NBD - MIJ Fender

[Thunderpaws]

Geddy Lee too. Saw this for sale pre-owned and thought I’d take the plunge with the money I’d been saving for a telecaster. Didn’t get the chance to try it before buying so a bit of a whim. 

I have hands on the big side, so was a bit wary of Jazz basses int be past. This doesn’t seem as narrow at the nut as some I’ve tried. Seems fairly comfy and is noticeably thinner front to back than my American Special Precision. The neck on the Precision is amazing and this Geddy is a different kind of amazing. 

Action is a tad high so I’ll tighten the truss rod a quarter turn when I put new strings on it later. Truss rod adjustment is hidden with the neck on. 

Condition wise, this bass seems as good as new to me so I feel I’ve really scored. Anyhow, no pictures and all that, so here we go....can someone in the know date it for me with the serial number there....  

[skidder652003]

flippin lovely!

 

[Lozz196]

Nice bass, congrats 

[gjones]

They are great basses. One thing I noticed with the pair that I owned, was that although could get a low action, the necks were temperature sensitive  and I found that they required regular, adjustment.

[Thunderpaws]

17 minutes ago, gjones said:

They are great basses. One thing I noticed with the pair that I owned, was that although could get a low action, the necks were temperature sensitive  and I found that they required regular, adjustment.

Looking forward to getting to know it. Any tips on adjustments? I’ll keep it in the same room most of the time in a hard case so hopefully I’ll not need to fettle too much. I’ve not had a bass that needs it’s neck off to adjust before. 

[gjones]

2 hours ago, Thunderpaws said:

Looking forward to getting to know it. Any tips on adjustments? I’ll keep it in the same room most of the time in a hard case so hopefully I’ll not need to fettle too much. I’ve not had a bass that needs it’s neck off to adjust before. 

You don't need to take the neck off. Just remove the scratchplate, put something down to protect the body (I use a piece of card) and use a phillips screwdriver to adjust the trussrod. You can loosen the strings if you wish but it's not necessary.

[Thunderpaws]

@gjones thanks very much. I’ll give that a go when I put new strings on in the next few days. I don’t mind fettling so making the odd adjustment doesn’t bother me. 

Having played it for a while tonight it feels like a keeper. It’s condition is stunning. I like the variety of tone available just by dropping the neck pup tone in and out. It should work well in my loud rock band. 

[Thunderpaws]

It was either made between 1994-5 or 2007-10. How do you know the difference?

[pete.young]

Think it was launched in 1998, so 2007-2010. 

[therealting]

11 hours ago, Thunderpaws said:

It was either made between 1994-5 or 2007-10. How do you know the difference?

The earlier ones are Made in Japan, the later ones Crafted in Japan. It would seem this is 25 years old. 

[ezbass]

That is very cool looking. Nice score.

[Thunderpaws]

1 hour ago, therealting said:

The earlier ones are Made in Japan, the later ones Crafted in Japan. It would seem this is 25 years old. 

I’m not sure on this being an early model.... 

Just adjusted the truss rod quarter of a turn. That got me from 4mm at the 12th fret to just below 3.5. I’ll leave it a few hours and go for another quarter turn. It was at 3mm without tuning the strings up then up to the 3.5mm with tension. Hopefully that’s normal.

To actually adjust the truss rod I couldn’t just take the scratch plate off as it didn’t reveal enough of the heal. Off with the neck then to reveal the date shown in the picture below.

This confuses me as it suggests 03 as the year?? Can this be correct? 

 

Someone has adjusted the truss rod previously and left a slight scratch on the heal and probably used the wrong screwdriver as there are a couple of dents in the nut. 

Edited March 30, 2019 by Thunderpaws

[therealting]

16 minutes ago, Thunderpaws said:

I’m not sure on this being an early model.... 

This confuses me as it suggests 03 as the year?? Can this be correct? 

Here’s Fender’s own information on the MIJ / CIJ transition.

https://support.fender.com/hc/en-us/articles/214343783-How-can-I-find-out-when-my-Japanese-made-instrument-was-manufactured-

It’s possible the body and neck may not originally have been together. 

[AndyTravis]

3 hours ago, pete.young said:

Think it was launched in 1998, so 2007-2010. 

Yeah...this

[Thunderpaws]

I’ve spent a couple of days with this now. Love it. 

A couple of observations:

1. Taking the neck off to adjust the truss rod isn’t ideal though it’s only a 5 min job. Relax strings, capo on to to hold them, unscrew neck plate, adjust truss rod, then reverse making sure there’s nothing in the pocket. I finally have string height down to 2.8ish mm. That was two quarter turns tightening the truss rod over 24 hrs. I’ll see how it’s settled in the morning. 

2. Pickup output is noticeably lower than my Precision, though the tone is great and sounds hefty and articulate with both pickups open.  Looking forward to getting some rehearsal volume. 

 

[blisters on my fingers]

You don't really need to take the neck off or remove the neck plate once you know there are no shims in the neck pocket. Your method is spot on with the relaxing of the strings and using a capo, two capos can be used as a belt and braces approach. Pull the strings through and underneath the capos as you detune them, so they don't unwind on the machineheads. Then loosen the two screws on the head stock side of the neckplate a bit, loosen the other two screws on the bridge side a little bit more until the neck will tip back and give access to the trussrod, adjust that as you see fit,  then reverse the whole procedure and see if that does the trick. 

If you've not had a Jazz before it is normal for both pickups on full, to have less output than either pickup solo - particularly the neck pickup which can be reggaetastic. 

Nice bass not jealous at all

 

[bigsmokebass]

Lovely basses. Had one of each MIJ and MIM and both great. 

Not sure why, I did prefer the Mexican model, even if I do wish it was a Japanese one for the price 😅

[Geek99]

Nice and on the plus side you didn’t have to buy a weedy telecaster 

[Delberthot]

The serial number dates this bass to between 2007 to 2010. During this time there was a transition from CIJ to MIJ. The first part of the stamp on the neck suggest a 2008 but I can't confirm if the rest of the stamp means 03/12/08 or if it means something else

The "JB-GL" stamp on both neck and body confirm that it is a Geddy Lee body and neck and it is possible to get the action ridiculously low on these.

I have one of the early models with the "Limited Edition" neck plate that I will be putting up for sale shortly. It has a B serial number so I had to do a lot of digging to get the correct date. Most websites were telling me 1985-6 despite the Geddy not going into production until 1998

 

[Thunderpaws]

11 hours ago, Geek99 said:

Nice and on the plus side you didn’t have to buy a weedy telecaster 

That’s right,  though I’d still like one!! 

The geddy seems to be in perfect nick, like it was bought, hung on a wall or left in a case and never played. There’s a wee bit tarnishing on two of the frets towards the bridge. Will polish those up in the next few days. 

[Thunderpaws]

10 hours ago, Delberthot said:

The serial number dates this bass to between 2007 to 2010. During this time there was a transition from CIJ to MIJ. The first part of the stamp on the neck suggest a 2008 but I can't confirm if the rest of the stamp means 03/12/08 or if it means something else

The "JB-GL" stamp on both neck and body confirm that it is a Geddy Lee body and neck and it is possible to get the action ridiculously low on these.

I have one of the early models with the "Limited Edition" neck plate that I will be putting up for sale shortly. It has a B serial number so I had to do a lot of digging to get the correct date. Most websites were telling me 1985-6 despite the Geddy not going into production until 1998

 

Thanks very much for the info. What was the fancy neck plate? 

Ive managed to get be relief sorted (which in its self is a relief). Read some horror stories when I googled “Geddy Lee bass set up” but those must have been basses that had been ignored for too long. Next I’ll drop the string height just a touch at the bridge and I’ll be super happy. It’s a lovely thing to play, though it’s not making me play like Geddy!! 

Now I need a couple of easier Rush songs to learn. 

[Wylie]

On 29/03/2019 at 14:02, Thunderpaws said:

Action is a tad high so I’ll tighten the truss rod a quarter turn when I put new strings on it later. Truss rod adjustment is hidden with the neck on. 

I have a Japan Geddy too. At first I took off the pick guard to get at the truss rod, then discovered I could make the adjustment, pick guard on, using a smaller sized bent Phillips. Regarding another note below, I also find the neck is temperature sensitive; I have to adjust it two or three times a year, but I still keep our music room humidified all winter. Love this bass.

[White Cloud]

On 29/03/2019 at 19:40, gjones said:

They are great basses. One thing I noticed with the pair that I owned, was that although could get a low action, the necks were temperature sensitive  and I found that they required regular, adjustment.

Great basses indeed ...the necks are super skinny and do require regular truss adjustments.

[Delberthot]

1 hour ago, Thunderpaws said:

Thanks very much for the info. What was the fancy neck plate? 

 

 

[Geek99]

2 hours ago, Thunderpaws said:

That’s right,  though I’d still like one!! 

The geddy seems to be in perfect nick, like it was bought, hung on a wall or left in a case and never played. There’s a wee bit tarnishing on two of the frets towards the bridge. Will polish those up in the next few days. 

You f king perpectionist - you’ll want angel’s breath on it next