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Jaydee Basses


joe_geezer

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Hey fellow bassists,

I have just ordered an amazing Jaydee bass from John Diggins.

So i'd love to hear from any Jaydee owners there thoughts, opinions and pics (please!).  Do you gig regularly with your Jaydee? What styles do you use it for? Can you resist slapping it as soon as you pick it up..? lol

thanks in advance,

joe

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10 hours ago, joe_geezer said:

Hey fellow bassists,

I have just ordered an amazing Jaydee bass from John Diggins.

So i'd love to hear from any Jaydee owners there thoughts, opinions and pics (please!).  Do you gig regularly with your Jaydee? What styles do you use it for? Can you resist slapping it as soon as you pick it up..? lol

thanks in advance,

joe

Congrats. I also hope to own one someday. Looking forward to the replies.

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Great instruments, well made and with great tones. John is a pure gent of the highest order and will bend over backwards to protect the brand's well deserved reputation for producing excellent instruments (guitars too).

I bought a single pick up model which I wanted upgraded to the twin p/up. Even though there is a waiting list of about 2 years I had the work done and the bass returned in a matter of weeks at a VERY reasonable price. 

Most often you'll see Jaydees being played by the funk/slappist fraternity however they are not limited to this style of music. They are more than a one trick pony. 

The one minor criticism I might have is the weight. John normally uses Mahogany which can push the weight over 10lbs. I had a black one which was heavier than that. Check to see if he (well, the 2x sons now) will cavity the body. Bear in mind this will almost certainly have an effect on the tonal quality.

I'm more than a bit jealous...

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I owned a Jaydee Supernatural (2 x pickups MK lookalike) back in the 80's. Sadly, it didn't go well as the neck quickly developed a terminal back-bow of epic proportions.

This was apparently due to a rogue batch of mahogany... 

I would however be unwilling to detract from the brand just because of my bad luck. These things can happen to any bass.

I've always considered Jaydee basses amongst the most beautiful looking instruments. 

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I've had 2, a Supernatural with Saturn inlays and tailpiece in Butterscotch and a MK in metallic white. Both weighed a ton. The Supernatural had a neck that had been shaved and moved if you looked at it (I suspect it was one of the rogue batch basses). It sounded great when I got it, but I sent it to John for a fretstone and he changed the pickups! He said the ones in it were on the way out, but I didn't like the sound anywhere near as much when it came back. I later spoke to the guy it had been made for & he told me the original bridge pickup had been custom wound and was different to the normal ones.

My second bass was great (bought from Overwater & set up by Scott Devine, strangely enough) but by then my back had gone and the weight was too much so I returned it. I've played good ones, great ones and poor ones over the years; have probably played something like 30 of them. The most incredible setup I ever played was on quilt maple topped Jaydee (think it was a sort of trans tobacco colour IIRC) that was in the Gallery once; the action was even too low for me! I reckon I could've got used to it though.  ;-) Incredible bass, but again, heavy.

I'd love a scaled down (and lightweight) Starchild replica with 16.5mm spacing; I remember first seeing that bass on Whistle Test (first time I ever saw Mark King and first time I'd really seen anyone slapping) and it blew me away.

 

 

 

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Don't forget that John has also built guitars in the past.

The owner of my second Status Kingbass had a SG shaped guitar and the driver who returned my car following a body repair (hit by a Police officer) had a Flying V. 

Give them your money, they'll build you whatever you want..

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Thanks guys for all the replies, good and bad!

For those complaining about quality issues with necks and finishes, this seems to only effect the  80s-90s basses that were caused by over demand and John not being able to

scale fast enough to meet demand which in turn effected quality.

Also in terms of the weight issue... it's not an issue at all as you can request any weight you like for John to target, mines going to be in between the 8-9lbs range.

 

Again thanks for all your feed back,  and id love to hear even more! 

 

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2 hours ago, joe_geezer said:

Thanks guys for all the replies, good and bad!

For those complaining about quality issues with necks and finishes, this seems to only effect the  80s-90s basses that were caused by over demand and John not being able to

scale fast enough to meet demand which in turn effected quality.

Also in terms of the weight issue... it's not an issue at all as you can request any weight you like for John to target, mines going to be in between the 8-9lbs range.

 

Again thanks for all your feed back,  and id love to hear even more! 

 

I am sure you will be delighted with your bass. The Roadie 11 that used to have was a beauty. 

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6 minutes ago, weepaul said:

Cash converters got a 5 string for sale. Don't know much myself, but could be of interest to some one here.

 

https://www.cashconverters.co.uk/shop/product/jaydee-celeste-5-string-bass-guitar-1989/229245?list=Search results

That's definitely top of price range.......cheaper one recently on BC from a great seller; withdrawn but he might be tempted -

Nearly gone for a Jaydee a couple of times; real quality and unique basses

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  • 2 years later...

I love seeing pics of instruments in their various stages of construction.  Your new bass will look fantastic when it's complete. 

 

I had a GA24 with black satin finished body wings Years ago. I bought it in the mid 80s after chatting with Mark King about his Series 1 basses.

I collected the bass from John Diggins' workshop in Moseley,  Birmingham. That was a great bass, and was my sole instrument for about 10 years. (I actually gave it away to a young gospel player in London,  who was an incredible player, but had a terrible bass as he couldn't afford a new instrument himself.  Can't recall his name now)

I've actually been in touch with Jaydee over the past few weeks regarding my ordering a new instrument from them. Looks like I'll be able to place the order in August when an available slot opens up.

I think I'm going to opt for a Series 1 with the crescent inlays For my own new bass.

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1 minute ago, kevin_lindsay said:

I had a GA24 with black satin finished body wings Years ago. I bought it in the mid 80s after chatting with Mark King about his Series 1 basses.

I collected the bass from John Diggins' workshop in Moseley,  Birmingham. That was a great bass, and was my sole instrument for about 10 years. (I actually gave it away to a young gospel player in London,  who was an incredible player, but had a terrible bass as he couldn't afford a new instrument himself.  Can't recall his name now)

An incredibly kind act, extremely generous and altruistic!

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5 hours ago, kevin_lindsay said:

I love seeing pics of instruments in their various stages of construction.  Your new bass will look fantastic when it's complete. 

 

I had a GA24 with black satin finished body wings Years ago. I bought it in the mid 80s after chatting with Mark King about his Series 1 basses.

I collected the bass from John Diggins' workshop in Moseley,  Birmingham. That was a great bass, and was my sole instrument for about 10 years. (I actually gave it away to a young gospel player in London,  who was an incredible player, but had a terrible bass as he couldn't afford a new instrument himself.  Can't recall his name now)

I've actually been in touch with Jaydee over the past few weeks regarding my ordering a new instrument from them. Looks like I'll be able to place the order in August when an available slot opens up.

I think I'm going to opt for a Series 1 with the crescent inlays For my own new bass.

Great Story!

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On 15/05/2021 at 21:16, Captain Bassman said:

Shaping up nicely, lucky chap!

Here’s my GA24 custom. Pics from JD website (better than my own!). 14 years old now but has been gigged very regularly over the years.

So versatile and has a more tight focused sound to my ears than the Classic.

28E0FB18-7DAC-4399-8FA6-9380C97C0026.jpeg

3C7CAD27-B62D-4556-8A78-3AEE67DA7C23.jpeg

4DE8B3AE-BCEC-4267-81D7-9D0F4AEF8E16.jpeg

Ive often looked at that very bass and marvelled at it! Do the pickups any different from the standard wooden covered ones?

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