Need a voice of reason: Fender Custom Shop Jaco vs Making my own via a 2007 Navigator 60s Jazz Bass

[Neon Blues]

Love it or hate it, the Fender Custom Shop Jaco has long been my dream bass. I just missed out on one a while ago.

There is one locally but the price is enormous, although within my means.

My dilemma is, to fund it, I would sell off a recently acquired reasonably high end Jazz, handmade by a well known luthier obviously plus cash I have aside.

Alternatively, there is a nicely reliced 2007 Navigator Jazz for sale for 1/3 of the price, which I could pay or do my own de-fretting and epoxy coating. If I paid for the service, I would still be looking at less than half the price of the Fender Custom Shop. This would also mean keeping the boutique Jazz.

Fender Custom Shop Jaco:

2007 Navigator Jazz:

Mailloux:

 

[ShawnG]

Navigator + luthier @ 50% cost would be the winner for me, if you think you’ll keep it.

If you’re going to flip it some day, I would consider getting the Custom Shop.

 

[ajkula66]

Love it or hate it, the Fender Custom Shop Jaco has long been my dream bass. I just missed out on one a while ago.

To me personally, this sounds like you won't be content until you get one of these. You can go with the Navigator, but the CS is likely to keep on bugging you...

Just my observation.

Good luck.

 

[gregmon79]

To me personally, this sounds like you won't be content until you get one of these. You can go with the Navigator, but the CS is likely to keep on bugging you...

Just my observation.

Good luck.

Yep.

 

[Stylee Mousse]

be like Jaco. He didnt gas himself into vapors over custom bass

 

[Coldmilk]

Just fyi, he definitely did not do the epoxy coating himself, regardless of what Jaco has said. I guarantee you that countless Jazz Basses have been ruined in the pursuit of this “right of passage”, myself included.

 

[ToddB1963]

Although the Jaco CS fretless undoubtedly sounds good, this is a no-brainer. Firstly, the cookie cutter relic job on the Jaco leaves a lot to be desired. The nitro looks like it's been hacked off with a Stanley knife, rather than made to look like it's flaked off from normal wear 'n tear. There's no way I'd pay the asking price for one of those. Buy the navigator (as long as it is in good order), get a luthier to do the rest and keep you high-end custom Jazz.

 

[Neon Blues]

Although the Jaco CS fretless undoubtedly sounds good, this is a no-brainer. Firstly, the cookie cutter relic job on the Jaco leaves a lot to be desired. The nitro looks like it's been hacked off with a Stanley knife, rather than made to look like it's flaked off from normal wear 'n tear. There's no way I'd pay the asking price for one of those. Buy the navigator (as long as it is in good order), get a luthier to do the rest and keep you high-end custom Jazz.

Yeah I agree. Thanks folks, you’ve convinced me.

 

[MIJ Enjoyer]

Love it or hate it, the Fender Custom Shop Jaco has long been my dream bass. I just missed out on one a while ago.

There is one locally but the price is enormous, although within my means.

My dilemma is, to fund it, I would sell off a recently acquired reasonably high end Jazz, handmade by a well known luthier obviously plus cash I have aside.

Alternatively, there is a nicely reliced 2007 Navigator Jazz for sale for 1/3 of the price, which I could pay or do my own de-fretting and epoxy coating. If I paid for the service, I would still be looking at less than half the price of the Fender Custom Shop. This would also mean keeping the boutique Jazz.

Fender Custom Shop Jaco:

View attachment 7016339

2007 Navigator Jazz:

View attachment 7016338

Mailloux:

View attachment 7016343

Here’s my story:

Tried Squire fretless put it down pretty quick, tried Jaco Signature and hated it, tried Custom Shop signature, did not like it either.

Then I decided to go with Vanzandt, an MIJ brand that I’ve always trusted. Never looked back since. Stick with that Navigator.

 

[jimmydean]

The CS bass is nice but not great and the price is $2000.00 too much . Take your shot with the 2007 and good luck .

 

[NickyBass]

There is one locally but the price is enormous, although within my means.

Have you played it? It's such a personal process. The only thing I can say is to go and play it. That should tell you a lot. If you love it in every way, then you might be disappointed with anything else. If it's just 'nice' then I'm sure you can find something else. There are so many builders these days. I haven't played them, but you have Nash and Bluesman Vintage. And then Olinto, Moolon and AC.

 

[BadB]

Why not just buy the Fender Jaco Signature jazz? It's reasonably priced vs the CS model.

 

[REV]

I would agree with NickyBass. I would also ask if you play fretless bass on your gigs or if you just dig that Jaco vibe (not there is anything wrong with that). I always think about how many gigs I will have to do to pay for a bass. I look at them as tools and I need them to do my work. Also, since Fenders are notoriously inconsistent (good ones and not so good ones) as NickyBass has said "have you played it". If I was going to spend that much money on a bass (any bass) I would play it first.

 

[sears]

The only problem with your Navigator scheme is that you might get it and decide it's perfect as it is.

 

[J-Bass RMR]

Love it or hate it

It's an epoxy-coated fretless jazz - what's to hate?

I wouldn't get hung up over relicing.
I "updated" my CS Jaco to my preferences; Celluloid tort guard, stack knobs and Avella Copollo pickups. (I have not dillusions of "being Jaco")

I got it in 2000 - Fender US didn't offer a fretless US Jazz (or at least they hadn't, and if they did by that point, I wasn't aware of it - we didn't have TalkBass back then!) So when I found out about the custom shop version- that was it!

It was a lot of $ back then (about 1/2 what they are now) but a few years later - it didn't matter.
It's not an "investment" (IMO: basses do not make "good" financial investments) but it - especially a custom shop - is an asset that likely won't depreciate over time.

Just fyi, he definitely did not do the epoxy coating himself, regardless of what Jaco has said. I guarantee you that countless Jazz Basses have been ruined in the pursuit of this “right of passage”, myself included.

You can add me to that club;
I thought I ruined my fretless P in '82 w/petites boat epoxy, so it sat in it's case for 2 - 3 years.
Fortunately, I must have used linseed oil on the fingerboard some time before I "upgraded" it wit the epoxy - so the epoxy had started to separate, and I was able to peel/chip it off without harm to the fingerboard (which needed to be dressed in the 1st place). I got really lucky!

 

[moon-bass]

You can add me to that club;
I thought I ruined my fretless P in '82 w/petites boat epoxy, so it sat in it's case for 2 - 3 years.
Fortunately, I must have used linseed oil on the fingerboard some time before I "upgraded" it wit the epoxy - so the epoxy had started to separate, and I was able to peel/chip it off without harm to the fingerboard (which needed to be dressed in the 1st place). I got really lucky!

+1 om this as well. Defretting is not easy, nor is it quick or fun, plus the right tools are pretty much needed - at least if you want to avoid chips in the wood. Then, filling the frets is also a PITA, not quick or fun. I've never defretted a bass, but I've covered quite a few in epoxy, CA, poly ... with mixed results. There is a lot of prep work, and especially with epoxy there are a lot of things to think about - oily boards, adhesion, bubble, flaking, improper curing ... I never ruined a bass, but in the end I decided it was much better to use multiple coats of a hardening oil. and if I really want epoxy (which I did for one of my Fenders that was already fretless) then I had a pro do it - and he did it right!

HTH and good luck!

 

[NeonVomit]

Voice of reason? Ok, get a Mexican Fender, pull off the scratchplate and hit it with a belt sander a few times and you won't tell the difference.

 

[nonohmic]

Why not just buy the Fender Jaco Signature jazz? It's reasonably priced vs the CS model.

This is what I went with. And I love the bass. The nitro wears in well and before you know it you have a Jaco, but with your own wear and tear. But of your two choices that's actually a tough one. Sounds like you really want to try the CS - they often come up on here for around $3500, could you wait for that and then try it and flip it if you don't like it? By all reports the necks on them are otherworldly.

Plenty of MIJ and other sunburst relic'ed jazzes around if you decide to flip it and go cheaper later.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

Played one or two Jaco signatures. They weren't amazing. I think dead spots on at least one of the necks. While the price is tremendous, and there is a tremendous legacy and symbology about the instrument, aside from whatever return policy, you are not guaranteed to get a bass that in it's own fundamentals will simply sing, resonate or play as well as Jaco's. Get familiar with purchase and return policies and choose wisely, particularly if considering tying your money and buying power up with a Custom Shop instrument.

 

[friskinator]

This happened to me with the CS Pino. Wanted one for years, then finally pulled the trigger on a used one. It's a really nice instrument, but after spending a little time with it, it didn't seem worth the $3500 (used) price tag. I ended up selling it for what I paid and replaced it with its Squier CV clone at a tenth of the price.