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New Fender flea MM Jazz announced!


krispn

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10 hours ago, Chiliwailer said:

Plus the CS is probably a 1/4 sawn neck.

Fender specs says that this production model has a quarter-sawn maple neck.

EDIT: The interesting things about this neck, IMHO, are the 12-16" compound radius and 1.62" at the nut, rather than the expected 1.5".

Edited by clivem
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5 hours ago, clivem said:

Fender specs says that this production model has a quarter-sawn maple neck.

EDIT: The interesting things about this neck, IMHO, are the 12-16" compound radius and 1.62" at the nut, rather than the expected 1.5".

Cheers, I think that must be a first for a US bass? Very cool. 

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11 hours ago, clivem said:

Fender specs says that this production model has a quarter-sawn maple neck.

EDIT: The interesting things about this neck, IMHO, are the 12-16" compound radius and 1.62" at the nut, rather than the expected 1.5".

 

Just over 41mm... not bad! I wish it were wider, but that's getting into 'ok' territory for me.

Or rather... I wish it were thinner, then I would not even think of getting one ;)

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For me the thing with these Flea Jazz basses (not the 62 JB one) is that they come across as something that they’re not.... ie a Moduray/Stingulus.

Clearly Ernie Ball missed a trick by not giving one of the best brand Ambassadors they had his own signature, and I get Fender jumped at the opportunity to get him onboard.

But why the need for a Jazz without JB pickups? 

Clearly Flea said I need something to replace my Modulus, build me something. An excellent opportunity to design something new and fresh, but no they go and stick a Ray pup in a Jazz body. Jaguray next?

Or am I being harsh and just not getting it?

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45 minutes ago, HazBeen said:

For me the thing with these Flea Jazz basses (not the 62 JB one) is that they come across as something that they’re not.... ie a Moduray/Stingulus.

Clearly Ernie Ball missed a trick by not giving one of the best brand Ambassadors they had his own signature, and I get Fender jumped at the opportunity to get him onboard.

But why the need for a Jazz without JB pickups? 

Clearly Flea said I need something to replace my Modulus, build me something. An excellent opportunity to design something new and fresh, but no they go and stick a Ray pup in a Jazz body. Jaguray next?

Or am I being harsh and just not getting it?

I think essentially Flea knows what he likes for live use after all these years. He likes that MM humbucker in the sweet spot and by the looks of it, a Stingray-ish thickness in the neck (not surprising after so many years playing them).

He has been seen regularly with his old fender and a couple of other fender jazz basses and a Precision, and it’s pretty well documented that he uses/used a Wal and has recorded recent stuff on a Stingray.

Ernie Ball don’t need to pay him a load of money to endorse a bass that is always going to be synonymous with flea that already sells well. From fragments I have read over the years I think Flea was basically being a d*ck about it and I don’t think Sterling Ball takes any crap from anyone.

Modulus go out of business, Fender knock on your door offering some money and you say yes to a replica of your trusty 62 and say I also need basses that sound as close to the ones I love to use live, pretty simple really.

I think that he’s obviously still peeved that Ernie Ball didn’t bow down to his celebrity, and still won’t use a stingray in public despite it being the bass everyone associated him with, that is essentially the spec and tone he still wants.

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13 minutes ago, stingrayPete1977 said:

I think it was more that he wanted a graphite neck, EB didn't make them so he went to Modulus. 

Yup, I heard the same.
I expect that's why he keeps the Modulus basses to hand, I can't expect any Fender will be more stable than a Stingray, same construction etcs.

Eude

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2 minutes ago, Musicman20 said:

I still think Flea sounds better with a humbucker in the sweet spot, despite his Jazz bass sounding fantastic.

It really pops for that aggressive rock/funk. 

I completely agree, that tone IS Flea.
However, I've always loved his tone on BSSM, and that's a Wal...

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It is a lovely looking bass and I nice take on the MM classic, for the money i would want a lane poor pickup and a badass bridge though.  I would probably buy an MM cutlass (save a bit more!) or Black stingray in all honesty for that money though.

@walshy is your bass home made?  It looks fantastic!

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I think the issue was that Flea was endorsing the pink stack knob but playing a Modulus live so the natural thing to do was for Fender to make him something the same shape as the bass with his name on it but more suited for live work. I believe that the reason Flea never used the stack knob live was because it didn't cut through enough

Edited by Delberthot
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