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Fender Jazz only with 20 frets; why?

#21
It was 1960 (56 years ago) and 20 frets for the Fender Jazz Bass was enough.

How many frets on a bass is too many? | eBass

"Bass purists state loudly that no electric bass guitar needs more than 20 frets on it – especially since if you play up high on the fretboard, you’re not playing bass notes anymore."

"Bass modernists will take as many frets as you can throw at them. And yes, they will use them. If a high fret cannot be reached when the fret hand is behind the neck, the hand goes over the neck and they will play using tapping. One way or another, that modernist will find a way to use all those high frets, if for no other reason than “just because they’re there.”

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#23
I think it's a combination of where do you stop?, who holds the low end down when you're playing that high? and ease of access when you have decided where you sonically want the neck pickup placed.

I personally would only miss extra upper frets when tapping and that wasn't a popular style when these basses were invented. Peace, Rob.
 
#24
I expect that, at the time, 20 was considered
to be more than enough.
It's hard to imagine now, but even when the Jazz
bass came out, most people still thought of
bass as being a doghouse.
Bass solos were pretty close to unheard of.
There was and is some real truth to the statement that
'there is no money past the 5th fret'.

Some of my basses are 24 fret.
I am glad those extra frets are there.
Still, it's rare for me to use them.
 
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#28
I hate slapping on a bass with more than 22 frets as I don't like the feel or tone and will never buy another bass with more than 22. As for the thread question, I don't really care one way or another if the bass has 19, 20, 21 or 22 frets but some people only want vintage accurate (or as close as possible) Fenders and that's a big reason why they don't change the number of frets on certain models.
 
#29
If you think about the kind of music being played in 1960 then you'd realise that 20 frets was more than enough. I'd guess it still is today for 90% of players.

The question could be, why did Fender stick at 20 for so long? But if you are selling as many units as they were/still are you would be mad change a world dominating formula.

The MM and G&L were designed in different times and to different criteria and requirements. As the Jazz is probably still out selling those instruments there is no comparison.
 
#31
Gorn said:
When you do something for a long time, does the way you do things change? Or maybe that's bull.
Click to expand...

When you do things for a long time they change because you find ways that you think it can work better.

brianrost said:
Leo added the 21st fret to the StingRay because players wanted to reach that high E. Why not high F, high G, high A, B, C, etc.? Where do you stop?
Click to expand...

This is not about about what the highest fret should be. This is about people with the ridiculous notion that Leo was still behind 20 frets later in his career.

Look, I'm not saying that people can't have and like basses with 20 frets, or 21, or 24 or 36. Play what you like. But having to justify your opinion with "Leo blah 20 blah blah frets" is silly since clearly he ended up thinking it wasn't enough.
 
#37
to me it's about access: the number of frets (or fb length for us fretless players) are less crucial than access to the ones i have. i have a couple of two octave instruments but cannot comfortably get to the highest notes = bummer. my jazz doesn't have two octaves of course, but it's a little less of a pain to get to the higher notes = better.

since they're all fretless instruments it probably doesn't matter so much, but: what good is it to have actual frets if access to them is not figured into the building equation? i'm neither a fender fan, nor a fender basher: but it seems like the company does take into account what most players actually do/use.

i'd rather have a two octave bass, but sometimes it's just to assure that i can get to the notes i'm likely to use (usually when soloing). having said that: i like my fretless jazz which has 21 fairly usable 'frets'.
 
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#39
AndreasR said:
Look, I'm not saying that people can't have and like basses with 20 frets, or 21, or 24 or 36. Play what you like. But having to justify your opinion with "Leo blah 20 blah blah frets" is silly since clearly he ended up thinking it wasn't enough.
Click to expand...

I didn't think the question was "How many frets should basses have?". I thought the question was "Why do Jazz Basses have 20 frets?". It's not really about justifying anyone's opinion, or about what Leo thought later when he developed the Musicman or the G&L basses. It's about why the choice was made in the first place.
 
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#40
If you go above the twelfth or thirteenth fret, you are now a guitarist. Besides, who can even fit their fingers in those teeny little spaces at the top of the neck?

I only go up there when I am setting intonation. There is no wear on any of my basses above the octave dots, so my opinion is dang near useless :)
 
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