@Bass V - Why are you rambling about Power PJ's in the thread for a Jazz Bass? The OP wants a Jazz Bass - let it go!
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Inexpensive Jazz Bass
- Thread starter Don Sanders
- Start date
Get a used Fender Jazz. They can be found used for $400 or less. I recently scored a 60th Anniversary Jazz for $250. Came with a tweed Fender case, TI Jazz Flats, a Hipshot bridge, and Hipshot D-tuner. The deals are out there. You just have to hunt.
Patience. Opportunity is there. My brother found me a MIM jazz at a garage sale for 90 bucks that needed a little work, and I scored a Squire jazz with upgraded bartolini pickups for 100 bucks. Tiny amount of work. Both thunder. Used is a great way to go. Assume a hundred bucks of "work", strings, setup, might need a pot or a jack or a knob... if that's still a hundred cheaper than a new one save the hundred bucks!!!
Selling this if interested. Upgraded nut, Ulyate pickups. CTS pots.
Prices in my area:
$650-ish gets you something choice but replaceable.
$300 gets you MIM
Less gets you Squier.
Now if you are inclined to spends around $600 I'd look at the Warmoth chambered body in the FS section, USACG neck with USA hipshots just went but find something in the realm, and pickups &/or preamp you have all day long here.
$650-ish gets you something choice but replaceable.
$300 gets you MIM
Less gets you Squier.
Now if you are inclined to spends around $600 I'd look at the Warmoth chambered body in the FS section, USACG neck with USA hipshots just went but find something in the realm, and pickups &/or preamp you have all day long here.
#1 I merely made my suggestion of what I considered a viable contender and ''let it go'' at that.
#2 once engaged in the ''rambling'' I courteously entertained the comments primarily out of my own interests as an owner of an unusual bass with what I'd term now as issues and have been curious about for many reasons.
#3 what's it to you?
#4 I'm not asking that as a question and would prefer you take your own advice. thank you
Any J that feels good in your hands (plays well) can sound great with little work.
Nowadays even the Squier Affinity basses are pretty good, so it really depends on your higher limit of spending. One recommendation is buy used and you can get more for your money.
A rough USED guide would be...
Around $100- $150 - get a Squier Affinity at the very least. Maybe a VM.
Around $300 - a used Squier CV Jazz or MIM Fender Jazz.
$500 and up - US Fender Jazz.
Things to watch out for...earlier MIM Fender Jazz basses are not of the same quality as more recent ones, not that they're bad, but the quality and craftsmanship improved over time. My 1995 jazz, you can see paint drips on the finish.
A rough USED guide would be...
Around $100- $150 - get a Squier Affinity at the very least. Maybe a VM.
Around $300 - a used Squier CV Jazz or MIM Fender Jazz.
$500 and up - US Fender Jazz.
Things to watch out for...earlier MIM Fender Jazz basses are not of the same quality as more recent ones, not that they're bad, but the quality and craftsmanship improved over time. My 1995 jazz, you can see paint drips on the finish.
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This is good advice with one caveat: early MIM J basses (up to about 2001, if I remember correctly) cut costs by using identical pickups in the bridge and neck. By comparison, all USA Fenders have a wider bridge pickup to match the wider string spacing vs the neck. Not only are the stock pickups pretty crap, it makes replacing them kind of a pain as well, because the bridge rout is too small to accommodate most aftermarket J sets.
You can widen the rout, as I did on my '91, but you either need the tools or to be prepared to pay a luthier. Alternately, you can buy two neck pickups, but the bridge pickup in J sets is usually hotter to compensate for the smaller string movement in that area, so you probably wouldn't get the best results...
There are always exceptions, but generally speaking, the '90s MIM Fenders could be pretty crappy. Poplar bodies, spotty QC, junk electrical components, you name it. Anecdotally, they seem to have taken a massive leap forward around 2001, when they started using alder and ash bodies, improved the pickups, as well as bringing up the acceptable finish levels. My impression is that they've done the same again with the recent changes to the model naming, as the US ones are consistently better as well...
The Squier Vintage Modified jazz bass is an impressively not-junky bass for the money.
You will find no shortage of people that will tell you that a Sire V7 is the best jazz bass for the buck; if you can wait for it.
There is an English company called Vintage that makes P style and J style basses for a very low price. The woods are a little cheap and the setup can be dicey, but the hardware is pretty awesome. I have their Icon road worn bass. If feels different than a Fender Jazz, but the recorded tone is great,
You will find no shortage of people that will tell you that a Sire V7 is the best jazz bass for the buck; if you can wait for it.
There is an English company called Vintage that makes P style and J style basses for a very low price. The woods are a little cheap and the setup can be dicey, but the hardware is pretty awesome. I have their Icon road worn bass. If feels different than a Fender Jazz, but the recorded tone is great,
That's the cutoff year I remember reading when they made some changes. I couldn't remember if it was 2001 or 2000. I actually like my quirky 1995 MIM Fender Jazz (Squier series), love the neck as the neck radius is vintage at 7.25", but yes the electronics are not quite up to snuff to the more current ones.
Well, I was going to say Sire, ( I think they're an awesome alternative) but wanted to keep the Fender discussion going.
The VM is pretty good too, nothing junky about it. I had a Squier VM Jazz Fretless and a MIM Fender Fretless Jazz not too long ago, while the MIM had better pickups, I actually preferred the feel of the Squier over the Fender.
I suggest you re-think how much you want to spend. You could find a nice MIA jazz used for about $600. Wait, earn some extra money, sell something. In the long run you'll be glad you did.
As with so many things Fender, the transitions were gradual, I think. My understanding is they started changing things in 2000, but there are still lots of 2001 models with the old details.
Oh, don't get me wrong, there are lots of good ones. I have a very early one, dated 1991, and it's a great bass. It came in Midnight Blue, which is a colour I absolutely hated (it was like all the worst bits of blue and purple blended), so I had it painted black with a matching headstock. I also routed and replaced the pickups with a Duncan SJB-1 set, and put on a vintage-style threaded bridge. It's by no means my favourite bass, but it's still a nice player. Digging up this pic reminds me that I need to pop some vintage-style long-stem tuners on there to complete the look...
