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What Bass would Jaco be playing?

#21
Honestly, ignoring Jaco's rough last few days and his lifestyle,

I feel he would be the type to use anything if he was given. He just didn't seem like the kind of person who would care for signatures model, again though life is unpredictable and things change quickly and we can never picture it, at least for my personality until it actually happens.

Maybe he would of fell in love with G&L, ESP, Yamaha who the heck knows, I would honestly make a daring say and even say he would of liked Yamaha, but I have really nothing to back it up other than he played Jazz and Yamaha seems to target those players.

In the end I say, just like Jaco, play what you want, you don't "need" this bass. I am all for get what you want but some people get into dangerous habits in hobbies with GAS. From camera lens, fishing lures, swimming goggles, dumbbell types you name it. Amazing legends like Jaco, Duck Dunn, James Jamerson should be proof at times that less is more IMO. Don't get me wrong I love having loads of pickups, loads of knobs but thats me, I rather have 10 knobs than 10 basses (Ok, I'm lying that's because I'm broke lol) but in all seriousness just my thoughts...
 
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#23
salmon256 said:
Honestly, ignoring Jaco's rough last few days and his lifestyle,
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Yeah, the answer might be the unfortunate one, that even if he hadn't died he might not be playing anything. The example of jazz bassist Henry Grimes comes to mind, who disappeared for almost 25 years and was believed by many to have died. It was only when an enterprising fan decided to find out his fate that he turned out to be alive, no longer owning a bass and completely out of touch with the music world.
 
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#24
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#25
tim gueguen said:
Yeah, the answer might be the unfortunate one, that even if he hadn't died he might not be playing anything. The example of jazz bassist Henry Grimes comes to mind, who disappeared for almost 25 years and was believed by many to have died. It was only when an enterprising fan decided to find out his fate that he turned out to be alive, no longer owning a bass and completely out of touch with the music world.
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Truth be told, you are most certainly correct. Mental Health challenges for all especially those with the most creative of minds, it seems.
 
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#26
Just yesterday I was watching a vid of Jaco playing and he was using a black J bass with a fretted maple neck having MOTS blocks and binding.

During a pan in the video I caught a glimpse of what looked to be his BOD lying on the floor of the studio. I rewound and paused it and it does look similar to it. I wondered why he chose to use the one he did if his BOD was right there lying on the floor.

I think he'd be using whatever Fender J-esque bass he was handed though I do remember the Guild ads and I have a Pilot since back then myself.
 
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#31
BigAlBass69 said:
To reframe the question,”What is the best J. Bass like bass today that would best suit Jacos style?” Scott Devine would argue Overwater. On this side of the pond, gotta be a Fodera?
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There are many great luthiers making basses in N. America now. Fodera and Sadowsky are the obvious names, plus Alleva Coppolo, Mike Lull, and F Bass up in Canada. But Fender likely has deeper pockets compared to the boutique luthiers, so he probably would have a Custom Shop artist model on the market, and a master built model that he actually plays.
 
#37
Bassy Davy said:
According to tribal lore, Jaco also recorded with a fretted bass. I used to assume that all of his recored work was on fretless. Who knows for sure?
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How do you split between fretless and fretted?

Depends on what I want to play. On my record, I play fretless on everything but "Come On, Come Over" and "Portrait Of Tracy," I played fretted on those two. Everything else I played fretless. I use the fretless more often simply because it calls for that sound more often to me. When I want to use a vibrato, that's natural. I like the fretted bass, too—of course, there's things that work better with that, like playing lots of chords really in tune, you know? Whereas with the fretless it's hard to play more than two-note chords in tune, because your fingers, well—it's just too hard to get in there. I mean, I can, I do it a couple of times on the record, but I want to be in tune.

Jaco Pastorius Shares How He Learned Bass and Composition in Unpublished Interview | Bacon's Archive
 
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#38
Bassy Davy said:
According to tribal lore, Jaco also recorded with a fretted bass. I used to assume that all of his recored work was on fretless. Who knows for sure?
Click to expand...
Steve Bailey mentioned in a thread here a couple years ago "when I was in the studio with Jaco and we recorded complicated lines, he doubled everything on fretted."
 
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#39
Probably a defretted early 60s Fender Jazz Bass without the pickguard.

Jaco wasn’t the kind of musician who would worry about his precious instrument so much that he would have a Custom Shop copy made for him to take on tour.​
 
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