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Jazz bass color

Which colour jazz bass

  • Black

    Votes: 86 40.2%
  • Black and white

    Votes: 49 22.9%
  • Antique Sunburst

    Votes: 79 36.9%

  • Total voters
    214
I would go with the black and maple. I used to go with rosewood boards only, but now I'm really appreciating the maple. Plus, aesthetically, depending on the body colour, it can really pop or accentuate to overall look. My Jazz Performer is a Seafoam Green with maple neck and I find it to be a really nice looking bass. So many cool colour combinations.
JB.jpg
 
Help me choose between these 3 jazz basses, based mainly on the colour.

(Although they range from Squier Affinity, to Squier 40th Anniversary, to Fender Player, they are all fine for me.)

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I like a nice vintage tobacco burst - this is not nice by any measure. If I said that which we are not permitted to say, I think many would also not say the same thing.
 
I see it as looking like an antique string instrument, you don’t find? Most electric bass sunbursts look a bit 1970s cheesy to me.
PXL_20211007_220213751.jpg

On the left is my antique string instrument, flanked by some more modern implementations. I think what bugs me about the squier you posted is that the black on the edge meets the pick guard at the top. It just doesn't look well-planned to my eye. Nothing against a two-color burst per se.
 
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View attachment 4836724
On the left is my antique string instrument, flanked by some more modern implementations. I think what bugs me about the squier you posted is that the black on the edge meets the pick guard at the top. It just doesn't look well-planned to my eye. Nothing against a two-color burst per SE.

I know what you mean about the pickguard overlap but that doesn’t bother me. I find interesting that the overall colour is subdued and unusual that way. Most electric bass sunbursts are more brightly coloured, although this is also very nice, as with your Fender at right.
 
They all sound similar, they’re pretty much the same bass. The Fender Player might have a barely audible added depth and richness to the tone, and possibly other details that can come to light with time and use. But I’m not a professional, Squiers are excellent instruments, and I already have a Player precision (and a Squier CV 50s single coil p bass, and Epiphone Embassy).
Given the price differential, a good, solidly built Squier that feels good in your own, two hands can be an excellent modding platform. Throw in some hardware and/or electronics to make it more pleasing to your senses and voilà...a satisfying player that costs as much, or even less than, it's higher-priced contemporaries. ;)
 
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I know what you mean about the pickguard overlap but that doesn’t bother me. I find interesting that the overall colour is subdued and unusual that way. Most electric bass sunbursts are more brightly coloured, although this is also very nice, as with your Fender at right.
Yeah, some three-tone sunbursts don't age well, and they definitely don't have universal appeal. If you like that one, go for it!
 
I know what you mean about the pickguard overlap but that doesn’t bother me. I find interesting that the overall colour is subdued and unusual that way. Most electric bass sunbursts are more brightly coloured, although this is also very nice, as with your Fender at right.
I can't speak for everyone, but I'm gonna take a guess that those of us who don't like that 40th Anniversary model find the burst pattern to be "sloppy" compared to the more discreet bursts we're used to. I, for one, can enjoy a nice two-color or Tobacco burst finish, but to my eyes, it's like they went a bit too far with the black spray.

At the end of the day, "aesthetics" are a subjective thing. We can't tell you what to like, just how we feel about it. :)
 
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Given the price differential, a good, solidly built Squier that feels good in your own, two hands can be an excellent modding platform. Throw in some hardware and/or electronics to make it more pleasing to your senses and voilà...a satisfying player that costs as much, or even less than, it's higher-priced contemporaries. ;)

I never modify, use as is or give away. The Squier Affinity is surely good enough for me, for a good few years anyway. Who knows how much longer I’ll be playing.
 
I never modify, use as is or give away.
Do you mean, "I never modify. I use as is or give away."?

The Squier Affinity is surely good enough for me, for a good few years anyway. Who knows how much longer I’ll be playing.
That sounds depressingly "final". :nailbiting:
 
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Sure, I use as is from store, only change strings and setup adjustments. I can say that, nobody here knows my address :roflmao:.

I really should make this my last purchase, it’s my 4th in recent years, my wife is starting to take photos of the basement to compare from month to month.
 
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Choices must narrow down to one. It was hard enough getting to these three.

C’mon pick one. The comments say black, the votes say black white.
Ok, I don't really like any of the choices, but the sunburst is not well done.

p.s. Both black basses are interchangeable. Getting a new pickguard is easy-peasy. The fretboard is not something I care too much about, but I prefer blocked and bound with some kind of inlay if going for maple, not dots.
 
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Rosewood with the right tort looks pretty good with a black bass IMO, but that was not one of the choices given on this thread. But to your point black bass with a white or black pickguard needs maple finger board.

You know, now that I think about it, I’ve never owned a bass with a maple fingerboard. I’ve use a lot of them, but never owned one. And that’s over 50 years… Huh! My Strat has one, but no basses, ever. Huh.


You need one. At least one.