| Reviewer
| BD Warrior
|
| Experience
| 27 years
|
| Review date
| March 26 2002
|
| Manufacturer
| Fender
|
| Model
| 1965 Jazz Bass
|
| Price
| $350 in 1978
|
| Item owned for
| A very, very long time
|
| |
|
| Bass type
| 4 string fretted
|
| Neck join
| Bolt-On
|
| Neck construction
| Once piece, headstock painted to match body
|
| Fingerboard
| Rosewood, small dot markers, original frets
|
| Body
| No idea, but its pretty heavy
|
| Finish
| Original Olympic White but has yellowed with age
|
| Pickups
| Original 1965 pickups
|
| Hardware
| All original hardware except 1980 brass nut
|
| Electronics
| Passive, no repairs to the electronics
|
| |
|
This is one fantastic sounding bass. The longer I own it (and I've had
it since the late 1970s) the more I learn just how special of a bass it is.
Its a 1965 Fender Jazz Bass that I bought off a junior high school
substitute teacher who was getting ready to move to California on a
motorcycle. I paid $350 for the bass and a 50-watt Bassman amp (which I
soon parted with). The bass is 99% original, with the only change being a
new brass nut in the early 1980s (the G string kept popping out of the
original one). The finish is 100% original with no repairs. I even have the
original case although its seen better days, and both pickup covers. The
color is Olympic White and has a matching painted headstock. For a few
years I had a Dimarzio Supertrack brass bridge on it, but I've since put
the original bridge back on. I chose the Dimarzio over a BassAss since I
didn't want to drill holes in the bass.
What makes this such a good bass is its sound. I've played a lot of
basses, and the new high-end instruments sound fantastic, but I have yet to
play another bass with the "character" that this, or other similar
Fender basses have. There's something about the growl you get from this
bass.
I put this bass into semi-retirement in the late 1980s when I bought an
Ernie Ball Musicman StingRay bass (which is another great bass, but
that's another review). The Fender's neck was starting to shift a bit
in humid weather, so rather than submit it to surgery I pickup up the
MusicMan.
While the sound this bass pumps out is incredible, I would never pay the
current retail for one of these. I saw a dead-ringer for mine in a New York
City shop for $8,000 (that?s more than I've ever paid for most of my
cars!). But if I were Sting and needed something to play in the studio
..........
I've played Fender's reissue and their relic of my bass, and while
they are close in look, they don't match the tone or the feel. But maybe
after 37 years of use they will sweeten with age.
| Construction
| 90% | 
|
| (The the parts but the nut have held up)
|
| Appearance
| 95% |
|
| (After 40 years they still look the same!)
|
| Playability
| 75% |
|
| (Was once Great but now Just Good)
|
| Sound
| 100% |
|
| (Tone is King)
|
| Value
| 25% |
|
| (This was a bargin in '76, but not today)
|
| Overall
| 90% |
|
| (While Tone is King, Value is a Close 2nd)
|
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