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Jazz bass with flats


Ricky 4000

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17 hours ago, Ricky 4000 said:

Seems odd that. Apparently Jaco had to fashion his own fretless jazz with a pliers & some wood filler.

Like a Jedi constructing his own lightsabre... ish.

And boat varnish to stop the roundwound strings chewing up the fingerboard.

All of which makes it all the more interesting that such an obvious home-made alteration should then be the basis of a signature bass from Fender, as well as look-alikes from a whole bunch of other manufacturers...

I guess it helps that it was one of the greatest bass players ever who did this.

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25 minutes ago, mangotango said:

And boat varnish to stop the roundwound strings chewing up the fingerboard.

All of which makes it all the more interesting that such an obvious home-made alteration should then be the basis of a signature bass from Fender, as well as look-alikes from a whole bunch of other manufacturers...

I guess it helps that it was one of the greatest bass players ever who did this.

I find it weird that most of the lookalikes and signature model go as far as copying the missing red from the three-colour sunburst where the pickguard would be.  I presume Fender only left this off originally because that area was never meant to be on display, so it's a curious detail to reproduce, really. 

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On 28/05/2019 at 16:41, acidbass said:

Yep - I actually don't associate the sound of a Jazz with zingy top end at all.  To me, the sound is round and full like JPJ, or all bridge pickup burp like Jaco.  I'm aware that people like Marcus Miller use theirs for bright slappy tappyness, but it's not a sound I could ever see myself needing.

Good lord. 😆

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All my basses have flats: P, J and StingRay.

I do think those green Fenders are quite rude though - I put some on my Ray and they are super rude and scrunchy. I don’t think I’d put them on the P though, d’Addario chromes on there.

I don’t like playing with rounds any more, just feels weird.

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On 30/05/2019 at 18:04, Ricky 4000 said:

Jaco had to fashion his own fretless jazz with a pliers & some wood filler.

There are good tales around that, whether true or not. Apparently they were mid-tour and he just went out one day and got pliers and epoxy and did it. I suspect there's a bit more to it than that, maybe.

Re flats, I am actually som knocked out with the EB Cobalts on my P that I may well put them on my Jazz as well some time. My idea was keep rounds on the Jazz (D'Addario 45-100s) but the cobalts are bright enough, don't get the full 'ring' of rounds, but you lose the pronounced slide noise, and I do slide up n down quite a bit.
The EBs were recommended to me by a few here, and for anyone who still thinks flats are all low-end thump, you're in for a pleasant surprise. Not cheap but really good.

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On 28/05/2019 at 14:40, project_c said:

If anyone wants to try a set, either you or @CameronJ, drop me a PM, I have a set here which is knackered (about 2 years old so they sound pretty lifeless, and the E string got bashed on a cymbal so it has a little snag on it), I can post them to you. They're cut to fit a Precision.

Just a quick update to say that the fabulous Mr project_c was kind enough to send me the above mentioned tapewounds and I've put them onto my 1982 last-of-the-Fullertons Precision. They sound incredible - I really like flats but these just sound.... thunderous. They're rich, smooth and rounded - a proper old school thump. And i love the feel compared to regular flats - next thing will be to try them at rehearsal and see how they feel after a couple of hours playing in a hot rehearsal room.

Thank you, project_c, for letting me try these out. I really hope you didn't want them back 😀

 

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17 hours ago, Skinnyman said:

Just a quick update to say that the fabulous Mr project_c was kind enough to send me the above mentioned tapewounds and I've put them onto my 1982 last-of-the-Fullertons Precision. They sound incredible - I really like flats but these just sound.... thunderous. They're rich, smooth and rounded - a proper old school thump. And i love the feel compared to regular flats - next thing will be to try them at rehearsal and see how they feel after a couple of hours playing in a hot rehearsal room.

Thank you, project_c, for letting me try these out. I really hope you didn't want them back 😀

 

No problem, glad you’re enjoying them!

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On 28/05/2019 at 09:55, Skinnyman said:

As to the Nexus strings, they’re fantastic on a guitar and last for aaaaaages but somehow I just didn’t get on with them on a bass. You clearly like them but, as Ricky says, that’s probably more of an S&M, art-rock thing. You sophisticated metropolitan types up in the meedja city there, with your black bass strings. It’s like the Citadel out of the Hunger Games.

Hmmm...? smiley

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  • 1 month later...

Just when I decided that the jazz bass sound didnt cut it for me bandwise, ive got a ´78 jazz ´per accident´. I thought id try a set of TI flats that I had lying around. You only live once right? Id say it is really a great match! Those strings really bring out a lot of character. I still love the typical jazz bass with fresh rounds sound, but at the moment TI flats are a revelation to me. I tried fender flats on a jazz bass before too; those sounded good, but not as characterfull as the Thomastiks. 

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10 minutes ago, Ricky 4000 said:

I've gone off the Jazz bass now... it's all about a P bass with flats and a big chunk of foam shoved under the strings.

You never heard any treble (or mids) out of the great James Jamerson, did ya?

No that's right - you didn't.

You’re not wrong Ricky 👍

4C257FDC-613C-40E0-BFDE-531E760703B4.jpeg

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20 hours ago, Ricky 4000 said:

I've gone off the Jazz bass now... it's all about a P bass with flats and a big chunk of foam shoved under the strings.

You never heard any treble (or mids) out of the great James Jamerson, did ya?

No that's right - you didn't.

You didn't, but he wasn't the only great bassist who ever lived...

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13 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

You didn't, but he wasn't the only great bassist who ever lived.

That's definitely right. It's just that he was the first ever great electric bass player so he gets (and deserves) special treatment. 
By accident yesterday I found Ed Friedland playing the opening lines to 'Can't Hurry Love' on a GB demo video - utterly brilliant use of relatively few notes working so well with the vocal topline and forging a super-groove in just a few bars. Wizeardry for me. (His placing of those 4ths is actually beautiful.)

But re flats, sound etc (the OP after all) worth remembering rounds didn't even exist in Jamerson's day. And the amps/cabs available were incredibly limiting tonally. Then some foam under the strings to lose sustain - altogether not a sound we all look for these days, but what he did with it was special.

I still have D'Addario rounds on my Jazz, (EB cobalts on the P) but I'm so impressed with the EBs that I can see a switch coming on the Jazz. Call me old school but those 2 founding Fender basses are just so stupidly good, all these years later.

btw, anyone interested in the Ed Friedland Jamerson lines, they're here, 9' 05" in, near end where he cuts to a mint green P with foam under...

 

Edited by Soledad
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2 hours ago, jrixn1 said:

I don't think Jerry Jemmott's been mentioned yet, who played a jazz with flats. Jaco once described himself as "I’m doing a very bad imitation of Jerry Jemmott"
 


There are definitely elements of Jemmott's playing that Jaco drew from, particularly on those funkier lines. 

 

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