I had one of those in every color they made them: crimson red, natural, sunburst and black. I don't recall the preamps and pickups being so bad as their reputation. They sounded pretty good to me. I remember that I had a brand-new Modulus VG Jazz with Bartolini electronics at the time, and the Fender sounded 1000 times better.
The big problem with these Deluxes from those early years is the neck and fretwork. The necks were pretty thick, like a baseball bat, although narrow just like a Jazz. Pretty playable, but not the typical thin '60s Jazz profile that is more common. More importantly, every example from the early 2000's had HORRIBLE fret work, the worst in Fender history. And this was true for all Fender basses and guitars at the time. (My experience, of course.) I think around the mid 2000s things started to get better, and the last couple of years they produced these Deluxes (along with the Hot Rod P-Basses), they were really good all around. Although I played one of these a lot and they were my main basses for a year or two, but I could never get used to the 22-fret neck. It felt longer than usual and I didn't like the smaller body either. I'm finicky about ergonomics, though. Most people would say these are pretty comfy.
I'd play a current MIA (post 2008) any day before these, but if 22 frets and the smaller appeals to you, then these still are very good basses. At worst, if you get one with bad fretwork, just take it to a tech and get a fret level. No big deal.
Not sure what they are worth. They were in the $1200 when new, and probably closer to $1000 when offer was plenty, but now they are rare. Could be well worth $1200 to the right buyers, but I think that around $1000 is more fair.
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