bassatnight Posted October 29, 2010 Share Posted October 29, 2010 Folks, Just for a hobby type thing I have purchased a mint Squire Vintage Modified Jazz (the natural one) my goal is to turn it into a clone of a Fender 75ri Jazz (or even better) for less than £350. I shall take some pics but so far I have done this: Vintage Modified Jazz £150 via Ebay Gotoh 201b Brass Bridge £30 Ebay Genuine Fender 75ri Bass F Tuners £20 Gumtree Genuine Fender Jazz Bass Skirted knob Set Black x3 £9 I have also added a pick guard but I just prefer this looks wise that was £8 Still to source: Top Quality Jazz Pups (DiMarzio Ultra Jazz Bass Pickup Set or Nordstrand NJ4SV's) this is going to be the pricey bit £85 for the DiMarzio's and the Nordys are like £180 so this may blow my budget a bit unless I can source cheaper ones. Still £400 compared to £1500 for a 75 ri still not too bad, I am not going the whole hog and adding a Fender decal as I find that a little precious, its the sound I want. I am a little concerned about the 'painted' block inlays on the neck so I am thinking about adding some form of lacquer to combat this (ideas welcome?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceH Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 [quote name='bassatnight' post='1005928' date='Oct 29 2010, 11:14 PM']Folks, Just for a hobby type thing I have purchased a mint Squire Vintage Modified Jazz (the natural one) my goal is to turn it into a clone of a Fender 75ri Jazz (or even better) for less than £350. I shall take some pics but so far I have done this: Vintage Modified Jazz £150 via Ebay Gotoh 201b Brass Bridge £30 Ebay Genuine Fender 75ri Bass F Tuners £20 Gumtree Genuine Fender Jazz Bass Skirted knob Set Black x3 £9 I have also added a pick guard but I just prefer this looks wise that was £8 Still to source: Top Quality Jazz Pups (DiMarzio Ultra Jazz Bass Pickup Set or Nordstrand NJ4SV's) this is going to be the pricey bit £85 for the DiMarzio's and the Nordys are like £180 so this may blow my budget a bit unless I can source cheaper ones. Still £400 compared to £1500 for a 75 ri still not too bad, I am not going the whole hog and adding a Fender decal as I find that a little precious, its the sound I want. I am a little concerned about the 'painted' block inlays on the neck so I am thinking about adding some form of lacquer to combat this (ideas welcome?)[/quote] Regarding pickups, I had a pair of US Fender Vintage 75s via ebay sent from this guy [url="http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/joshmsr/"]http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/joshmsr/[/url] Even with postage (he will combine this for multiple items) it came in pretty cheap and they are the same pups as in the US 75RI. Just in case you're not aware though, part of the sound is the 70s pup spacing which the VM Jazz doesn't have. You'd have to get the body routed and then work out what to do with the hole! (Maybe something a little bit unusual like the Wizard Combo?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassatnight Posted November 3, 2010 Author Share Posted November 3, 2010 I did think about using 75's but as you say the spacing would be an issue although probably negligible. I am not sure which pups to go for I might just chance my arm with the Di Marzio's.[quote name='LawrenceH' post='1008558' date='Nov 1 2010, 02:21 PM']Regarding pickups, I had a pair of US Fender Vintage 75s via ebay sent from this guy [url="http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/joshmsr/"]http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/joshmsr/[/url] Even with postage (he will combine this for multiple items) it came in pretty cheap and they are the same pups as in the US 75RI. Just in case you're not aware though, part of the sound is the 70s pup spacing which the VM Jazz doesn't have. You'd have to get the body routed and then work out what to do with the hole! (Maybe something a little bit unusual like the Wizard Combo?)[/quote] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceH Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 [quote name='bassatnight' post='1010506' date='Nov 3 2010, 10:51 AM']I did think about using 75's but as you say the spacing would be an issue although probably negligible. I am not sure which pups to go for I might just chance my arm with the Di Marzio's.[/quote] I think they'll do the job for sure! Plus you can't get more 70s than cream covers (Hint: get cream!) But if you've not done anything about this by the time I've got a free few hours to fit the 75s I can let you know how I get on. I was torn between them and the Di Marzios anyway. Regarding the spacing, I have an ash/maple Jap 75RI (with the 60s spacing) and it's a great sound, but I have to say it's not the same as 70s spacing - there's a lot of discussion about it which largely misses the point which is that with BOTH pickups on you get different cancellation/reinforcement frequencies and that is something you can't do much about. If you know what you're looking for it's easily audible when you A/B basses (and due to the nature of the sound change you can be fairly sure that it's the spacing and nothing else). You get more bass/low mid, less honk and a bit more trebly snap and grind compared to a 60s sound. Using the bridge pickup in isolation I actually find it much more difficult to hear the difference between spacings! Overall, probably because of the body woods I'd say the Jap 75RI is something of a hybrid between standard and 70s sound. Having said all that, you do have to know what you're looking for to recognise it and as I said my Jap 75 sounds great so I don't care anyway! Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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