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WHICH Jazz (or Jazz-like) bass?
- Thread starter sstillwell
- Start date
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- Tags
- jazz bass
I have a mayones jabba 4 and it's a fantastic jazz . Also I would recommend a Sandburg California tt
Well, good-to-great suggestions all (except the tattoo part...I'm not a tattoo or piercing kinda guy). While I was waiting for the suggestions to roll in, I acted on one of them to see how it worked.
AWESOME so far.
Took the maple/maple/block neck off of my passive Precision Special (I have two, the other is active) and replaced the neck on the fretless MIM Jazz.
Ho-lee-poopie, people!
MIM Jazz, black finish with white pickguard.
Maple MIM Precision Bass Special neck with maple fretboard, black binding and block markers
Lindy Fralin split-coil Jazz, 5% overwind in bridge position
John East J-Retro preamp
Babicz FCH bridge
It barks, growls, it thumps...and it looks sleek doing it. Pictures as soon as I can.
I could play this one for a while...for reals. It'll take a bit for the neck to settle back in and get the action and intonation set properly (doing it by hand and ear for now), but it already feels nice.
Hey, and I got a fretless Precision Special out of the deal.
I wonder how often this will work to assuage GAS...just rearrange the parts in the basses you already have?
The only drag was getting out the plastic shims that some luthier had GLUED into the heel of the pocket...I couldn't get the new neck to have high enough of an action initially, and getting the shims out without gouging the crud out of the pocket was a pain.
AWESOME so far.
Took the maple/maple/block neck off of my passive Precision Special (I have two, the other is active) and replaced the neck on the fretless MIM Jazz.
Ho-lee-poopie, people!
MIM Jazz, black finish with white pickguard.
Maple MIM Precision Bass Special neck with maple fretboard, black binding and block markers
Lindy Fralin split-coil Jazz, 5% overwind in bridge position
John East J-Retro preamp
Babicz FCH bridge
It barks, growls, it thumps...and it looks sleek doing it. Pictures as soon as I can.
I could play this one for a while...for reals. It'll take a bit for the neck to settle back in and get the action and intonation set properly (doing it by hand and ear for now), but it already feels nice.
Hey, and I got a fretless Precision Special out of the deal.
I wonder how often this will work to assuage GAS...just rearrange the parts in the basses you already have?
The only drag was getting out the plastic shims that some luthier had GLUED into the heel of the pocket...I couldn't get the new neck to have high enough of an action initially, and getting the shims out without gouging the crud out of the pocket was a pain.
You could go for a Schecter Diamond J bass, those are terrific and usually less than $1,000. My friend owns one and hers is a 5-string, but the same model exists in 4-strings too. Yamaha also makes some really nice J-bass style basses, but those tend to be hit or miss, so it's probably better to look at those yourself.
I hope this helps.
I hope this helps.
Huh? Unless they've changed their policies, there is a 10 day (?) return policy. Though if you add something non-standard (like I did) it removes the return window.
Well, good-to-great suggestions all (except the tattoo part...I'm not a tattoo or piercing kinda guy). While I was waiting for the suggestions to roll in, I acted on one of them to see how it worked.
AWESOME so far.
Took the maple/maple/block neck off of my passive Precision Special (I have two, the other is active) and replaced the neck on the fretless MIM Jazz.
Ho-lee-poopie, people!
MIM Jazz, black finish with white pickguard.
Maple MIM Precision Bass Special neck with maple fretboard, black binding and block markers
Lindy Fralin split-coil Jazz, 5% overwind in bridge position
John East J-Retro preamp
Babicz FCH bridge
It barks, growls, it thumps...and it looks sleek doing it. Pictures as soon as I can.
I could play this one for a while...for reals. It'll take a bit for the neck to settle back in and get the action and intonation set properly (doing it by hand and ear for now), but it already feels nice.
Hey, and I got a fretless Precision Special out of the deal.
I wonder how often this will work to assuage GAS...just rearrange the parts in the basses you already have?
The only drag was getting out the plastic shims that some luthier had GLUED into the heel of the pocket...I couldn't get the new neck to have high enough of an action initially, and getting the shims out without gouging the crud out of the pocket was a pain.
Parts-Basses For The Win!!
I was in a similar sitch last year. All of my basses were of the rosewood variety, but somehow I started GASing for both a Jazz-V and something with a bound & blocked, maple/maple neck. The big difference between our scenarios was my budget, especially since my last experience with a fiver was not very encouraging.
So, I wanted it to be fairly cool lookin', rather inexpensive and not necessarily "off the shelf". My eye kept getting grabbed by black-bodied/maple-necked, MIA Deluxes & Elites, Geddy Lee-sig Jazzes and the Modern Player Jaguar, but only if they were without the white pickguard. Unfortunately, nothing "in nature" like that existed below a $500 price-point. So, I did what any reasonably experienced tinkerer does…bought a pair of inexpensive, used basses, did a little switcheroo, sold off the leftover parts…and violá! A "No-Guilt Jazz-V" that met all my criteria!!
Yeah, I always wind up with $1k "fantasy builds" at Warmoth. With pickups and hardware and putting it all together, though, you will still be under $2k.
Lots of great options these days for high end jazz basses. I can vouch for G&L's quality at that price range. For passive, take a look at their JB model, and active, the MJ model. Cool thing is you can customize so much of it, there's really not much you can't ask for including block markers(which is a new addition).
I went through a similar situation about a year ago. I also put it out to the TB community and got a suggestion I had never hear of; Bacchus. I got the lower model of the Craft line which is still made in Japan. The fit and finish is hands above the MIM jazz it replaced. Plus, it can be active or passive and has a crazy tonal flexibility. I got mine at VSN Guitars in Canada who were great to deal with: Bacchus Handmade Guitars
I did ALOT of reading and listening before buying since I had never heard of the line. It was pretty hard to find any poor reviews of the made in Japan models. My original thread is here:
Sub k jazz style bass
I did ALOT of reading and listening before buying since I had never heard of the line. It was pretty hard to find any poor reviews of the made in Japan models. My original thread is here:
Sub k jazz style bass
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Looks great. If it was mine I'd put an Affinity logo on the headstock ball. But that's my issue.
