Fender player series jazz bass?

[Low end rocker]

I've been looking into upgrading my bass in a while, and after deciding against 24 fret basses, and active pre amps, I've come to the conclusion that I would like a jazz bass. This is the one that was in my price range and I liked:

Fender Player Jazz w/ Maple Fretboard in Buttercream - Andertons Music Co.

I really like the look if the bass, and have played one and liked it, and the fact that it's a fender just makes it even better. I have mostly hear positive reviews for them, but there have been some negative ones as well, that say that the bass suffers from issues such as sharp frets. Have you guys got any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[el murdoque]

IMHO the weak spots in those can be easily addressed if one desires to do so.

-The Pickups are not as good as the US made versions. A better set starts around a hundred quid, The aguilars at Anderton's are 179.

-The fret ends are not that well done. If that's a bother for you, you can bring it to a luthier of your choice. That's less than an hour of work and they are perfect.

-The Tuning pegs can get on your nerves. The original Schaller ones cost about 70 quid, the Gotoh super light ones are a bit over 100.

-If you want, you can add a high mass bridge. These are around 30 pounds (sterling, not weight).

 

[Bass]

A player jazz has been my main practice bass for about 2 1/2 years. It is stock, no "upgrades", I like it quite a bit.

I have a Fender Player Precision that came with sharp frets, to me this is not a big issue. In Canada, "fret sprout" is common due to the climate. The guitar tech will fix this when you have the bass serviced.

 

[andare]

I've never seen an MIM Fender guitar or bass with good frets. They are all sharp, not beveled properly and often develop fret sprout on top of all that. I own a couple so I've learned to address those issues but a neck that is very reactive to humidity is a problem. If you fix the fret sprout at its worst then in the summer the neck expands and the frets end up being shorter than the fretboard and you get notches where the tangs don't touch the edge.

For the above reasons I now prefer to buy old instruments exclusively. If a 30yr old neck is still fine then it's probably going to be fine.

Sorry to be a party pooper. Remember this is just my personal experience here in Europe. There ar meany satisfied players. Maybe I'm just unlucky.

 

[Low end rocker]

The frets are something of importance to me, I must admit. But I played the exact bass that I linked (colour and everything!) In my local music shop, and because I'd heard the reviews, I tried the frets by running my hand up and down the neck, and they seemed fine to me. This leads me to think that it would probably be good to buy one in store rather than online. If this is still risky, have you guys got any alternatives? The G&L tribute j basses looked rather nice, also the warwick rockbass corvettes...

 

[Matty Koff]

The pickups are actually Alnico coils similar to the pickups in the US made versions. They used to use ceramic pickups in the MIM Standards but we at least get that much with the player series.

The thing I would look out for is just the overall craftmanship. I recently had an experience with a purchase of a Player Series Strat HSS Floyd Rose ordered directly from Fender that after 3 guitars I took the neck from one and the body from another to make a guitar free of defects. In the end Fender made it right and then some though and my Player Strat feels and sounds as good as any American Standard I've ever had in my hands if not better with my own hardware upgrades. Legit one of the sweetest Stratocasters I've ever personally had in my hands.

Fender's recent price increases in every category are disappointing, but, given you get one in its intended condition, the Player series seems to bring more to the table than previous MIM offerings.

If you like it.. you like it.

 

[Fernando Costa]

I bought a Precision Player to make a clone of a 1958 P-bass. It has really sharp fret edges, and the neck came out slightly scruffy, nothing serious. Before modifying it I thought its sound was very good. Then with Gotoh reverse tuners, EMG Geezer pickup, threaded bridge, aluminum pickguard and the covers, the bass really got a lot better. It's a cheap bass that sounds good and accepts any upgrade, its timbre can improve a lot. I think it's a good buy.

 

[JakobT]

I used to own one, and found it to be very good. Sharp fret ends are usually not a quality issue per se, it’s often due the fretboard wood shrinking slightly with temperature and humidity changes in transit or storage, and can be easily fixed. Quality-wise, I was very happy with my Player series Jazz, you can upgrade most of the parts if you wish, but mine played and sounded great right out of the box, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

 

[Bent77]

The frets are something of importance to me, I must admit. But I played the exact bass that I linked (colour and everything!) In my local music shop, and because I'd heard the reviews, I tried the frets by running my hand up and down the neck, and they seemed fine to me. This leads me to think that it would probably be good to buy one in store rather than online. If this is still risky, have you guys got any alternatives? The G&L tribute j basses looked rather nice, also the warwick rockbass corvettes...

If you played it and liked it, ask about having them order one in the color you want. If it’s not ok, they likely refund it and shipping. Make sure to ask.

If the frets need some tlc later, don’t worry about it

 

[BassAdder27]

I purchased a player series PBass also from Andertons ( I’m in U.K. ) and the bass is superb and cannot fault it.
I’m a gigging musician of 30yrs experience and would say for the money they are definitely worth it.
Your Jazz bass version I’m sure would be superb too.
Incidentally I tried the G & L Tribute series basses and I didn’t like the necks or the active electronics
So buy with confidence and Andertons will look after you.

 

[Killing Floor]

I love Jazz basses.

If at all possible, buy it from a dealer because the neck feel is the most important factor in my opinion. There’s value in being able to select the best one on the shelf. Best one for You.
Good luck.

 

[andare]

I bought a Precision Player to make a clone of a 1958 P-bass. It has really sharp fret edges, and the neck came out slightly scruffy, nothing serious. Before modifying it I thought its sound was very good. Then with Gotoh reverse tuners, EMG Geezer pickup, threaded bridge, aluminum pickguard and the covers, the bass really got a lot better. It's a cheap bass that sounds good and accepts any upgrade, its timbre can improve a lot. I think it's a good buy.

Which aluminum oickguard did you get if I may ask?

 

[andare]

I used to own one, and found it to be very good. Sharp fret ends are usually not a quality issue per se, it’s often due the fretboard wood shrinking slightly with temperature and humidity changes in transit or storage, and can be easily fixed. Quality-wise, I was very happy with my Player series Jazz, you can upgrade most of the parts if you wish, but mine played and sounded great right out of the box, and I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

Sharp fret ends and fret sprout are two different issues but often experienced together.
Fret ends are cut flush with the fretboard but must be beveled inwards and rounded off and polished. They don't really do that on MIMs.
Fret sprout is when the neck shrinks and the fret ends and the tangs are exposed. Those are sharp too.
My Squiers came with somewhat sharp fret ends but never developed sprout.
Sorry for being pedantic but to me the neck is more important than anything else in a solid body guitar.
I'm obsessed with fret ends

 

[JakobT]

Sharp fret ends and fret sprout are two different issues but often experienced together.
Fret ends are cut flush with the fretboard but must be beveled inwards and rounded off and polished. They don't really do that on MIMs.
Fret sprout is when the neck shrinks and the fret ends and the tangs are exposed. Those are sharp too.
My Squiers came with somewhat sharp fret ends but never developed sprout.
Sorry for being pedantic but to me the neck is more important than anything else in a solid body guitar.
I'm obsessed with fret ends

In any case, a fret file will take care of it in short order.

 

[Artman]

My 2021 Player P didn't come with any sharp frets at all, and they are perfectly level. I have it set up with very low string action. No issues. My 2018 MIM Standard J bass has no fret or neck issues whatsoever either. The stock pickups in both were excellent. In fact, no issues of any kind on either bass.
I changed pickups because I enjoy tinkering. I eventually changed the J back to stock. The Geezer is going to remain in the P.

I purchased the Jazz brand new in store, I purchased the Precision from a TB seller who had never played it. It still had the plastic wrap on everything. He was converting points to cash. I'm totally okay with that.

I also own two MIM Strats. A 2012 Standard and a 2020 Player. Both are perfect in every way. I changed the pickups on the 2012. The stock pickups on the 2020 are excellent.

I did perform basic setups on all the instruments. Truss rod, string height, intonation, and pickup height. No filing of any kind was needed on any of them.

I'm sure that an error gets through every now and then. I just haven't yet found one on any of my instruments.
I'd buy another MIM Fender without hesitation if I had the need for one.

 

[Low end rocker]

That all sounds very positive. As I said, I really like the one I played. The only thing was that the E string felt slightly dead. I don't think this was the fault of the bass, as I also played a sterling mm stingray hh, which had the same issue, which made me think that it maybe was the amp settings, as those two basses are really different from each other. If it was the fault of the bass, is it something that happens on all of them or was it an inconsistency?

 

[Smooth_bass88]

I've been looking into upgrading my bass in a while, and after deciding against 24 fret basses, and active pre amps, I've come to the conclusion that I would like a jazz bass. This is the one that was in my price range and I liked:

Fender Player Jazz w/ Maple Fretboard in Buttercream - Andertons Music Co.

I really like the look if the bass, and have played one and liked it, and the fact that it's a fender just makes it even better. I have mostly hear positive reviews for them, but there have been some negative ones as well, that say that the bass suffers from issues such as sharp frets. Have you guys got any thoughts?

Thanks!

Yeah, if you buy it, play it for a while first (at gigs and rehearsals) to gain some perspective on what you might think you'd like to modify on it. These are generally pretty good right out of the box. I wouldn't jump right into modding it straight away. Get a feel for it, and take it from there.

 

[Artman]

That all sounds very positive. As I said, I really like the one I played. The only thing was that the E string felt slightly dead. I don't think this was the fault of the bass, as I also played a sterling mm stingray hh, which had the same issue, which made me think that it maybe was the amp settings, as those two basses are really different from each other. If it was the fault of the bass, is it something that happens on all of them or was it an inconsistency?

In-store instruments often get played by a lot of people who have grimy or oily fingers, and the strings don't get wiped off afterwards, so dead strings are not uncommon with the basses that are on the walls at the guitar store.

 

[DoctorZee]

I've never seen an MIM Fender guitar or bass with good frets.

Funny, I’ve never had one with bad frets. I’ve owned three MIM/Player basses. Just goes to show, there are good ones and bad ones out there.

 

[Bassamatic]

re: Fret Ends - Saw a great video a while back where someone easily upgraded their cheap guitar. One of the things he did was to take a 180grit 3M blue foam sanding block to the edges of the fingerboard at about a 45 degree angle. This not only rounds the edge of the fingerboard nicely, but also rounds and polishes the fret ends very well! Since seeing this video, I have done this to nearly every bass I own and made them much more comfortable. Truly amazing. Just can't use it on bound fingerboards.