Musical instruments have evolved according to the tastes of each era and the genius of those who successfully redesigned them. History has recorded true masters who were able to envision a new strategy for improvement that we musicians have been grateful for for many years afterward. One of the most celebrated of these breakthroughs was undoubtedly the advance Mozart drove in the 16th century when he created his "Piano Forte,"
adding, among other things, 3 strings per note instead of 1 to the keyboards being built up to that time. It marked a brilliant milestone that still applies to almost all "analog" pianos...
It seems that as early as 1932 Adolph Rickenbacker patented in the United States what is considered the first "electric guitar," which consisted of a fretted "classical Spanish" guitar to which he had attached a magnetic pickup he himself had created a year earlier, later releasing new, more refined models under his name, as GIBSON did as well.
Leo Fender, the great creator
Leo Fender was born on August 10, 1909, in Fullerton (California, USA), and from a very young age he stood out as a real "handyman." Interested in electronics, he "gutted" everything that came into his hands to learn how it worked.
His first job was as an accountant for a company called Highway, but given his skills, he soon left and set up his own company under the name FENDER RADIO SERVICE. There he mainly repaired radios, amplifiers and electric guitars that he hadn't invented..., but he took them apart, studied them thoroughly and, very successfully and in his own way, "perfected" them back then.
In 1946 Leo Fender designed his own solid-body electric guitar, which he called the "Broadcaster." It was soon in such demand that in 1950 he decided to create his new company, called the FENDER ELECTRIC INSTRUMENT MANUFACTURING COMPANY, for its mass launch. The model had a solid wood body to which he bolted a neck (later he would also build them with the neck and body as a single, unified piece), with 2 pickups instead of just 1 as had been the norm until then, and a 3-way selector, in different colors and attractive designs.
The following year, 1951, he refined his electric guitar design and named it the Telecaster®, since the earlier name had already been trademarked by his competitor GRETSCH (another company that was also making its own electric guitars at the time), which even sued FENDER. As a result, Leo released a short run of guitars called the "NO-CASTER," which are very rare today and for which their lucky collectors now pay enormous prices.
The "TELECASTER," 55 years later, is still the object of sensational longing for countless guitarists around the world who aspire to own one to play regularly and name it as one of their favorites. Almost all the other manufacturers' brands likewise try to imitate it.
Many people think Leo Fender was a guitarist, but it seems he didn't usually play the instrument, though he did play the saxophone... By 1954 he "refined" his designs, introducing his new "STRATOCASTER" model. It features an effective "whammy bar" (until then poorly designed by others among the competition), now with a 5-way selector, since it also added a third, middle pickup.
Due to illness, he sold his company to CBS in 1965 for 13 million dollars, though he didn't pass away until 1991. Even so, he remained fully successful as a creator during those intervening years, in which he was involved with other companies, which have multiplied exponentially and are still commercially thriving. Other sub-brands, such as SQUIER, were born in this way, with the same philosophy.
FENDER's most prestigious range is the one made in the United States, followed by those made in Mexico and Korea, among other countries.
FENDER PRECISION BASS
In 1951 Leo Fender designed his first guitar-shaped bass. As the story goes, until then the double basses musicians normally used didn't have "frets," so Leo came up with the idea that by putting "frets" on the neck, notes could be played "with precision"... and so he gave that name to this particular model. Its use gave rise among musicians to new ways of playing, especially more rhythmic ones, with revolutionary and remarkably creative styles.
Its body had a "pickup" attached, similar to the ones he designed for guitars, but in this case with only 4 magnets (one for each string). Its neck, with a 34-inch (864 mm) scale, was thought to resemble that of a "cello." This was an idea of Leo's that has since been taken as the standard by almost everyone. At first, he used piano strings for this instrument. He redesigned the headstock where they were strung and, curiously, at first they were strung the other way around...
FENDER JAZZ BASS
It was in 1960 that Leo Fender "perfected" his bass model, calling it the JAZZ BASS. He reduced the width of the nut, now narrower (38 mm, while on the Precision it was 42 to 44 mm), and with it the neck became sleeker and more comfortable, though it kept the same 34-inch scale.
He also added an extra pickup to it, for a total of two, one near the fingerboard and one near the bridge, expanding its range of sounds from a "bright" type to the "fattest." To control the sound, he placed 3 pots on the body: 2 to adjust the volume from each pickup independently and another shared by both to control the tone.
The 1962 FENDER JAZZ BASS
It came into my hands in Spain in 1963, and I still have it, now repainted 3 times, currently in "bone white." Originally it had the combined "reddish/black" finish characteristic of Fender's early period. I also replaced its two pickups with "DiMarzio" units with individual pole pieces; of course I've kept the original Fender pickups, which were hand-wound, as they haven't been made for a long time now.
This instrument, which was made in the USA, was hard to import into Spain back then, and it first passed through Germany, with which we had better (relatively speaking) trade relations. A special office run from Madrid by the then-resident former President of Argentina, Juan Domingo Perón (the one with Evita...), acted as intermediary. In the end, the import turned out to be "so complicated" that they never sent me the invoice for the instrument, which is why I always ended up saying it was actually a gift from that same former President...
I've talked to many legendary musicians, and everything suggests that this FENDER JAZZ BASS, which I still own, was the first to come into Spain.
I've enjoyed it and continue to do so to no end. I've made countless recordings and performances with it on a great many stages; it has never let me down.
The first time I took it apart to change its color, because the original finish had aged so much (similar to the one Jaco Pastorius used most), I couldn't find anyone who could restore that original color combination Leo Fender designed them with, so I decided to have it done (by a professional) in a single uniform color on the body, choosing "bone white," which was more novel at the time.
When I rewired its 2 pickups, "by mistake" I wired them "backwards" rather than in parallel (positive to positive), and when I played it again and amplified the signal, I found that it sounded much more powerful than before, with a certain "striking roundness." It then occurred to me to add a new device or switch to the bass body, wiring the pickups through it so that in one position of the switch the two pickups would be "in phase" and in the other "out of phase" (which is the one where it "gained more power"). Ever since, that last position is the one I use most with this instrument, which so many people have told me they love.
From the '80s on, I've come across a few other models, from other brands too, that carry this kind of device, which I didn't copy from anyone... With active circuits, this kind of "natural gain..." stopped being "necessary."
The 1982 FENDER JAZZ BASS
This one is also American, but acquiring a genuine one was less complicated this time (not many people here will be interested in the details of how I got it...), in a beautiful "satin wood" finish.
Apparently, the body and neck have exactly the same dimensions as the '62, but aesthetically some details have changed. For example, the mother-of-pearl inlays on the neck are no longer round but rectangular, much larger, and it also has side markers along the neck, which the legendary '62 didn't have. The 3 pots now have a different design, even labeled with numbers from one to ten, and the "tone" knob is now the same size and type as the two "volume" knobs. The pickups have dual-coil pole pieces and are still covered by two metal plates, under which there are mutes to dampen the string vibrations. Like almost everyone, I removed them (from the '62 as well), because with today's highly refined, "semi-bright" string sets, I prefer to take advantage of the harmonics and subharmonics that occur when they ring "open, without mutes." And if needed, I can always dampen their vibration at will with the palm of my hand or between my fingers, as the moment calls for, rather than being forced to by a "fixed" mute "system."
The bridge on this '82 is still very similar to the original on the '62, although the way each string rests on it is not: in the original design it sat on a threaded iron rod, and now each string has its own dedicated groove, preventing unwanted sideways movement.
The headstock hasn't changed here, but the shafts of each tuning key (4) have; they now sit closer to the headstock (each tuning key's shaft is about 1 centimeter shorter).
On the '62, on the back there is a rectangular metal plate (the one covering the screws that fasten the neck to the body) showing only the serial number. On the '82, this plate changes shape, now semi-oval, bearing the FENDER "F," while the patent number and serial number have been moved to the front of the headstock, which also says "made in USA." The '82 also has a new adjustment rod running the whole length of the neck up to the headstock, where we could adjust the tension of the neck's curvature, something not recommended to touch, and only if absolutely necessary, and only by experts.
Its sound is still excellent (on this one I've kept its original pickups and everything it came with), although that depends a lot on the string set installed and on the amplifier its signal is sent to.
The new 2006 FENDER JAZZ BASS
The story goes that when Philip II finished the final touches on the construction of his Monastery at El Escorial, the people's most critical comments about his pharaonic project were that, with so much spending on it, he had left his kingdom's coffers nearly empty. Outraged by such comments, Philip II ordered that the last brick laid in the building be "solid gold," on the grounds that "with what was still left over from the budget, he had come up short...".
I don't know whether that anecdote influenced the Americans at Fender, but the fact is that on this model they've prominently set "A DIAMOND," a "REAL ONE," in the middle of the headstock, which certainly doesn't affect its musical performance, only, if anything, its looks.
The color of its finish is quite reminiscent of those first ones from the '60s, with the edges of the body painted in a gradient running from black at the edge to bright red and toward yellow in the center. To evoke those early models even more faithfully, the knobs on the body (which control the two volumes and the tone of the 2 pickups) are back without the screen printing or numbers that appeared on the '82 model and that weren't on the originals (like my '62).
Really, when you're playing the Jazz Bass in the position the musician holds it against their body, it's quite hard to see those numbers, so they're only useful when turning the knobs "by feel"; so it wasn't an oversight...
The shape of the headstock is very similar to that of the two previous models, but its keys sit further in, similar to what they did in the '80s and not like the '60s ones, whose keys had shafts about a centimeter longer.
Although the body shape is quite similar to that of its predecessors, its weight has been reduced considerably and its thickness slimmed down a little more, which is barely noticeable at first glance from the outside.
The mother-of-pearl inlays along some of the frets on its neck are round again this time (like on the '60s model), but now they also appear on the side, in the musician's line of sight, similar to the '80s model (and unlike the '60s ones, which didn't have them). In practice, this detail can often be helpful, especially in the first months of use, because over time you'll learn to handle this instrument almost entirely by feel, as one with the player's own body, as if it were part of you... It's so smooth and subtle that playing this bass is like constantly caressing something.
On the back, the small rectangular metal plate is back, as on the earliest models. Engraved on it, in English, is "Diamond Anniversary 1946-2006" and a highly ornate number "60." But now the serial number is in "a new place...": "under the headstock."
At last, on this model, the metal covers over each of the 2 pickups are gone. A whole world of musicians seems to have agreed that they aren't practical, only cosmetic, since without them we can play better with the harmonics produced when playing the strings, because their combinations of sounds are very often pleasing, even when sounding them together from several strings, as if forming certain chords.
The strings fitted on the model that came into my hands are a fairly bright type, just as I like them, with a pleasant, not at all aggressive winding. The low string sounds delicious and quite well defined, which isn't the case on every bass guitar and, of course, is an important detail for me. I'd say this low string even sounds more precise than on the previous models.
And finally, "a smart new feature": the strings no longer anchor at the end of the bridge, as Fender had done for many years. Now they're strung through the back of the body; that is, they've drilled 4 holes through the body to feed the 4 strings through from the back, one by one. This way they rest on the bridge with greater precision and tension. I thought it was a smart decision, one that some competing manufacturers had already come up with on some of their models. This method, now applied to this latest model, may well be the reason the low string sounds more precise.
Its electronic circuit is simple but effective. Adding an active circuit at this point wouldn't hurt, although it really wouldn't be essential for most of the playing we can do with this Jazz Bass just as it comes.
My tests on a frequency analyzer
In my lab I individually tested all three on an electronic frequency analyzer, which doesn't measure the volume their pickups deliver, but rather the spectrum or frequency range each string produces when plucked "open" (without fretting any note), on each model with its controls at maximum gain.
We'll see somewhat wider dynamics on the "2006 anniversary model," quite noticeable on the 2nd string (compared with the other 2 models), and even on the 3rd compared with the '62 model.
A more pronounced gain can be seen around the 240 Hz band (logical for an instrument that plays music in bass clef), with rich harmonics reaching almost 8 kHz.
Keep in mind that the signal taken from these basses to the analyzer is completely "flat," and that in any case we could push the result by inserting any kind of preamp, equalizer or effects between the bass and an amplifier, which would immediately widen this frequency range at the top and bottom, depending on the musical style being played. But in most cases, simply sending the signal from these models to any suitable amplifier will be enough to get optimal quality results, without further ado, from an instrument that plays the role of the double bass.
My conclusions
I've always been passionate about the FENDER JAZZ BASS, which is why my collection includes no fewer than two of this same model, although I should note that my '62 wasn't my first bass guitar: before that I had two KUSTOM basses that I ended up selling when I got the '62, because "there was a big difference...", since those produced a certain kind of feedback (and that was back when amplifiers weren't very powerful); though aesthetically they also looked very good.
A Fender bass has never embarrassed me; if anything, quite the opposite. And they're so smooth, especially with such a slender neck on the Jazz Basses, that playing these models is like giving a velvety caress to something that many people tend to associate with something sexual... And if you complement it with the right amplifier, the pleasure can really bring you close to something more orgasmic...
