Carmine wrote:
(from 7/26/11): Over the course of the past several months I had been working on a “Paul McCartney Tribute 1966 Jazz bass”, which I finished just in time for a tribute gig I was doing on Saturday June 18 (Macca’s 69th birthday). I chose the 1966 Jazz for a couple reasons: first, it is probably the least known bass that McCartney is associated with (vs. the Hofner and the Ricks and the Yamahas) -- and 1966 is also a very unique year in the history of the Fender Jazz-- and I know I won’t be getting a real one anytime soon! So I thought it would be cool and fun to replicate some of the features of that bass, yet still put a bit of a modern spin on the project. Thus we have a “Tribute” to Paul’s bass rather than a replica or a copy per se.
The parts list:
• MIM Alder Jazz body.
• Warmoth neck- special order unfinished Maple with bound rosewood board and white pearl blocks. (I sanded this down to match 1966 specs, did an aged relic finish, and applied aged 1966 spec logos). The cool modern benefit here is the extended fret board!
• Hipshot HB2 Lollipop machines.
• Genuine Fender covers.
• Vintage Tortoise Pick guard and brown thumb rest.
• Wiring and pots from a 1973 Jazz.
• Vintage 1976 Hi-A pickups (these were the original pickup designs from Bartolini that they discontinued in 1978, and I’ve been hanging on to them ever since because they are in a whole different class tone-wise to the new Barts)… paired up with a set of Thomastik JF344 Flatwounds, nothing sounds quite like these old Hi-A jazz pickups! Probably not as much “growl” as the original 66’s would have had, but I get all the vintage warm yet very articulate tone that I wanted for this bass.
Results: I love it! The neck turned out to be a thing of absolute beauty! It looks old, but more important, it feels like a 45 year old neck. Action is ridiculously low with no buzz, and combined with the all the oil rubbing, steel wooling and more rubbing, etc, and low tension of the TI’s, this bass is so buttery smooth, it’s effortless – it practically plays itself. It is not set up to “rock out”... it is perfectly suited to doing exactly what you see Paul doing in the photo- leave the covers on, light thumb strokes at the end of the fret board, lay back, relax and just cruise…. I can almost picture myself in the studio back in ’68, laying down the bass track for “While My Guitar Gently Weeps"…
UPDATE: A couple months back I acquired a lightly reliced Candy Apple Red Fender Jazz body, and having always felt that there is no sexier color for a Fender Jazz than CAR, I decided to pillage my Macca tribute and transfer the goodies to this body (sorry Sir Paul)... Ironically about a week after I finished, that lovely vintage '67 CAR Jazz popped up on EBay (congrats Yves- if only I'd had $7k in loose change sitting around that would have been mine-- but at least it convinced me I'd done the right thing!) So what do you guys think... should I have left well enough alone and not screwed with Macca as it was? Do I need to do a CAR refin on my headstock and get a mushroom sticker?
The old:
