Just for fun. Let's make a list of period wrong details on Fender reissue basses.
I focus on details they could have done correctly. For example: it makes sense that a 600,- instrument doesn't have a nitro finish, or that budget japanese instruments back then had other pickups and potis. Or tuners that look very similar to Fender tuners, but don't have a Fender stemp. Let's focus on the details that should have been correct.
I start:
1. MIJ '75 reissue Jazz Bass: not the period correct logo on the headstock (they later renamed it, but it started as a '75 reissue). It has the smaller late '70s TV logo.
2. MIJ '75 Jazz: period incorrect bridge-pickup location ('60s)
3. MIM '70s Jazz bass: after Fender stopped to import mid-price instruments from Japan and switched to Mexico, some of the MIJ models were made in Mexico: now the '70s Jazz has the period correct pickup location, but the body wood is "wrong" (alder instead of ash).
4. US 1975 American Vintage Reissue Jazz Bass. It has the same period incorrect logo as the MIJ one. Later this would be changed, I'm talking about the first ten years or so after the US version was introduced.
5. MIJ Fender Noel Redding Jazz. Fantastic instrument. But: if you pay nearly the price of a US Vintage Reissue, don't get a case or even a gig bag and no nitro finish: How could they not give us the period correct Lollipop tuners???
6. Fender VI reissues. From the mexican Pawnshop to the Fender Custom Shop: they have the wrong bridge. Fender asked Fender Japan to provide them with the correct bridges, but Fender Japan refused. Imagine: you pay 3-5.000,- for a custom shop replica of a Fender instrument and get the wrong bridge!!!! The later Fender Japan Bass VI had the correct bridge.
Please continue with your own observations!
(I'm more interested in lists than in discussions)
I focus on details they could have done correctly. For example: it makes sense that a 600,- instrument doesn't have a nitro finish, or that budget japanese instruments back then had other pickups and potis. Or tuners that look very similar to Fender tuners, but don't have a Fender stemp. Let's focus on the details that should have been correct.
I start:
1. MIJ '75 reissue Jazz Bass: not the period correct logo on the headstock (they later renamed it, but it started as a '75 reissue). It has the smaller late '70s TV logo.
2. MIJ '75 Jazz: period incorrect bridge-pickup location ('60s)
3. MIM '70s Jazz bass: after Fender stopped to import mid-price instruments from Japan and switched to Mexico, some of the MIJ models were made in Mexico: now the '70s Jazz has the period correct pickup location, but the body wood is "wrong" (alder instead of ash).
4. US 1975 American Vintage Reissue Jazz Bass. It has the same period incorrect logo as the MIJ one. Later this would be changed, I'm talking about the first ten years or so after the US version was introduced.
5. MIJ Fender Noel Redding Jazz. Fantastic instrument. But: if you pay nearly the price of a US Vintage Reissue, don't get a case or even a gig bag and no nitro finish: How could they not give us the period correct Lollipop tuners???
6. Fender VI reissues. From the mexican Pawnshop to the Fender Custom Shop: they have the wrong bridge. Fender asked Fender Japan to provide them with the correct bridges, but Fender Japan refused. Imagine: you pay 3-5.000,- for a custom shop replica of a Fender instrument and get the wrong bridge!!!! The later Fender Japan Bass VI had the correct bridge.
Please continue with your own observations!
(I'm more interested in lists than in discussions)
