1998 Jazz Bass (2002 for reals)

If I could have a new bass guitar what kind would I get? How about a Stingray? Or maybe a Lakland. Wait, I know. A Fender Jazz bass. A five-stringer, obviously. As a practical matter I wouldn’t likely pony up for the American Ultra. They want (and get) over $2,000 for those babies. But at the same time I wouldn’t be slumming it in Squier-ville. No, for me it would be a Mexican-made Fender Jazz.

Thus was my thinking about a week ago when I sat down to peruse the online market for used Jazz bases. Mostly I saw things I wanted at prices I wasn’t ready to pay, and things I didn’t want at prices I could pay. Situation normal. Even for the used market. But then something caught my eye. A 1998 Mexican Fender Deluxe Active Jazz V.  For $480. Shipped.  With a hard case. In very good condition, with lots of photos to prove it.

I bought it within minutes. The ad had only been up for one day. I doubt it would have lasted another 24 hours at that price.

I just bought a 22 year old instrument. I hope the frets aren’t too worn. The seller says he owned it for the last 15 years and that he never gigged it. It stayed in his home for home studio work and practice.

I began to take a closer look at the vintage. 1998. I wasn’t even 30 years old then. One thing I discovered is that the bass guitars made by Fender between the years 1997 and 2000 were largely designed by a guy named John Suhr. He went on to produce boutique instruments that sold for thousands of dollars.

Some say the Suhr-era Fender basses don’t sound like Jazz basses at all. Some people love this difference, others hate it. So in addition to them being collectible, they’re also controversial. Who knew!

Anyway, it will arrive on Tuesday afternoon and I can’t wait.

Edit: With more research, and the help of Fender customer support, I think I can definitively date this instrument to 2002. That’s what the serial number comes back as. And I learned that Mexican Jazz basses had Suhr electronics until 2004. So there you have it. For posterity, Fender customer support said:

Serial number MZ1128790 pulls up a Deluxe Active Jazz Bass V from 02-28-2002.

For posterity: The Warwick bass: