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NBD - Fender CS Jaco Pastorius Relic


This vid was used for the "Shredding" series (on youtube) where they superimpose inept playing over a variety of bands/performance vids - usually bands that are very sophisticated players like the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Weather Report. It's ok funny because it's the comical opposite of the actual performances, but the one that this vid uses is hard to watch, especially during Jaco's solo because of his later days when he was falling apart on stages. Hard to find humor knowing what he must have been going through.
 
This vid was used for the "Shredding" series (on youtube) where they superimpose inept playing over a variety of bands/performance vids - usually bands that are very sophisticated players like the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Weather Report. It's ok funny because it's the comical opposite of the actual performances, but the one that this vid uses is hard to watch, especially during Jaco's solo because of his later days when he was falling apart on stages. Hard to find humor knowing what he must have been going through.
Yeah....I 'memba dat!
Manring shreds.:laugh:
 
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With a black background... a very photogenic instrument I think.

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I have a few questions about this bass for people that own it or people that know the bass and/or historians.

Looking at one of these, I noticed that the neck, headstock, knobs, knob plate, tuners and neck plate all look new. I didn't understand why these aren't distressed as well. Did Jaco have new hardware installed during the bass' glory years, or, was it a Custom Shop decision for performance over accuracy? This is supposed to be a 1962 bass. My '74 looks a lot more distressed.

Also, is that what epoxy'd neck looks like? It looks like a new neck on an old bass.

Lastly, is the logo on the headstock a sticker, or, is there a clear sticker protecting the logo?

I know that this is a new instrument (2018 is the one I'm looking at), but, I was hoping the realism was to be a little more accurate.
 
Check out the Montreal jazz fest 82' on you tube, Jaco at a point that was the beginning of the end but this performance was still on par excellence , accompanied by Peter Erskine, Bob Mintzer ,Randy Brecker, Othello melenaux, its worth watching just to see them do "Donna Lee"....pretty damn bad ass for the day, and as always "the Chicken" was good and funky
 
Built on the 40th anniversary of Jaco signing with Weather Report and the release of "Hejira" in 1976, I am very pleased to add this piece to my collection. By my judgement it demonstrates an extraordinary build quality paired with a marvelous tone both plugged and unplugged. I expect to cherish it for many years to come.

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Beautiful! The fender CS makes awesome basses. Congrats at play it in good health. Makes me wanna watch the Jaco documentary again
 
Does anybody know what Fender is using to make the 'clay' dots out of nowadays? It seems to be a bit of a mystery for pre-CBS basses, the legend of Leo using old floor tiles vs. a type of wood glue that aged over time, just wondering what Fender uses for their relic issues.
I have a 63 P with clay dots and a new AO 60s precision. The vintage clay dots look and feel like old eraser heads on a pencil. The newer imitation clay dots are much harder and feel more like plastic.
 
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I have a few questions about this bass for people that own it or people that know the bass and/or historians.

Looking at one of these, I noticed that the neck, headstock, knobs, knob plate, tuners and neck plate all look new. I didn't understand why these aren't distressed as well. Did Jaco have new hardware installed during the bass' glory years, or, was it a Custom Shop decision for performance over accuracy? This is supposed to be a 1962 bass. My '74 looks a lot more distressed.

Also, is that what epoxy'd neck looks like? It looks like a new neck on an old bass.

Lastly, is the logo on the headstock a sticker, or, is there a clear sticker protecting the logo?

I know that this is a new instrument (2018 is the one I'm looking at), but, I was hoping the realism was to be a little more accurate.

Are you sure you are looking at the Relic and not the Tribute? The Relic has worn hardware. The neck also has darkend fingerboard dots and a neck that is nearly black with "dirt and wear". The epoxy layer is also quite thick, like 1/8". And yes, the logo should look like a sticker, you can probably see the lines, although the nitro over the sticker is very thin (if any).
 
Yes. The Tribute bass has zero distressing.

I’m not talking about the back of the neck, but, the fretboard. It’s shiny and glossy. The headstock doesn’t look much distressed at all and the tuners and knobs don’t really have any rust. Is this because they didn’t want to cripple the bass, an oversight, or, had Jaco updated those parts of the bass and they’re accurately recreating that? I was expecting it to be more distressed.

If you peel away the sticker is the entire logo removed from the bass, or, is it just protecting the logo?
 
I think these are kind of cool and I like Fender, I am just curious what pictures of the BOD Fender used when they did the relicing (which appears to be the same on all of them). Most significantly, I haven't seen any photos of the BOD that show a discolored lower left elbow bevel. (The weird screwdriver looking "gouges" to the right side of the bridge don't appear to match up to anything on the BOD but rather to wear on his fretted 1960). Not trying to poo poo it, I'm just wondering.
 
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I don't think the BoD exists in its original form anymore, so there's probably no way to see all the detail on it up close (last I saw it Robert Trujillo was playing it and it looked almost completely rebuilt with a new figured top, etc).

As for the CS version, I have the regular mass-produced jaco tribute and I almost can't see how it could have been built any better. In fact, when I got it and took a look at it, I was 50/50 on whether I was going to keep it as more of a collector's item and get another beater bass to play regularly. Until one of the neck hold-down screws stripped out, and the one next to it getting a little loose too, when I was setting it up and I had to do a toothpick/glue repair. It's fine now but I always disclose any problems or repairs on anything I ever sell, even if it's totally hidden, like this would be, and I decided that something like that would affect the value enough to just keep it as my main player and not worry about the resale.

That's how nice even the tribute bass is - the whole $1800 looks to me like it's all in the fingerboard, actually, where I've never seen a lined board done as well as this one. I don't know exactly what they used to finish it, but it's a hard finish like a good floor. Polyeurethane maybe?

So the CS neck must be in another world of nice lol. If I won the lotto, I'd probably see about getting that CS bass but without the relic'ing, something like this:

Fender USA Custom Shop Jaco Pastorius Signature fretless American Jazz Bass - Kevin Kaufman | Essex Recording Studios | Reverb

But the main curiosity I have is about the CS fingerboards. It looks like a thick epoxy finish as opposed to the poly or whatever on the mass-produced jaco. I'd love to get hold of a bass with that neck also just to see what it's like....

Even at that, I'm strongly considering just getting another one of these too.

L
 
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Yes. The Tribute bass has zero distressing.

I’m not talking about the back of the neck, but, the fretboard. It’s shiny and glossy. The headstock doesn’t look much distressed at all and the tuners and knobs don’t really have any rust. Is this because they didn’t want to cripple the bass, an oversight, or, had Jaco updated those parts of the bass and they’re accurately recreating that? I was expecting it to be more distressed.

If you peel away the sticker is the entire logo removed from the bass, or, is it just protecting the logo?

The fingerboard shouldn't be shiny and glossy on the Relic, it should be satin or matte. You cannot just peel away the sticker. It might come off with some tape or if you pick at it but it isn't like a vinyl decal, there is a little clear over it.

@luciens no, the Bass of Doom was rebuilt by Kevin Kaufman before it was lost. You can find pics of Jaco with the bass rocking the new quilt top. And yes, the epoxy is quite thick on the relic. The Tribute gets a light coat of poly. The thickness has no bearing on the tone. My current fretless has a thick epoxy layer, much like the Relic, but it is so I can sand it multiple times without going through the epoxy.