This was my first fretless bass and I have to say that not only am I impressed, as always, with the quality, but I wish it hadn't taken me 35 years to try fretless.

affprod owns this item

I love this Bass!! From the gorgeous 3 tone sunburst finish, full sounding Single coil vintage pick ups, smooth fast playing aged finish neck with Pau Ferro Fret board, I also like how Fender put the side marker dots on the fret lines. (for those who have never played a fretless, you have to play your notes on the fret line & this makes it easy)
This bass also has a great vintage feel, the Jaco Fretless Jazz Bass comes with a Vintage style American made G&G light Brown vintage case with plush interior. Inside the case there's a vintage style strap & a cable. You also get the following unmounted items, a vintage pick up cover, a bridge cover with mutes & a tortoise shell pick guard ...... Nice Touch & a great Bass that honors a great Bass legend.

James Coderre owns this item

I do not own an actual 1962 Jazz Bass, so I can't compare this reissue to an actual vintage bass. I own a 1977, and have owned a 1983 Jazz as well. This bass is well built, light and very resonant. The pick-ups sound very full, the neck feels wonderful and fast. and the nickle plating is a wonderful alternative to cold chrome. The semi figurative grain on the body showed beautifully through the well applied transparent sunburst. I am not sure why Fender used Pau Ferro as a finger board wood since Fender did not offer such an option in 1962, though I do know it is better tone wise(for fret-less) than rosewood. Not sure as to why, but many luthiers choose Pau Ferro for that very application. Having a coated fingerboard certainly helps against wear, though I believe Fender really should have used a thick, tougher epoxy like Jaco did, and not the poly varnish they decided upon. Using round wound strings (like Jaco, he never used flat wounds!!!!) the varnish began to chip and flake off. Not really acceptable in a passive, standard wood bass that retails for well over $2000. I found the nut was not at all well cut: a properly filed nut is very critical in a fretless, especially if you are seeking the "mwah" tone Jaco is known for. The mwah factor comes from the string buzzing evenly along the finger board. I also found the fingerboard to be improperly planed, having what I can describe as a "hump" at the body end of the neck. To have a proper fretless set-up you need a very straight neck with as little relief as possible. This was not possible so I had Harris Thor re-plane the neck and coat the finger board with proper epoxy. The Custom Shop Jaco bass is coated with epoxy, not poly, BTW. Overall a great instrument but at this price point Fender seriously needs to pay attention to the details. It is what makes an expensive instrument desirable, and why they cost so much! That being said, I will never sell my bass now that it is playing as it should; I still grin when I pick it up.
Álvaro L. Torres

hypersloth owns this item