Talk:Fender Jazz Bass

"signature sounds?"

"The sound of the Fender Jazz Bass has been fundamental in the development of signature sounds in certain musical genres, such as funk, disco, reggae, blues, heavy metal and jazz fusion."

Sorry but early funk, as well as disco and reggae mostly used Precision basses, which were far more popular in the 70s. This is also true with heavy metal; Steve Harris with Iron Maiden, Geezer Butler with Black Sabbath, Phil Lynott with Thin Lizzy, for example. Then we have fusion bands; Rick Laird and Ralphe Armstrong with Mahavishnu Orchestra, Paul Jackson with the Headhunters, Phil Chen and Wilbur Bascomb with Jeff Beck, all played P basses. Fact is that P basses were the most used bass in the 60s and 70s and Jazz basses are more popular now. DavidRavenMoon (talk) 14:28, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

"George Blanda?"

Wasn't he a football player? Perhaps George Fullerton is correct. 68.109.89.36 (talk) 01:44, 28 August 2012 (UTC)musant

"Patent Sketch"

The patent sketch displayed on this page is absolutely NOT a jazz bass. Look closer to the pickguard shape and the lower part of the bass, where the jack is located. These parts DO NOT look like a jazz bass, but rather like a precision bass. If theres noobjection to it, i will remove it ASAP. Please tell me what you think.200.28.215.66 (talk) 12:28, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

I agree that this is inaccurate and should be removed. In short this is a drawing of a Preceision Bass. The lack of body slat/offset, the placement of the single pickup, the fact that there is only one pickup, and the shape of the pickguard are all Precision Bass features.Marcus (talk) 19:04, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

He's right -- That's no Jazz bass. The offset waist is missing, the pickguard is clearly a Precision part, and the bridge and pickup covers are obviously Precision covers. The sketch should be removed. Opensourcelinuxm (talk) 20:58, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Ok, I've removed it. Marcus (talk) 14:38, 18 July 2008 (UTC)

Other Ambiguities & Inaccuracies

Hunter Burgan of AFI plays Fender Jazz basses

Pete Wentz plays a black Fender Jazz bass with a red pickguard and a Clandestine Bat decal on it and some on the frets too...

-User: armapunk94

Can someone make sense of this please?

"In the present bass guitar models made in Mexico, a simple bridge and pickup set is present. It has been complained by many accomplished bassists, particularly Geddy Lee, who uses the popular Leo Quan Badass Bridge II. This particular bridge model allows for longer sustain and better control of harmonics. They are very easy to install and are made solely for the purpose of replacing the stock bridge to provide a better, original sound. The pickup sets are also easily replaced by American pickups. The criticism for cutting corners is shortlived, as you can pay only a total of about $150 to improve the standard Jazz Bass to something more adequate. This should not discourage one from buying a standard Jazz Bass, for you still get the great original sound either way."

Thanks -- Ezy Rider 21:47, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

I believe that this is the work of some nit-picky person, and i have taken it my liberty to remove it. It is more of an editorial than a fact. This would be from user:SpookyPig but i'm not logged in.

In the photo at the bottom of the page,I have changed the description of the fourth bass from the left from an FMT, to a QMT. The usual description of an FMT (Figured Maple Top) does not apply to Fender, since an FMT for them is a Flame Maple Top, a QMT being a Quilt Maple Top.

Also, the third bass from the left is described as having a Pau Ferro fretboard. I am pretty sure it is rosewood, but I haven't changed anything.

The 1989-92 Jazz is described a having a larger body, I'm fairly sure it actually had a smaller one to accommodate the 22-fret neck. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dangouge (talk • contribs) 04:40, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

"Electric bass guitar"

Here's a link to an early advertisement with a photo of the decal being applied to the headstock of a Jazz Bass. http://www.vintageguitars.org.uk/adDetails/359. As the original headstock decals clearly stated "Electric Bass" as well as the product lists and manuals right up to the past year or so, shouldn't that be noted instead of the reference to "electric bass guitar" as there are many (myself included) that consider the instrument to be a bass rather than guitar. The popularity of the vernacular phrase "bass guitar" is recognised, but I have never heard "electric bass guitar" in conversation. --Ozbass (talk) 10:06, 30 January 2010 (UTC)—Preceding unsigned comment added by Ozbass (talk • contribs) 09:32, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

You're right. I agree, so I've changed the use of "electric bass guitar" to simply "electric bass". Brian Reading (talk) 20:43, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

Bass guitar is pretty useful name for the thing that is not a bass violin. Ortolan88 (talk) 18:58, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

Uh, it absolutely is a "bass guitar". That is the correct term. It's ridiculous to argue otherwise. Craig418 (talk) 19:50, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

Pick-up distance

Does anybpdy know anything about the change in distance between the pick-ups that took place between the 60's and 70's? If so, it is worth a mention i think. --Vunzmstr 20:02, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

A bass playing friend of mine had a custom built bass made to his specs which I would describe as a Jazz Bass / Stingray hybrid. In a recent conversation I asked about the process of pick-up selection and positioning in his design and was it copied from the Fender Jazz Bass? Part of his answer was "No, the Fender Jazz Bass pick-up positioning was for visual balance and not to get the optimum tonal quality." I do not have any proof of this claim. I'd love to get the Fender designers to comment! --Ozbass (talk) 10:21, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

Fender Wikiproject Proposal

I have proposed a Wikiproject for articles relating to Fender. If you are interested, please add you name here. Izzy007 Talk 21:34, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

Tony Blair

Does Tony Blair really play the bass, or is that vandalism? 75.67.142.56 (talk) 03:41, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

I've reverted that edit. I'm pretty sure it WAS vandalism. I'm beginning to think the whole section needs individual sources for each entry. It's the most heavily reverted section of the article. Brianreading (talk) 08:19, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

Not only that but it is irrelevant. How many prominent people around the world have played a Jazz bass? Would we really need to list all of them? How would that advance this article? --Ozbass (talk) 10:10, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

Jazz Bass 24 discontinued ?

As of 19 April 2009, the link to the Jazz Bass 24 product page at Fender (http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0264500552) leads to a "Product not found" page. I can't either reach the bass by navigating through the site. Does anyone know if that means Fender officially discontinues that product ? SirDarius (talk) 10:44, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

Prominent Jazz Bass players

I have trimmed this section to remove obviously un-notable players (no wiki page, or page redirects to band), and those for whom another bass was notable for them with no mention of the J-bass (Krist Novoselic, for example, has a page which references 4 other basses as being 'notable').

I'd like to trim this section to retain players for whom the Jazz Bass was a notable part of their career (Jaco Pastorius, for example) or who have a signature J-bass model, rather than simply notable bassists who played a J-bass at some point (John Deacon, possibly? His article never references the J-bass). The section explicitly refers to bassists with a signature model, yet I doubt all of these artists have signature models. I'd like to rewrite the section in one of three ways (in order of what I believe to be most suitable):

1. Two paragraphs, artists with a signature model, and other artists known for playing a J-bass
2. One paragraph, artists with a signature model
3. One paragraph, artists known for playing a J-bass, including those with signature models yet not explicitly referenced

Does this seem reasonable? Can somebody help to create a list of the artists with signature models as a start? Can we also ensure that the artists with signature models have the bass referenced in their article? Bakkster Man (talk) 13:11, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for doing some cleaning. I've refined the list a bit more even. I'm working on other projects right now, but I could probably help you out once you got started. Brian Reading (talk) 17:10, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

For artists with a signature instrument, we have Jaco Pastorius (natch), Reggie Hamilton [1], Frank Bello, James Johnston [2], Steve Bailey, Marcus Miller, Victor Bailey, and Geddy Lee [3]. That's a pretty good list, and I'd probably add John Paul Jones and Noel Redding, as both seem to be nearly exclusively J-bass players. Bakkster Man (talk) 20:10, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

List needs work again, lots of bloat it appears. Bakkster Man (talk) 14:53, 9 December 2010 (UTC)

Tweaking the list again, I've changed it to simply the signature instruments. That makes it unambiguous and resistant to bloat. Bakkster Man (talk) 13:57, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Mark Hoppus

Actually, Mark Hoppus doesn't play Ferder Jazz bass, he play precision bass and his own signature jazz bass (which looks like a jazz bass but it's actually a precision bass)

Jazz Bass Mutes - Chuck McGregor

"...the initial models had...the "Spring Felt Mutes", which were present on basses from 1960 until 1962."

I bought a used, unaltered, Jazz Bass in early 1965 with the stamped date on the butt of the neck = Mar 1963. As well, the serial number (L06308) corresponds to Fender manufacturing for 1963, probably later than March. I still have this bass which is still all original except the strings and body finish. I also still have the "Spring Felt Mutes" (which I removed) that were on the bass at the time. The felts are white. Thus "until 1962" cannot be correct, unless it was a special order which I seriously doubt.

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"To compete with the Rickenbacker bass"

Is there any documentary evidence to support the claim made here that Fender gave the Jazz two pickups to make it more competitive with the Rickenbacker 4000 (the only bass model Rickenbacker had in 1960)? It's certainly true that the Rickenbacker has a brighter sound, and that the Jazz sounds brighter than Fender's earlier Precision bass, but evidence is needed to support the claim that the design of the Jazz was driven by a conscious desire to compete with Rickenbacker. Otherwise the reference to Rickenbacker should be removed. Craig418 (talk) 20:55, 4 October 2018 (UTC)

Nobody has provided anything to back up this claim, so I've removed it. Craig418 (talk) 05:25, 4 January 2019 (UTC)

Jazz based on Jazzmaster?

The statement that the Jazz was based on the Jazzmaster is not supported by any citation and seems suspect to me. There is an obvious similarity of names, and they're both offset-waist designs, but the Jazz's horns don't look anything like the Jazzmaster's, and the pickups and control layouts are completely different. The Jazz is not a "bass Jazzmaster" in the same sense that a Jaguar Bass is a "bass Jaguar". So I think this statement should be removed if it can't be supported by an authoritative source. Craig418 (talk) 21:06, 4 January 2019 (UTC)

Squier

For completeness this article ought to discuss Squier Jazz Basses - unless there ought to be a Squier Jazz Bass article. Stub Mandrel (talk) 19:34, 4 August 2019 (UTC)