Fender mis-names bass IMO

[navijaz]

Exactly.

That's why this
View attachment 1005474
is a jazz bass.

No. This is Mickey Rourke after he had his face done.

 

[Feral Feline]

That would be the Crest toothpaste colored Fender Power Jazz Bass Special. Right next to it is a Red Fender Precision Lyte with an even narrower neck. Both MIJ. Both with P-shaped bodies. Both from the late 80s. Both with PJ pickups and active electronics. The nomenclature department was just throwing darts at a name board.
Link Removed

A dusty rose by any other name gives me the powder blues.

 

[Aidenn7]

My usa std p basses have usa std j bass necks. They say "jazz bass" on them. But wait.. they are p basses other than that.. what should i call them.. ? I was calling them p basses, but was i wrong for all these years???

A Frankenstein bass. because that's a monster of a bass I have one, too.

 

[eastcoasteddie]

To me, it's in the body shape, period.

With reference to pickups...
I took a Jazz bass which came with two single coils. I took one out and put in a MM pickup. Is it still a Jazz bass?
Now I can get a 60's bridge pickup tone, a 70's bridge pickup tone, and a pseudo MM tone...best of everything.

If reference to "a Jazz bass has a skinny neck"...jazz bass V had a wide neck...is it not really a Jazz bass?

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

It's based on body shape. Pickup configuration is irrelevant.

Yeah, but I agree with OP, in that it just *looks* strange

 

[Jeff Scott]

I receive blumpkins when I drive my kerflumpkin. Just sayin

You should be glad you can still get blumpkins,

More pickups equals more fun. Body shape is just a detail.

Perhaps but the world generally see a P or J shaped bass and thinks, respectively a P Bass or a J Bass. So shape counts for a lot.

Hmm...maybe not every instrument.

Gibson used the same body shape for the Ripper, Grabber, and G3. Same finishes as well. Very similar in appearance. But they were all very different sounding basses, which was entirely due to their electronics and pickup configurations. And each was given its own model name.

Interestingly enough (and to your point) that practice did seem to cause confusion with non-owners. As in:

Bob: Hey! My brother owns a Ripper just like yours.

Tod: Nice bass! But this is a G3. Not a Ripper.

Bib: Are you sure?

Tod: Yup! The model name is engraved on the truss rod cover. See? G3. The Ripper has two humbucking pickups and a rotary pickup selector switch. A G3 has three single coil pickups and a toggle selector.

Bob: I think his has one pickup.

Tod: Oh! Then he must have a Grabber.

Bob: Are you sure? I thought he said it was a Ripper. Do they make some with just one pickup?



​

Gibson basses don't count.

@lz4005 is quite right. Gibson is not Fender so they can get away with it.

 

[dtripoli]

To quote Leo "Shakespeare" Fender,
"A Jazz Pickup by any other name would sound as sweet"
“Don't waste your Jazz Pickups on somebody, who doesn't value it.”

Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow, ..Juliet

 

[navijaz]

It is a misnomer anyway since only 0.0001% of Jazz Basses are used for jazz. You could argue that "Alround Bass v2.0" while technically more correct would not quite have the same ring to it.

 

[MDBass]

Easily the most amusing TB thread in some time...

Spector NS-2J? Nope: Jazz Bass

Warwick Thumb? Nope: JAZZ BASS

Headless Status Series 3? NOPE: JAZZ BASS!

 

[GregBass1979]

A Jazz Bass is simply the Pickup style and nut width of neck..once you can't determine the standard for those the bass based on "Jazz Bass" specs the instrument becomes an "it" or a Precision bass. Really simple in fact.

 

[MovingPitchers]

LOL. The Mark Hoppus bass is designated as a jazz bass even though it is sporting a QP P-Bass pickup.

 

[Marikk]

LOL. The Mark Hoppus bass is designated as a jazz bass even though it is sporting a QP P-Bass pickup.

and the P style neck!

 

[Marikk]

Fender names their products like any other reasonable person. The write down all the possible words on pieces tape, attach them to squirrels and release them in a room. Then they get a monkey drunk and give him a net to catch the squirrels. They release the monkey into the room til he deposits the required amount of squirrels. The amount of squirrels required for the name is determined by rolling dice.
Picking a name is really that easy, Some of you choose to needlessly complicate things some times

 

[SonnyBassPlayer]

Everyone can distinguish a shape but only bass players distinguish the pickups

 

[Stranger Danger]

Small thing I guess, but because of established practice from the beginning, I cringe every time I see a Fender Jazz bass model, whether a Mustang or any other, sporting a P/J pup configuration. A Jazz bass uses single coils and I don't care if they'd only put 1 in the bass rather than 2.
A P/J, IMO, is not a jazzer. I have mostly P/J's and I do not consider them jazz basses.
If it's fine with you, I can only <shrug>.
Point? They ain't a jazz bass by tradition and typified sound.
Ymmv, but that's what I feel about it. A minor irritation because I want to feel a minor irritation about it.
Won't lose any sleep about it, but........

So if I put split coil jazz pickups in my jazz bass then it's not a jazz bass?? Ridiculous

 

[madjazzbass]

I feel that it's both the body and neck that make it a Jazz Bass. Same for a P bass. The people who swap necks between J and P basses, well, they have neither a P or a J. They have something in between.

Right, I christened mine a Jazcision Bass a while ago; it's a Jazz body (and pickups) with a Precision neck and it's Awesome!

 

[Feral Feline]

Damn that sounds great! "Jazcision"

I was thinking of doing the same build, but with a J/P pup combination.

I'll likely build another Jag though.

 

[7dollarbologna]

Uh-oh!

 

[veebass]

My Jazz is still a Jazz when I pull out the push pull pot and put the two single coil into series.

 

[FretNoMore]

Duh ... it's based on the strings actually ... jazz basses have roundwounds and precision basses have flatwounds.