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When did you become a Jazz Bass guy (gal)?

#144
I've gone opposite direction. Down to 1 J and now have 2 P's. I just get the tone I want in the mix with the P's so easily. I will always have a J though, and if I buy another bass anytime soon it will most likely be an AVRI J.
 
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#148
My local music store just sent me an email and now I have more GAS! Fender Special Edition Jazz in Opal with matching headstock. I just about ordered it on the spot...Grrrrrr. I keep seeing it with a nice tort pickguard! Mmmmmmm!

140501534_2.png
 
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#149
I tend to choose the road less traveled, I guess. My first new bass was a Peavey, then decades of 5 string Stingray and G&L goodness. Fenders seemed too common to me and I resisted them.

Recently I decided to simplify: 4 strings, passive electronics, and lighter weight. In listening to sound clips on the web I came to appreciate the versatility of the Jazz bass pickups and controls. A cheap Fernandes clone popped up in the classifieds so I jumped on it:
fernandesJazz-sm.jpg


Tried it out... and loved everything about it. Well, except for the lack of a 21st/22nd fret. And the pickup selector switch instead of VVT setup, which I'll change once the pots show up at my local music store. And the tuners should probably be replaced, maybe a new bridge, and the pickups were a little weak...

So far I've customized it with new pickups (NOS Fender SCNs for $29) and a shielding job bass on the tutorial in the pickups/electronics forum. The sound is fantastic and amazingly versatile. The neck plays like a dream and the string spacing is almost ideal. So it may have taken thirty odd years but I'm slowly coming around. Next I might start looking for a 5 string w/ ~18.5mm spacing and 22 frets...
 
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#150
Dr. Cheese said:
Playing my Peavey Forums so much has reminded me that for most of my bass playing life, I was not a Jazz Bass player. If anything, I loved Stingrays and soap bar loaded basses the most like Modulus and Ken Smith. I think the first Jazz style bass I really bonded with was a Guild Pilot V, and later I bought a Fender Jazz Deluxe V to get more of a Marcus Miller sound.

I also think all of the Jazz talk on TB moved towards Jazzes too. In history, we talk about the "invention of tradition," where people adopt something, and soon act as if they have always done it. I guess that is me and Jazz Basses.
Click to expand...
Me? I was born this way.
 
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#151
Been playing since I was 11, I'm 44 now... put it down for a few (6) years in between. Started playing again 4 years
ago and purchased my 1st Jazz (played a Ric, G&L L2000E fretless and old Ibanez Roadstar mostly back when)
as my 1st bass when I decided to start playing again. Now I have 3, and an Alembic and a G&L.
 
#156
I have always loved a P but also like a Jazz. I just like passive basses in general. but what truly sold me on jazz basses is when I was in Rudy's and played a 74 jazz they had on the wall. I bought it that day. Was just one of the best basses I have ever played. Will be the one that if all had to go it would stay. You can't match it. In fact, I love it so much I had another bass built to its specs just so I could use that one and not but the mileage on the 74.
 

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