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I was quite happy to buy a Squier Jazz but.......


Dave D
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.... I had to get carried away!!

I've been fancying a 'real' jazz for a while as a companion to my Stingray. I was after a cherry red with rosewood neck, block inlays, matching headstock, but I think it's only the anniversary model that's like that. So the idea was to go for a Squier in cherry with rosewood, colour in the headstock, change the pick ups...... Hang on, this could get expensive, and I'd end up with a worthless bastardised jap jazz!

Maybe I could make one from parts? So I looked for a body to have a finish put on locally. I live about 5 minutes from Dan Macpherson of DM Guitars, so I gave him a call to price it. What a lovely chap. We had a chat a couple of times no it seems a lot cheaper for him to make and finish a body, than to buy a Warmouth, have it shipped, pay the duty etc. then I can do the assembly, fit the hardware etc.

I'm not one that can tell you what a bass is made from by the sound of it. Nor could I honestly say why one pickup sounds better than another. So based on the fact that my Ray sounds great, I decided to copy a few elements of their design in mine.

So here's my plan (comments are welcomed)

The body (probably ash like the Ray) will be a traditional jazz shape, routed from the back. It will have a flame maple veneer finished in a gloss tobacco burst. Pickup will be a single Stingray soapbar by Seymour Duncan with 3 way eq. I toyed with the idea of 2 pickups, but it works fine on my Ray with just the one, and it'll stop my endless fiddling on stage! Probably will go for a black Gotoh bridge, but maybe 4 individual saddles like the Shukers seem to favour?
Neck will be a standard jazz profile (38mm at the nut?), matt finish, with a rosewood fretboard, dot markers on the side only, headstock to match the body, and black Gotoh tuners. And finally a set of DR black beauties to finish the job.
I reckon that I should get a few quid change out of a grand, but it'll be totally mine without compromise, and I don't have to pay it all in one go. I can buy and fit the hardware as I please.

I'm off to see Dan on Monday to finalise my body options, so I'll update the thread as I go.

As I said, I get carried away, and have already decided that the next one will be a 5 string with a light trans blue quilted maple top with cream binding, maple neck and board with MOP block inlays, jazz pickups, chrome hardware.........

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Sounds nice but out of interest, have you seen or tried the Cory GB94? It sounds very similar to the bass you're describing.

It's a fair amount cheaper too (one on EBay at £399 currently an used by wonderful Bassists as Pete Trewavas; my hero).

Edited by Old Horse Murphy
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