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Jazz Bass
Manufacturer	Fender
Period	1960 — present
Construction
Body type	Solid
Neck joint	Bolt-on
Woods
Body	Ash, alder or poplar
Neck	Maple
Fretboard	Rosewood, Pao Ferro or maple
Hardware
Bridge	Fixed
Pickup(s)	Two bipole pickups connected in parallel.
Colors available
(Standard Series, as of 2007) Brown Sunburst, Black, Midnight Wine, Arctic White, Electron Blue, Chrome Red (Deluxe Series): Montego black, Sunburst, Amber and Candy Tangerine

The Jazz Bass (or J-Bass) was the second model of electric bass guitar created by Leo Fender. The bass is distinct from the Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange with less emphasis on the fundamental harmonic. Because of this, many bass players who want to be more "forward" in the mix (including smaller bands such as power trios) prefer the Jazz Bass.^{[citation needed]}

The Fender Jazz Bass is a solid body bass guitar typically with two pickups, four strings, an adjustable bridge tailpiece, maple neck (usually with a rosewood fingerboad), alder (sometimes ash) body built with a 34 inch scale length. In vintage models, it sometimes had a removable pickup cover for style.

First introduced in 1960 as the "Deluxe Model", it was marketed as a stablemate to the Jazzmaster guitar which was also marketed as a "Deluxe Model" in its own right; however, it was renamed the Jazz Bass as Fender felt that its redesigned neck - narrower and more rounded than that of the Precision Bass - would appeal more to jazz musicians. The Jazz Bass has two single coil pickups with two pole pieces per string. This gave the bass a stronger midrange sound to compete with the Rickenbacker bass, which had been introduced in 1954 and which was famously "bright." As well as having a slightly different, less symmetrical and more contoured body shape (known in Fender advertising as the "Offset Waist Contour" body), the Jazz Bass neck is noticeably narrower at the nut than that of the Fender Precision Bass. While the Precision Bass was originally styled similarly to the Telecaster guitar (and, after 1957, the Stratocaster), the Jazz Bass' styling was inspired more by the Jazzmaster guitar, with which the Jazz shared its offset body and sculpted edges that differentiate it from other slab-style guitar bodies.

Evolution of the Fender Jazz Bass: (left to right) 1962, 1964, 1970, 1975, 2004 standard, 2004 deluxe

The original intention was to encourage upright-bass players to switch to electric bass guitar. The original Jazz Bass had two stacked knob pots with volume and tone control for each pickup. Original instruments with this stacked configuration are highly valued in today's vintage guitar market. Around 1961 it received three control knobs: two controlling the volume of each pickup and one the overall tone. Despite this new feature, many stack knob models were made until about 1962. A number of cosmetic changes were made to the instrument since CBS purchased Fender in 1965. During 1965/66 the Jazz Bass received bound rosewood fingerboards with pearloid dot position inlays (which replaced the older "clay"-style of the early '60s) and oval-shaped tuning machines. Block-shaped fingerboard inlays and an optional maple fingerboard were introduced after 1966/67. Fender switched to the 3-bolt neck fixing in the mid-'70s before reverting back to the normal 4-bolt neck fixing and dot-shaped fretboard markers in 1983. A fourth push button control is available on American-made Jazz Basses produced after mid-2003. Known as the "S-1 Switch", this feature allows the pickups to operate in standard, parallel wiring, or alternatively in series wiring when the switch is depressed. While in series, both pickups function as a single unit with one volume control, giving the Jazz Bass a sound more similar to the Precision Bass. The two pickups are built to be opposite from each other in both magnetic polarity and electrical phase, so that when heard together, hum is cancelled -- the humbucking effect. The Highway One Jazz Bass is a moderately priced American-made bass introduced in 2003, featuring a BadAss II bridge with grooved saddles, Posiflex graphite neck support rods, '70s styling and a Greasebucket tone circuit since 2006.

Although the original Jazz Bass is made by Fender, 'boutique' bass manufacturers also make bass guitars with many of the same features and some of the design sensibilities of the Fender Jazz Bass. Examples of these include Sadowsky Basses,Fclef Basses Valenti Basses, Alleva Coppolo, Celinder, Modulus Vintage series, Pensa, Suhr, and even Lakland and the Elrick New Jazz Standard, which have slightly different body shapes often to avoid copyright infringement lawsuits. In addition, low cost copies of the Jazz Bass are produced by many of the same manufacturers, and in much the same manner, as the ubiquitous strat and p-bass copies.

A typical Fender Jazz Bass headstock.

Some "Deluxe" Jazz Bass models are produced featuring active pickups rather than the traditional passive ones. In place of a single passive tone-rolloff control, these basses have three separate equalizer controls: bass and treble responses are controlled by the base and top of a stacked double pot, while midrange is controlled by a second knob. They came with 20, 21 or 22 frets and an 18-volt power supply on some models. The current range features Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups, designed by pickup designer Bill Lawrence, although earlier models carried special-design Jazz Bass single-coils with a single pole-piece per string (1995-1999) and Vintage Noiseless pickups (2000-2003). Fretless and 5-string versions are also available. Additionally, the fingerboard on these Deluxe Jazz Basses is inlaid with abalone dot markers since Fender launched the American Deluxe Series in 1998. Other refinements included a strings-through-body/top-load bridge, graphite reinforcement bars, rolled fingerboard edges, highly detailed nut and fret work. Five-string versions are presented with a 4+1 tuner arrangement and two Hipshot string trees since 2002. From 1995 to 2001 the tuners were arranged in a straight line on one side. That same year a new asymmetrical 5-bolt neck plate and a smooth contoured heel that allows much easier access to the upper registers were also unveiled, replacing the previous 4-bolt neck fixing found on American Deluxe basses manufactured during the late '90s. Bound fingerboards with pearloid block inlays were added with the introduction of the American Deluxe Jazz Bass FMT & QMT in late 2001, featuring flamed or quilted maple tops and gold-plated hardware. Fender discontinued the FMT and QMT Jazz Bass models in 2007.

The Jazz Bass has a bright funky sound, with more high end than the Precision Bass. This makes it ideal for slap playing as well as finger-style players (bassists who pluck the strings with their fingers rather than using a pick or a thumb). The sound of the fretless Jazz Bass became a classic of jazz fusion music thanks to famous bassist Jaco Pastorius. It also became a classic in the hands of bassists such as solo bassist and session musician Marcus Miller, Herbie Flowers, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Tim Commerford of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, Nikola Sarcevic of Millencolin, Verdine White of Earth, Wind, & Fire, Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone and Graham Central Station, Noel Redding, John Entwistle of The Who (in the 1960s), Geddy Lee of Rush, Chris Wolstenholme of Muse, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Les Claypool of Primus, Matt Freeman of Rancid, Chi Cheng of Deftones, Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts, Klaus Flouride of the Dead Kennedys, Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 and +44, Vicho Vox of Tinto Vox, and Adam Watson of Retravox to name but a few. Bassist Berry Oakley of The Allman Brothers Band used a Jazz Bass for the song Whipping Post. Bert Ruiter, bassist for Focus used a jazz bass throughout his tenure in the band. Nikolai Fraiture, bassist for The Strokes has been seen using the same Fender jazz bass his grandfather bought him when he was 19.

Vintage examples from the 1960s and 1970s are highly desirable.^{[citation needed]} The new models remain a popular choice today of rock, jazz, and fusion musicians.

Geddy Lee of Rush playing his signature Fender Jazz bass

In July 2005, Fender introduced its first 24-fret instrument, the Fender Jazz Bass 24. The Jazz Bass 24 featured a 34”-scale length, modern “C” shaped maple neck with rosewood fingerboard and 24 medium-jumbo frets. It is currently featured in the Fender pricelist as part of the Deluxe Series line. A 5-string version of the instrument has been introduced in 2007.

In 2005, Fender introduced the Fender Jaguar Bass. This is more or less a variation on the traditional jazz bass design - the difference being that it has additional switches to turn the jazz pickups on and off and it has a switch to turn it from an active to a passive bass.

The Jaguar bass retains the slim Jazz neck, bi-pole pickups, Jazzmaster/Jaguar body design and the trademark Jazz growl.

• Fender Jazz Bass Products Page
  • Fender Jazz Bass 24
• Virtual Jazz Bass

• Acoustic bass guitar
• Bass guitar
• Fender Precision Bass
• Fender Musical Instruments Corporation

• Bacon, Tony (2000). 50 Years of Fender: Half a Century of the Greatest Electric guitars. London: Backbeat Books. ISBN 0-87930-621-1.