What makes a bass a jazz bass?

[NickInMesa]

The question should rather be: "What makes a bass jazz?"

 

[metron]

It was created to lure JAZZ players off the stand up double bass. Some jazz players didn't want to play P's, so they thinned the neck near the nut, put in the two pups to add more midrangy punch, and made the body contour different. Seems to have worked huh?

Actually it's that artsy mustache the bass has and the little beanie it wears while sipping espresso. It calls everyone "cat" too. Loves sweaters and plaid...

Are you calling the jazz bass a beatnik?

Actually I thought that the slimmer neck was a response to feedback about guitar players who were doubling on electric bass and felt that the precision neck was too fat? Don't know. Either way... I like jazz basses.

 

[Flaked Beans]

I agree. That is awesome beer.

Yeah, it's awesome but we both know - Chimay is the best!

 

[DeluxeRed]

They're kinda like jazz itself: If you have to ask, you'll never know...

They're kinda like porn: I can't tell you, but I know it when I see it...

I love my Jazz basses. None of the three are exactly like an early '60's original: the MIM has probably the most original shape and passive electronics, but is fretless; the Deluxe has the figured top, no pickguard, active, blocks and binding, 24 frets, and a much slimmer waist, and the CSCC has a little this n that: blocks no binding, 23 frets, a non-standard paint job, active, but slim and light. The only things they have in common are: offset waist, narrower-than-P necks, two s/c pups, and a vol knob. And they all say "Fender Jazz Bass".

I know it when I feel it. It is a narrow band. Most Squiers don't have it (sorry, guys), and even some of the sigs based on Jazz don't have it, Ged's being probably the best. Since one of the criteria I would use is "great to play", not even all marque Jazzes have it.

I know it when I hear it. Don't you? Esp, I think, on a good hard rock record where the player is really digging in on some rounds or using a pick and getting just that right...I don't want to call it a growl, more of a "grrrrr", through, preferably, a tube amp or equivalent. My actives can cover a lot of ground emulating a lot of different basses, but put 'em all the way up, just a bump on the mids, pups even, and stand the &$*% back!

I know it when I see it. So does my wallet! I have to try very, very hard to not give lots of orphan Jazzes a good home...

 

[MoBeach]

Yeah, it's awesome but we both know - Chimay is the best!

No way, Sam Adams Triple Bock!

 

[mongo2]

Make mine:

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[metron]

Sam Adams Trip Bock? Guinness? Your opinions on those being great beers are wrong. What about double IPAs like Avery Maharaja or Russian Rivers Pliny the Elder? Pliny plays a jazz bass.

 

[mongo2]

Sam Adams Trip Bock? Guinness? Your opinions on those being great beers are wrong. What about double IPAs like Avery Maharaja or Russian Rivers Pliny the Elder? Pliny plays a jazz bass.

Just goes to show, we like what we like.

 

[Nino Valenti]

Looking at my Valenti, would you call it a jazz bass? I would.

I'd call it a Guild Pilot.

Ouch. LOL

 

[Nino Valenti]

Above and beyond any characteristics, a "Jazz Bass®" is a Fender. That and only that is "What makes a bass a jazz bass". Everything else is a copy, an imitation built and sold on Leo's coattails. It’s a little sad that so many copycats have knocked off his design for profit, rather than come up with their own ideas, but it’s legal.

I think it’s disingenuous (to be polite) when people refer to their cheap imitations as "my Jazz Bass®", or even "my Jazz". To them I say step up to the plate and get the real deal, or refer to it as "my SX SJB62QMD 3TS" instead of inferring that you have something you don't.
At least the players with the expensive Jazz Bass® copies usually refer to them as such.

LOL. And I'm sure that when someone asks you for a kleenex®, you them them "No, no, you mean a tissue" and someone asked you for Scotch Tape®, you go out of your way to tell them clear adhesive tape and when your friend Tivoed® a TV show.... Sorry, you used your Digital Video Recorder to record your show.

BTW, I agree. A Jazz Bass® is a Fender. Anything else, cheaper or more expensive, is a Jazz Styled Bass.

 

[mccartneyman]

Leo Fender and his co-owners shot themselves in the foot by not going out to protect his designs until too far into the game. I respect John Hall for going after Rickenbacker clones as vehemently as he does. That said, I own a Lakland Joe Osborn "Jazz" and feel no remorse. I have to say I've never owned a Precision bass clone -- owned only one P bass in my life, and that had a custom made body.

 

[superfunk47]

I love when threads about semantics somehow hit 3 pages.

And I love when nobody seems to notice the one sensible post out of an entire thread.

Semantics are so fun.

 

[Darkstrike]

BTW, I agree. A Jazz Bass® is a Fender. Anything else, cheaper or more expensive, is a Jazz Styled Bass.

IIRC, Sadowsky call theirs a Jazz, just without the Bass part?

I'm sure it's listed as "The Sadowsky Jazz"

 

[capnsandwich]

You could get caught up on names and words all day long. When someone asks me what bass I play then I tell them a Valenti jazz. Whether or not I use the word "bass" after the word "jazz" usually doesn't phase the person one way or another. You say tomato, I say tomato, well...it doesn't work that well when you type it but you catch my drift.

 

[Darkstrike]

I say "red thing" and point at it.

 

[edbass]

LOL. And I'm sure that when someone asks you for a kleenex®, you them them "No, no, you mean a tissue" and someone asked you for Scotch Tape®, you go out of your way to tell them clear adhesive tape and when your friend Tivoed® a TV show.... Sorry, you used your Digital Video Recorder to record your show.

BTW, I agree. A Jazz Bass® is a Fender. Anything else, cheaper or more expensive, is a Jazz Styled Bass.

No, I'd hand them whatever tissue or tape I had handy, without a commentary. However, if I were responding to the topics "What makes a tissue a Kleenex®", or "What makes a clear adhesive tape Scotch Tape®", etc., I would respond with the same definition as I did on this thread.
Albeit with less enthusiasm; I'm far more passionate about bass guitars than I am about tissues or tape!

IIRC, Sadowsky call theirs a Jazz, just without the Bass part?
I'm sure it's listed as "The Sadowsky Jazz"

As lenient as Fender has been over the years with their “®’s”, I couldn’t believe that any US company would have the audacity to actually describe their bass guitar product as a “Jazz” or “Precision”, so I had to look. I went to the Sadowsky site and sure enough didn't see any reference to "Jazz", just the likely hard to litigate “J” and “P” references.

 

[RED5]

From the girlfriend,"So what good is it if you can only play Jazz on it?" I love her dearly nonetheless.

 

[MNAirHead]

I may be the only one to comment even Fender can't decide..

I'd probably guess it's whatever fender decides to throw the name plate on.

I've owned countless jazz basses that played and sounded less Jazz bass than the clips TB kids post wanting to sound like.

I always chuckle when folks post a link wanting a Jbass sound.. the bass they're linking to is not a Jbass.


T

 

[lunarpollen]

is it the pick ups and neck style? if so, would it still be considered a jazz bass if I swap out the pickups?

If you mean Jazz bass as in the name "Jazz Bass" a la Fender, I would say that a "Jazz bass" is any bass made by Fender under that name. A "Jazz bass copy" would be any of the thousands of copies of that design made by other companies. Of course, if you have a Jazz bass copy (non-Fender) in your bass collection, if you referred to it as your Jazz bass we would know what you meant. If you have a Jazz bass and you swap out the pickups, it's still a Jazz bass, just with different pickups! If you take the stock motor out of a 1970 Chevy Nova and replace it with a souped-up custom engine, your car is still a Chevy Nova.

If you mean jazz bass as in a bass for playing jazz music, there is nothing really particular about any bass that would make it qualified for jazz music. You can play jazz with any bass. Some basses may sound more appropriate for specific types of jazz than others, but any bass can be used to play jazz, as long as it has strings and you can hear the notes you play.

 

[Stempelloos]

Above and beyond any characteristics, a "Jazz Bass®" is a Fender. That and only that is "What makes a bass a jazz bass". Everything else is a copy, an imitation built and sold on Leo's coattails. It’s a little sad that so many copycats have knocked off his design for profit, rather than come up with their own ideas, but it’s legal.

I think it’s disingenuous (to be polite) when people refer to their cheap imitations as "my Jazz Bass®", or even "my Jazz". To them I say step up to the plate and get the real deal, or refer to it as "my SX SJB62QMD 3TS" instead of inferring that you have something you don't.
At least the players with the expensive Jazz Bass® copies usually refer to them as such.

A Fender is a Fender, and a Fender "Jazz Bass®" is a Fender "Jazz Bass®". To me anything that appears like a Fender "Jazz Bass®" can be refered to as a Fender "Jazz Bass®" copy, or Jazz Bass.

I compare it with this:

It's a digital copy of a photo by Man Ray Called Violon d’Ingres.
Is it a copy? Yes, because Man Ray didn't make it himself.
(but it is copied after an original)
Does it appear to be a Violon d’Ingres? Yes, it's an exact copy.