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I think I need a 70's Fender :)
- Thread starter deBont Amps
- Start date
Like all Fenders, there are good ones and bad. You have to play them to see for yourself. Also, people's opinions are all different. Someone might LIKE a heavy ash 70's Funk machine.
You generalize that "All 70's Fenders are crap, and are heavy, etc".
I've played some horrible playing pre-CBS Fenders before, actually. Yep, they had bad days back then too.
I just picked up one of the best playing/sounding 70's Fender P basses I've ever placed my hands on...if anyone begs to argue, they can come over and play it first
You generalize that "All 70's Fenders are crap, and are heavy, etc".
I've played some horrible playing pre-CBS Fenders before, actually. Yep, they had bad days back then too.
I just picked up one of the best playing/sounding 70's Fender P basses I've ever placed my hands on...if anyone begs to argue, they can come over and play it first
Leo Fender thought that up and implemented it on Musicmans and G&Ls, btw. I have never had a problem with it on my 70 s Jazz Basses, but I'm not throwing the bass around my neck and doing flips and such.
There's an older gentleman who works here in our lab at the hospital that has this same '73 jazz that you're speaking of,and when you hear this bass unpluged you know that it will sound incredible thru amplification....just an incredible instrument
The Classic 70s Jazzes are decently new. I believe they are within 2 years old. tops.
My point proven.
I wonder what would happen if a car company were to try to make a 1974 Gremlin right now...
*shudder*
Having played a handful of vintage Fenders, but I only tried the Classic 70's Jazz once (flame suit ON), I'm not sure how people can think the MIM Classic 70's Jazz can even come CLOSE to comparing to a vintage Fender. 
Seriously?
Seriously?
My point proven.
I wonder what would happen if a car company were to try to make a 1974 Gremlin right now...
What does the car industry have to do with the bass guitar industry? Clearly people want and will buy vintage and vintage style bass guitars. No one wants an AMC Gremlin, and a strict reissue wouldn't even be legal.
Having played a handful of vintage Fenders, but I only tried the Classic 70's Jazz once (flame suit ON), I'm not sure how people can think the MIM Classic 70's Jazz can even come CLOSE to comparing to a vintage Fender.
Seriously?
ST, I know you just got that '78 (I followed that thread with some interest) but man, I just can't get my head around calling ANYTHING made in the 1970's "Vintage". You may dig them, they may be good, but it is pretty much inarguable that Fender QA and manufacturing techniques were at a company low during that period. And I've had me some '70's fenders (a '77 J and a '78 P) and neither was very good. Okay, the P was decent - but the J was a freakin' nightmare (oddly, the P I had was VERY much like the P you just bought - black / blonde. Go figure!)
Just because you don't like them, doesn't mean others can't or shouldn't. I hate mayonnaise, but my wife likes it -- see how that works. Clearly 70s Fender are considered vintage as that word applies to the guitar market -- even if bigoldharry on TB doesn't agree
Just because you don't like them, doesn't mean others can't or shouldn't. I hate mayonnaise, but my wife likes it -- see how that works. Clearly 70s Fender are considered vintage as that word applies to the guitar market -- even if bigoldharry on TB doesn't agree
Sure... But I *do* claim some expertise on the subject as I was playing/gigging in the '70s and owned my share of that fine '70s gear when it was new/newish, so I can say, with some authority, that today's gear is, for the most part, VASTLY superior to the stuff made back then. I just think some kids get caught up in the fashion of "vintage". We did it back then, too - If you didn't own a pre-cbs fender, you weren't a real guitar player, etc (The stress was less in the bass world...)
no reissues?
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I have owned and played many 70s Fenders. In my experience, there were some heavy Fenders from that period, some medium weight ones, and some light ones -- just like today. There were perhaps more quality control issues than with modern Fenders, but that is a result of manufacturing techniques more than CBS cost cutting. I have played preCBS Fenders with problems too -- modern basses as well. You are suggesting that kids today are driving the 70s vintage market which may or may not be true -- I haven't seen any empirical analysis of this -- but anecdotally I would say that kids from the 70s drove the PreCBS market. It was popular in the 70s to criticize 70s Fenders and play early 60s ones. Most 70s Fender are fine instruments when setup properly. Compared to 60s Fenders, they are still a very good deal and really not much more expensive than modern American Fenders. A player can have his choice of many 70s Fenders for under 2k. My opinion is that a lot of old guys from the 70s, who played 70s Fenders but wanted PreCBS are now getting pissy that the 70s Fenders they gave away are now commanding vintage status
Most of this bad 70s Fender business is nonsense and a result of repeated cliches.
It's actually a 1975 that I just picked up
and it's quite the player indeed. The thing is, naysayers everywhere (not just on Talkbass) were at my throat telling me all 70's Fenders were garbage, waste of a trip, why not buy a new MIA Fender or a Lakland, etc?Glad I didn't listen to a single one of them and decided for myself, I would've missed out on one SWEET bass for an incredible price. I actually scored it cheaper than a new MIM Fender, the deals are out there, but you just gotta know what you're looking for.
No doubt Fender had its problems in the 70s, but no reason to persuade someone that all 70's Fenders were bad, or that a MIM 70's Reissue will permanently satisfy their true vintage desires.
I'm just saying that most people who really want a vintage Jazz (I use the term vintage because it's old and valuable) with old dried out wood, a worn in neck, and old electronics won't be satisfied until they buy a vintage bass, play it for a while, then either keep it or sell it after they've decided for themselves if it's "good" or not...
IMO IME, buying a new MIM 70's reissue Jazz bass just isn't going to satisfy that same feel you get from an old bass. The Classic 70's Jazz I played at a rehearsal with my band once felt clunky, the poly finished body had no "woody" feel, just felt like a toy in my hands. The pickups were meh, very bland. But it is what it is, a $500 bass. That's it. And this was supposed to be a good bass that was professionally set up. The guy I shared a rehearsal space with tests out guitars/basses for LiveWire and insisted I give the 70's Classic a try. It was just a few minutes before I set it back down. Very unimpressed. Certainly no vintage feel. The Geddy Lee actually smashes the MIM 70's Classic IMO.
Wow, three pages already. Cool. I'm really like this thread already with all the great input and discussion going in. Really informative. Let me just reply to some posts real quick:
@basmartin: The Jaguar seems like an aweome bass, but it doesn't seem to have PU blend. That's a deal breaker for me.
- Weight isn't a issue for me, so I will let tone decide what's best for me
- I've heard more people talk about quality issues with Fender in the seventees. But what exactly do I have to watch out for? I mean, bad paint doesn't bother me, but I don't want the neck to shift if I put it down to hard. So what are the problem areas?
- The thing with modern re-issues is that everytime I hear a great tone on the radio/track/other bassplayers, it's a real 70's model 9 out of 10 times. So I will check them out, but am afraid a re-issue won't satisfy what I'm looking for.
@basmartin: The Jaguar seems like an aweome bass, but it doesn't seem to have PU blend. That's a deal breaker for me.
- Weight isn't a issue for me, so I will let tone decide what's best for me
- I've heard more people talk about quality issues with Fender in the seventees. But what exactly do I have to watch out for? I mean, bad paint doesn't bother me
, but I don't want the neck to shift if I put it down to hard. So what are the problem areas?- The thing with modern re-issues is that everytime I hear a great tone on the radio/track/other bassplayers, it's a real 70's model 9 out of 10 times. So I will check them out, but am afraid a re-issue won't satisfy what I'm looking for.
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,636
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
since i started playing bass in '66, for a long time i didn't consider 70's fenders vintage either, but since it's 2010, i do now. heck, back in the 70' and 80's we considered 50's and 60's ones vintage. so to me, it's all relative as time goes by.
and as far as a reissue goes, no one would reissue a '74 gremlin because they were crap when they were new, but i don't think that anyone would complain driving this reissue:
and as far as a reissue goes, no one would reissue a '74 gremlin because they were crap when they were new, but i don't think that anyone would complain driving this reissue:
Whatever the liking, you'll be shelling out a LOT more cash for the "real deal". I, for one, and satisfied with spending $620 on my current Classic 70s.
forget a light weight 70's jazz imo. those had the worst tone. again imoi love every one of the 11 pounds of my dense ash 78 jazz. i also love my 9 pound slab board 62 jazz but it does something entirely different and i wouldnt trade one for the other.
I also have a '78 Jazz. Mine is natural ash with the rosewood fretboard. It weighs a lot, has wonderful action, and sounds amazing (it's original, except for the pickguard). I got it back in '83 about the time I picked up my '77 Precision that is also ash (with solid maple neck). I had basses before these two that I wish I had not sold in the mid 80's.
Even though Fender cranked out a ton of these basses in the 70's, thus making the quality somewhat suspect, I think that the owners and some luthiers have, over the years, tweaked these basses to make the ones that have survived become great basses.
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,636
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
