Fender Jazz Bass
| Fender Jazz Bass | |
|---|---|
 Fender Jazz Bass, color: Olympic White , manufactured in 1966 |
|
| General | |
| Type | Electric bass |
| Manufacturer | Fender ; USA ( Japan , Mexico ) |
| production | since 1960 |
| Construction and materials | |
| Scale length | 34 in. (864 mm), long scale |
| Body | Solid body made of alder or ash |
| neck | Screwed maple neck |
| Fingerboard | Maple or Rosewood , 20 frets |
| saddle | Synthetic bone , width: 38.1 mm |
| Mechanics | 4 × left, open |
| Footbridge / bridge | Fixed, one-piece metal bridge with individual saddles |
| Pickups and Electronics | |
| Pickups |
2 × single coil |
| Tone control | passive
|
| Unless otherwise stated, the data comes from the manufacturer's website (as of December 15, 2013) | |
The Jazz Bass , also known as the J-Bass for short , is an electric bass model from the US instrument manufacturer Fender Musical Instruments Corporation . The model was first introduced in 1960 and represented a further developed alternative to the Fender Precision Bass model, which was about ten years older . The Jazz Bass is one of the most popular electric bass models.
General
The Jazz Bass differs from the Precision Bass mainly in the electrical equipment, with a narrower neck and the more asymmetrical shape of the body . The use of two single-coil, essentially identical pickups ( single coils ) is striking . The position of the pickups is chosen so that the respective weighting of lows and mids differs greatly from one another. They can be operated together and their volume can be set independently. The phases of the generated electrical signals are also different. By mixing the signals of both pickups, different sound colorations can be set on the instrument. Similar effects can partly also be represented by the way of playing. Characteristic, but not to be recreated manually, is the roughly equally loud mix of the pickups, which leads to lowered mids due to phase cancellation. That and a pronounced comb filter effect should be responsible for the growl in the sound of this model.
In contrast to the Precision Bass, the individual pickups are not hum-suppressing. However, this property can be restored through the equally weighted interconnection using the volume control, although the suppression in the higher frequency range lags behind that of the Precision Bass' split-coil pickup.
The Jazz Bass was sold more frequently than its predecessor, the Precision Bass. Like the latter, the jazz bass is widely varied and copied to this day. Partly rather simple, price-optimized, partly as modernizations also from Fender itself with active electronics to costly one-off productions by independent manufacturers . The use of two or more pickups in a bass guitar so that a special sound can be set on the instrument is common today.
Further developments by Leo Fender after the Jazz Bass in the electric bass sector were the Fender V model in the 1960s (a five-string jazz bass guitar, but with a single split-coil pickup similar to the Fender Precision Bass ) , the Fender Bass VI (which is counted among the baritone guitars ), from 1976 the Music Man StingRay model , and from 1980 further electric guitars and electric basses at the musical instrument manufacturer G&L, which was co-founded by L. Fender .
construction
In its classic form (1960 to approx. 1970), the Jazz Bass has a body made of alder wood with a screwed-on neck made of maple wood . Ash wood was also occasionally used for the body. The fretboard of rosewood with twenty frets provided. The scale length is 864 mm (34 inches ).
For the first models from 1960 to 1962, two concentric double-deck potentiometers (stacked knob pots) were characteristic, with which volume and treble could be regulated individually for each pickup. After 1962 the usual configuration with two volume controls and one tone control for both pickups was used. In the first few years, rubber string dampers were mounted under the bridge cover to produce a double bass-like sound.
The bridge itself is a simple construction made of a sheet metal bracket screwed onto the body, to which four steel saddles are attached, adjustable in height (string position) and depth (octave purity). The saddle of the model was traditionally made of bone , now synthetic bone material is used.
The body of the classic models has a nitro paint - typically in black, white or in a three-stage color gradient (from black to red to clear paint, known as 3-tone sunburst ) - combined with a reddish-brown pickguard in tortoiseshell look (Tortoise Pickguard) . Other colors - blue or pink metallic - were more marginal. The nitro lacquer has the property of becoming dull and brittle over the years, which explains the worn-out charm of old fender instruments from the 1960s.
Around 1970 the typical "70s jazz basses" appeared first. One began to change the design of the jazz bass slightly and adapt it to the zeitgeist. First and foremost, was fretboard now with a skirt (Binding) and large block inlays ( inlay ) provided. For the first time, fretboards made of maple wood appeared, where the fret markings were either black or made of light mother-of-pearl (like the rosewood fingerboards).
The neck was provided with a new three-point "Micro-Tilt" screw connection, with which the neck angle could be adjusted without having to remove the entire neck, as with the previously common four-point screw connection. Further features were the access to the neck tension rod ("bullet truss rod ") now on the headstock and the displaced thumb rest (above the strings instead of below). For the body, it was preferred to use ash wood, which was often presented in a transparent "natural" finish. The "old-fashioned" tortoise pickguards gave way to white or black. Although the quality of the instruments declined in the 1970s (Leo Fender had sold his company to the CBS concern in 1965 ), the look and sound of the "70s jazz bass" (the maple / ash instead of rosewood / alder -Combination made the jazz bass wirier and more present in sound) are in great demand today.
In the 1980s, company policy changed - CBS appointed a new management team. The product lines were modernized and many model lines were new or reintroduced ( vintage reissues of the 60s and 70s jazz basses, deluxe models with active electronics, five-string). To this day, this variety of options has remained the same.
Formative Fender jazz bass players
Many influential bassists have played a Fender Jazz Bass in their careers; some of them got one or (in exceptional cases) several special models from Fender. However, only a few bass players had any influence on the further development of the electric bass model through the modifications that they made or had made to their jazz bass - individual changes that were fully or partially adopted by Fender - or through direct cooperation with Fender. These bassists count
- Jaco Pastorius (USA, 1951-1987). He became known to a wider audience in the 1970s as the bassist for the fusion band Weather Report . He removed the frets from the rosewood fingerboard of his 1962 jazz bass in order to be able to better apply his virtuoso playing techniques on the fretless bass. He also removed the pickguard, which further added to the characteristic appearance of his bass. Pastorius, who is considered one of the world's most influential electric bassists, named his Fender Jazz Bass Bass of Doom . After Pastorius' death, Fender released several jazz bass models that are said to be modeled on the musician's instrument. An example of this is the Jaco Pastorius Signature J-Bass, released in 1999 , which was available with and without frets.
- Marcus Miller (USA, * 1959), best known in the 1980s for his collaboration with jazz and fusion trumpeter and composer Miles Davis . Miller had the electronics of his Fender Jazz Bass modified in order to have more options for adjusting the sound for his virtuoso slap technique. Based on this modified instrument, Fender developed a signature model for the musician in the 1990s , the Marcus Miller Jazz Bass .
- Stuart Hamm (USA, * 1960). In 1993 Fender developed a heavily modified jazz bass special model with the name Urge together with the bass player . The model has 24 frets, a 32-inch short-scale sensor, an additional split-coil pickup and active electronics. In 1999, the Urge II was a long-scale version of the model.
literature
- Paul Balmer: Fender Bass - Myth & Technology . PPVMedien, Bergkirchen 2016, ISBN 978-3-95512-132-7 .
- Peter Bertges: The Fender Reference . Bomots, Saarbrücken 2007, ISBN 978-3-939316-38-1 .
- Richard R. Smith: Fender - A sound makes history . Nikol Verlagsgesellschaft, Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-937872-18-3 , p. 203 f.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Jim Roberts: American Basses - an illustrated history and player's guide . Backbeat Books, San Francisco 2003. ISBN 0-87930-721-8 , p. 62 (English).
- ↑ Jim Roberts: American Basses - an illustrated history and player's guide . Backbeat Books, San Francisco 2003. ISBN 0-87930-721-8 , p. 60 (English)