Jaydee supernatural series 3 1987

[andytoad]

Hello all,
There is a Jaydee supernatural series 3 dated 1987, for sale local to me, is it worth £950?

I quite fancy buying it, but have no idea if it's too expensive.

Thanks,

Andrew

[White Cloud]

Depends on condition etc. I would want a good look at it regardless...some Supernaturals of this time had, shall we say, less than reliable neck stability.

[Dingus]

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1387140344' post='2308666']
Depends on condition etc. I would want a good look at it regardless...some Supernaturals of this time had, shall we say, less than reliable neck stability.
[/quote]

A very big +1 on this.

If this bass is from that era, it was made at the time of peak demand for these basses, and as a result J.D had to resort to a bit of a " production line " approach to building them to keep up with the amount of orders they were getting . The unfortunate but almost inevitable consequence of that was that the overall quality and structural integrity of some basses ( but not all) was compromised, so be sure to check this bass over very carefully.

The necks on thiese J.Ds are potentially a bit too prone to moving for a combination of reasons , specifically that they are made primarily of walnut , which tends to be much less stiff than maple, they are very slim in profile , and the truss rod design was also less than ideal. John Diggins acknowledges all these things with retrospect s, and has moved to put them all right in the basses he builds completely by hand nowadays.

There was also, if I remember correctly, so problems with a batch of laquer that was unsuitable and caused a dodgy finish on a few basses, but it's a long time ago, so I could be getting a bit confused about that afer all this time . It was the 1980's at the time , you have to remember, and my brain was under constant assault from Stock, Aitken and Waterman records!

I would very strongly recommend checking the bass over very carefully if you are interested in it . If it is a good example in good condition then it seems a reasonable price. They are still potentially very good basses.

[RhysP]

In agreement with the comments so far about neck instability.
The Jaydee I had built for me in the early - mid 80's had a ridiculously unstable neck, I spent more time adjusting it than I did playing it.

[andytoad]

Thanks for the feedback people! It's appreciated. I think I will give it a miss, I guess if I were to go for a jd it would be late 70's early 80's then?

[marcus bell]

You'll struggle to get a late 70's one dude, but if you want one, trying getting a newer one or one before 84... But as mentioned they aren't all bad! Great basses too, my 81 never needs adjusting

[Dingus]

Even the pre-84 ones tend to be a bit wobbly in the neck department, but not as chronic as the mid-80's era ones, maybe. Your best bet is a post -1990 one , but they are relatively rare because JD had gone back to building on a much smaller scale and far fewer of those basses are in circulation .

I had a custom bass built in 1990 that was amazingly good and the neck on that was completely stable and never needed adjusting , but it was a unique profile with a little more meat to it than a regular JayDee and it also had the new truss rod design and carbon graphite reinforcement. It was a fabulous bass and I should never have sold it, but someone with a big record company advance to spend made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I have it on good authority that bass now belongs to a well-known record producer and can be heard on quite a few of his tracks in recent years .

Edited December 17, 2013 by Dingus