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Fender Jazz American Deluxe 5


funkyjimbob
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Hello!

I am after a bit of advice on this bass as I know nothing about Fenders. I own two Warwick Custom shop 5 strings and but have been looking to add a Jazz to my collection and have been offered one by a friend. It is the American Jazz Deluxe 5 and he has said I can have it for about £600. It has a couple of dings and could do with some TLC but otherwise is in in good condition. Is this good value? I haven't got a clue.

One of the pickups is playing up but the bass is due a free service so this will not cost anymore to fix as this will cover that. I had a bit of a play but the strings are mega heavy (I play cheese graters (30-110) and the action is very high so it's sounding like crap at the moment. I have flattened the neck and I am going to bring the string height at the brige down so hopefully that should help. I have also heard a few people being negative about the Fender 5's and I'm not sure why this is?

What's peoples general thoughts on them and is this something you'd personally go for at that price? What i'm worried about is that if I part with my money then get it setup to my liking that I'll hate it and then struggle to sell it on!

Thanks

Edited by funkyjimbob
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Pickup "playing up". What does that mean?

How old and what condition? Unless it has serious damage (truss rod etc) £650 sounds bloody good to me. That's cheaper than a Standard in perfect condition.

A replacement set of pickups could be around £120.

Many thought Fender 5's had iffy B strings for the first few years. I've read that they fixed that and various QC stuff in the last 5 or so years, but whether any of that is a problem or not is down to your preference.

As it's with a friend, I'd borrow it and try it with a new set of strings after a full set up.

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[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1455880587' post='2983199']
Pickup "playing up". What does that mean?

How old and what condition? Unless it has serious damage (truss rod etc) £650 sounds bloody good to me. That's cheaper than a Standard in perfect condition.

A replacement set of pickups could be around £120.

Many thought Fender 5's had iffy B strings for the first few years. I've read that they fixed that and various QC stuff in the last 5 or so years, but whether any of that is a problem or not is down to your preference.

As it's with a friend, I'd borrow it and try it with a new set of strings after a full set up.
[/quote]

The bridge pick-up is not working but this will be fixed at it's service it is getting Monday. It's a year old and in good condition. Needs a good clean. There's no serious damage to it. Neck is fine. There is one ding on it (about 7mm in width) and there is a couple of places where the paint has worn off but that's it.

I actually have the bass at the moment so was going to change the strings and set it up.

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An American Deluxe model of a the past few years will be block and bound witha 4+1 headstock.
If it is jus a few years old, then £650 is a great price unless it is has been wrecked.

It will be active only....

The pickups are ok..not so keen on the pre amp and the neck profile is what it is-which is not to my taste.
I would say the model is over priced new... but I would say the price of a decent SH one should/may be around £900..
altho they have just discontinued this line so new ones are around £1000, iirc... down from £1500 6 months ago.

If you like it as a player, then they are ok..

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Maybe Jim is talking about the older Fender Deluxe 5 string Jazz Basses, with the extra bottom horn cutaway.? Pics will tell all. i could be wrong, but £650 is too good a price for a newer Deluxe with the blocks etc.

maybe not the colour, but is it like this one.? If its the case, which i think it is, thats a good price. Put some lighter gauge strings on it, and set it up properly.

Edited by bubinga5
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I've had two USA 5 strings. A Marcus Miller and a USA standard. Neither were particularly brilliant. The construction was very poor, especially on the Marcus Miller which would have been really expensive when new.

They were string through, and had little metal cups on the back of the body for the string ball ends to fit in. These weren't fixed and would fall out. The neck pockets were both cut badly, they were too big and cut at an angle.

Sound wise the MM was the better of the two, the pre was actually quite nice.

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I never liked the USA standard Jazz basses. They felt cheap to me, only my opinion of course. Sounded great though. I had one in Oly white. Sounded great. but It was the routing under the pick guard that didn't help. and when i took the neck out of the neck pocket, (I'm very careful) the paint literally broke off down to the wood. That just wouldn't happen if you took off the neck of say an SR5. The Japanese did Fender so much better imo. Solid as an OX.

Edited by bubinga5
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[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1455927111' post='2983807']
They were string through, and had little metal cups on the back of the body for the string ball ends to fit in. These weren't fixed and would fall out. The neck pockets were both cut badly, they were too big and cut at an angle.
[/quote]

I believe Fender upped their game around 2008 - 2009 and their instruments and QC improved a lot.

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I'm going to give it a shot. It seems that price is pretty good so even if i don't get a long with it I won't be losing any dollar on it.

Here are some pictures. You can see the ding in one of the pictures and where the paint is missing. Thoughts?


[url="http://imgur.com/a/UHvrw"]http://imgur.com/a/UHvrw[/url]

Edited by funkyjimbob
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