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Geddy Finally Came Home!

#141
Low8 said:
I find it soooooooo interesting how many people love to bash 1970s Fenders... yet it seems like almost everyone absolutely gushes over the Geddy Lee signature which is modeled after a 1972 Jazz. :smug:

Geddy, Marcus Miller, Steve Harris and others used 70s Fenders as their main instruments onstage and in the studio for decades -- they're reliable, well-playing instruments that sound great.
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Low8 said:
I find it soooooooo interesting how many people love to bash 1970s Fenders... yet it seems like almost everyone absolutely gushes over the Geddy Lee signature which is modeled after a 1972 Jazz. :smug:

Geddy, Marcus Miller, Steve Harris and others used 70s Fenders as their main instruments onstage and in the studio for decades -- they're reliable, well-playing instruments that sound great.
Click to expand...

I think the two things that critics always mention was the weight and inconsistent QC. Fender used a lot of Northern Ash at that time and Northern Ash is quite a dense and heavy wood. QC was what it was. If you got a good bass things were good. If you had a bad bass, not so much. If all of the old Fenders were made like my Geddy, their current prices would probably be around five figures.
 
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#142
Dr. Cheese said:
I think the two things that critics always mention was the weight and inconsistent QC. Fender used a lot of Northern Ash at that time and Northern Ash is quite a dense and heavy wood. QC was what it was. If you got a good bass things were good. If you had a bad bass, not so much. If all of the old Fenders were made like my Geddy, their current prices would probably be around five figures.
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Yep. My '74 Jazz was a complete dog. I bought it in the early '80s, IIRC there were plenty of that vintage selling for 300--400 bucks at the time.
 
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#143
Sounds great, Doc. There was one of these in my orbit several years ago. I don't remember who it belonged to, but there was a recurring session that I got to play it on now and again. I remember it sounding and feeling perfect, but I don't think I really appreciated what it was at the time.

Enjoy it!
 
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#145
I haven't read all 8 pages of this to see if anyone else has suggested this or not, so sorry if it's a repeat suggestion:

For my couple of older four strings that are built like this, there are a couple of them I can still adjust the trussrod without taking the neck off as about half the adjuster is showing, and I can use a narrow width screw driver and get it done.
For the other couple, I removed the neck, and with slow work with a round file, created the space to get a narrow flat blade screw driver to work.
If you're not comfortable doing that, any good shop should be able to do it.
If you're not comfortable with "modding" the bass this way, then, yeah, it's kinda problematic.
Loosen the strings enough to loosen the neck mounting bolts, guess at how much adjustment it needs, tighten everything back up and check if that was a good guess, repeat, yeah. Not ideal.
 
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#146
Dr. Cheese said:
I remember back in the late eighties and early nineties and I could buy seventies P-Basses for $350 all day long. I don’t remember seeing Jazzes around Lansing, Michigan at that time.
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The one I had cost me $275, but it had fairly substantial fret wear.
 
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#148
74hc said:
I didn't like adjusting the trust rod on my precision precisely because of this. Consequently, with it needed fret work, I took it off for a MIM neck. When the original neck was on, for about 30 years, I think I've might have adjusted *once*.
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If you only adjusted it once thirty years, why change it? It is worth much more than the MIM neck.
 
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#157
Doc, it does my heart good to see you finally take possession of your 'desert island' jazz bass.

Well done. You of all people have earned it. You deserve it.

Now my friend, you've got yourself the best passive Fender Jazz bass money can buy, and even at this early stage in the proceedings, it's quite clear to all of us out here in bassville that you've already bonded with it, so unlike the BB2000 you let go so many years ago {a decision you've clearly regretted since}, I urge you not to sell it. Get to know it. Make it work for you. It sure is a beauty !

P.S. What sort of amplification are you running, because if there's one thing I've learned about jazz basses, it's this: They LOVE to be played through a POWERFUL amp with plenty of headroom...

P.P.S. Try it with some DR sunbeams - see if they work for you.

:)
 
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#158
PJ Muzikmansky said:
Doc, it does my heart good to see you finally take possession of your 'desert island' jazz bass.

Well done. You of all people have earned it. You deserve it.

Now my friend, you've got yourself the best passive Fender Jazz bass money can buy, and even at this early stage in the proceedings, it's quite clear to all of us out here in bassville that you've already bonded with it, so unlike the BB2000 you let go so many years ago {a decision you've clearly regretted since}, I urge you not to sell it. Get to know it. Make it work for you. It sure is a beauty !

P.S. What sort of amplification are you running, because if there's one thing I've learned about jazz basses, it's this: They LOVE to be played through a POWERFUL amp with plenty of headroom...

P.P.S. Try it with some DR sunbeams - see if they work for you.

:)
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Right now, I am playing through a Behringer four channel mini PA. It is pretty small and the channels are nice for recording with a song or drum program. It is supposedly 600w, but I th8nk it is really 150-200w. I also have a SWR Silverado. It sounds great, but takes up a lot of space and weighs 93 pounds.
 
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#159
Dr. Cheese said:
Right now, I am playing through a Behringer four channel mini PA. It is pretty small and the channels are nice for recording with a song or drum program. It is supposedly 600w, but I th8nk it is really 150-200w. I also have a SWR Silverado. It sounds great, but takes up a lot of space and weighs 93 pounds.
Click to expand...

Yep - 93 pounds is heavy. Hand truck territory. Far too heavy for me these days and I'm only 57 LOL. I've been running a Markbass 500 W 1x12 combo {16 kg so about 36lbs} and a 1x 12 extension {14kg ~ 30lbs} for larger gigs for the last 10 years. Looking at something even lighter still {Bergantino 1x12 perhaps}.

Good luck
 
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