Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Sorry about that Peter. I knew this thread should have been here, but I didn't start it.

Here ya go Bob.
Just found it on Ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7413502873&fromMakeTrack=true

Stupid thing to do with an original 62, but dam it looks pretty freekin cool!!!

My Jazz is super comfy to play, and sounds like , well, an old F****r, but I much prefer the sound of my V63's. If I could part with it, I'd love to get an old Ricky!

You could also build your own, as Jeff Rath does. Customized to your own specs & finish at a fraction of the cost of the name brand version.

Peter, thanks. sorry I got the thread started in the wrong room.

"You could also build your own, as Jeff Rath does. Customized to your own specs & finish at a fraction of the cost of the name brand version."
I took a guitar building course in the late 80's and built myself a JB with a really thin neck to suit my delicate guitar player hands. It has suffered from years of neglect, but it still plays pretty well.

I have had three Jazz Basses over the years, the first a '68-70 (not sure) that I got in '72, which I traded for my '67 4005WB in '73; a '72 that I put a hi-gain in the neck position (a friend has that bass currently); the last was a '03 AV '62 stack knob that I sold to help finance my 4001V63. They were all great in their own way. I also had a couple of '72 Tele Basses, one of which I had put that very same hi-gain in the bridge position!, and currently I have a '97 California P-Bass Special.

I had an early 70's Tele bass at one time also, didn't like the humbucker in it, the older Teles sounded a lot better, saw a nice 68 the other day at GC, wanted 3299.00 for it. I also had a 68 P bass with a 66 J neck for years, those A necks are the nicest necks I've ever played. I had several new American Deluxe J basses and one American Deluxe P bass several years ago that I was not happy with, I'll never get another active bass again.

I have a few Jazz Basses.One is a '76 that I replaced the pups in using Fender Custom Shops.
Wow! is all I can say about the hot tone but I dont like the neck now that I play the '74 Ric.Anotherone is
a 2002 MIM body with a '78 fretless neck and '67 customshops that I still have to finish shielding;
love that neck though.Sometimes you can find a Jazz Bass Special like I did that is sweet also.
My 86 JBS is a defret job with DiMarzios and a B/A
2 bridge,light and very clean sounding.Once that Ric bit my soul I really havent played them too often but they are still nice to have around.I like them but like any bass it takes some time to decide what set up you like.I think I have flats on the '76 and tapewounds on both the others and rotos on my older frankenbass (Aria&StewMac).

I'm new to the world of Fender.
Very strange but for years, I just REFUSED to "run with the pack". I just didn't see what the big deal was.

With the help of THIS forum, I decided to give one a try but I didn't want to spend a whole lot of money on my "experiment".

I purchased a MIM FRETLESS Jazz. On first inspection, I wasn't too impressed. To be fair, it had some issues. The bridge was junk, the action was SO HIGH, it was unplayable, and when I replaced the strings, the NUT fell out in TWO PIECES! Also, it had some horrible cold solder joints from the previous owner. Hey, I'm getting better at this stuff!

But, I LOVED THE NECK. Nice and thin. So I figured, what the hell. I ordered a new BADASS ll bridge, a brass nut, and a new pick guard. It had BASSLINE pickups already installed. Now, I'm lovin this thing. The sustain is FANTASTIC, I had a set of KEN SMITH taper wound strings sitting around the house so I put them on.

I'm really happy with the bass. It's quickly moved up to my back up bass. I take it everywhere and I'm having a lot of fun with it! It has a dead spot on the "A" string up around the 15th fret. I've been told messing with the truss rod should clear that up. I haven't tried that yet.

I would buy another FENDER but I think I too would go with a Japanese RI 62. My luthier told me that the MIM and the Japanese versions are just as good if not better than the NEW USA Fenders today for a LOT LESS $$$$$.

Bob, in all probability you wouldn't have noticed the inlays were painted on if I hadn't mentioned it. It's not that noticeable. I'm not sure whether early 70's maple-board Jazzes (like Geddy's) had them inlaid or painted. You can't paint MOP on rosewood boards, but those are black blocks, so it doesn't really matter, does it?

Here's an eBay search of J's located in Japan, prices in £'s for your convenience. In some auctions int'l shipping is free (like this one), others will charge approx. £50 from Japan to Europe. And they have in Japan features and color combinations not available in the US (like this one). Check it often, they have nice basses there, most of them mint or near mint.

If you like Rickenbacker quality and want something in a Fender bass, check out the Mike Lull line of basses. I have two of them and they are way ahead of many of the Fenders I've played, and I've owned the following in my past:

American Standard Jazz Bass
50th Anniversary Precision Bass (still have)
'62 AV Jazz Bass (still have)
'75 RI Jazz Bass (US model)
Geddy Lee Signature Bass

And I've had the chance to play several others, including a '57 AV P-Bass, Sting Signature P-Bass and a Custom Shop '64 RI J-Bass. The Lulls have much better fit and finish and use better hardware, like Hipshot bridges and tuners. They're not cheap and are hard to find, but I think they're worth it.

Check them out at http://www.mikelull.com

Allow me to jump in in favor of the Lakland Joe Osborn model and also Ken Smith Designs two new J models, one a '60s version, one a '70s version. Street price on the KSDs is about $800. The Lakland Skyline JO is slightly more, depending on where you buy it. USA JO is about $2500. I think both these are better than Fenders.

If I can't get my 4003's issues sorted out I'm going back to my Jazz; it sounds more Rick-like than my Rick at this point.

Fenders are great instruments; the semi-incessant Fender bashing here amuses me to be honest. My Jazz is the best player in my stable right now, and I own a '77 4001, the '85-'05 4003, a 20 year old Yamaha 5 banger and a Martin B-1. It's tone is much more consistent string to string and fret to fret than the 4003.

I WANT to get the 4003 on it's feet, but it's not making things easy for me or it.

My wife got me the white Fender Jazz for Christmas, and I just got the sunburst SX Jazz about a month ago, both are very nice and a different tone to the Rics.