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Jaco's Fender Jazz found...


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Apparently in April's Bass Player magazine, they've announced that they've found Jaco's famous defretted Fender Jazz named the "Bass of Doom".

[url="http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/1909080/page/0/fpart/1"]http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.p.../page/0/fpart/1[/url]

A few people picked up since it is an April edition, the whole thing could be an April Fool's joke... or indeed a fake. But if is real, imagine that. It's like the one of the Holy Grails of basshood popping up out of nowhere!

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This is the third or fourth time the same claim has been made - let's face it, bass mags don't have an awful lot to get excited about! I imagine it's the prelude/marketing to a future ebay auction (i.e., scam). Some mug will see all the media hype and pay about £50k for it. Then in 5 years time, they'll find another one........
I hope it's better than the FSC version :) .
Apologies for my cynicism!
Chris

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[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='158159' date='Mar 15 2008, 08:05 PM']Apparently Lord Lucan had it.[/quote]

and stole it away on shergar to his secret hidaway and then took it on the goodyear blimp to shangri-la ?

:)

i mean...tbh does it matter ? personally i don't care for the man's playing or his tone, but without the player it's just a hunk of wood and metal isn't it ?

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That thread makes for great reading - a lot of player vs instrument debates and the like. Personally I agree that without Jaco playing it, it's really only another bass guitar. It will however take pride of place in a Hard Rock Cafe somewhere undoubtedly!

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[quote name='ahpook' post='158163' date='Mar 15 2008, 08:11 PM']and stole it away on shergar to his secret hidaway and then took it on the goodyear blimp to shangri-la ?

:)

i mean...tbh does it matter ? personally i don't care for the man's playing or his tone, but without the player it's just a hunk of wood and metal isn't it ?[/quote]


Wood and metal it is, but it surely merits its place in rock n' roll / bass history, he may not have inspired us all but he inspired enough of us, and this bass is mentioned enough in all articles everywhere to warrant its own credit. How many other famous bassplayers and the basses that they use are so intertwined

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[quote name='Low End' post='158226' date='Mar 15 2008, 10:06 PM']Wood and metal it is, but it surely merits its place in rock n' roll / bass history, he may not have inspired us all but he inspired enough of us, and this bass is mentioned enough in all articles everywhere to warrant its own credit. How many other famous bassplayers and the basses that they use are so intertwined[/quote]

It was, as far as I can tell, not one bass. I suspect Fender's Custom Shop have usurped history to an extent in order to sell it's repro models. Certainly if you check out pics of Jaco in action, he appears to have played at the very least two Jazzes in his prime.
Chris

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A 60 fretted and 62 defretted were his main two, I think. Occasionly he did borrow or buy different ones. Jaydee even made him a signature bass right near the end of his life, after he played one and really liked it.

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[quote name='Low End' post='158226' date='Mar 15 2008, 10:06 PM']Wood and metal it is, but it surely merits its place in rock n' roll / bass history, he may not have inspired us all but he inspired enough of us, and this bass is mentioned enough in all articles everywhere to warrant its own credit. How many other famous bassplayers and the basses that they use are so intertwined[/quote]

my take is this...the bass is only of interest cos jaco played it, and tbh i'd have the same attitude to one of peter hook's or simon gallup's guitars, who i have a lot more respect for.

i wouldn't pay over the odds for a shergold cos hooky played it for instance. that's just crazy to my mind.

but if anyone's selling a shergold 6-string...


:)

it's just my take on the sitch ymmv, as per.

Edited by ahpook
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[quote name='queenofthedepths' post='158263' date='Mar 16 2008, 12:21 AM']Of course - it's a historical artifact and although it's no different physically from being played by Jaco, it does have great historical value, just like paintings in art galleries (you wouldn't pay to see a bunch of prints that you could just look at online, would you?)[/quote]

To use the painting metaphor, Jaco's bass is more like a set of Rembrandt's paintbrushes than one of Rembrandt's paintings. Jaco's legacy is his performances, not his instrument. He would have sounded as good on any other bass, whilst very few players would have sounded/will ever sound as good on tha bass in question. Ergo, it's not the bass that's historically important.
Chris

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I can see how Jaco's bass would be important to some people due to the sentimental attachment to it, but to me, outside of Jaco's hand, it's a fairly pretty looking piece of wood with metal attached to it, and the bonus that it's one of Fender's Golden Period basses.

Kind of spoils the mystery though, as it'll now get put away in either a case or glass display and never played again, whereas when it was out and about there was the chance it could have been seeing use, and doing what a bass should be doing: producing music.


Edit: Beedster hit the nail on the head.

Edited by Buzz
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[quote name='Beedster' post='158265' date='Mar 16 2008, 12:25 AM']To use the painting metaphor, Jaco's bass is more like a set of Rembrandt's paintbrushes than one of Rembrandt's paintings. Jaco's legacy is his performances, not his instrument. He would have sounded as good on any other bass, whilst very few players would have sounded/will ever sound as good on tha bass in question. Ergo, it's not the bass that's historically important.
Chris[/quote]

Beedster, Ur spot on , and point taken wholeheartedly, I'm new enough to this bass game and relatively new to the world of the forum, I currently only have a couple of bass heros , Jaco , Doug Wimbish and Chuck Rainey and to be honest everytime I see Jaco he has that bass. May he rest in peace and his Bass rest in pieces.....

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[quote name='Beedster' post='158265' date='Mar 16 2008, 12:25 AM']To use the painting metaphor, Jaco's bass is more like a set of Rembrandt's paintbrushes than one of Rembrandt's paintings. Jaco's legacy is his performances, not his instrument. He would have sounded as good on any other bass, whilst very few players would have sounded/will ever sound as good on tha bass in question. Ergo, it's not the bass that's historically important.
Chris[/quote]
I accept your first point, but I still think the bass (and the paintbrushes and for that matter Martin Luther King's toothbrush) has historical importance - the point is that in our imaginations, it provides a connection to Jaco and the music he played on that bass... with that in mind, another example: a piece of the true cross is just a lump of wood (not even a bass!) and Jesus would have been nailed up just as efficiently on any other cross - it wasn't even specially made for Jesus or selected by him; but a mundane object associated with someone special is invested with historical interest, which is why Jaco's bass is an artifact which can fuel our imaginations if we want it to

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[quote name='queenofthedepths' post='158272' date='Mar 16 2008, 12:47 AM']I accept your first point, but I still think the bass (and the paintbrushes and for that matter Martin Luther King's toothbrush) has historical importance - the point is that in our imaginations, it provides a connection to Jaco and the music he played on that bass... with that in mind, another example: a piece of the true cross is just a lump of wood (not even a bass!) and Jesus would have been nailed up just as efficiently on any other cross - it wasn't even specially made for Jesus or selected by him; but a mundane object associated with someone special is invested with historical interest, which is why Jaco's bass is an artifact which can fuel our imaginations if we want it to[/quote]

+1 on that. A piece of the true cross - wow - here we are likening the basis of a way of life to ....errr... the basses of a way of life..... I really shouldn't post in the early hours when I've had too much to drink hee hee... hic!

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[quote name='beerdragon' post='158302' date='Mar 16 2008, 03:08 AM']This is whats left of Jacos bass of doom. believe it or not.

[url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfitzstephens/177217605/in/pool-jaco_jfap/"]http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfitzstephens...pool-jaco_jfap/[/url][/quote]


They reckon that's when he threw it onto the road and a taxi ran over it, don't know if it's true.

Also Don't know if this is true or not..but Buddy Guy's bass player bought the fretted 60's bass in the mid nineties....dunno!!

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