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What is Fender S-1 Jazz? Legit?
- Thread starter chuck norriss
- Start date
Guitardaterproject says Corona, CA (2003-2004). I guess it's true. Never heard of S-1 though.
Someone lend me a grand.
Someone lend me a grand.
The S1 switch switches the Jazz bass pickups from being wired in parallel to series. This changes the sound from a traditional jazz bass sound to a P-bass like sound. This was available on jazz and p basses from around 2004 to 2006.
I believe the original pickguards were black. Good possibility the tort pickguard is aftermarket. If that's important....
A switch like that requires you to pay $15 at max, a bit of soldering skill and a few minutes of your time.
It's not rare (there was a time where every fender J or P had one), you still find some new ones in shops that no one wants since the 08 update came up!
Also IMO its pretty useless, just makes the bass loose character and sound worst...
Also IMO its pretty useless, just makes the bass loose character and sound worst...
I think production went a little longer, 2007-2008? I have one, and I really quite like it, nice and versatile. There was a lot of grumbling about the S-1 switch when it first came out. You can probably find more with a search. My only complaint is that some, like mine, had a larger routed area in the body. I've heard somewhere that that occurs in 1 in 6 or 10. Would look bad without pickguard. But that really doesn't matter to me. It definitely gets closer to that deep p sound, though not quite like a p. But rare?
I have seen the innards of a guitar with the S-1 switch and while on a bass you can remove it if it is damaged and revert to normal wiring, it looked like soldering anything on that switch is a nightmare.
But, if you like the bass, I wouldn't hold that against you.
But, if you like the bass, I wouldn't hold that against you.
I wouldn't call this particular instrument "rare", but I would call it not that common. The Butterscotch Jazz w/ S1 switch and Rosewood fingerboard is actually not that common. Most of the Jazz's w/S1 in that color had Maple boards. But rare, nope.
The Deluxe Jaguar comes with the Series/Parallel switch. I really like the variety of tones I get out of it.
The S-1 switch did go up to 07 but 07 was the transition year from the S-1 basses to the current American standard (My 07 jazz is the same as the current Am. Std.) I personally never liked the S-1 on any of the basses I tried that had it. IMO $945 seems a bit steep for a 9 year old MIA jazz. That seems a bit too much even for a newer one. Though butterscotch is probably a bit more uncommon.
Yep... that's pretty much what this is.
And throw in non-original pickguard as a bonus.
I have one (2004) . . . it's not rare . . . came with a white p/g . . . didn't even know it had it until after I got it home . . . bought it brand new for $745 o/t/d . . . never ever have used the switch for a song. Doesn't come close to sounding like a P Bass when the switch is engaged!
The American Series introduced the S-1 switch on the '03 models ... and eliminated them with the re-introduction of the New American Standard name in 2008 ... as mentioned, and with most every Fender model phase out/introduction, you will find some of the early 2003's that wont have it, as well as some of the later 2007's ... and, it seems that there will almost always be exceptions when it comes to Fender 
