Fender 70's Jazz Reissue

2008 Mexican 70s jazz, 21 frets, 3 color sunburst, black pickguard, passive "Vintage Style" ALNICO magnet pickups (according to fender), Rosewood fretboard w/ perloid blocks, Alder Body, Vintage Style "Fender" Stamped tuners, came w/ fender gig bag.

OK, I bought this bass because I have been playing and assembling, swapping out parts etc.. Fender jazz basses for 20+ years and wanted to get a sunburst Fender Jazz that had the 4" pickup spacing, knowing full well that it was mexican which i wasn't all that excited about, but planning on swapping out the neck with a beautiful Fender Japan 75 reissue maple neck that i've been playing on for 6+ years... Found the 70s reissue used on ebay. and when it showed up was blown away by the great condition and how beautiful the bass was especially the body. Not too crazy about the new binding style and how it raises up on the end of each fret.. Also was very suprised to see The Larger Vintage style tuners with the fender logo stamped into them, similar to the 70s basses. (i was really planning on selling the neck and tuners and using hipshot tuners - you know really upgrade the bass)

All of the review reading i had done on this bass said that the pickups were kind of weak. So i had purchased a set of Fender Custom Shop Overwound 60s Jazz pickups to replace the mexican "vintage Style" stock pickups. The custom shop pickups didn't show up for a couple days - and boy am i glad they didn't!! I play through an old early 90s SWR SM 400s and a Goliath senior cabinet (love that modern slap "marcus" sound.) So i plugged in the bass knowing that it wouldn't sound that "modern" or good with the mexican pickups. To my GREAT suprise, the stock pickups are truly some of the best sounding jazz pickups i have ever heard. The output is a little low, but the tone is F#$@ing amazing! After 2 days i put the custom shop overwound "Jaco" sounding pickups in the bass ready to be blown away and i was actually disappointed. The Fender Custom Shop 60s Pickups did sound really growly with the neck rolled off a little, and really punchy with both wide open (actually sounded amazing for slap - almost to that marcus "crispness") But there was no sublety to them at all.. Either fat or farty growl, and almost cold sounding. Over two days i actually put the Mexican pickups back in, put the Custom shop pickups in again and then finally put the mexican pickups in for the last time and they are there to stay. I just couldn't believe that the $120 Custom shop pickups didnt sound as good.. The Mexicans are subtle, defined, growly, and WARM. And get this THEY ARE DEAD QUIET!! I can't detect any 60 cycle hum! Exellent for soloing, Very punchy for slap and all around playing. My bass sounds AMAZING just practicing. They are waaay more musical than the always "in your face" Barky Fender Custom shop pickups. And to add that little crisp edge for a more modern sound, I have a BBE Sonic Stomp peddle. That takes you from, jaco or older school slap into that glassy realm.

Well.. Crappy bridge (to be expected) Quickly replaced it with an A style Hipshot bridge. These bridges are just as solid as a badass and the strings quick release so you can change a string in seconds. I like them better. I actually really started to like the rosewood neck although the bullet truss takes a really small allen wrench, much smaller than my 75 reissue. When adjusting the relief, the wrench will actually bend a little because it's so small. The frets needed filing. I like to play with an almost completely flat fretboard so I had to raise the action a little, but still had fret buzz on the 29th and 21st fret. I shimed the neck a litte to relieve that and STILL had fret buzz. So i did have to file those last two frets.. Was able to take the shim out though.. Body is gorgeous - no complaints there. Nut needed to be filed, as the strings were like 1/8th inch off of the first fret. neck pocket nice and tight. Basically all cosmetic things that i could whip into shape to make this a really nice playing instrument. (What do you expect from a mexican fender?)

I hope the neck will last on this bass. Now that i have it set up perfect for my playing style i want it to stay that way.. It does feel a little less substantial than my '94 japanese fender Jazz neck i spoke of earlier. That thing is like a rock!! Maybe its the rosewood, i dont know.. But it's playing well now.

****TY. I haven't had to call fender for this instrument, and honestly would never do it because i know more about how these instruments work than their customer service people. I've been assemble and disassembling jazz and P basses for years.. It's not rocket science anyway. The last time i called fender it was for ans SWR related question and i had to wait while the guy looked up the answer to my question in a phone guide.. Real nice.

I'm a professional working musician in Colorado Front range and have been so for over a decade.. I do between 50 and 100 gigs a year. Been playing for about 25 years. In my opinion the Fender jazz bass is the Swiss army knife of all basses. It can cover amost any style of music, and sound better than most basses in most of those styles. I've had several fretted and fretless Jazz basses over the years, P basses, Tobias basses etc... This Mexican jazz is quite a surprise to me. And honestly I'm having trouble with the fact that i like it so much and it's one of their mid to lower end instruments. But the proof is in the pudding.. I LOVE playing this bass. I upgraded the bridge and tuners to hipshot (highly recommended) and everything else is stock. It is a really nice jazz bass and it looks cool.. Oh, and it weighs in at about 9 lbs!! nice and light! I would buy this bass again, but i'm not sure i'd get so lucky on the stock pickups sounding so good. I think i really lucked out with this bass. My favorite feature is the Warm punchy defined musical sound it has. It makes me want to play and practice a lot more in my spare time!!

2008 MIM Fender. Most people know what a Fender Jazz has for features, so I'll just concentrate on what makes this bass unique.

The neck - This bass has a beautiful neck with block inlays in a rosewood fretboard and white binding. One thing to note about the binding is that it has what I've heard referred to as "binding nubs." What this means is that when the neck is fretted, the frets are left flush with the edge of the fingerboard, then the binding is added and scraped level with the board/frets. As a result, the frets are not beveled. Some people like this, some don't. At first it was a small nuisance for me sliding up and down the neck, but now I don't even notice it. Apparently this is a feature that you see on Les Paul necks.

Bullet Truss Rod - I really like the bullet truss rod since now I don't have to remove any screws to adjust the neck, and in my opinion, the fewer unnecessary screws in the bass, the better. Also, you don't have to remove the neck to adjust it. It couldn't possibly be easier.

The only negative thing I can think of, really, is that it has the routing hole under the pickguard that has recently appeared on MIM Fenders. So if you're looking for a bass to take the pickguard off, you probably want to look somewhere else.

I gotta say, the bass sounds fantastic. I can get everything from a hot-rod slap tone to a ballsy classic rock sound, to a smooth warm background. I have yet to hear a tone that I couldn't emulate to a convincing degree. (Except that fretless "mwah" sound.)

I got mine at a local store, so I can't speak for the factory setup, but I will say this: The bass plays great. The pickup routing is tight. Everything is right where it should be. This finish is flawless. The tone knobs are smooth and silent.

However, there was another one of these basses at the store where I got mine that had sloppy, loose routing around the bridge pickup. Given this, I recommend that you get the bass at a store where you can look it over and try it out. I give MY bass a 10, for this particular model as a whole, I give a 9.

The bass feels very solid when you hold it. I'm sure that it will last me for many years. The hardware is all simple and solid. I would gig without a backup, no problem.

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I've been playing bass for seven years now. I'm not one of those guys that can go out and buy new instruments on a whim, so I spent many, many hours researching and considering this purchase before I made it. I didn't buy this bass just because it looks nice, in other words. The fact that is does is just butter, for me.

I got the bass before the Fender price jump, and at the time, this was the best bass for the money, as far as I could tell. It's rock solid and it has a flexible sound that is great in just about any style of music. It looks fantastic. What more could you ask for?

Jazz bass, Summer 2008, Made in Mexico, 4 strings, standard J-Bass controls, vintage single-coil pick-ups. Body is alder, sunburst finish with black pickguard. Single-piece maple neck with rosewood fretboard with pearloid block inlays (including at the first fret) and white binding. Also includes "vintage" "bullet" truss rod. Like other 70s vintage Jazz's, this fretboard has a 7.25" radius.

Agressive sound with lots of snap. Great for funk (as it was designed...) and also for progressive rock (think: Chris Squire, Geddy Lee...) The pick-up array, also, is wired/arranged much like a Telecaster--with the bridge pickup overwound (for snap) and punched up, and with the neck pick up a little more laid back. The bass is a great aggressive bass, and you can get lots of sounds out of it, but don't expect it to sound like a p-bass...:)

Typically, for recording, I run this into a tube pre-amp, and then into a Zoom B-1 bass modeler, and I can get lots of great sounds.

Bass was set up well out of the box, but I didn't keep that set up long--I put a Badass II on it immediately, and also changed the strings to a lighter Rotosound "Funkmaster" set, so I had to re-do the setup. Otherwise the bass was fantastic.

This bass seems built like a tank. It's still new, so I will have to see how well the finish stands up. I would gig without a back-up, as per the bass itself--but not necessarily for _strings_...

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I've been "back" on bass part time for three years (first played bass 25 years ago...). I had a Squier Standard J-Bass that I sold when I got this one. The only improvement I can think of was the one I did myself--adding the Badass. If it came with one already installed, like the Marcus Miller or the Geddy Lee (both also based on 70s Jazz Basses)... If something happened to it, I'd replace it.

2008 Made in Mexico 70's jazz reissue bass. Pearloid block inlays in neck & binding. Passive J-Bass pickups, maple neck, rosewood fretboard. Black gloss finish with white pickguard. If you really need more info, go to Fender's website.

Sounds wonderful! Classic 70's sound as far as a bass guitar is concerned. It does work well with all styles though.

I am impressed at how well this bass is crafted. I can't find a flaw on it! It played well straight out of the box! I don't like the white pickguard so I'll be removing it and giving it a paint job!

Haven't had the bass that long but so far I have no issues with it. I am really a fan of stuff made in the USA. I was a little suspicious getting a Mexican made bass but I really like the throwback to the 70's so I bought it. I'll put the construction of this bass up against my beloved G&L SB-2 USA bass!

Don't think I'll be needing them.

I've been playing bass for over 20 years and have owned my fair share of basses. For the price of this guitar, you can't go wrong. Most working musicians can't drop 2-3 grand on a guitar at the drop of a hat. I think this bass is certainly worth what they're asking for it!

2008 Fender 70's Jazz Bass Reissue Made in Mexico. Black alder body with a lacquer finish maple neck featuring a rosewood fingerboard with pearl inlays and white binding. 2 passive jazz pickups with 70's spacing. Standard bridge and tuners.

Great funk tone, very even sounding bass. very little 60 cycle hum

Plays great. Great neck. I have 4 other jazz basses to compare this to. A 03 Fender USA S-1, Geddy Lee, Modulus Jazz and a Warmoth fretless. This is one of my favorites. The neck is worth the price of admission.

It's a Fender. But I always bring a back up.

Great bass for about $700. Don't waste your money on a vintage jazz. This is lighter and plays better than the original 74 jazz bass I once owned.