NBBD - Fender Select Jazz w/ Jaco Body

(New bass build day)

I'm assembling a bass, the parts of which I've collected over the past few months.



I had been playing a vintage Precision neck (refin) on a Jazz body. Loved that set-up, but eventually married that neck with a vintage Precision body (refin). That has turned out to be a really great bass - it seems like the Precision neck is "happier" being on a Precision body...

But I missed having a Jazz, so I started to collect parts for this one. I was really intrigued by the Jazz Selects (non-active). But I knew I wanted a nitro sunburst from my previous Jazz, so this configuration is the result.

The recipe is:

• 2013 Fender Jazz Select Neck, nitro & rosewood
• 2012 Fender American Jaco Pastorius Jazz body, nitro, alder & under 5 lbs (!)
• 2013 Fender Jazz Select Pickups and Electronics

I was considering a preamp, but in the end I decided to go old-school passive. I am in the middle of shielding this bass thoroughly with copper tape.

I'm taking pictures as I go, mostly for my own reference. I'll post 'em if anybody wants to see.

My goal is to have this bass ready to play tomorrow (Sunday) at about 8:30 p.m. ...

 

Cool. This is as far as I've gotten today:


Masking off the work area. (For once). I used a manila folder and low-tack tape.


No idea what this powdery stuff is. Got to go so the conductive foil can stick.






Looks like glazing points are used to hold the brass "shielding" plate in place. Won't need this with the copper shielding, so out it comes.


That's a vacuum nozzle - trying to get the dried whatever out. (It looks like dried toothpaste . . .)


Making sure the grounding wire holes are clean and unobstructed.


Looks like they brand the body blanks "SB" inside the neck pickup if it's going to be a sunburst.




After cleaning


Used a digital caliper to get depth of control cavity.


Then I just use the caliper jaws to make tic marks to cut the foil.


Take the backing off, but put it back on the folded foil so it doesn't stick to itself while it's being positioned.


I read this tip about using a pencil eraser to press the foil into place somewhere on TalkBass. Good thing because I have big hands.


First foil, not too bad.


Walls fully lined


I just pressed to get outlines.


Fully lined cavity.


Poking the ground wire from the bridge through


Bridge mounted with ground wire soldered underneath.


Pickup cavities were a bit trickier with the curves and because they're smaller.




Neck pickup recess done.




All cavities done.


More tomorrow . . .

 

OK, I was going to go to bed. But then I got excited. So I figured I'd work on it a "few more minutes"

2 hours later . . .


Not done, but getting there!

Here are the steps that got us to this point:

The Select Body has an open rout so the pickup wires can come out intact. The Jaco is the old style (which I prefer). So we have to un-solder the pickup to run the wires through the hole.


Checking my grounding - should be 0 ohms resistance . . . resistance is futile






Probably could just use foil, but I had the soldering iron out anyway.





Soldered back into control plate


Before we screw everything together, check my soldering job. Metal tuning fork on each pickup.





I'm sure I broke some kind of international law - had to get those ridiculous "Do Not Recycle" and CE stickers off . . .


Pickup screws seem like they're some kind of dark metal. Look cool. Of course, it's late. I could be hallucinating.


Super tight neck pocket. Fits perfectly. I dunno if it's luck or Fender's manufacturing precision, but I've never seen a better pocket/neck marriage.




Sleep. Coffee. Bass Strings. Strobe tuner . . . .

 

Good Morning !

All the essential tools assembled:


I always use a little graphite on the nut.



A bit of masking for truss rod and strings


Yeah, these are WAY too high. Oops. Hard to tell with no strings on the bass.


Strung to tension.


Time for lunch . . .

 

Pretty much just followed the Fender Bass Setup Guide to get everything adjusted.

Checking neck relief:


Checking neck relief, measuring a different way, notched straight-edge:


String height:


Set the radius to 7.25, even though it's a compound radius neck. Have to see what feels right after playing it a bit. I'm not even sure what standard practice is, figured setting it to the most curvy can't be wrong


I didn't photograph much of the intonation process.


Pickup height:



Wow! This thing plays really well.


Great neck. Totally solid. Not too thin, but not chunky either. Great finish, too.

Fun Fender assembly fact:
I tracked all of Led Zeppelin's Studio Albums while building this bass (appropriate since JPJ is a hero and part of the nature of this build is due to his Fender Jazz). I started with Led Zeppelin I yesterday. It took from Led Zeppelin I through Physical Graffiti's Kasmir to get the bass shielded, electronics installed, and neck mounted. Stringing, intonating etc. took me the rest of the way (Well I am listening to the last track of "In Through the Out Door".) I did not quite get to "Coda"...

I'll be playing this tonight at a local Blues Jam.

 

Thanks everyone for the comments.

I played about 8 songs at a local Blues Jam last night with this bass. I am BLOWN AWAY by how it plays and sounds. Other people commented on how it sounded too. Best neck I've felt on a Jazz.

 

Why, thank you kindly. I've had a chance to bring it out a few more times, and it plays sooo nice. Ballsy tone too - I love the Select pickups.

 

Just lucky timing on eBay

I would say that this neck is not super-slim. In fact one of the reasons it worked out so well for me, is that it's not completely dis-similar to my '72 Precision neck (which is, as I understand, pretty narrow and skinny for a neck of that era). So I'd be sure to actually check out any jazz neck in person if at all possible - you may find it's not all that slim.

 

Update: A few steps above, I had set the radius on the bridge to equal the curviest radius of this compound radius neck : 7.25". That did not result in the best possible setup. The E and the A were occasionally contacting the neck pickup pole pieces (actually I think my pickups were set too high in general). So the adjustment (suggested on TalkBass here) was to set the string height to be equal at the last fret, adjust the bridge radius to match, then adjust the pickups.

I have a lovely set of feeler gauges, and a digital calipers, none of which I could find in the moment last night. So I made a "poor-mans" feeler gauge out of some picks. (1.5+1.14 mm = just a skosh over 3/32") I set it so that the picks slid out on the bass side, and stayed pinned under the string on the treble side. My setup is slightly higher than the Fender Guidelines to account for a somewhat aggressive right hand style.





I played this new setup last night and no issues with clicking against the pole pieces. Might need to tweak it just a bit, and recheck the intonation.

I am still really happy with this build. I got tons of compliments on my tone last night. Just the stock Select Pickups, this time running through a friend's Fender Super Bassman into a Fender 410 cab.

Sorry to resuscitate a dormant thread, but I didn't want anyone to follow my steps exactly and wind up with a less than optimal setup.