'96 MIM Jazz Bass, worth it?

U

ulgen

Mar 9, 2014
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#1
Hello Everyone!

I was looking for a Fender Jazz Bass to buy and there is some guy near my home happening to sell a 96' MIM.

I was actually going to go for an unused player series jazz bass, but this '96 MIM is only half the price, and I am a bit tight on the budget.

He claims that it is in good condition and stuff. If that is the case, would you suggest me to go for it? How do you compare a '96 MIM Jazz bass to a brand new player series jazz bass in built quality and soundwise? What I know is that during those years Fender had MIJ jazz basses and MIMs are the lowest in quality, but I don't how they are compared to new player series.

Thank you for the help!!
 
#2
The MIM Jazz Basses are generally well worth their cost, but there may be little things to deal with along the way. I experienced slipping bridge saddles. There are several easy fixes for that, I upgraded the bridge. Another thing was the plastic nut broke so I had a nice bone nut installed. Aside from that it performed very well. I gigged the hell out of it. It’s a keeper.
 
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#4
ulgen said:
Hello Everyone!

I was looking for a Fender Jazz Bass to buy and there is some guy near my home happening to sell a 96' MIM.

I was actually going to go for an unused player series jazz bass, but this '96 MIM is only half the price, and I am a bit tight on the budget.

He claims that it is in good condition and stuff. If that is the case, would you suggest me to go for it? How do you compare a '96 MIM Jazz bass to a brand new player series jazz bass in built quality and soundwise? What I know is that during those years Fender had MIJ jazz basses and MIMs are the lowest in quality, but I don't how they are compared to new player series.

Thank you for the help!!
Click to expand...

Can you try it out first? Any specific instrument can have good or bad quality. You could buy a brand new one with problems. Compare pricing online, play it, check it out and make an offer if you like it!
 
#5
You're basically talking the same bass, just used vs. new. Both series are MIM and made in the same factory to more or less the same specs for the same market. They renamed the Standard series to Player in 2018 and with it came a bunch of marketing materials, but no real substantive changes.

If you're ok with the look, I'd check out the used one. If it's in the condition stated, you save some dough. If not, then spring for the new one and choose your color. Nothing to lose.
 
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#7
I would buy the used one and use the difference in price to do some upgrades. You will end up with a better bass that way (assuming the 96 doesn't have some serious issues).
 
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#8
I bought a '97 MIM Jazz new (in '98) and didn't care for the stock pickups, but since the bridge pickup is the same size as the neck pickup, that drastically limited my options for replacement pickups. You could use two neck pickups, but you won't have any noise cancelation. Bartolini made a set specifically for the MIM Jazz (they're the only ones who did, as far as I know), but I didn't like those much better, and I highly doubt they make them anymore. You might like the stock pickups, though. I had a friend who loved the sound of that bass and frequently asked to borrow it for gigs, so your milage may vary.

Otherwise, it was a fine bass. Mine was on the heavy side, though (about 11 lbs), and I did replace the flimsy stock bridge with a Badass II. While it added about a half a pound to the weight, it made a big difference in tone.
 
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#9
Thanks everyone for the input!!! Just got a 2011 MIM Jazz bass, it was in a much better condition than the one from 94’. The bridge pickup was swapped with a noiseless N3, so with these given I can say that it is such an awesome bass!!

I own a rickenbacker 4003 and had a precision bass before. I think because of the neck profile jazz bass is much less tiring for the fretting hand!!
 
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