Aiight, Fender MIM Jazz

[vvv]

Any good?

I'm lookin' at a cuppla used ones right now ...

I have a '64 P, and a MIJ Jaco Fretless; will one of these MIM's keep up?

[mjau]

Try playing a bunch and get the best one you find - they can vary in quality control. I had one for a while and found it a little thin compared to American jazz basses, but it wasn't bad at all. Nice playable neck and held up well.

But...man!...a '64 P? I wouldn't be able to take my hands off that thing!

[vvv]

Thanx!

The '64 P is dated via the serial number and the pots, pup, etc.

It appears to have a replacement neck, and I put a Bad-Arse bridge onnit, butt yeah, I love it!

The MIJ Jaco is fretless, and sounds great.

I'm also using a 90's Alvarez with the fake EMG's that's not bad.

But I would drop that, live, if I could get a decent Jazz, and a store near me has a couple, altho' on one some idiot "repaired" the stripped strap buttons by building up super-glue ...

Butt there's another I'm gonna go back and try after they replace the nut and set it up; I figure they'll ask US$350-400 onnit, depending on how nice it actually is.

[KennyLusk]

It's too bad IMO the prices have gone up so much (seemingly overnight) on the entire fender line (incl. MIM's). The price was acceptable for the MIM line and "pushing it" for the USA models IMO, but now...I may never buy another [new] fender.

[RefD]

i have a MIM Jazz i bought in '92.

quality control doesn't really exist for MIM Fenders, so try before you buy.

IIRC, i had to try out more than fire of them before i found one with a neck that wasn't utter crap.

[jgimbel]

quality control doesn't really exist for MIM Fenders, so try before you buy.

Couldn't be more true. I've actually kind of lucked out, and I have a few MIM Fenders (and Squiers even!) that play BEAUTIFULLY. One of them was pure luck, I saw how cheap the Butterscotch Blonde Affinity Tele was online, had some extra cash at the time, and when it came I was amazed. I love that guitar.

Anyway, I've got a Fender MIM Deluxe Active Jazz bass. I had just sold the crappy bass I had been using and went to the store expecting to get an American Jazz. They didn't have the widest selection where I went, but on that day I tried a few Americans and they were nice but I didn't gel with any of them. I thought I'd try a MIM just to see how it stacked up, and the first one I played felt amazing. I've never felt a bass neck that I like as much as the one I have now. Makes me want to go play it now, I can't say enough good about it, but it really just takes playing a few. A friend of mine had a MIM P-bass a few years back that was the worst bass I've ever played (significantly worse than the $200 Ibanez Soundgear bass I bought when I was a teenager).

Try as many as you can, maybe you'll find a gem too.

[kdarr]

Just like everyone else said, try before you buy. Some Mexican Fenders are butter, some are just total dogs.

I worked in music retail for 6 years, and in my experience, it's about 1 in 10 MIM basses that just kick ass right out of the box. Maybe another 2 or 3 out of the 10 are firewood, with the rest being totally serviceable instruments.

If you find one with a good straight neck, decent fretwork and a little sustain, you're all set. You take one of those, put some new pups in it, (the stock MIM pickups are a little twanky & gutless IMHO) possibly some new hardware, and you've got a pretty serious machine.

I have a Frankensteined Jazz bass with an MIM body, an old Japanese Foto-Flame neck (I bought it off a crackhead for $30), and 60's reissue Fender Custom Shop pickups & bridge. It beats the tits off of most of the American Jazzes I've played. The whole thing only cost me like five bills, and I still have a leftover MIM neck to make another bass.

[<|>]

[bipedal]

I've got a MIM Jazz, '97-'98ish. Has been a great instrument, no frills but rock solid. Maybe I got lucky?

I replaced original p/us with Ultra Jazz (Dimarzio?) and splurged on a BadAss bridge; both helped add some "oomph" to the sound. Aside from those tweaks, the beast has been relatively maintenance free -- a little twist of the truss rod a few times a year...

[The Real MC]

I got lucky with my '04 MIM Jazz, it is a very resonant bass with great tone and a fast smooth feeling neck. It's currently my favorite. I put in Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pups and a Gotoh bridge which improved the sound big time.

You gotta try a few to find a good one, but they're way better than the MIJ.

For the money, it's a good deal.

[rty5150]

both of my fender basses are mexican. both are p basses with p/j with duncan quarter pounders and 500k pots. i love both of them, but since they have different body woods, sound different from each other. they are great playing and sounding basses, but i will agree that every MIM fender is a crapshoot. i can setup a guitar great, but the QC on the mexican necks are inconsistent. some are fantastic, and others are meh. all of the standad pickups suck, so i never look at their oem tone, pickup swaps are inevitable for my axes. if they play good and feel solid, then they become part of the borg.

rich

[vvv]

So I went to Banjo Mart the other day and tried out basses; they wanted US$1,100+ for Americans, and $600 on the MIM.

So I found one that I talked the guy down to US$400 on; black body, white pickguard, looks like my Jaco but with frets.

Sounded good, played well, but the frets hung over the fingerboard to the point of annoying. Sales dude said the store humidity was 30% alla time, and it "should" swell out at home.

He also said that they weren't authorized to dress the frets or do setups. WTF?

I declined that one, so I'm still looking.


And not at Banjo Mart: I went to buy a Dean Markley pedal tuner with a check, and they check-security service declined my check, even though there was a cuppla grand in the account for over a week before.

Again, WTF?

[RefD]

not authorised to dress the frets or do set-ups?

what a load of crap.

FWIW, tho, most GCs farm out instrument work to the cheapest local repair shop.

[KennyLusk]

I you like the bass and the neck feels good to you just buy a file from stewmac.com and dress the frets yourself. It's easy enough to do. I hate the price jump but for $400 it's hard to find a "better" bass and the MIM's are a good place to start as far as having an instrument you can upgrade and mod. It's easy enough to upgrade pots, wiring, pickups (eventually) and neck eventually if you find the neck too slim or too narrow. With basses it never hurts to upgrade to a more solid bridge and that's easy enough to do yourself also. IMO the bodies are good and the finish is really decent.

[vvv]

Yeah, ain't that weird?

This particular GC, inna south 'burbs of Chi, has been open about a year, mebbe two.

I mean, I woulda bought the thing, the sales dude (who hadda climb a ladder to get it down off the wall) would made a buck, the tech guy ...

I mean, I woulda paid going rate for a set-up and fret dress, and probably bought a Bad Arse and had that installed at the same time.

Instead, no one made any money, and I got the pleasure of semi-embaressment when they declined my check.

To finish that story, I had just checked my balance by cell phone a few minutes b/4, and the guy knew it; I did it b/4 I said I would consider buying the thing for $400. So the security-check phone thang gives him a code number and says they request I call so that they can explain "the problem." I told him - and I feel kinda bad becauz ya might have noticed I called him "sales dude" and not "sales weasel" as so man GC clowns are - I told him to please send it to the security company and tell 'em to shove it up their arse, but only after thanking them for saving me money.

Then I went down the street and bought the new Dylan and the Bon Iver CD at Bitch Buy for US$10 and $8, respectively.