New Bass Day sort of - Jazz Bass Restoration

[attackbass]

Over Christmas I decided I had had enough with my Fender Jazz USA 75 Reissue and the fact that although playable I wasn't happy with the neck. 

The neck would not lie as flat as I would like ( I like 0 relief) and I had completely played through the frets. The bass was my main touring and recording bass for a decade and had travelled all over the world with me and had all the battle scars that went along with that!

So I decided the neck was coming off and was going to be replaced with a new neck and also the thick clear poly finish was going to be stripped for a refinish ( which turned out would be necessary anyway!)

 Deciding that I wouldn't try to recreate the bass but instead create something new and different, I imported a Fender Mexican Roasted Vintera 60s from Germany in the early days of brexit and bought some Hipshot HB3 tuners and I dropped the bass off at my tech!

The 3 bolt micro tilt neck system had to replaced and converted to a 4 bolt which meant the holes had to be plugged with quartersawn ash which were grain matched, as the 4 bolt plate didn't cover the holes. This is where the refinish became necessary as to sand the plugs down mean sanding the finish to get them flat with the body.

So after a bit of discussion and Google image search I opted for a thin Inca Silver Nitro over White and a nee parchment 70s pickuard. We also decides to get some new saddles for the Badass bass bridge 2 to try and get the strings more centered over the pole pieces.

Ater weeks of waiting and various photo updates I went to pick up the bass and spent a couple of hours with my tech to set it up and sort out the bridge saddles.

I know that to some this may be sacrilege and that I should've kept the instrument as it was because the dents all bring back memories but I have instruments to play and I have far better memories of touring the world than smashing a bass around! 

I absolutely love what it has become. The roasted neck is amazing, the back of the neck is satin whilst the fingerboard and headstock face is poly and is definitely a better profile and overall neck than the US neck. The action is amazing and the bass seems to be even more resonant and clear in tone. The refinish is beautiful and with the black knobs and chrome hardware and parchment pickuards has an almost old sports car vibe. The finish will also naturally wear with age as it's nitro so I'm looking forward to that process happening over time! 

 My tech also now believes that the old neck is actually probably fine but just the frets are completely shot in it... Despite that still happy I chose to do what I did!! 

 

And here's a photo of the finished bass 

 

 

 

 

[Munurmunuh]

Speaking purely from the shallow perspective of looks......that's now very tasty! 😛

[OmeDunk]

Very nice!

[LukeFRC]

11 hours ago, attackbass said:

 My tech also now believes that the old neck is actually probably fine but just the frets are completely shot in it... Despite that still happy I chose to do what I did!! 

and therein starts your next bass... 

 

nice flamingo too

[funkle]

The roasted maple Fender necks are really nice. I have one on a project bass and it feels and sounds fabulous. Nice job!

[grayn]

Looks really good.  Nice job.