Now GONE "Boner" - oo'er Missus. USA Fender Jazz - Extra Horn Length, Extra Frets. Everyone should have one. £525

[dustandbarley]

[u][b]USA Fender Jazz 1989 Serial Number E92136[/b][/u][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] - [/font][/color][u][b]£525 [/b][/u][u][b]+ postage[/b][/u]
[u][b]No trades thanks[/b][/u]

Refinished Body - Shiny like new with white pick guard.

Super slim profile neck with rosewood board extra frets, and micro-tilt system.
TBX Tone circuit.
Modern tuners as standard.
The bass is in great condition.

===========================

OK - I have a lot to say about this bass.

At times Fender have deviated from their tried and tested basses with varying levels of success. This model is one of these examples and it had some great differences, and some not so.

For a few years in the late 80's / early 90's this 'Longhorn' or 'Boner' bass was the standard Jazz bass Fender made. It had a couple of extra frets and a different body shape with a biigger cutaway to accommodate the extra frets and a longer top horn which gave a more comfortable balance when wearing the bass.

[u][b]Here is my experience of the differences[/b][/u]

[b]TBX Circuit[/b]

This model jazz has slightly different electronics Fender called their TBX circuit. This is a twin stacked tone pot that effected the tone slightly differently that the standard Jazz tone pot. Please have a google about this circuit. There is some conflicting info out there, but here is my experience.

The original volume pots were 250k and if they were flat out, the TBX circuit worked fine, however with the pots not all the way up, the TBX circuit would also effect the volume - which wasn't great. I was advised to swap out the 250k volume pots for 500k's and disco - way better. When rolling the tone off, if feels to me that a little of the treble is allowed to leech through giving a slightly 'scouped' sound as apposed to the normal expected cut in treble. The difference is only subtle, but IMO the circuit sounds great with the 500k pots.

[b]The Xtra Frets[/b]

The extra frets are a helpful addition should you feel inclined to use them. The neck is noticeably thinner than the USA standard basses made now. It feels light and agile and is a dream to play.
What is lost in girth is gained in length - you decide.

[b]Body Shape[/b]

The extra long top horn makes this bass a dream to play. It is the most well balanced Fender I've played. Its very comfortable to wear, and balances great when playing sitting down. The extra leverage the longer top horn gives really makes a difference and when I have to play for a extended periods, the better balance helps my left arm from getting tired having to compensate for any neck heavy bias. (does that make sense? - basically it is less neck heavy by design than other jazzes)

[b]The Bridge[/b]

Fender goofed a bit here IMO. For the boners they increased the string spacing to about 21mm? Which is ok, but they left the neck the same width at the heal. This meant the strings were too close to the fretboard edge for comfort and a few bum notes as it was all to easy for the strings to slip off the edge of the fretboard when fretting on the G or E string. I have replaced the original bridge with a Gotoh hi mass number. Have a look at the difference in the pic below. I will include the original bridge in the sale, but its only good use would be as a paper weight, or maybe to sell on to MDP for a 5 to 4 string bass conversion for people who have fingers thicker than your average frankfurter.
The foot print of the old bridge left some visible marks on the body either side of the new hi mass item, so I ended up having the body refinished.

Enough already - have a look






Serial Number - I don't think the serial numbers of Boner's appear on some of the Fender Serial Number look-up sites



Modern Tuners came as standard



New High Mass Bridge



Check the girth - calling MDF



Micro Tilt adjustment



TBX circuit with 500k vol pots



Measuring from the tip of the button (YES IT COUNTS!!!) the boner's horn weighs in mightily at a tad under 7 inches



Oh! Monsieur JV Jazz - you only have a 5 inch horn



The Boner's apt name gives rise to plenty of opportune double entendre. Please feel free to amuse in the box below, equally ask any questions.

Edited October 11, 2013 by dustandbarley

[discreet]

Fnarr. So it's called that for the reason I thought it was..? Sweet. Nice bass. Do you know what [i]wood [/i]it's made out of?

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='dustandbarley' timestamp='1381236026' post='2236142']
Serial Number - I don't think the serial numbers of Boner's appear on some of the Fender Serial Number look-up sites


[/quote]

I had this same serial number issue on a jazz I've just bought. After several emails to Fender and a bit of searching about it turns out that the E + 5 digit serial numbers were for export instruments and do not conform to the standard USA E + 6 digit serial numbers of the time.... this was apparently as importers had to sort out their own warranty issues outside of Fender.

Its a bit annoying as they don't show up on any online serial number tables...

Impressive boner by the way....

Edited October 8, 2013 by CamdenRob

[ikay]

When you say '1898' in the original post do you mean 1989, or is the year unknown due to the serial number oddity?

[dustandbarley]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1381236195' post='2236152']
Fnarr. So it's called that for the reason I thought it was..? Sweet. Nice bass. Do you know what [i]wood [/i]it's made out of?
[/quote]Ha Ha - Some kind of [i]hard wood[/i]? I'm guessing at Ash..... Hopefully someone will be along shortly to put me straight (oo'er)
[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1381236571' post='2236163']
I had this same serial number issue on a jazz I've just bought.[/quote]
Thanks for your input into the Serial Numbers - Terrific. So am I correct in saying this is 1989? What year was yours - if you don't mind me asking?
[quote name='ikay' timestamp='1381238499' post='2236201']
When you say '1898' in the original post do you mean 1989, or is the year unknown due to the serial number oddity?
[/quote] Duh! What a doofus - thanks for [i]pointing it out[/i] - now [s]erected[/s] - corrected

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='dustandbarley' timestamp='1381239362' post='2236229']
Thanks for your input into the Serial Numbers - Terrific. So am I correct in saying this is 1989? What year was yours - if you don't mind me asking?
[/quote]

No worries, I did a fair bit of research on this last week before pulling the trigger on a new jazz. Mine was an E3 serial number and the guy from Fender said E = Eighties and a 3 for 83 so as yours is E9 it follows it must be an 89...

Although I also discovered something about production dates. Apparently the model year in 1983 ran from July 1 of 1983 till June 30 of 1984 so although the neck on mine is stamped May 03 1984 its technically an 83 bass.... very confusing...

[ash]

[quote name='dustandbarley' timestamp='1381239362' post='2236229']
Ha Ha - Some kind of [i]hard wood[/i]? I'm guessing at Ash.....
[/quote]

.....leave me out of this please....

[pluckedout]

[quote name='dustandbarley' timestamp='1381239362' post='2236229']
Ha Ha - Some kind of [i]hard wood[/i]? I'm guessing at Ash..... Hopefully someone will be along shortly to put me straight (oo'er)
[/quote]

Alder actually. Not very funny, but there it is.