A rescue story…Fender Modern Player Jazz

[AndyTravis]

Spending lots of time and money in local

studIo recently.

 

We rehearse there weekly and have always used his spaces.

 

For a long time he’s had a modern player Fender Jazz on the wall and I recall thinking they were ace (the mk2/satin/switch version…)

 

it’s always bugged me that it looked like it had crappy strings on it and half the pickguard film hanging off. It was basically unused wall art (owner is a vocalist and guitarist).

 

A couple of weeks ago - went to pay for the session and noticed that cool bass was gone.

 

Bah, nicked/sold/in a case?

 

Didn’t ask any more about it.

 

On Sunday we were doing tidy ups on some new tracks and I saw what I thought was a black strat body in amongst some broken gear (stands/drum skins).

 

And then a neck,,,headstock down… so just heel in the air.

 

Its the jazz. 

pulled the neck out…it’s gone semi Headless..

 

”gah, that’s some tumble…bet the body is smashed to bits”

 

pull it out.

 

not a mark on it - just covered in dust.

 

spoke with owner, negotiated a fee for removal of this “trashed bass”.

 

And set about seeing what to do.

 

Neck is bloloxed…chunks missing from the break (looked clean at first) and the lacquer is shattered around the break point like shards of glass. It will go in the bin wonderfully - I clamped and glued it but it’s an ex-neck at this point.

 

A good luthier would charge £100 to make it work, £50/£60 to overspray and it would still bother me. So…UPGRADE TIME!

 

Roasted Maple Fender Player neck on the way…

 

Arrives in the next day or two.

 

 

 

 

[Guest]

Fantastic!  That looks a fairly clean break, an easy repair if you ever decided to.

[Pea Turgh]

Has the neck pocket got woodworm?

[AndyTravis]

1 minute ago, Bassfinger said:

Fantastic!  That looks a fairly clean break, an easy repair if you ever decided to.

There’s a bit of work to do to

make that right - I made an attempt but as the body was basically brand new…thought it deserved a good new neck

[AndyTravis]

Just now, Pea Turgh said:

Has the neck pocket got woodworm?

Think they’re various holes from painting process - none go through the pocket.

 

Odd but there we go 🤣

[OllyW]

On 09/03/2022 at 23:06, AndyTravis said:

Roasted Maple Fender Player neck on the way…

Just a word of caution, your tuners from the old broken neck may not fit. The holes are smaller than most Mexican Fender necks, so if the bushings seem tight don’t force them in as roasted maple is prone to cracking as one unlucky guy on Talkbass found out.

I ended up going with Hipshot Ultralights on mine.

 

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/tuner-bushings.1416584/

Edited March 13, 2022 by OllyW

[AndyTravis]

@OllyWi had read this - will see what’s what. I’m not rushing with it as I’ve not got anything on with the band this week.

 

is the back of the head pre drilled for machineheads?

[OllyW]

10 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

@OllyWi had read this - will see what’s what. I’m not rushing with it as I’ve not got anything on with the band this week.

 

is the back of the head pre drilled for machineheads?

No, so you are free to use any tuners that fit.

[Daz39]

Ooh I fancied a Modern Player when they first came out:  didn’t they have toggles for coil switching? 

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, Daz39 said:

Ooh I fancied a Modern Player when they first came out:  didn’t they have toggles for coil switching? 

 

No, they had a rotary switch that had coil and pickup switching options.

[Geek99]

I think you should put a strat neck on, and some horseshoes and list it on eBay as a new invention, like he who shall not be named 

[AndyTravis]

4 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

No, they had a rotary switch that had coil and pickup switching options.

The first version was just vvt with two double jazz pickups - glossy finish.

 

The second version (like this one) had the rotary.

 

im going to offer up existing machineheads (gently) and then make a decision.

 

Neck has arrived.

 

feels like it weighs less than the original neck.

[LukeFRC]

3 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

feels like it weighs less than the original neck.

less than a neck with no headstock!  

 

[Grahambythesea]

Good recycling project 👍🏼. May be the smashed neck would make an art project 🤣

[AndyTravis]

Sooo…yeah. Looks like I’m ordering the hipshot ultralights.

 

Neck holes are pre drilled. A little wax and pre fit screw check…all good.

 

but I’m not getting into pressing the bushes in.

 

Will be a nice bass when it’s done.

 

Needs a good clean still.

[AndyTravis]

14 minutes ago, Grahambythesea said:

Good recycling project 👍🏼. May be the smashed neck would make an art project 🤣

Yeah @Owenhas claimed the neck

[Grahambythesea]

Nice grain on the neck.

[AndyTravis]

7 minutes ago, Grahambythesea said:

Nice grain on the neck.

Yeah - feels nice, smooth satin on the back.

 

4 clover 1/2” ultralights on order.

 

total spend on the fix is a bit high. But never bin a good bass.

 

need to find my draw full of pickguard screws.

 

 

[Owen]

1 hour ago, AndyTravis said:

Yeah @Owenhas claimed the neck

I have, but Art is a bit higher than I can aspire to!

[AndyTravis]

So close.

 

unfortunately…got lots of follow up work to do after a bad day at work.

 

anyhow…at some point…

 

The Modern player will be fully rescued.

 

Thanks to @OllyWfor the heads up on the tuning pegs.

[AndyTravis]

Holding off for tonight.

 

worked 7.30-4 and then 5.30-9 and I’m seeing numbers and letters with a migraine the size of Canada.

 

 I’m sorry it’s not the finish line. 
 

😣

[LukeFRC]

27 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

Holding off for tonight.

 

worked 7.30-4 and then 5.30-9 and I’m seeing numbers and letters with a migraine the size of Canada.

 

 I’m sorry it’s not the finish line. 
 

😣

Facebook would have a "care" emoji

[Pea Turgh]

That looks great, Andy.

 

I love the way chrome on roasted maple looks like a person with a heavy tan and shiny white teeth (in a good way).

[AndyTravis]

 

Can’t find my nut files 😒

[Doctor J]

Nice. Are they the same pickups that were in the Roscoe Beck model? Is there scope for coil serial/parallel shenanigans? It would be a cool platform to really mod the crap out of.