Farida Jazz Bass

[bigthumb]

A few weeks ago I bid on and won this handsome Farida Jazz bass off ebay for a princely sum of £128. I have played on one in the past and thought what a nice bass it was but being more of a Pbass player I've never really looked out for one.

But I spotted this for collection reasonably local so had a punt on it and being the only bidder, won! After putting much needed new strings on and setting it up is plays fantastic. The neck is so comfortable, the finish is excellent as so is the whole build quality. Now I know exactly nothing about these basses. Where they're built, body woods etc. and how good the pickups/electronics are (although it sounds pretty good to me). I did replace the BBOT for the Gotoh bridge just because I had one knocking around. The only 'downside' is that I can't get the action as low as I'd like. As the base plate of the new bridge is thicker it's resulted in the action being slightly higher. The E string saddle is as low as it'll go. But aside from that it's still very playable and if it bothered me that much I'd simply put the old bridge back on. So if anybody else has one and replaced pickups/electronics or made any other mods I'd be interested to hear what you've done. 

Overall I'm pretty chuffed with my purchase. 

 

[AndyTravis]

Well...

I know a fair bit about these. You have an FJB-6 there...

They’re lovely for the money.

I had a white one with Duncan 1/4lb pickups in it and it responded well.

These two are prototypes for a “deluxe” version which never made it to the shops. And they’ve been mine since 2010.

I specified them and when we costed it all up they were deemed “too expensive” by the powers that be...

These have Seymour Duncan Classic Stack pickups in, and a volume and tone per pickup.

Ash bodies, maple tops, ebony boards.

there we go.

Machineheads are prone to rattling.

but other than that - a really decent bass.

[hooky_lowdown]

You need to put a shim under the neck to compensate for a thicker bridge, then you'll be able to get a little lower action.

I think you paid the high end for this bass, shops were selling them off for £150 brand new. Nonetheless, these are nice basses, if a little heavy in weight for my liking. 👍

A niggle I have with these are the ill fitting pickguard to the control plate. 🙈

[AndyTravis]

20 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said:

You need to put a shim under the neck to compensate for a thicker bridge, then you'll be able to get a little lower action.

I think you paid the high end for this bass, shops were selling them off for £150 brand new. Nonetheless, these are nice basses, if a little heavy in weight for my liking. 👍

A niggle I have with these are the ill fitting pickguard to the control plate. 🙈

They fluctuated between £249 and £150, depending on stock levels. £130-£150 isn’t bad for a decent bass...

[hooky_lowdown]

2 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

They fluctuated between £249 and £150, depending on stock levels. £130-£150 isn’t bad for a decent bass...

I'm not sure why you quoted me, is there anything I said which is wrong or inaccurate?

[AndyTravis]

24 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said:

I'm not sure why you quoted me, is there anything I said which is wrong or inaccurate?

In all honesty, I was just adding a further comment as an insight as to what these were in the shops - not just flogged out at £150.

I sold them for about 8 years as I worked for the distributor, so thought it might’ve clarified what they cost new - there isn’t a huge amount of information out there about them.

OP asked for information, there it is.

I felt my comment was half in response to yourself and half aimed to the OP so he didn’t feel too bad about having paid the “high end” of the price range (bit of an odd comment in itself - he paid what he wanted to pay, otherwise he wouldn’t have put a bid on).

Apologies if my quotation riled you somehow.

🤷🏻‍♂️

 

 

[bigthumb]

37 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said:

You need to put a shim under the neck to compensate for a thicker bridge, then you'll be able to get a little lower action.

I think you paid the high end for this bass, shops were selling them off for £150 brand new. Nonetheless, these are nice basses, if a little heavy in weight for my liking. 👍

A niggle I have with these are the ill fitting pickguard to the control plate. 🙈

I just might try the shim but its no big deal. The action is only slightly higher than I'd prefer. Yes, its not a lightweight but owning a 77 Precision, well its not quite in that league!

[mikeycrikey]

I have a Farida JB20 which i think was the next model up from yours. Its still stock pickups, wiring and everything else. Sounds fantasic, done a few gigs with it and sounds great live. 

Have to agree it is on the heavy side though but a good wide strap makes it manageable for gigs and rehersals

[hooky_lowdown]

44 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

In all honesty, I was just adding a further comment as an insight as to what these were in the shops - not just flogged out at £150.

I sold them for about 8 years as I worked for the distributor, so thought it might’ve clarified what they cost new - there isn’t a huge amount of information out there about them.

OP asked for information, there it is.

I felt my comment was half in response to yourself and half aimed to the OP so he didn’t feel too bad about having paid the “high end” of the price range (bit of an odd comment in itself - he paid what he wanted to pay, otherwise he wouldn’t have put a bid on).

Apologies if my quotation riled you somehow.

🤷🏻‍♂️

 

 

Not riled, just trying to ascertain if I had said anything wrong, as I've seen posts by you in other threads, so knew you sold these. 😁

As for "high end" I've seen a few sold on fleabay in the past six months or so for under £100. So the "bit of an odd comment in itself" I do take umbrage to!

 

[AndyTravis]

Ah well @hooky_lowdown I found it an odd comment, if you didn’t then fair enough.

Not getting shirty over it.

£130 for one of these is decent as with a bit of modding, a gotoh (with shim as was rightly suggested) and some uprated pickups and maybe even pots - it’ll be a great bass.

As a point @bigthumb these are the same bass as the classic vibe jazz, the Farida factory made for squier (classic vibe) and Fender (modern player) as well as others - that’s why the lower horn isn’t jazz shaped - they got told off by fender.

Get some nice Duncan pickups or even fender reissue ones. And you’re laughing.

[ped]

Nice! You can always file down the string saddle with some abrasive cord. Works really well. File it down past where you’d like it to be then raise the saddle to suit. 

[AndyTravis]

Just now, ped said:

Nice! You can always file down the string saddle with some abrasive cord. Works really well. File it down past where you’d like it to be then raise the saddle to suit. 

Shim is less permanent if you want to use the bridge elsewhere though...

[ped]

Just now, AndyTravis said:

Shim is less permanent if you want to use the bridge elsewhere though...

Yeah but somehow feels a bit of a bodge imo.

[AndyTravis]

3 minutes ago, ped said:

Yeah but somehow feels a bit of a bodge imo.

And filing a nice bit of metal isn’t? 😂😉

[ped]

Just now, AndyTravis said:

And filing a nice bit of metal isn’t? 😂😉

Not really, it’s what they do in the factory. Personally think a bolt on neck should be in full contact with the body if possible. Bridges aren’t expensive and the mod would be invisible. But you do you. 

[bigthumb]

The saddles on the original bridge are smaller so swopping them should lower the action. The Gotoh saddles are quite fat compared to the original ones. Worth a try maybe?

[AndyTravis]

6 minutes ago, ped said:

Not really, it’s what they do in the factory. Personally think a bolt on neck should be in full contact with the body if possible. Bridges aren’t expensive and the mod would be invisible. But you do you. 

I’ve worked on 1000’s of basses, a well fitted shim made of an appropriate material (I seem to have Some slivers of rosewood currently) Will do a grand job.

I can’t recall if the gotoh 201’s are plated cast metal or machined (tempted to say the plated/cast) which would just look a bit pants.

Either way, OP says it’s not that big of a deal...

I wouldn’t swap saddles over between bridges as I’d say the gotoh is a big upgrade to stock item.

[DoubleOhStephan]

+1 for a shim. 

I read somewhere to use a business card cut to size (about an inch x width of neck). 

Did it to my P, worked a treat 👍🏻

Edited March 27, 2020 by DoubleOhStephan

[DoubleOhStephan]

here's what fender actually say - 

SHIMMING/MICRO-TILT™ ADJUSTMENT

Shimming is a procedure used to adjust the pitch of the neck in relation to the body. A shim is placed in the neck pocket, underneath the butt end of the neck. On many American series guitars, a Micro-Tilt adjustment is offered. It replaces the need for a shim by using a hex screw against a plate installed in the butt end of the neck. The need to adjust the pitch (raising the butt end of the neck in the pocket, thereby pitching the neck back) of the neck occurs in situations where the string height is high and the action adjustment is as low as the adjustment will allow.

To properly shim a neck, the neck must be removed from the neck pocket of the body. A shim approximately 1/4" (6.4 mm) wide by 1 3/4" (44.5 mm) long by .010" (0.25 mm) thick will allow you to raise the action approximately 1/32" (0.8 mm). For guitars with the Micro-Tilt adjustment, loosen the two neck screws on both sides of the adjustment access hole on the neckplate by at least four full turns. Tightening the hex adjustment screw with an 1/8" hex wrench approximately 1/4 turn will allow you to raise the action approximately 1/32". Retighten the neck screws when the adjustment is complete. The pitch of the neck on your guitar has been preset at the factory and in most cases will not need to be adjusted.

Note: If you feel that this adjustment needs to be made and you're not comfortable doing it yourself, take your guitar to your local Fender Authorized Dealer.

Edited March 27, 2020 by DoubleOhStephan