Fender Jazz Bass (1969)

This classic bass is an American made machine. The 69 jazz bass has a rosewood fingerboard (which changed to maple in the 1970s, making a 60s P-Bass preferable to some people). The bass has an alder body. The fingerboard is narrower than other basses, like the P-bass. There are two pickups which have two pole pieces for each string. There is a knob for volume, two tone knobs, and a three-way pickup selector switch, all of which are located at the bottom of the guitar. There is a 34" scale.

UTILIZATION

This bass plays very well. The fretboard is narrower than most basses, and therefore a little bit easier to maneuver around. The bass feels a lot more naturally melodic than some other basses I can think of. The bass is actually quite heavy in terms of weight, and wearing this without a supportive strap can definitely hurt those who have back problems.

SOUNDS

The Jazz bass has a lighter sound than that of the Precision bass, and many other basses which have been modeled closely after the P-Bass. The sound is lighter, with more emphasis placed on the lighter frequencies, giving the bass a warmer, more natural sound. Therefore, I would say that this bass would be nice for Jazz and lighter R&B. If you are looking for a more powerful, thump kind of sound, this probably isn't your best bet. I would go with something else for that. The idea that Leo Fender had with this bass was to produce an electric bass that more closely resembled that of an acoustic double bass. While nobody would probably ever mistake the sound of this with an actual double bass, I think that it definitely resembles the feel of that instrument more than the average electric bass guitar does.

OVERALL OPINION

I like this J-Bass more than any other similarly-modeled bass I've played. I'd say that the obvious advantage that this bass has over the later J-basses is the rosewood fingerboard, which I'm partial to. There's also something about older instruments that makes them unique, and somehow this 69 bass has aged really well. A highly melodic, warm sounding instrument, if you can find one of these at a decent price, I'd highly recommend it.