bassbiscuits

[quote name='chrisanthony1211' timestamp='1409732601' post='2542660'] A bass for life indeed, and I think these are great investments which are surely only going to go up in value, I bought a Fullerton 1984 precision two weeks ago for £800 which had been owned by a collector and looks like new, again surely a good investment, I think I've convinced the wife that vintage basses could be a good retirement plan, and lots of fun for me in meantime :-) [/quote] Ha ha I bought mine 20 years ago when it was just an old, rather nice and fairly affordable bass, rather than a vintage piece. I could only afford one bass at the time and needed something good quality and practical that I could gig with, and its definitely been a worthy buy over all those years. Great basses.

Ah Westone Thunders - they were cool.I had two Thunder 1As at one point, and a white Westone Spectrum, but sold them for a Charvel P bass-alike with a pointy head. It was the early 90s - all my friends were doing it and it seemed like a good idea etc etc... I love P basses, but Jazzes do look cooler I agree! It's the extra knob and shiny metalwork which does it for me. Also love that extra right hand playing position you get on the bottom pickup - essential for Ian Dury-tastic stuff... I'm off to look longingly at it a bit more.... (sigh)

I'd been on the lookout for a jazz for ages. Much as I love MIJ stuff, the one Japanese jazz I had briefly about five years ago was just ok, rather than great. After much trawling on internet picked up a secondhand 15 year old USA jazz in great nick for the same sort of price as you'd expect to pay for a new MIJ or MIM. For me, the USA-made stuff just has something that most far eastern stuff doesn't have, and I'd reckon they hold their value better too. If you can afford USA, for for it. Saying that, there are plenty of good MIJ and MIM basses out there too!

That's lovely. Looks identical to mine, except mine has a fair bit more buckle rash on it, but same lovely sunburst and rich tort plate. Good work sir - a bass for life!

Ahhh.... P basses are the benchmark of great basses in my mind. I've recently got the jazz bass bug, but i've got a couple of USA P basses from over the years which are still my main squeezes. They just sound, feel and look so right. Ironically, my P Bass sound by itself isn't anything astonishing, but turned up loud and slotting in with a band, its a really full, fat, commanding bass tone which is perfect for me. If you can't do it on a P bass, you're not doing it right...

ha ha good work all round! happy birthday too buddy

Yeah I don't know why they changed the bridge - I love the string thru function on the bridges that came standard on these originally. Ill keep an eye out for an original replacement - I wonder if the current hi-mass ones have same screw pattern? But the badass sounds fine in the meantime - no massive rush to replace it.

Cheers folks - yes it's a great looking bass, and a nice change from the usual sunbursts too. Have spent the last week doing little set-up tweaks to the action here and there and getting used to it, and now it plays exactly as I want. Really pleased so far. I've changed the pick guard back to white too - black was a bit too obvious for me, but I'm liking Machinehead's suggestion of a tort plate. You got a picture of yours Machinehead - be great to see how it looks with the tort? I've put a shout out on the "items wanted" section for a tort or pearl white (my other fave) scratch plate, so lets see if anything comes up... just can't wait to gig it now!

Good purchase sir! I've got a similar era P Bass and its a great period for them, even if they don't have the same kudos (i.e. unaffordable price tag!) of 1960s ones. Mine (on the right in my avatar) is from 1970 and has lovely slim B profile neck, 7.25 radius, slightly bird's-eye maple flecked neck and is as light as a feather. Great bass. Enjoy yours chap.

Hi Bassman Sam - yep that's the position I was in really! I'm not massively adventurous with my gear (if it ain't broke etc) but a jazz was the obvious addition.... and they look cool!

looks beautiful mate

That sounds like a decent price for it really - a 1990s/2000s USA Fender will set you back about £600-£700 nowadays, so as long as its decent condition and you're happy with it, that's a perfectly good price for a guitar with a bit of history too! I had a similar aged Japanese Stratocaster about 10 years ago (think i worked it out as 1985/6) and it was great. Stupidly flogged it for £200 in a moment of financial despair. Don't ask....! Precision basses are brilliant tho - really simple, really effective and they look great. Enjoy playing it sir!

My first bass in 1986 was a rubbish Satellite short-scale white thing - it's only distinguishing features were a horribly warped neck and a paint chip where i'd fallen off the garden fence while playing it. It cost me £60 brand new and I traded it in for a far better Westone Spectrum in 1987. Fast forward to about 1999 and I found the same bass in a secondhand shop in Wales - complete with the same paint chip and the same strings with green silk binding which it had in 1986. Out of curiosity i asked the guy in the shop about it, and he swore it was brand new, and wanted £80 for it. Needless to say I left without it! Never mind eh.

Cheers Weststarx - I'm quite partial to the white one to be honest, but the black does look a little more mean...!

New bass... I've been playing bass for 28 years (yikes...!) somehow, but I've always ended up with a P bass (or at least a P Bass-alike) mainly just down to what was available/affordable secondhand, rather than for any technical reason. Though I love Ps, there's been a jazz bass shaped hole in my life - until now! Here's the new arrival - a 1999 USA Jazz in natural ash with white scratch plate. Not sure if they were called American Series/American Standard/Standard at this time, but I haven't seen many like this outside of the more recent 1975 reissues. It came with a Badass II fitted, which is a shame as i love the thru body thing, but no big deal. I love these late 1990s Fenders - despite the neck varnish cracking on all the ones I've played, I really like them - seems Fender did a really nice 'back to basics' job at the time, just doing a few models and doing them well. Sure, there's not a lightweight ergonomic machine head or Custom Shop pickup in sight, but they sound fat and full and thumping to me, as well as being nicely worn in 15 years later. Our local luthier gave it a bit of a set up and a tweak and i got it back on the weekend - since when I've been surgically attached to it. I plumped for the black p/guard in the end after a straw poll of friends reckoned: 'white looks more country, but black looks more rock.' Ha ha! Should get a chance to gig it in a few weeks - through a Littlemark III and a Schroeder 1210 cab. There's every chance it will sound righteous.... Good old Fender