Hi all here's my lovely new Jazz bass . I do hope you like your knobs stacked. I do.
I always wanted an early '60s Jazz bass in Oly white. Oly white + dark rosewood is for me a killer combo and I love my Tele and Strat in in this combo. The Fender early '60s stack knob replicas are really cool but only available on expensive Custom Shop guitars, e.g. the current CS Journeyman 1960 is a great bass, but very pricey. There were some AVRI Fender 62 reissues in 1982 I think. The original stack knobs were only made for about 18 months before they changed the design.
I tried the Fender Flea bass (MIM). The Flea is essentially a '61 replica relic and I thought it was absolutely perfect for me... apart from the mechanical relic work and rather grey faded pink which some love, it's fantastic. It has a really wonderful aged neck, great Fender '64 Pure Vintage pickups and proper USA CTS Stack pots.
So I waited to find one, and I bought one used last year from a West End theatre musician locally for a very good price with hard shell case - to then customise it to my needs. To be frank, once I'd got the Flea used it for some recording and it is was so good I was in two minds about breaking it up. But I didn't like the finish much and I really wanted it to be aged Oly white!
Our very own Rexter Guitars https://rexterguitars.co.uk/ here in dear old stricken Blighty and I have worked with a few times and Jon there does lovely thin nitro finishes the way I like them to my specs. Plus he's a lovely guy to work with. (no affil). So I did a bunch of research on the early '60s stack knobs and sent him some sample Oly White pics I liked and described the way I wanted it aged. So I commissioned a replacement body from him (the original Flea I will sell)I really think he did a great job (as usual), a hit of yellowing, fine checking, light distressing... so this build is a Fender-Rexter bass. The body, and hand made made tort guard are Rexter Guitars, Fender Pure vintage cover parts, aged wood pull bar, natural bone nut cut cut are by my me. It plays and sounds great.
Link to a set of pics https://imgur.com/gallery/GFXN9FU
Comments
That’s a very nice bass though.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
That Jazz Bass is a beauty, I’ve always fancied a white jazz and that’s a very cool example.
Re the tone controls, I currently have 8 jazz basses. I think there is much more variation in the basic tone of a group of identical design basses than in the very minor difference imparted by the stack knob set up against vvt.
The stack knob set up does look cool, though.
It has to be like that or the tone controls would both act as a master tone when the volumes are up full, instead of only affecting their own pickup.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
In hindsight I would have preferred a 3 knob system for the reasons ICBM said, but the holes were drilled for a different set up and there wasn't really room to do it neatly.
and my active Sandberg TT4 Super Light
I removed the stock Black Label pickups and preamp and put in the EMGs and the BQC system.
Sounds much better than the stock pickups.
https://soundcertified.com/speaker-ohms-calculator/
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein