Vanzandt Owners Club

[MIJ Enjoyer]

Can't find one so I'll start it.

Vanzandt is a high-end Japanese brand which is owned by the Taurus Corpo, they are made by PGM Professional Guitar Manufacture (Same as Moon, and K.Nyui). Vanzandt uses Van Zandt Texas pickups in their guitars but neither brands are related in any other way other than Vanzandt using the Van Zandt Texas pickups.

Vanzandt aims to create the best vintage Fender copies in all of Japan. Comparing to the rest of the Japanese guitar industry they certainly got the most vintage vibe. Vanzandt guitars are finishes in 100% thin nitrocellulose lacquer just like stuff coming out of Fender Custom Shop, however relic-ing aren't they specialty.

One of the weird quirk of Vanzandt is the way they have their nitro sprayed. The texture of orange peel seems to be a 'cool' thing in Japan, for whatever reason, it is part of their marketing material and all their guitars will have that texture.

Taurus Vanzandt Webpage

I am now an owner of these mystical creatures. The model I have is the JBV-R2, which is a Pre-CBS vibe. The finish is called '63 3-Tone Sunburst, or also known as Faded Aged Sunburst in the Fender world. All the dings and checking are natural, this bass is only a decade old so it is not ripe quite yet.

Specs:
- 2p carefully selected Alder body.
- Maple neck with Madagascar Rosewood slab board (as of 2022 they only comes in Indian Rosewood).
- 210r (8.25") fretboard radius, oil soaked bone nut. Aged clay dots inlay.
- Van Zandt Texas vintage J bass pickups.
- Gotoh Reverse gear tuners and Gotoh vintage style bridge.
- 250k CTS pots with Vanzandt tone capacitor.
- Frets seem to be medium jumbo.

 

[winston]

Sweet, there was a '70s-style Van Zandt on TB in 2022, never heard of them before that.
What's the neck profile like and how do those pickups sound?

 

[MIJ Enjoyer]

That one should be the JBV-R1 I believe, it's a 70s style, seems pretty rare.

I was testing it earlier to see what kind of work it needed done, it wasn't perfect since it was a bargain. But here's a recording of while I was messing around. The strings is some generic D'Addario XL nickels. I have Thomastik-infield coming in. Overall I'm very happy with the tone, very '62 Reissue to my ears. The pickups might not be potted, since I think it has some microphonic issue and the height foam is pretty dead so I'll have to open it up. As for the EMI noises you are hearing, it's actually not that bad, it's because I was recording right next to my computer, which is a very noisy.

I was also having a hard time with the threaded saddles and the bent plate is very thin, vintage alright, I will either swap it out for some Gotoh 203 perhaps. Overall I'm pretty happy with the bass, the fretwork is perfect so there is that. Just some minor issues I gotta work on then it'd good to go.

 

[MIJ Enjoyer]

Got a fretless, now I have a twin.

 

[acolwe]

Wow, small club. How were the import duties when you bought these, if you got them straight from Japan? They sound incredible, even close as good to an Alleva.

 

[MIJ Enjoyer]

Wow, small club. How were the import duties when you bought these, if you got them straight from Japan? They sound incredible, even close as good to an Alleva.

Hey! Sorry I was not active on the forum at all. I bought them straight from Japan yes, I couldn’t remember the import duty at the time but it’s probably around 12%. They sounds great and play wonderful, they’re basically vintage counterparts to Moon since it’s the same builder.

 

[acolwe]

No worries. Thanks!