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MIM Fender Basses "(upgrade)"?

J

jaymeister9195

Dec 5, 2007
53
0
NEW YORK
#1
I was on Fenders web site and noticed it said the Standard Jazz was introduced 1/2006. This didnt sound right.

Then I noticed it was the "Fender Standard Jazz Bass (Upgrade)" model. I had heard they did some upgrades to improve the MIM Fenders and it explains why a few online retailers had run out of stock last year.

Anybody know what exactly the "upgrades" are?
 
#4
The basic upgrades to the MIM line from a couple of years ago were. An Alder body instead of Popular. They also changed the pickups to a conventional jazz pickup size instead of having the two pickups the same size. This meant you could switch pickups without having to route your bridge cavity. They also reworked the pickups for a "better" sound. I'm still not a fan of the pickups in general, but they do work.

The MIM are good basses and I have no problems plahing one. I just want a good jazz pickup in mine. Acoustically it sounds fine, but plugged in the pickups sound a bit tinny.
 
#5
glwanabe said:
The basic upgrades to the MIM line from a couple of years ago were. An Alder body instead of Popular. They also changed the pickups to a conventional jazz pickup size instead of having the two pickups the same size. This meant you could switch pickups without having to route your bridge cavity. They also reworked the pickups for a "better" sound. I'm still not a fan of the pickups in general, but they do work.

The MIM are good basses and I have no problems plahing one. I just want a good jazz pickup in mine. Acoustically it sounds fine, but plugged in the pickups sound a bit tinny.
Click to expand...

I did a little research on it and from what I gathered they did redo the pickups, actually I read a rumor they are USA pickups. But I doubt that rumor.

It has better shielding paint in the cavities, and supposedly better QC in the factory. So I would expect the recently produced MIM Jazz to be a little more consistent quality than it had been.

As for the pickups I would probably upgrade em to 1/4 pounders or Fender Samarium Cobalt Noiseless.
 
#6
SD pickups in general are good products. I was not impressed with the 1/4lb p bass pickup I tried. I found it to be harsh with no warmth to it. I like a bit more of a vintage sounding pickup.

I have no problem with original vintage Fender jazz pickups. Although the bridge pickup in my Geddy is fairly weak compared to the neck pickup.

Eventually I'm going to put my current Geddy pickups in my MIM, and a set of SD antiquity's in the Geddy.


I was at GC a few weeks back and tried out a few of the new standards. Fit and finish was good on all of them. They all had good acoustic sounds and sounded fairly good plugged in.

The best bass I've picked recently and tried was a MIM fretless jazz. VERY nice neck, very resonant acoustically, and the 9050 flats sounded great through a small ampeg combo. The fretless jazz had a bit more wood in the neck. Gave it a bit more of a fuller feeling, more like an actual vintage jazz bass neck should feel.
 

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