Sunday, October 19, 2008
Wood, naturally!
I played that first 'P' for years and years, and, most times, the sound and tone of it suited the types of music I played. But.... I've always had a weakness for those late-60s, and '70s bound-neck, block-marker Jazz basses that became prominent when I first began playing with some regularity. I promised myself that I would save up some gig money and buy one, but I never did.
Nowadays, very few can afford a vintage, original, "pre-CBS" Fender bass from the 50s and 60s! And it's getting to be that way (Thanks eBay!) with the CBS stuff as well. You can say that I (and many, many others) missed my chance back when they were inexpensive. I don't play enough these days to justify the cost for one, but I thought, why not put one together from parts? (Thanks again, eBay!)
There are three main flavors or variations of the block-marker necks: rosewood fretboard with Mother-of-Pearl markers, maple fretboard with black markers, and maple with MOP markers. The latter is, by far and away, my favorite. The neck was bought off, where else, eBay, in fact from a fellow Canadian, so I didn't have to worry about border "business".The neck was complete with tuners, in very good shape, and based on the decal's serial number, appears likely to be from 1978.* Some will claim the later ones are not as good as the earlier ones, but this one has no cracks in the MOP markers (like many do), and no truss-rod issues.
Based on the drill holes, it looks like it was originally a 3-bolt neck that was part of the Micro-Tilt system used with Jazzes, Statocaster guitars and likely some others. I carefully drilled out the holes, filled them with glued-in pieces of doweling, and drop-finished those spots. I then carefully re-drilled new holes, using the 4-bolt neck-plate as a template, and attached it to...
The body is from my favorite usual place, USA Custom Guitars, and is an exact duplicate of the "standard" Fender Jazz with the proper routings. I wanted this to look as "organic" as possible, so I chose a "grainy" wood, swamp ash, to go with the maple fret-board. It's a two-piece body, but the grain lines are so well matched up it looks like a one-piece! I didn't want to hide the wood's character, so I simply cleared it with several protective coats of Varathane.
The hardware is the typical Jazz bass stuff, with a set of my all-time favorite cream-coloured DiMarzio Model J's. I find them to be hotter, with more depth than the stock pickups, and they provide some hum-cancellation. With just the neck pickup and the tone rolled off, you can get a pretty good imitation of a 'P' bass. With both dialed in, it has that classic Jazz tone, but with more "boom and bite". This makes it an all-round instrument that I find myself taking to gigs a little more often than some of the others. It doesn't hurt that it looks great and, with a minimum of initial setup and no maintenance whatsoever, it almost plays itself. The action is probably the best of all my basses, excepting maybe the fretlesses.
* You can date your Fender basses and guitars (to within a year or two) by going to this page at Fender Online
Nowadays, very few can afford a vintage, original, "pre-CBS" Fender bass from the 50s and 60s! And it's getting to be that way (Thanks eBay!) with the CBS stuff as well. You can say that I (and many, many others) missed my chance back when they were inexpensive. I don't play enough these days to justify the cost for one, but I thought, why not put one together from parts? (Thanks again, eBay!)
There are three main flavors or variations of the block-marker necks: rosewood fretboard with Mother-of-Pearl markers, maple fretboard with black markers, and maple with MOP markers. The latter is, by far and away, my favorite. The neck was bought off, where else, eBay, in fact from a fellow Canadian, so I didn't have to worry about border "business".The neck was complete with tuners, in very good shape, and based on the decal's serial number, appears likely to be from 1978.* Some will claim the later ones are not as good as the earlier ones, but this one has no cracks in the MOP markers (like many do), and no truss-rod issues.
Based on the drill holes, it looks like it was originally a 3-bolt neck that was part of the Micro-Tilt system used with Jazzes, Statocaster guitars and likely some others. I carefully drilled out the holes, filled them with glued-in pieces of doweling, and drop-finished those spots. I then carefully re-drilled new holes, using the 4-bolt neck-plate as a template, and attached it to...
The body is from my favorite usual place, USA Custom Guitars, and is an exact duplicate of the "standard" Fender Jazz with the proper routings. I wanted this to look as "organic" as possible, so I chose a "grainy" wood, swamp ash, to go with the maple fret-board. It's a two-piece body, but the grain lines are so well matched up it looks like a one-piece! I didn't want to hide the wood's character, so I simply cleared it with several protective coats of Varathane.
The hardware is the typical Jazz bass stuff, with a set of my all-time favorite cream-coloured DiMarzio Model J's. I find them to be hotter, with more depth than the stock pickups, and they provide some hum-cancellation. With just the neck pickup and the tone rolled off, you can get a pretty good imitation of a 'P' bass. With both dialed in, it has that classic Jazz tone, but with more "boom and bite". This makes it an all-round instrument that I find myself taking to gigs a little more often than some of the others. It doesn't hurt that it looks great and, with a minimum of initial setup and no maintenance whatsoever, it almost plays itself. The action is probably the best of all my basses, excepting maybe the fretlesses.
* You can date your Fender basses and guitars (to within a year or two) by going to this page at Fender Online
