BlueMoon

First one is a rehearsal with a bunch of school friends circa 1973. The bass is a 1964 Burns Jazz……I still have it! Second one is from earlier this year……….rocking a fretless P in a café bar.

There’s nothing wrong with MIJ/CIJ Fender instruments. In general they are top notch for consistency. The 62 Jazz reissues are more common and therefore maybe more prone to modding than some models that are less common in Europe…..like the PB-70US. Remember that Japanese Fenders have various grades - typically denoted by a second double digit. Say, JB-62-75 where the first number refers to the model year of the reissue and the second set of numbers denotes the price (in 00’s Yen) when it first sold. The lower priced versions came with a smaller headstock and small footprint tuners, as well as locally specified PUP’s. The body wood may be Basswood (Linden), which is light but dings easily. Higher valued instruments have larger tuners (similar to US) on a typical Fender headstock. The body wood is typically alder or sen (ash). The PUP’s may be wound to US spec or imported US PUP’s. Hence the term US in PB-70US. Basically you will have to look far and wide for a bad MIJ Fender.

I got into classical music with my school orchestra playing double (contra)bass. The school music teacher was a closet jazz fan who encouraged me to explore improvisation techniques. This was great for my musical development, but didn’t help my street cred one bit. Most of my mates at school were into rock music………and I wanted to be in a band. So, I acquired a beaten up Burns Jazz bass and began playing it in various local rock bands. Most weren't that good and folded through common adolescent hot headedness. Feeling a bit disillusioned, I auditioned for a cruise ship touring big band on double bass. Dang me if I didn’t get the role and then scared myself xxitless when I realised what journey I was on (literally and metaphorically). I have to say that playing three sets a day and reading the dots was a great leveller for a naïve gap year student. Interestingly, my dear parents were diametrically opposed to my activity at the time. I was pursuing a dream, playing bass with serious musicians. I guess that I quickly learned that living the dream was hard work and not all I had imagined. Went back to serious studies (not music), family, and life in general with little time for bass. I never lost the passion for performance based music and began again playing bass in my 50’s. I had kept a 70’s P bass and thrashed that in various cover bands over the years. I still get a huge buzz from playing bass, especially gigs, festivals etc. My musical tastes have certainly evolved, and being able to sight-read has certainly helped me explore different types of styles. I am still poor at slap though….and proud of it. As far as basses, I’ve been through a passive-active-passive journey and up a 4-5-6-4 string cul-de-sac. The first serious electric bass was the Burns; the latest was a Yamaha BB1200. I guess there have been about a hundred instruments in between. Some are still with me………as well as the passion.

How’s the neck dive? 😳

I agree……I have one and use it regularly. Not cheap though.

A bass that looks more like a coffee table surface. In fact, after the first I still wasn’t totally convinced………..so in the best BC tradition, I got another. The basses were a Tune TBC (Exotic) 4 stringer and a Marleaux Constat 5.

Yes……..mainly piano and organs if I recall correctly. They had two shops; one in the precinct behind the Chancellor Hall and one in Moulsham Street. Very personal service…..but not cheap.

Yamaha makes some really tasty instruments. The TRB was a great range, especially the early ones. Enjoy!

Nice! Fender Japan seems to have quite a bit of flexibility to issue “local” models that are both desirable and well screwed together.

This will probably encourage a new thread with a title something like: “They don’t make them like they used to”. Here is a pic (taken today) of a strap that I bought in Hodges & Johnson circa 1975. Still going strong and being used today, some 50 years later. And………not made in China!

Yes. They had several branches locally in Essex during the 1970’s. Not specialists, but at that time they served my need for strings, straps, picks etc. For serious bass stuff I’d often take a trip to Liverpool Street and walk to the Bass Centre in Wapping. Although that was probably in the 80’s or later.

Hodges & Johnson in Southend.

Since the OP mentioned Belgium as the destination I feel obliged to communicate that I am currently pursuing a case of commercial misconduct against FedEx Benelux. I’ll spare everybody the details, but needless to say it involved fraudulent activity on behalf of that courier company and loss/theft of the package. It’s being investigated and it is separately insured. By way of sharing my “Belgian” experience, I have found GLS is sloppy overall, UPS poorly served in Flemish district and BPost (the national equivalent to Royal Mail) is slow, but steady. DPD has a clean sheet with me at present and I have no affiliation or special “fufu” dust to sprinkle to ensure that it stays that way. As others have mentioned, ensure adequate insurance and record every action involved. Having a comprehensive dossier to present to the police, courier investigators etc should assist comprehensive follow up. Good luck whoever you choose.

DPD would be my recommendation.

Just make sure the inserts are plumb in the neck, not at an angle. With careful drilling (best is a drill press) for the inserts it is not that difficult to do. The added advantage is that you can remove the neck for truss rod adjustments etc as many times as you want with no movement due to wear in the neck holes. It’s a good upgrade.

Yes………and it’s a clean and effective method.

An absolute belter! I find the finish definition stunning.

When enlarging headstock tuner holes I’ve used successfully either a hand-held reamer (as suggested by @Hellzero) or a step drill bit with a drill chuck and t-bar handle. Slow and steady by hand………just watch out for chips occurring in the surface coating (poly worse than nitro). If you can locate centrally a washer or coin of the desired final hole size, pre-score around it with a sharp scribe. This will help minimise chips and serve as a guide for the drill/reamer.

As far as I’m aware, Zero Mod will create and sell you one. You probably know that they are in the U.S. and charge a bunch for shipping (plus possible customs etc.). https://www.zero-mod.com/ric-rest-.html I am not aware of anybody in Europe who has one of these in their inventory. Maybe a modified 3D printer file? https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2405790/comments I’m also looking for one and, as a last resort, might be able to sweet-talk my son into creating a file for a stretched version that would fit a V63/V64 series. Stay tooned.

Great stuff! Family first…….they always find ways to reward you and you can forget the sleepless nights.

R. S. comes across as a nice guy with his feet on the ground. Thanks for sharing.

Nerdy pic of my three Goodfellow’s. Quaint basses indeed.

I’ve been in the same situation as you, as have loads of other bass player/singers. The above reinforcement of the need for practice with the band is key. What also worked for me was to not overthink it. In some cases I simplified the bass line and learned the pairing (singing and playing) as a single entity, not as two separate parts stuck together. I did get tripped up, however, when I did a dep gig using sheet music and then singing was really limited to just oohs and arrhs. I found that a really difficult gig. practice, practice, practice!…….you’ll get there.

I’m in this camp. Looks far too risky to investigate further and there will definitely be others that come along that are less questionable.