Player Jazz bass vs Vintera 60s Jazz Bass

[Hazza2004 5]

I've got a bit of a dilemma,  I've been looking at both the Fender Player Jazz bass and also the Fender Vintera 60s Jazz bass. I'm just wondering whether people have found the Vintera to be worth the additional £250 or if I'm better going for the cheaper version?

Many thanks,

Harry

[thedontcarebear 47]

I saw an awesome deal on a 70s Fender, did you want the link?  Vintera that is.

Edited November 17, 2020 by thedontcarebear

[Hazza2004 5]

18 minutes ago, thedontcarebear said:

I saw an awesome deal on a 70s Fender, did you want the link?  Vintera that is.

Yeah that’d be great!

[thedontcarebear 47]

You should have a PM?

[Jonesy 222]

That £250 difference comes down a bit when you think that the Vintera comes with a gig bag that you'd have to fork out for if you bought a Player Series. 

I like the look of the 70s jazz because I'm a fan of block inlays, narrow frets, a gloss neck and 70s pup spacing. If those are important to you then it's probably worth the extra dosh. 

[such 19]

The pickups themselves are probably a bit nicer too, the hardware definitely is 

[geoham 187]

I have a Vintera 60s, and I'm really happy with it. The pickups sound very similar to the Custom 60s I put on my other Jazz a few years ago. I've not used a Player Series, but my other Jazz is an early 2000's Standard (i.e. - Mexican) and the pickups on that were definitely lacking to my ears.

The neck is really nice on it, I think much of the other differences relate to style -  I much prefer the tortoiseshell pickguard for example. 

There are a few annoyances on it though. For example, you need a tiny flat screwdriver to adjust the saddle height - compared to hex nuts on all my other basses. I didn''t have one quite small enough in my set up tool kit. The worst for me though, is that you need to remove the neck to adjust the truss rod. It was supplied with basically no tension in the truss rod, and drove me crazy getting is set up initially. I'd go as far to say it was unplayable before doing this, so make sure you're comfortable doing this type of work, particularly if you are ordering online and can't try before you buy. The Player series truss rod looks much more accessible, at the headstock.

Don't get me wrong, now I've set it up - it's probably my favourite bass. Looks great and sounds great. I just dread a significant change of strings requiring me to remove the neck multiple times again.

George

[Mape 3]

Vintera has smaller fretboard radius (7.25" vs 9.5" on Player) so it feels bit different to play than the more modern flatter radius. Vintera also looks to have the vintage truss rod adjustment where you need to remove the neck to adjust. For me these two are absolute no go but depends on what you prefer.

[invertigo 63]

The Player series also has modern voiced pickups vs vintage voiced pickups on the Vintera, as you might expect.

[Hazza2004 5]

Thanks for the responses, the more I’m thinking about it the vintage truss rod adjustment is a bit of a no go, maybe a 70s vintera and putting a tort guard on it?

[afterimage 98]

Try both out and see what sounds and feels best  

 

 

[DarkHeart 319]

I`ve got a 70`s Vintera, it`s nice but the previous owner buggered up the neck and snapped the truss rod, it now sports a NW Guitars replacement and dare I say it that it plays every bit as nice as the original.

[jezzaboy 671]

4 hours ago, Mape said:

Vintera has smaller fretboard radius (7.25" vs 9.5" on Player) so it feels bit different to play than the more modern flatter radius. Vintera also looks to have the vintage truss rod adjustment where you need to remove the neck to adjust. For me these two are absolute no go but depends on what you prefer.

I realise that having the truss rod adjustment at the body end keeps it "vintage correct" but in this day and age this method of adjustment should have been binned years ago. It would put me off buying a bass with this kind of set up.

[geoham 187]

11 hours ago, jezzaboy said:

I realise that having the truss rod adjustment at the body end keeps it "vintage correct" but in this day and age this method of adjustment should have been binned years ago. It would put me off buying a bass with this kind of set up.

100% agree. I like a bit of vintage styling and tone, but no need to make things difficult for users unnecessarily. It’s compounded by the fact that - in my case at least - it was shipped with no tension in it at all. I must have had the neck off six times initially. I spent much less time setting up a Harley Benton costing a fraction of the price.

[NikNik 357]

On 20/11/2020 at 15:24, Mape said:

Vintera has smaller fretboard radius (7.25" vs 9.5" on Player) so it feels bit different to play than the more modern flatter radius. Vintera also looks to have the vintage truss rod adjustment where you need to remove the neck to adjust. For me these two are absolute no go but depends on what you prefer.

For me, when it comes to TR adjustment, I absolutely detest the open-channel TR groove on cheaper Fender-style guitars/basses but equally I hate having to remove necks. Removing one from a Tele recently resulted in a chip of paint coming away from the pocket side. I can understand Fender wanting to keep the neck-heel adjustment on period-correct guitars but isn't it practical any longer. It would be great if they just leased the Gotoh side-of-neck adjusting design that is used on Warmoth necks.

[police squad 512]

I didnt have to remove the neck on my flea bass, to adjust the TR. I just took the pick guard off and there was enough room to adjust it.

Worth a look under the guard I think?

[Hazza2004 5]

Thank you everyone for your responses, I’ve had a think and the smoother, less-harsh sound and general vibe of the 60s jazz bass is more for me, and is worth the hassle of adjusting the TR

Edited November 23, 2020 by Hazza2004

[geoham 187]

10 hours ago, Hazza2004 said:

Thank you everyone for your responses, I’ve had a think and the smoother, less-harsh sound and general vibe of the 60s jazz bass is more for me, and is worth the hassle of adjusting the TR

I ended up coming to the same conclusion a few months ago. I'd have ended up putting vintage voiced pickups on it and changing for a tortoiseshell scratch plate anyway, so saved myself the bother. There's also the fact it looked rather like the bass had recently been stolen from me. And was then recovered a couple of months later.... leaving me with two blue Jazz Basses with similar sounding pickups!

It's a really nice sounding and looking bass, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

[Hazza2004 5]

37 minutes ago, geoham said:

I ended up coming to the same conclusion a few months ago. I'd have ended up putting vintage voiced pickups on it and changing for a tortoiseshell scratch plate anyway, so saved myself the bother. There's also the fact it looked rather like the bass had recently been stolen from me. And was then recovered a couple of months later.... leaving me with two blue Jazz Basses with similar sounding pickups!

It's a really nice sounding and looking bass, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Thanks, that was exactly what I was thinking