Very interesting Japanese Fender & other make's brochures through the years

[gjones]

Very interesting Japanese Guitar & bass brochures from the 70s onwards. I found out that my beloved Squier Silver Series Jazz, which i always assumed was made of basswood, is actually made out of wood fibre (PAF). Still sounds great to me, whatever it's made out of

If you want look at the brochures in detail, it's best to download them as PDF files. As looking at them online can get a bit fiddly.

http://brochures.yokochou.com/en_index.html

[gjones]

Ooops actually looking at the Silver Squier brochure they were actually made out of basswood.......hurrah! http://brochures.yokochou.com/guitar-and-amp/fenderjapan/1992-squier/en_index.html

[Muzz]

Whoa! I'd never seen a BB-VIII (1985 Yamaha brochure) - a BB with twin angled split-coils. I like that...

[LukeFRC]

some silver series stuff was PAF , the most dreadful construction material known to man - oh it sounds fine on the bass, just don't try and strip it for a refinish....

[Paul S]

I've had Silver Series Precision and Jazz, both were lightweight and 'proper' wood, so I took it to be Basswood. I also had an E series MIJ Squier Jazz for a while that was made of PAF. Very heavy. Sounded nice though.

[EssentialTension]

Very interesting, thanks for posting that.

[gjones]

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1392463731' post='2369006']
I've had Silver Series Precision and Jazz, both were lightweight and 'proper' wood, so I took it to be Basswood. I also had an E series MIJ Squier Jazz for a while that was made of PAF. Very heavy. Sounded nice though.
[/quote]

Yes the wood fibre Squiers were before the Silver Series (which were basswood), according to the brochures. Most stuff you read says that only Korean Squiers were wood fibre but it looks like, for a short while, Japanese built ones were too.

[Musky]

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1392473720' post='2369157']
Yes the wood fibre Squiers were before the Silver Series (which were basswood), according to the brochures. Most stuff you read says that only Korean Squiers were wood fibre but it looks like, for a short while, Japanese built ones were too.
[/quote]
There was a guy on Talkbass who had a Silver Series J (from '96 IIRC) made from MDF. It seemed a little odd to me as I had thought they were all made of basswood. Then I remembered FujiGen also made the Ibanez Talman - out of MDF.

[gjones]

[quote name='Musky' timestamp='1392488431' post='2369389']
There was a guy on Talkbass who had a Silver Series J (from '96 IIRC) made from MDF. It seemed a little odd to me as I had thought they were all made of basswood. Then I remembered FujiGen also made the Ibanez Talman - out of MDF.
[/quote]

The routing on that one was not the same as on the Silver Series, which are routed like 62 reissues. There was also a big circular route under the bridge for a grounding wire like modern basses. Silver series basses are grounded, like 62 reissues, with a copper wire strip which comes from under the bridge and connects to a brass plate under the pickup. There's no hole under the bridge on the Silver Series. Which makes me think that the body of that particular bass had probably just been attached to a Silver Series Squier neck at some time after it was sold.

Of course I could be wrong?

Edited February 15, 2014 by gjones