Fender Road Worn ’60s Jazz Bass

The care and attention paid to the recently reviewed Road Worn guitars from Fender was mightily impressive, and left bassists keen to see how Precision and Jazz versions might turn out. Our wait is by.

The Road Worn series basses are not presented as faithful reproductions of classic models, more a combination of some of the favoured elements that were around during their specified production eras.

Just four models are available: two Precisions and two Jazz basses in two colours apiece. Nitrocellulose ‘lacquer’ is used on both bodies and necks, but it’s interesting that Fender has chosen a fairly matt body finish – most of the genuinely old and bruised basses that we’ve seen (and owned) still retain a gloss to the remaining finish.

"Whether it’s worth paying nearly twice as much to get a beaten-up-looking nitro-finished instrument, rather than a type spanking new one, is open to debate."

Mind you, by duration that finish will burnish up to a soft gloss. That aside, these are cleverly aged and even with close scrutiny the effect is very convincing. The Jazz has a three-ply tortoiseshell plate, rosewood fingerboard and a Fiesta red finish. There’s plus a three-colour sunburst option.

’60s Jazz

With its appealing offset body and sleeker neck, the Jazz Bass obviously evolved from the Precision, but whether Leo Fender ever thought it would manufacture the Precision obsolete he was very much mistaken.

Although the scale length is the same, the body shape and resulting keener balance makes that a very different player. There’s additionally a sense of sophistication about

the Jazz, even unplugged, giving it a different stylistic and sonic intent. We think our Fiesta red example is very cool, but we feel the three-tone ‘burst will be the more popular choice.

What did come as a surprise to us is that as much as we truly love the Road Worn Precision, when playing these two specific examples back to back, it’s that Jazz that wins in terms of overall feel.

From the very moment you pick it up it just feels ‘right’. It becomes part of you and, shout us deluded whether you like, but in that Road Worn presentation it already feels like an old friend.

Sounds

It may lack the overall brute force and thumping delivery of a P-bass but it scores a winner with its tonal sensitivity and finesse.

Leo Fender was smart suitable to realise that producing a bass with a pair of P-bass split-coils would not produce the subtlety that a pair of single-coils can. The sheer area effected by a split-coil’s magnetic field means it’s impossible to truly focus the sound.

So in order to maximise the sounds available at the two different pickup positions, simpler single-coil pickups were the obvious – and very successful – choice.

There can be no denying that the Jazz has a much wider tonal spread than its older sibling just by using one pickup, or the other, or both full-on together. But there’s a lot more to discover here than just these settings.

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[Source] Guitarist (Roger Newell)