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It's a little flawed as it suggests that a Jazz has one tone but with three pickups it has at least three distinct options before you play with the tone knob. And the examples are all FSOs to some degree and something like something with soap bars, a Rickenbacker, Gibson would have been good. It's a good video as far as it goes, but it could have been just a little better. I was surprised about the pickup changes, but when I've changed them maybe they've been more significant differences in design, for example overwound.

A fretted neck is a combination of the wood at the levelling of the frets. Without the frets, it might need additional work to level to make it a good fretless neck. And if you make an error pulling the frets you end up with no necks. I'd buy a second neck or bass if I were you.

Or a Tokai. I have more than one of those. I'm intending to be buried with the fretless.

I said "in some instances" and "virtually". I'd agree that there are many models that are not similar, apart from perhaps headstocks shape, but there are some that are really quite close. https://images.app.goo.gl/EWi7fmjB7zqZzLDi9 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/156645723240?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=lzb7hzhfthw&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=FrF8PzSQTWO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY The main functional difference is the location of the jack socket, plus one has the pickup poles flipped (easily changed). One looks much better, though, assuming you like white pickup covers. Granted, the Thunders with exposed pole Magnatone style pickups seem to be relatively rare, but I don't think there's much difference other that pole visibility to the enclosed type, and there are a few variants of those. Whilst there's no exact analogue in the Westone catalogue for the Arias most favoured in the 1980s, the cachet of appearances on Top of the Pops seems to have attached to the whole brand, including models that didn't feature on TV often or at all. The layer Thunder II or III can probably get you close to the John Taylor sound. I had a III with Magnatones which seemed to do the job reasonably well and looked suitably 80s. However, there was a fault somewhere so some switch combinations didn't work so I sold it. I had a West one Thunder IA fretless, circa 86-87 build, sold it, and more recently picked up one of similar vintage fretted, both with Magnatones. In the end I decided that the pickup in roughly the MM position wasn't getting me the sound I wanted. I just sold my MM SUB for the same reason. The Thunder III I could probably fix now, and I wish I'd kept it.

Indeed. They are virtually the same instruments with different logos in some instances. Just one is "hip" because John Taylor used an Aria and one isn't.

It's interesting how opinions change - thirty years ago you had to pay people to take a Westone Thunder (or a 70s Fender) off your hands

It's "edgy". It also means I have to trawl for reviews as the copy is incomprehensible. Maybe I'm just too old and if I was under 30 it would seem more groovy and happening. A friend of mine uses a screen reader and might assume that it had gone rogue reading that page.

The pickup in the some 1As (with the Magnatone pickups) is closer to the bridge so sits somewhere between a P and MM in sound. Thunder IIs sometimes came in dual P. The Magnatone pickups on the III are essentially humbuckers, but with only half the poles installed to make them a split pickup, more-or-less, although IIRC, the neck pickup may be a little closer to the neck. On some you can potentially install extra poles and make them full humbuckers with a series/parallel option. The above is true of some of the Arias that look basically the same as the Westones.

When using a J bass I tend to just use the neck pickup. I have some old recordings that might be that or might be a P. I didn't label them at the time and I can't tell now. Yes, if I played one then the other now, I could tell, but I can't be definitive as to which on the recordings is a P or J.

What about the body shape is the issue? Or is it the body size?

It's 80s futurism, if a bit late. It's what Robocop would play if he played bass.

You want a body that isn't resonant. If any crystallization happens (debatable) it will result in higher stiffness and less resonance. With less resonance, you hear the strings better acoustically. A neck dead spot is an example of resonance.

Alto TS412 would be top of my list. I have a Soundcraft Ui16. I also have a Zoom R16 that has one dead and one noisy preamp, but it provides an option for linking a laptop to the Ui16 and using real sliders rather than as an audio interface. Or it did on my old laptop - I'll have to see if I can work out how I did it. The Ui16 can live on stage.

The JV I had was 42mm, but very shallow front to back.

Best one I had was a JV Squier, second best was a 1984 MIJ. Currently, my best is a 1990s P Lyte. Worst I had was one of two Cowpokes, second was fine. I wish I still had three of them. If you aren't set on an FSO, then early Westone Thunder Is are P basses. Tokai and Ibanez did some good copies or near copies.