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Not a P bass if it has a J neck?


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10 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

This is not an attempt at further advertising my sale, but I put my Limelight on FB Marketplace this evening and it received these comments regarding the fact that it's a P bass with a J neck.

Person #1 - "That's surely the wrong way around. Jazz body with a precision neck imho  It's the neck that gives the thunder on a precision...."

Person #2 - "I don't think a slightly wider nut width and string spacing "gives it thunder."

Person #3 - "no it doesn't but a proper fat P bass neck has a lot more timber than a slim jazz neck. That extra timber does make a lot of difference. Far more than high mass bridges etc."

Person #2 - "Well, let's face it, the totally different pickup configuration makes a bigger difference still."

Person #3 - "well ok sure, but pick up a P bass & play without plugging it into anything, still sounds like a P bass, do the same with a jazz, still sounds like a jazz. I do it all the time. I have 2 of each."

It struck me as a bit of an odd thing to say. What say you Basschat?

 

Sounds like a lot of BS. Ignore and move on, don't engage, they'll trap you.

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This is an example of the "fat neck equals fat tone" theory that rears its head from time to time. I am really not qualified to either confirm or dismiss this theory, but I can say unequivocally that a Jazz Bass style neck on a P Bass does not necessarily equate to a thin tone. I've got a couple of P Basses with Jazz neck dimensions and they both sound very fat indeed. How "fat" do you need it to sound anyway? A bass either sounds good or it doesn't.

A super skinny neck may well impart a different sound, but I'm talking Fender Geddy Lee skinny rather than a more typical Jazz Bass profile.

Anyhow, I am not so sure that,if you analyse it, a Fender Precision Bass is a particularly fat or  "thunderous" sounding bass anyway. It's emphasis is on the low mids more than a super deep low end. It's got a woody complexity to the tone that is very appealing to the ear, and so suitable for so many styles of music. 

Conversely, if a P Bass sounds wrong with a Jazz neck then does a Jazz Bass with a fat neck sound wrong also? 

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I have an American Special Precision which has a sort of "halfway between jazz and precision neck" as standard.  It does indeed sound different from my Squier 70s CV,  The American has a slim C neck with a 41,3 nut width as opposed to the CV standard C with 42.8mm.  They do sound different, but I suspect it's more to do with the pickups, and the bridge on the CV.

Funnily enough the nut width is the same as a current US Performer, but I think it was considerably narrower than most Precisions I tried before I bought it - or maybe it was the slim profile making it feel narrower?

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11 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

That’s interesting, I like those, are they shallow from front to back too 

Yes, wider than a Jazz but not bulky.  No longer made though so if you're looking for one it'll have to be 2nd hand and they weren't that common.

Edited by Nicko
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ITS.ALL.IN.THE.PICKUPS.AND.STRINGS.AND.THE.WAY.ITS.PLAYED.

Any "difference" is so minimal its barely defineable. And impossible to detect in a mix. I hate the sound of the EMG P/J's on my Spector CK4 when Im just playing it solo through an amp. But then I drop it into a recording and it sounds epic. Jazz necks are a matter of prefference for playability - me, I just dont get on with them - my ideal is one of the early 70's 40mm nut A style necks on a P bass.

 

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In my opinion if there is one factor that decides if a bass is a p or a j its the bodyshape, that seems to be the way it works for most manufacturers,  eg. Warwick make corvettes or streamers  with different pickup configurations.

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1 hour ago, Tdw said:

In my opinion if there is one factor that decides if a bass is a p or a j its the bodyshape, that seems to be the way it works for most manufacturers,  eg. Warwick make corvettes or streamers  with different pickup configurations.

Exactly as per my previous post. When Roger Glover put Jazz pickups in his Rickenbacker, it was still a Rickenbacker.

At the end of the day it's whatever you want it to be and if I want to play a Jazzenbacker then so be it. :crazy:

 

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3 minutes ago, StickyDBRmf said:

Guys you missed it. The neck is affected by the tonewood it's built out of.

Seasoned woods you would use for necks are much of a muchness for modulus of elasticity ( stiffness relative to section ).

That leaves the length of the neck and its profile to define stiffness. Length is fixed leaving width and thickness.

Funny thing is I expect a thicker wider neck to be more resistant to damping thanks to its greater stiffness.

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