Jedson Tele Bass

[nick-harman]

I see there's been a Jedson thread here before but all the pictures have gone, sadly. So anyone with any insights would be welcome

I'm just a beginner bass player at 59, someone loaned me a Pbass copy which isn't at all bad, but I felt I would do better with a shortscale thanks to my tiny Trump hands

So rather than blow money finding out, I got hold of a ratty old Jedson for £80 to try.

I had to work all over it to remove decades of rust and filth and screws that had to be drilled out and also work out why one pick up wasn't working.

It all works now, I would say it's tone is a little variable, rarely does playing a note sound the same as the last time. The E string seems rather 'splatty'. But it does have a rather good tone most of the time, aggressive and harsh or reasonably mellow. Sometimes it sounds like Chris Squire playing inside a metal dustbin. Which is not entirely a bad thing!

The strings are original, short scale strings seem expensive. Would anyone recommend a brand and would flatwounds be a good idea?

The Marshall amp, also loaned, is totally shagged, the cone I think is bust and the knobs do very little!. So that's not helping matters.

Thx

Nick


 

[Bass Fumbler]

Same model as my first bass, I paid about £30 for it about thirty odd years ago!

[nick-harman]

I suppose 30 quid was quite a lot then really!

N

[hooky_lowdown]

I've sadly owned both the basses you have there. When I started learning bass 20 years back, I picked up the Jedson, because I thought it looked cool (vintage), however having played many basses since then I can say that was the worst bass I've ever owned - the pickups from memory were super low output.

The P bass, although being super lightweight ( a plus) is very low quality across the board.

If you want a decent short scale bass (especially as a beginner) I can't recommend a Squier Bronco bass highly enough, they are well made, the necks on them (I've owned half a dozen over the years) have all been excellent and super easy to play. You can pick them up around £80-100 and are far superior than the Jedson. The Bronco comes with a guitar pickup instead of a bass pickup, but don't let that put you off, it still sounds pretty decent.

I also know from experience that flatwound strings on the Squier Bronco sound great, yes, flatwound strings are expensive, but you will never have to replace them (they last 10 years plus) and are very smooth so are easier on your fingers, which makes learning and playing for longer much more fun. Some may shoot me down here, but I put full scale Fender flatwound strings (£25) on a Bronco once, and it made the bass come alive. So I would recommend them, and you will have a very decent playing and sounding beginner short scale bass.

[hooky_lowdown]

If you can find one a SX SPB62 short scale P bass is also excellent. They are very well made, and come with a standard size P pickups, which means if you wanted to upgrade them later on, that would be super easy to do.

[pete.young]

Now it's cleaned up and working you'll probably get your money back.

Looking at the bridge, it's quite possible that it requires a medium-scale string even though the playing length is short scale. If you're going to buy new strings you need to make sure you get the right speaking length, this page explains it a lot better than I could, with pictures even - https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/blog/how-to-measure-bass-scale-length/

I think you're a bit harsh on Chris Squire, I'm not sure he belongs in a metal dustbin. Besides which, you'd have to take Adam Clayton out first.

[Grahambythesea]

It looks like a toy against a long scale P.

[Reggaebass]

My first bass in 1977 was a jedson and I played in 2 reggae bands with it, and I still have it in my summerhouse and it works fine, although the jack is a bit crackly, flats would sound fine on it , and imo £80 was a bargain 🙂

[Reggaebass]

And welcome Nick 👍🙂

[NancyJohnson]

9 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

My first bass in 1977 was a jedson and I played in 2 reggae bands with it, and I still have it in my summerhouse and it works fine, although the jack is a bit crackly, flats would sound fine on it , and imo £80 was a bargain 🙂

Before I even owned my first bass (I had a classical guitar for Christmas one year...), I used to borrow the exact same bass as this from a guy who lived round the corner from me.  He also had a WEM Dominator III.  I owe a debt of gratitude to that bloke.  Simon Kellet, wherever you are, thanks!

 

[Bassassin]

I'm in the unenviable position of knowing more about this sort of thing that anyone reasonably ought to.

Most of that knowledge is so crushingly dull that I'd probably be risking a ban by sharing it uninvited, so I'll excercise uncharacteristic self-restraint and keep it largely to myself.

However, I'll leave this here:

The number at the bottom is what this cost new, in 1971-ish, but happily, despite these basses being utter, utter rubbish, this sort of thing really does happen these days:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-1970s-Tele-Telecaster-Bass-Guitar-MADE-IN-JAPAN-Teisco-Jedson-Zenta-/273901924005

So get it sold, and buy something that will make you want to play, not kill yourself with frustration!

[John Cribbin]

Ah a Jedson, legendary for all the wrong reasons ....

Personally I'd say try it and decide if a short scale is for you. If the length works for you then sell it and buy something better without forking out for the strings.

I've just picked up an Ibanez TMB 30 and it's rather impressive for a bass than you can get delivered for £144 new.

[Groove Harder]

2 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

My first bass in 1977 was a jedson and I played in 2 reggae bands with it, and I still have it in my summerhouse and it works fine, although the jack is a bit crackly, flats would sound fine on it , and imo £80 was a bargain 🙂

Also my first bass bought in the mid noughties. Electrics were foofed and the bass was proper manky. I took it all apart to clean and ended up losing half the parts 😂 ah well.

[Reggaebass]

2 minutes ago, Groove Harder said:

Also my first bass bought in the mid noughties. Electrics were foofed and the bass was proper manky. I took it all apart to clean and ended up losing half the parts 😂 ah well.

Mine just hangs on the wall now,   but back in the day I used to play mine through a , HH ic 100s head with 2x15 HH speakers , I used to rumble my mums house down 😁

[skankdelvar]

3 hours ago, Bassassin said:

The number at the bottom is what this cost new, in 1971-ish, but happily, despite these basses being utter, utter rubbish, this sort of thing really does happen these days:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-1970s-Tele-Telecaster-Bass-Guitar-MADE-IN-JAPAN-Teisco-Jedson-Zenta-/273901924005

So get it sold, and buy something that will make you want to play, not kill yourself with frustration!

£32.40 for a Jedson in 1971 is about £450 today 

(source: BoE Inflation Calculator)

[Rikki_Sixx]

Even if it's not up to much, this is a great looking bass. Loads of character.

Not only that, but by cleaning and fixing it up you probably learned loads which will serve you well in years to come!

[Bassassin]

12 hours ago, skankdelvar said:

£32.40 for a Jedson in 1971 is about £450 today 

(source: BoE Inflation Calculator)

This was J. E. Dallas & Sons' top-end bass, from the same brochure:

I'm sure it's still possible to pay £1100 for a Jazz knockoff, but these days it would have "Limelight" on the headstock an would look like someone had chucked it in the road and backed a bulldozer over it.

I'm struggling to find RRP for a real Fender J for '71 (ish), the closest I can find is an old Bell's catalogue from 1974, which lists a sunburst/rosewood/blocks Jazz at £288.

Assuming the same bass might've been around £250 in '71 (ish), that would be £3471 today.

[BreadBin]

I'm bidding on of these Jedson Teles on eBay ATM, just for wall art really.

[NancyJohnson]

5 minutes ago, Bassassin said:

This was J. E. Dallas & Sons' top-end bass, from the same brochure:

 

I'm sure it's still possible to pay £1100 for a Jazz knockoff, but these days it would have "Limelight" on the headstock an would look like someone had chucked it in the road and backed a bulldozer over it.

I'm struggling to find RRP for a real Fender J for '71 (ish), the closest I can find is an old Bell's catalogue from 1974, which lists a sunburst/rosewood/blocks Jazz at £288.

Assuming the same bass might've been around £250 in '71 (ish), that would be £3471 today.

I was searching for some old Bell Musical catalogues a few days back...these are from 1974:

[Reggaebass]

56 minutes ago, NancyJohnson said:

I was searching for some old Bell Musical catalogues a few days back...these are from 1974:

How strange NJ , I found this in the loft in an old bass case from 1977 and I was looking at it yesterday 🙂

[Bassman Sam]

 

21 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

My first bass in 1977 was a jedson and I played in 2 reggae bands with it, and I still have it in my summerhouse and it works fine, although the jack is a bit crackly, flats would sound fine on it , and imo £80 was a bargain 🙂

My first bass in 1972. Gigged to for 2 years then bought a Rickenbacker 4001 fretless. Both of them were sh!t. Bought a '75 Fender Precision in that year and never looked back.

[Rikki_Sixx]

1 hour ago, Bassman Sam said:

My first bass in 1972. Gigged to for 2 years then bought a Rickenbacker 4001 fretless. Both of them were sh!t. Bought a '75 Fender Precision in that year and never looked back.

Get this in your eBay listing if you sell it on @nick-harman! This Jedson plays as good as a Rickenbacker! 😆

[Bass Fumbler]

I’m sure it was probably rubbish but I wasn’t in a position to know any better. My second bass was  a Hondo Precision , which was truly awful! Big fat neck and an awful action, but again I didn’t know  any better.  

[BreadBin]

9 hours ago, BreadBin said:

I'm bidding on of these Jedson Teles on eBay ATM, just for wall art really.

I won it, will post pictures when I get it.

[Reggaebass]

9 hours ago, BreadBin said:

I'm bidding on of these Jedson Teles on eBay ATM, just for wall art really.

That’s what mine is now, it’s hanging up in my summerhouse, at the top of the picture, 😀