Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Is It Really Too Much to Ask?
- Thread starter Snakeman1066
- Start date
But is it called a Jazz bass, or is it a Reggie Hamilton sig or a Hot Rod Jazz bass or any of the other names.
Point being, it’s about legal limitations when it comes to what the bass can be marketed as. You could go to the Custom Shop and get a standard P body with a J neck but it will be called a Custom Shop Precision.
Speaking of which, why not off all those Deluxe and Special P’s and get exactly what you want from the Custom Shop? It will even have the plain old Precision headstock decal. You’ll have to live with the CS badge on the back of the headstock, or go Bill Monroe and scrape the CS markings off, but it would be a standard P with a J neck.
I love it when peeps come on here and defend Fender as if they have a direct line to Fender's brain. No, you don't.
I'm with the OP. I don't understand it either. Putting a J neck on a P body has been a super common mod since the dawn of Fender, but somehow Fender never picked up on it. Or they did and ignored it, which is what I really think.
I prefer a P with a J neck so much that I also mod my own. But then I have an extra neck lying around. And it's kinda weird spending $200-300 on a neck for a MIM Fender (I prefer them to the USA models) that costs only a bit more than that. I use Mighty Mite necks for this reason. Otherwise I'm doing a total build and leaving Fender out altogether.
For those suggesting the Custom Shop: OMG, do you know what they cost? Option a G&L and you get a better bass for less than a standard USA Fender.
Fender is missing an opportunity on this one. As the OP says repeatedly, it's super easy to provide this.
I'm with the OP. I don't understand it either. Putting a J neck on a P body has been a super common mod since the dawn of Fender, but somehow Fender never picked up on it. Or they did and ignored it, which is what I really think.
I prefer a P with a J neck so much that I also mod my own. But then I have an extra neck lying around. And it's kinda weird spending $200-300 on a neck for a MIM Fender (I prefer them to the USA models) that costs only a bit more than that. I use Mighty Mite necks for this reason. Otherwise I'm doing a total build and leaving Fender out altogether.
For those suggesting the Custom Shop: OMG, do you know what they cost? Option a G&L and you get a better bass for less than a standard USA Fender.
Fender is missing an opportunity on this one. As the OP says repeatedly, it's super easy to provide this.
I think you answered your own question...I already have Lakland and G&L configured this way
and actually I already own a few Fenders that are spec'd this way...as I built them myself...now I want one in Sunburst (as apparently it's a requirement to own a burst instrument after age 50
) and now I'm going to have to put another one together...so I was lamenting that Fender doesn't make one I could just walk into a store and buy 
I have a few questions:
1. How many times have you sent this request directly to Fender, where it might potentially have a chance of making a difference?
2. Are you expecting that a Fender product manager with decision-making authority will be reading this thread?
3. I sincerely applaud the fact that you appear to have already solved your problem the same way that most any reasonable person would solve the problem, by building exactly what you want. So why are you still carrying this pebble in your shoe? Did you make the mistake of getting rid of all of those custom basses and now you want another one and don't want to have to make another one yourself? if you already have what you want, complaining just for the sake of complaining it seems like a waste of time for you, and also somewhat disrespectful to all the people who end up having their time wasted engaging in the pointless conversation. I confess I only read a small fraction of your posts within this thread, but a few was all I needed to get the sense that you are genuinely upset about this issue, and, as my father would say, barking up the wrong tree, since I think everyone on this list is rather powerless to help you, especially when you already know how to help yourself.
4. I sense a great amount of misdirected anger in your posts. Coincidentally, it is the time of year with the least amount of daylight. I wonder if you are being affected by seasonal affective disorder, and maybe need to try to get outside during the daytime some more and get some sunlight. It may genuinely help your mood.
They did, but I don't think they're doing it any more - must not have been the commercial success that some people think it would be, I suppose...
Invalid Link Removed
It would be interesting to hear their reasoning. Surely over the several decades that they've been selling P's and J's someone in marketing would have seriously pushed for this unless there is an inherent conflict with the Fender business plan.
TO my knowledge they have never done it
putting a Jazz neck on a P body was never an option for the Mod shop or design experience basses
When we are talking about individual tastes, this becomes a moot point. When people buy cars, they put new wheels/tires on them, upgrade the stereo, put on performance parts, etc to make it uniquely what they want. I think Fender is marketing P basses to P bass players, Jazz basses to Jazz bass players, etc. I don't know how many bass player there are in the world, but I think it's probably impossible to market a bass at an affordable price point that is "perfect" for every player. It's all quite subjective, really - and that's NOT a slam on anyone's opinion here. Truthfully, I think that the reason that the J neck isn't offered on the P is that somewhere, somehow, it will affect Fender's bottom line: SALES. By selling the tried and true models, it allows them to offer a) replacement parts that they sell to users to make their perfect bass, and b) their Custom Shop which they sell pricey custom basses to customers that can afford it. Really, Snakeman, I think probably the ideal solution is to get your "custom" Fender from the Custom Shop. You obviously have a lot of money invested in instruments - why not invest a few shekels and get exactly what YOU want from Fender? Never know, it might turn out to be your dream instrument!
Best of luck!
Best of luck!
G&L LB-100. Order it with the 1.5 inch neck. Happy and done.
If it has to be Fender then buy one with thr PJ pickups and disconnect the J pickup.
1. This post made me laugh!!
2. No I still have my customized Fender Basses as stated many times in this thread...
3. I'm still carrying the pebble because I now want another one in a different color and they still don't make it as an option
4. I have been in contact with Fender and got the obligatory consult our custom shop line
5. You would be a little irritated too if after stating I want a FENDER p bass with a jazz neck why isn't this a standard option...and 200 yahoo's pop into the thread only to type "buy Warmoth" or "Go elsewhere" or "Build your own" or "Buy a P/J and don't use the J" which makes you realize they didn't read the thread at all, or want to engage in actual discussion about why fender has not at least offered this option once in 59 years that Jazz necks have been on the market...
6. I'm getting on in years and for once it would be nice to be able to grab a ready made product then having to craft my own
7. I work Graveyard shift
Last edited:
Isn't that what the Camaro evolved into? For example, IRS on a Camaro?
GM listened. And to further the analogy, one can get a Camaro in any number of flavors, from plain-jane to justplainstupidfast. If this was Fender, we could get a p-bass the same as we could with G&L, with a boatload of options at a fair and limited extra charge, not the crazy upscale pricing of the Custom Shop.
I don't recall that ever having the option of a 1.5" wide nut width. Just colors and fretboard woods. And an upcharge.
That would be nice and also the recipe for killing much of the Custom Shop business. I think that's why the Mod Shop was so lame and designed to fail. They have to protect the Custom Shop which I assume is a pretty good money maker.
Yea, about 1200 for MIA bass where you get to pick options not avail from Fender. You have to assemble it. How much is the equiv MIA Fender?
