50 less), I'm not sure I'm on board. The neck pocket pics shared earlier are a bit disapponing, but I thought maybe just isolated to that particular instrument. Yes, the shot was taken from an angle that highlights the gap, but I just checked Sweetwater's site and their blue one looks like it may be about the same, taking picture angle into account.
View attachment 4937823

I do agree with the ideas that this is similar in vibe to the Mark Hoppus Jazz ethos, and I do love that about it! If you notice in my first pic, I kinda made my own version of a Hoppus. It is one of my favorite basses!

I still think this Gold Foil Jazz is a cool idea, but I don't that it's $1,300 cool for me. I tend to believe that a tight, secure neck fitting helps a lot in the magic wizard bag of things that make a great bass, and it's a little disappointing to see two examples right out of the gate that look... not so great in this regard. :( Here's to hoping that they play and sounds great regardless!

Looking at your wall of blue basses I predict only a short amount of time before one of these appears from you in a NBD thread. I couldn’t blame you, I’m intrigued as well.

Ry Cooder made me a believer in gold foils for guitar, curious to hear one in a bass.
 
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Very beautiful :drool: but is this really a Jazz Bass though? What makes a jazz bass jazz bass? 2 pickups in correct placement is a must imho.
This is a P with Jazz neck? Or is It a Jazz Bass If Fender said so? ;)
It’s a Jazz Bass if Fender says so. Fender goes by the body alone, so if it has a Jazz body, it’s a Jazz bass. There have been outliers, such as the Jazz Bass Special, which had a Precision body but was still called a Jazz. But I’ve never heard of a Fender with a Jazz body that wasn’t called a Jazz Bass.