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MIM Fender basses
- Thread starter KingRazor
- Start date
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...after a few months of playing all kinds of basses at many music stores, I zeroed in on a Jazz bass. I found this on craigslist, changed the red strings and it's a player, 2007 MIM...
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...after a few months of playing all kinds of basses at many music stores, I zeroed in on a Jazz bass. I found this on craigslist, changed the red strings and it's a player, 2007 MIM...
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MIM Fenders can be absolutely wonderful. Ive had a few. Modifications never crossed my mind. I had a 1996 P and a 2010 Jazz. I regret trading them everyday. They were easily 2 of the best basses I ever owned. I guess I wanted something else at the time, but now, I can't imagine why I would have gotten rid of them unless I was in some kind of medicated state 
I got my first Fender at the ripe age of 13 in 1969 - a brand new Jazz in the case at a cost of approximately $350. Adjusted for inflation that would be $2200 today. Obviously a MIA Jazz doesn't cost this - Fender has been working to keep costs down, and that usually means doing things differently - some, more automated, and I think a big area is in quality and consistency of the wood.
I visited the Gibson Custom Shop a few weeks ago, and a key learning for me was how much better the wood quality is for the CS Les Paul. The woods are sorted to tight quality tolerances to give a more consistent finished product. This isn't done in the main factory, and I doubt that Fender is doing it in their main factory, either. Also given that much of the really good wood has been harvested, the reality is that a high premium is paid for quality wood, if you can get it. Fender and Gibson reserve this for their custom shop instruments, so if you want a high quality Fender, they are out there - and you will pay for it - it has the Custom Shop Logo.
This isn't to say that you can't get a good one that isn't CS, but the variation between basses is higher.
I do think however that the current MIA jazz basses are very good. I haven't played a bad one in the last two years. And I think the American Deluxe is excellent and well worth the money. Kind of bridges the gap between CS and American Standard.
Anyway, these are just my opinions!
I visited the Gibson Custom Shop a few weeks ago, and a key learning for me was how much better the wood quality is for the CS Les Paul. The woods are sorted to tight quality tolerances to give a more consistent finished product. This isn't done in the main factory, and I doubt that Fender is doing it in their main factory, either. Also given that much of the really good wood has been harvested, the reality is that a high premium is paid for quality wood, if you can get it. Fender and Gibson reserve this for their custom shop instruments, so if you want a high quality Fender, they are out there - and you will pay for it - it has the Custom Shop Logo.
This isn't to say that you can't get a good one that isn't CS, but the variation between basses is higher.
I do think however that the current MIA jazz basses are very good. I haven't played a bad one in the last two years. And I think the American Deluxe is excellent and well worth the money. Kind of bridges the gap between CS and American Standard.
Anyway, these are just my opinions!
When I was bass shopping a few years ago, I tried out quite a few different Fenders, including some MIMs, namely a 50's Classic Precision and a 60's Jazz. I was seriously impressed with their vibe, but every time I considered going with one, I couldn't stop myself from incrementally going upwards in price towards a Hwy One, then the thoughts of a gig bag made me shudder, so the price of a decent case pushed me into AmStd territory... And so on.
I'd still love to have a sunburst 70's Classic Jazz, the coolest looking Jazz (MIM or original) ever made, IMO! And most likely made better than the originals.
I'd still love to have a sunburst 70's Classic Jazz, the coolest looking Jazz (MIM or original) ever made, IMO! And most likely made better than the originals.
I just wish that there were more MIM basses with Maple Fingerboards. They are out there but don't seem to pop up used for sale outside of TB Classies very often. The one P-Bass with a Maple Fingerboard that did pop up on the local CL was in the Tri-Cities and wound up being sold here on TB just as I was gathering funds.
One of the best MIMs I have ever owned was a 50's Classic P bass. I remember sitting in the store I bought it in with 3 basses in front of me testing each and listening close to all three for well over an hour.
The three were the MIM Classic 50's (new) a late 90's MIA P bass (used) and a Highway1 first model no BA (new)
The Classic not only sounded better it felt and played better and was cheaper than the other two although money was not an option. It was a no brainer and I only got rid of the 50's classic to fund a 78' P bass that was a dream but is also now gone. Today I play MIJ Squiers
The three were the MIM Classic 50's (new) a late 90's MIA P bass (used) and a Highway1 first model no BA (new)
The Classic not only sounded better it felt and played better and was cheaper than the other two although money was not an option. It was a no brainer and I only got rid of the 50's classic to fund a 78' P bass that was a dream but is also now gone. Today I play MIJ Squiers
Say what you want, but I'd take a post-2008 Am Std Jazz or P over any MIM any day even if it required me to save longer. Better components, better fretwork, lighter, nice case, and overall pride of ownership. No mods needed. You can't sell me on MIM no matter how confident you are that they are as good or better as an Am Std or that an Am Std isn't worth 2x as much. It is to me and many others. Not that there isn't a place for MIM or MIJ.
boristhespider9 said:
I've owned enough clinkers from either side of the border to never say "never".
One of the best basses I've ever played was an MIA P bass. Super smooth both in tone and playability. But I've also played MIA Ps and Js that were less than stellar.
The best Jazz I've ever played to this day was an MIM standard it easily beat any MIA Jazz I've ever played (which admittedly isn't many)
If the country of manufacture is important to you that's one thing, but I wouldn't make a blanket statement that MIA's are better when, as many people here have experienced, there are often cases when an MIM has out-performed an MIA.
I just wish that there were more MIM basses with Maple Fingerboards. They are out there but don't seem to pop up used for sale outside of TB Classies very often. The one P-Bass with a Maple Fingerboard that did pop up on the local CL was in the Tri-Cities and wound up being sold here on TB just as I was gathering funds.
There's a shop in Hillsboro, OR that has a new maple fretboard MIM Jazz.
I picked up a MIM Std 5 Jazz on Craigslist recently pretty cheap. I bought it with the intention of flipping it - and found that it was a pretty nice bass. owner bought it to learn on - never did and it sat in the stand. It still had plastic on the pickguard, came with a nice stand, nice Levys strap, nice gigbag, and needed a new set of strings. Total investment $265 (including strings). Not bad for a VERY nice instrument, plays great - setup awesome and needs no fret work. its an 03 btw. Rose board and wine red finish (5 inline)
My basses;
MIA P DLX 2010
MIM P
MIM J Antigua
I like all 3 and they all play very nicely, I have to say that there is a big difference in build quality (particularly neck pocket fit which is a bit sloppy on the MIMs), the hardware on the MIA is much higher quality, the sound of the MIA is better by a long way, the controls, tuners-in fact everything is in a different class, not saying the others are bad, just that the MIA is far superior .
However, the MIA costs 3 times as much so I expect the superiority it carries !
MIA P DLX 2010
MIM P
MIM J Antigua
I like all 3 and they all play very nicely, I have to say that there is a big difference in build quality (particularly neck pocket fit which is a bit sloppy on the MIMs), the hardware on the MIA is much higher quality, the sound of the MIA is better by a long way, the controls, tuners-in fact everything is in a different class, not saying the others are bad, just that the MIA is far superior .
However, the MIA costs 3 times as much so I expect the superiority it carries !
The contemporary MIM Standards (from about 2009 on, when they began offering maple boards) are rock solid, high quality instruments. I own two MIM Ps and one J from 2010-2011, and though I could easily afford it, I passed up MIA's for these.
I just went and played a lightly-used one of these MIM FSR Jazz basses
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this weekend, and I passed because I didn't like the build quality. It played and sounded fine with the exception of the action being high (which I imagine could have been corrected easily). But the G string wasn't centered over the pickup magnets, and the rosewood fingerboard thickness was thin and slighly uneven... little stuff like that. If the guy had been asking $250 instead of $350, I might have bit and lived with the little flaws.
The one I played was a 2006. Not to say they haven't gotten better since then, or that there aren't well-crafted MIMs out there in any case. But when I compared the MIM J with the seller's new (Indonesian?) SBMM Sub 4, I concluded I could get something NEW with better quality for less $... such as with Squier CV series.
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this weekend, and I passed because I didn't like the build quality. It played and sounded fine with the exception of the action being high (which I imagine could have been corrected easily). But the G string wasn't centered over the pickup magnets, and the rosewood fingerboard thickness was thin and slighly uneven... little stuff like that. If the guy had been asking $250 instead of $350, I might have bit and lived with the little flaws.
The one I played was a 2006. Not to say they haven't gotten better since then, or that there aren't well-crafted MIMs out there in any case. But when I compared the MIM J with the seller's new (Indonesian?) SBMM Sub 4, I concluded I could get something NEW with better quality for less $... such as with Squier CV series.
Only MIMs I didn't particularly like were the pre-2001s, with the poplar bodies and meh pickups. I never owned one though.
I owned two MIMs: A 2002 Jazz Bass V and a 2011 Precision. The J was awesome, and so is the P.
I owned two MIMs: A 2002 Jazz Bass V and a 2011 Precision. The J was awesome, and so is the P.
