Classic Vibe Jazz Blue

 I got this bass in a trade, and it is in great condition. It looks gorgeous in Daphne Blue with a tortoiseshell scratch plate and lovely tinted gloss maple neck with Indian Laurel fingerboard. 

These are great basses, but online reviews suggest they usually need a good set up when bought new as they can have a high action.  This bass has been professionally setup by Rod Vaughan (RV Guitar Repairs in Dundee), which included fret-levelling and re-profiling, re-finishing, and smoothing of the fret edges. Action was lowered considerably from factory and the bass has been fitted with new Ernie Ball strings – it now plays like a dream, frets are excellent and lovely smooth fret ends. 

Many reviews online suggest that these basses look, play and sound as good as Mexican Fender Jazz basses – I don’t know as I don’t currently have a Fender to compare it with, however it’s one of the nicest Jazz basses I’ve played and has a great punchy Jazz Bass sound.

Wiring has been upgraded with a custom loom providing standard controls with an added push-pull switch on the neck volume knob. In this mode, the pickups are wired in series, providing an increased output. Standard settings are:

    • Solo Bridge pickup

    • Bridge and Neck pickups (standard parallel wiring) slightly scooped sounding

    • Solo Neck pickup

Pull the volume control out to provide Bridge and Neck pickups in series wiring, which effectively turns both pickups into one massive Humbucker, with an increased output and a boost in mid range taking away the sharpness in treble.  The neck volume knob then acts as main volume.