Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Fender Jazz grounding strip geek-out


nige1968
 Share

Recommended Posts

If the thread title drew your eye, you’re no doubt aware that early 1960s Jazz Basses had a top-mounted brass earthing strip running from bridge pickup to bridge, visible when the ashtray is removed.

True bass geeks will also have spotted that there are at least two versions of this now-decorative strip on 1960s RI basses: the Japanese (thinner, running at a slight angle) and the American (fatter, running straight (perpendicular to bridge / pickup).

Oddly, an unscientific trawl of genuine original 1960s Fender basses seems to indicate that the Japanese style is more accurate.

Can anyone shed any light on the discrepancy? And for bonus points, when exactly did the change to internal grounding happen?

(With thanks to virus panic for finally allowing me time to pose this long-pondered but horrifyingly trivial question).

Thin strip:

B9AA1849-45C3-4C73-A3C6-2099A899A4C2.thumb.jpeg.3b84dc4f281954229f1c2e81f57995c3.jpeg

Thick strip: 

700338FB-8F01-4D94-8395-A1D3AC998572.thumb.jpeg.cb2cb20b006660dba4e8abb503d9cedb.jpeg

(Both basses pictured are said to be genuine 1962 instruments)

Edited by nige1968
Pics
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 17/03/2020 at 12:08, hooky_lowdown said:

I'm guessing as these were made by hand back then, the difference is due to different people doing the strip - nothing more than that.

This sounds like a very reasonable and likely answer. I love the question and looking forward to many more trivial questions over the coming months.

 

I'm wondering why the Japanese reissues copy the less symmetrical look? You'd expect them to go with the uniform/perpendicular style.. Perhaps (inner pedant speaking), having it at an angle gives slightly more surface area at the contact points which achieves a microscopically better result? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks both! So we think it’s down to whichever width of wire they had in that day? Maybe the Japanese designers were working from a particular reference model (though that doesn’t explain the machine heads)?
Anyone know which year they went over to internal grounding?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, fingerz said:

I'm wondering why the Japanese reissues copy the less symmetrical look? You'd expect them to go with the uniform/perpendicular style.. Perhaps (inner pedant speaking), having it at an angle gives slightly more surface area at the contact points which achieves a microscopically better result? 

Probably due to the imperial and metric measuring systems being slightly different.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...