gringopig's guitars
2023 Fender Custom Shop '62 Jazz Bass
The original version of the Jazz Bass which had the concentric volume and tone controls for each pickup and was intended to appeal, along with it's guitar counterpoint the Jazzmaster, to Jazz players.
Needless to say, that didn't work to plan.
I sold my '60 Custom Shop precision Bass and Rickenbacker 4003S and was determined to just own one bass and a bass with a neck I could like too.
The Precision was too thin and wide and the Rickenbacker neck was nice and chunky but both needed to go to get this!
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I did own a Jazz Bass previously: a 1975 USA re-issue and perhaps I should have kept it. It was funky and easy to play with the narrow but deep neck. It really made it easy to get those notes down the far end. The Precision was a pain plus it didn't sound that great with the treble up. Sort of dull and clanky. I suspect that is what Precision basses sound like though and plenty of players use them exclusively so it must just be me.
The Jazz Bass was introduced in 1960 and the one I have follows that form with the super desirable stacked controls. Here's one that Andy Baxter had for sale:
The controls later went to the more familiar 2 volumes and master tone and it's easy to see why. It was much cheaper to do that control layout, plus the 2 knobs on the stacked version can turn together if the friction between them is too great. I had to unscrew the volume barrel and set it higher to avoid this on mine.
It came with the fancy plates and I will keep them on as it looks very cool and works for me.
In terms of the sound, I prefer this over the Precision Bass. With 2 single coil pickups instead of 1 humbucking pickup in the middle, you can get a funky snap and blend the 2 pickups to get a very similar sound to the Precision or a snappy bite that you can't get on that bass.
I'm glad I bought another Jazz Bass. I could have saved myself a lot by just keeping the USA '75 re-issue but the relic job on the custom shop is lovely and I do like the stacked pots!
