Fender '75 Jazz Bass Reissue

Solid ash body and a rosewood neck with block pearloid inlays. Smooth slim neck with a great action. Lovely balance and super comfortable to play with the body contouring.

Teamed up with my Ashdown gear, this baby can go from a floor-shaking reggae growl through to a clear funky slap. After all, this is a Fender Jazz and I bought it for 'that sound', the one only a Jazz can give you, but it's so much more than that. I've played a US version of this reissue and didn't notice any difference in sound quality.
Once I heard what this Jazz could do, I sold my Status bass because it sat in the cupboard gathering dust. OK, it's not on a par with a Goodfellow Bass, but if you're serious about your bass playing, this Jazz is a serious contender.

The bass arrived second hand and the neck buzzed. I discovered that the previous owner had loosened the neck bolts for it's journey from the US to the UK. A few loving turns with a screwdriver and all was well. I love the balance and the quality of wood/lacquer on body is second to none. Frets are good, neck is straight and all is well.

I couldn't bring myself to ruin this bass with straplocks, so my strap is now held on by two Grolsch bottle rubber stoppers (try it, it's free and effective !!).
If I treat this bass with the respect it deserves, it will be my friend and companion for many years to come.

Not had to use them, so cannot comment.

I was very lucky to get this from a guy on ebay who had no idea what he'd got. I paid $600, which is about #320. If you get a chance, get your hands on one of these and you'll thank yourself for ever. Why pay almost $2000 for a US version when these babies are out there at a fraction of the price.
Anyone who tells you the US version is so different in sound/value to the Japanese build one, has bought into the great "other people say it, it must be true" trap. Play the two side by side and make your mind up. I did !!!!

This bass has great features across the board solid ash body, ?bullet? truss rod and a three-bolt Micro-Tilt? neck adjustment neck. Its a USA 75' reissue, I played a japanese model which was nice but the US there is no comparison. The pickups suit the bass just fine with classic fender tone. The best part of this bass is it is it very balanced and light weight. I slap a lot and this bass is great for slap. It also looks very cool with the natural finish and the black block inlays.

I play jazz, blues and rock with friends and everyone give this bass a thumbs up in the sound department I however this this is were i may make a change in the future. Its not it doesnt sound good but a set of noiseless or emgs maybe better. I play out of a fender bassman 100 watt and it sounds good. I have also played it out of a friends half stack ampeg and the thing sounded pritty mean. This bass has the tone any bass player needs. Its a simple bass sound that suits all styles of play but i may make a change in time.

The action is the best part. My fingers glid up the fret board with no problems. I own a gibson q-80 and the fenders action no question is much better. I sold my paul bass to get this fender and i like it much more

Never had a problem yet. I have only had it for 5 months so durability is still in question

never had to contact yet but i heard fender is tuff to deal with

Fender '75 Reissue Made in Japan Jazz Bass. Solid maple neck with pearl block inlays, 2 piece light ash body, black finish (custom-shop i suppose). Classic Jazz Bass specs with Vintage USA pickups. No case. The bad point are the tuners, you will give some pleasure to the bass if you buy another set. And also the bridge, cheap stock fender, im going to try a badass ii or something. Bullet rod adjustment, never mess with that.

Classic Jazz Bass sounds, the solid maple neck brightens the sound, nice bottom end, the tone control give you some different characters to the sound. I prefer passive pickups, theres hum but sounds warmer.

Well built, nice frets. Crappy bridge though. Low action that makes your attack noticeably. The bad point in here is the balance of the body, the maple neck is simply heavier than the light ash body, not very confortable, im thinking about put some extra weight in the body, but i dont know how yet.

Mine is second hand, directly from japan through ebay, and i received it in inmaculate conditions. Good value for the money, it will last some years i believe.

Never dealt with fender japan, but they are not exporting this bass anymore and is a custom shop color, so i think im not going to call them anyway (i dont speak japanese :)).

Im playing bass since 5 years and i havent test tons of basses but i prefer the sound of a classic jazz bass against modern warwick, etc. basses. Im going to buy an original '70s jazz bass one of these days, i'll need a big bag of money. But this bass is good, the bad points are the tuners and the weight balance of the body, but this is not so important to justify the exaggerated price of four times expensive USA made reissue. The case? I also prefer much more the sound of this bass than the three times expensive American Active Deluxe Jazz Bass. Nice bass.

Japanese 75 RI Jazz Bass Maple body, Maple Neck, White Pearl Block inlays.

Using it with a GK 400RB
Full sound, very versatile. Great for stage.
Can be warm and fat, for vintage style music, Blues, Rockabilly, etc
Or Sharp and funky for R&B, etc. More adaptable than P bass for rooms with less than perfect acoustics.

good actions.
Pick-ups were set too high from factory, needed to be adjusted.

Very sturdy. Well built. hanged strap buttons to dunlop straplocks.
Very dependable.
Probably could get away with no back-up, but I always bring a back-up regardless

Bought used N/A

Playing over 30 years
Also have 72 P Bass (Natural) 74 P Bass (Sunburst) 51 P-bass re-issue
(Butterscotch) 67 Gibson e-b2 (Cherry)

Japanese 1975 Jazz Bass reissue. Maple neck and fingerboard with white binding and mother of perl (alike) inlays. Ash body in three tone sunburst. Proper jazz bass controls.

Its a jazz bass, you know the rest!

It sounds like a jazz bass, bloody fantastic. Can be bright a clicky or dark and thumping. Pretty much does what you want.

Allmost perfect. The frets are starting to raise a little bit (its a 7 year old guitar), and the bridge isn't the best. The neck is truley wondefull though and the sunburst on ash looks fantastic. Cant fault it really.

This thing is built like a german car (ways as much as a small one as well), total quality. How Fender USA justify a price of more than 3 times the Japanese guitar is beyond me.

I love it to death, as soon as I played one note on it, it just felt right. I would be devastated if someone stole it,

1999 american made 75' reissue jazz bass, 20frets, nice light wieght 3- tone sunburst ash bodie, bound rosewood finger board with block inlays. cheepo fender bridge.

Great sound. very low noise in the pickup's. Great fender bass tone. The only problem is with the bridge. Throw on a Bad**s and you will be all set. The reat thing about this bass is the wieght. It has a very light ash bodie. I had a 77' jazz a couple years a go, and it sounded wonderfull, but it wieghed a tone. This bass sounds as goo our beter without the backace. The action and workman ship are top notch. And it should be for the price of these things. 1895.00 list. Come on fender, think about it! I sold my Mike Lull vintage four, last year. It was a great bass, but I would take this 75' reissue over it any day. It plays a sounds beter.

Great, very well construction. This bass will last a life time!

very nice.

Never have delt with fender.

I have been playind bass, and teaching for over 15 years. I play what ever the gig calls for, but mostly blues, and jazz. I was really on a hunt for the bass. And I think I found it. I wish Fender would just charge less money for it. But they have to make a living too.

Its a J bass what else is there to say bought from first owner 13 years ago and have beat it ruthlessly since. The finish is almost gone, the chrome on the hardware is toast, the board has dishes in it, dropped, dented, and I wouldnt give it up for anything.

Sound is great had the pickups rewound several years ago gave me a bit more accurate bottom whomp I really like. Play it thru a modified blackface bassman head and a dual showman 15 cab.

setup when I got it was a bit worse for wear. Had it refretted and lapped when I got it and refretted and lapped 2 years ago. The sunburst finish is barely hanging on. None the less is still very playable.

25+ years old and still going.

Never had to deal with fender about this beast my guitar guy does great work has kept it running and will continue to.

Ive been playing for 15 years 12 have been thru the same setup. As a jazz player I hate to mess with the sound once I got it. Have tried other basses over the years but always go back to the J. With ground wound strings and slightly hot pickup it has an always intune acurate bottom end punch that would make Ali jealous.

Fender's now discontinued '75 Jazz Bass in its 'Collectibles' series
really should have been called a '76, as according to Molinaro and Black's 'The Fender Bass' an Illustrated History, the smaller logo
and tuners indicate that year.

That apart,this is one very good Jazz Bass indeed, and compares most
favourably with its US made sibling,not to mention that this Japanese-
made bass costs about 40% of the price of the American version.As neither is an authentic '75 anyway, so what?

I live in Ireland and acquired a slightly used (near-mint) specimen
for c. $600 last year. It has a carefully bookmatched three-piece
ash body which is beautifully grained, and, in true 70's style, has a smallish contour at rear. It is not so heavy. A friend of mine has a '78 US J-Bass which is exceedingly heavy.

The neck is maple with a skunk-stripe and the bound rosewood board has pearlescent block markers, with a 'bullet' truss=-rod access.
All in all, a very well-built Jazz Bass that looks stunning.
Soudwise, it has a powerful output for a passive instrument and all the usual Jazz tones are there. The tuners are prone to slippage
and are this instrument's Achilles heel. It does require regular checking of tuning on a gig, but a retrofit of good quality tuners is not so expensive.

The point here is that the Japanese instrument
approaches the quality of the US-made bass. To bring the Jap up to full US spec(case, bridge covers,etc.), would still leave it far short of half the price of its US-made sibling, bearing in mind again that neither bass is an authentic '75. As reissues both are excellent.
So you pays your money and takes your choice.

Standart Jazz bass feutures,
US made,
Natural color, maple, black rectangular blocks inlays,

Great sound: is an american jazz!!
good for slapping (bridge pickup) or playing anyhing else!

the action was very low when i purchased, i had to adjust the pickups, but now its graet...

10 points

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i use to have an ibanez sr400, this is MUCH more better than the old one.
if i lost it i wouldnt buy it again, is very expensive, but ill get a cheaper jazz bass anyway...

Made in Japan. 3-bolt neck-joint construction (with micro-telt adjustment). Body: ash. Basic features are classic: 20 frets, 2 single J-pickups, 3 (2 vol & 1 tone) knobs, bridge (top-load) and so on. Fine perlaoid rectangular block inlays (including the one at the 1st fret). The neck is thin enough & comfortable(unlike the necks, most Precisions have). This model is made in two fingerboard versions: maple neck+rosewood fingerboard or one piece maple. Also only two colors are available: 3-color sunbirst or natural (ash). Mine has maple solid maple neck & natural color. The body consists of two parts, one is about 7/8 of the whole body (unlike the other two basses in the shop, which had three parts). In fact, I wanted a rosewood fingerboard, to have a "contrabass"-like sound. But when I tried both basses, model with maple fretboard appealed to me most. It has more punch in the sound, nice highs.

The sound is bright, very punchy. Good for slapping & popping, soloing with bridge pickup switched on & for rock or swing growl with neck pickup switched on. Fender uses medium-thin stainless rounwound strings. If you set "thicker" nickel strings you'll have more bottom -end in the sound. By the way, my friend owns the same model Jazz Bass, which has rosewood fingerboard and a VERY heavy body. These two things perform two totally different sounds. So, try to listen to minimum 2 different instruments.
The electronics is not very noisy, this bass produces a higher output signal than most of the passive basses I've heard.

The bass was set-up well. The action, intonation, string height were set-up just right. One thing: the bridge pickup was set a bit high at its bass side which caused overloading, but it wasn't a real problem to set it right.

It's not my first Japanese-made bass. Well made, very reliable instrument. The only thing I want to upgrade is the tuners. They are poor-made. I think, I'll buy Shaller M4 or something like that. Probably, because this is a vintage reissue of the '75 Jass Bass, Fender uses the same model tuners it used during 70's. No other idea for this subject.

It' warranty is 1 year. But, in fact, the instument usually can be a dissapointment after a year period (after it strugled all four seasons). It's not always, of course.

I'm in music for over 11 years & have been playing the bass for 4 years. Before buying this axe I tried several Yamaha's, Ibanez, Washburn and some other basses. But this one combines a variety of traditional & modern sounds. Very "universal" instrument.
My advice: try as much instruments (for example, 75' Jazzes) as you can: you'll never find a couple of them sounding the same, just listen.