The Legendary Fender Jazz Bass
Since 1960, the Fender Jazz Bass has been a favorite instrument of four string pluckers from many genres such as Metal, Blues, Funk and Jazz. The brighter tone of the vintage Fender jazz bass helped bass players cut through the mix of the band a lot better. This was especially important for smaller groups such as 3 piece bands where the bass guitar is a much more useful instrument other than just for overtones.
The Fender jazz bass pickups were quite an innovation of their time. They consist of two single coil pickups with two pole pieces per string, which gave a lot more output and treble articulation than single pole pieces. This added brightness is what gave the jazz bass the ability to step forward into the overall sound of a band.
The body wood of the Fender jazz bass American version has always been alder or ash with a maple bolt-on neck. These combos of wood have always been a signature of Leo Fender’s guitars and their tones are unmistakable as Fenders whenever you hear them. Alder is a bright sounding wood and is lighter than maple, which makes it ideal for a bass guitar, which is quite a bit larger and heavier than a regular guitar. The fingerboard started to get a binding in the 1970’s at which time rosewood and ebony became available. The maple fretboard is still my favorite for the Fender jazz bass guitar, keeping in tradition with its bright maple and alder construction.
During a period from the late 80s to early 90s, the American standard jazz bass received a bit of a body makeover. The overall body footprint was made a little larger and the neck pocket was changed slightly. The tone of the guitar changed, and in my opinion not for the better. This was definitely a model that I was not a fan of and I was happy to stick with my original vintage model. This is not to say that many other musicians didn’t like this change, it just didn’t suit my choice of tone and looks.
One of my favorite features of the jazz bass is the off-symmetrical design unlike the precision bass. For sit-down playing in a studio the design fits perfectly in one’s lap and the smooth transitions make it one of the most comfortable bass guitars to play. Fender really knew what they were doing when they designed this guitar and it legacy has shown that.
I have owned a precision as well as the Fender jazz bass and the latter has always been more suited to my style of music, as I like it to cut through with the guitar in the band. Guitar instruments come and go but this piece of musical perfection will always be in my rack along with my other favorites.
