Belka

Of course, there have been some instances where fakes are just that - you had the case of Music Ground/the Harrisons, while their fake Fenders were; as I put it, cut and shuts and refins (and stolen guitars!), some other items, like their Hofner basses, were just modern guitars aged to look like vintage ones. I think they did something similar with Marshall amps. And their Dumble amps of course - those were complete fakes. There is also the issue of fake provenance - tenuous links to a star which may even be completely false to justify huge hikes in price.

I think a lot of people imagine men in their sheds creating fakes from scratch, but I think what you write here is a far more truthful picture of what 'fakes' are. I would also guess that a lot of the fake Fenders out there are more likely cut and shuts, refins, or originals with some dodgy parts rather than out and out fakes.

It does have a slight router hump though - if you look at the back it's visible. To be honest I'm not convinced it is 100% genuine, and as you or another poster has said, without opening it up you'd never know for sure, but it's certainly not a 1980s model or a complete fake. The fact it sold so quickly when they have other unmodified 1969 Jazzes for sale for less indicates that someone has taken a punt on it being somewhat genuine.

It could well be refinished, but it's definitely not a 1980 model. The pickup spacing is 1960s, the tuners are late '60s ones, and black binding disappeared in 1972/3. Also, Fender didn't make fretless Jazzes until the late '80s, and those would have had rosewood boards.

The Gallery have an interesting Jazz on sale at the moment. It's a 1970 in what looks like LPB and it appears to be a factory fretless. I thought that there were only a handful of these made and if it is genuine it is probably extremely rare and considerably undervalued at the price they have it for sale at. Fender Jazz 1970 Fretless – The Bass Gallery Of course, it could be a replacement neck, but the tuners and black binding look right for the era, and it's not likely to be a defret job as fretted basses of this era would have had black blocks. I think by this time maple necks were one piece rather than the earlier capped jobs they did in 1966-1968, so if it's had a replacement fretless board it should be fairly easy to tell. Shame about the Badass though. And as is typical of the Gallery, as much as I love the shop, the description is worse than useless. Here's a photo (from I think Geddy Lee's book) for reference of confirmed genuine factory fretless Jazzes (one of which also seems to be in LPB).

I suppose you have a point here, but I would guess a lot of these players came up when 5s and 6s weren't really around. Also, there is a big difference between famous and successful players and talented players. While the likes of Jeff Berlin, Marcus Miller, and Pino have stuck to the 4 string, a lot of the more talented players around today play 5s and 6s; Thundercat, Felix Pastorius, Hadrien Feraud (in terms of raw talent and ability he's almost certainly the best player out there today - doesn't mean you have to like him of course), Matt Garrison, Janek, etc.

I think that 4s, 5s and 6s all have there advantages and disadvantages. Personally I really like the freedom of a 4 string as they're so easy to play. I also really enjoy the creative possibilities of 6. It's strange, at home I do about 80% of my practice on a 6 and 20% on a 4. I never practice 5 string, unless I'm noodling after changing strings. Playing live however, it's pretty much exclusively 5 string. I mean, I can do it on a 6 but you generally don't have much need for the high C, slapping can be a pain on a 6, and 5s are generally lighter. In modern function/wedding bands it's difficult to get away with a 4 and still sound authentic on some modern songs. You also have to deal with singers who might want to take tracks down a semi or two, sometimes on the fly. I suppose you could tune your E down on a 4 but you don't always have time to do that when you have short gaps between songs. Drop pedals generally sound awful and cause more problems that they're worth, and using an octaver completely changes the sound. I have no problems at all if people want to stick with a 4 if they have no need for a 5, I don't think 4 strings are limiting at all.

They changed constantly throughout the '80s. At first they were badged as the Squier Contemporary Series starting from around '83 and seen into '84. They had the large pole pickups, but no selector switch, and probably no TBX. The necks were painted, but in the body colours, not black, and the hardware was just chrome. Next was the PJ Bass, which is the early name of the JBS. These seem to have all the features of the later Duff basses. At some point in 1984/1985 they started badging them as Jazz Bass Specials rather than PJ Basses. Or perhaps PJ bass was what they were called for the Japanese market and JBS for export. Regardless, the PJ Bass name disappears in 1985. Then, as you correctly say, sometime in 1986 there was the new neck without the paint and with truss access at the headstock, but with the old bridge and the large pole pickups. Next, in '87/88 you have the same as above but with a higher mass bridge and small polepiece pickups. You also got models like the above but with unpainted headstocks and Gotoh lightweight tuners, and without a pickup selector switch or TBX. I always assumed these were later models but I've seen at least one listed as an '86. There was also a re-run of the model around 1994 (probably off the back of the exposure on the Use Your Illusion tour), which got the painted neck and basic bridge back, but kept the small polepiece pickups. Then you got the first version of the Duff signature, although this was Mexico made, not Japanese. And finally the 2020 Boxer reissue, And all this is before looking at the other models: there was a medium scale version with slanted PJ pickups, a version with two slanted P pickups, a single pickup P Bass, and a JJ Jazz. There was an active version - The Power Jazz Bass Special, and its successor, which is also known as a Jazz Bass Special before being re-badged as the Precision Bass Lyte. I doubt many of these changes were to do with availability of parts (although the change to the smaller polepiece pickups could have been) - I think for the most part it's a design evolution. In 1987 They stopped exporting them and ramped down production (E serial numbers indicate they were for export) and later versions were supposedly Japanese market only, although they did still get exported (like mine). I've heard about this before, but I've never exactly understood what he means by 'egg-shaped'.

Here's mine:

Congrats - I have had a similar bass for 30 years now - my first decent one. Mine is the same colour but is a later model - a G serial which is probably a 1988 model. Mine has smaller polepieces on the pickups (although they're still a hot wind compared to standard pickups) and the beefier bridge. I've tried the Seymour Duncan hotstack in mine (still have the original of course). It doesn't change the tone much at all, but its one advantage is it stops hum. The original is a true single coil and will hum a bit with both pickups on (and when it's soloed of course). It's up to you of course, but personally I would leave the finish alone. Fender Japan's Candy Apple red was one of the nicest ones Fender ever did, and as you say yours is in great condition. Also, that finish, like most of the Fender finishes from the '70/80s, is incredibly thick. I presume Bow finishing know what they're doing but I'd imagine most paint shops these days instinctively will do thinner, lighter finishes, and you may end up altering the tone, which is not what you want. Also, even with a paint job it won't be exactly like one of the earlier Jazz Bass Specials that Duff used. Those had the truss adjustment at the heel, not at the headstock like yours, and I think some of them even had the micro-tilt adjustment hole in the neckplate. The necks were thicker too. Also, one thing I forgot - I think, although I may be mistaken - that the earlier 'Duff' basses had the old 7.25" radius, whereas yours and mine have a radius which is a lot flatter - somewhere from 9.5-12". If you're really set on a white one, personally I'd hold out until one becomes available, then sell this one to fund it. You don't see them up for sale that often but they do come up. You could try reaching out to Bass Japan Direct - they might well be able to find you one.

Here's a photo of my bass collection circa 2015 in Kyiv. Apart from the MusicMan all the other basses are SPs. The birdseye fretless and the 4 string I still have now. The orange one I sold shortly after this photo was taken, and the purpleheart 6 is stuck in Kyiv (I intend to go back and get it but due to the war it's not that easy to get there and back). The sixer was made in 2004/5 when he still had Fodera parts. The bridge and tuners are all Fodera badged and the Bartolini soapbars were the ones Fodera used in the Anthony Jackson contrabasses before they switched to Duncans.

I used to live in Ukraine and knew Stas well. I still have a couple of his basses with me here in the UK (as well as one which is still stuck in Ukraine). They're very well made instruments. Going by the serial number, this bass was built in July 2009. I can't be sure but I'd guess everything is stock on it as he used those bridges and the Wilkinson tuners quite a bit on his no frills basses (for a higher price you could get fancy tops, Gotoh/Schaller hardware, etc. - at some points he used to get electronics/hardware from Fodera if they no longer needed them - their old bridges and Bartolini pickups when they switched mainly over to Seymour Duncan for example).

That's no '75 - 4 bolt neck and a white pickguard so probably late '73 - early '74. I know the '76-83 S series Jazz basses always get the worst rep for quality control, but I've always noticed that the shoddiest routing/fit tends to be on mid '70s (around '73-75 basses). QC actually picked up through the late '70s and the later S series basses are quite well put together, although as we all know the weight increased a great deal which puts people off them. I understand it's different for P basses - the early '70s seems to be one of the best eras.

I've played there 2 or 3 times - the last time being Easter weekend 2023. Both times the crowd were quite boisterous as Burns-bass says, but we didn't see any real trouble and when we played there were a couple of bouncers working. I quite enjoyed the gigs but parking is a nightmare. we had to park in some unloading bays in Marsh street across the road, then leave the gear in pub and drive to a multi-storey and park there, walk back to the pub, set up, play, and then the same in reverse order at the end of the night. The payment takes a few weeks to come through too but they always pay in the end and the manager is quite easy to get on with.

Here are Dave Richmond's own words on the Walker Brothers (taken from the Talkbass thread): I did some work with The Walker Brothers before they split up. That was at the very start of my session career just after I had left the John Barry Seven. On that Solo album with Scott there were three different musical directors. Herbie did play on some of the tracks. I can usually spot Herbie’s style of playing. As you know he played on ‘War of the Worlds’ on it you can here him playing a lot of stuff very high up at times. As far as I know he always played a Fender Bass Guitar. You can spot the difference on the ‘The Old Man’s Back in Town’ where the sound is more ‘Gutsy’. I had no idea I was playing on ‘The old man’s back in Town’ until last year. In fact I had never even heard it before. I was asked by Paul Osborne of KPM music to be interviewed on Soho Radio (a small independent radio station based in Windmill Street in Soho, London) When I arrived there they asked me about The ‘Old Man’s Back’ track. I said ‘Play it to me and I’ll tell you’ As. soon as they played it I new it was me (one guy nearly fainted, he was so excited!) It was exactly my style of playing at the time. If anyone is interested you can go to Soho Radio’s website and hear the broadcast as it went out. Just search on ‘Dave Richmond’ and it should come up.