Birchgrover
Fender and JTB-401 body comparison
I own a JTB-401 and as a fun, learning process project will add a humbucking split-coil pickup to it. The idea comes from a bass hero of mine: the late, great Carl Radle who did the same to his '68 Fender Tele bass. The pickup I've chosen to add is a Bill Lawrence P46. Bill is a legend in his own right in pickup design.
Then one day I found Talkbass forum Dan Howard's reproduction of Carl's '68. He did a tremendous job, at some expense by a master luthier, but created (pretty well) the 'real' thing. I am out to make the bass unique and have more flexibility as I can't afford a modern Precision (American Standard Precision Bass: Rosewood Fretboard, Olympic White, 4-Ply Brown Shell Pickguard
Model : 0190460705 $1356.00CND tax in-comes with a hardshell case and a few other goodies/tools SOMEDAY! But I have 5 basses already... more than my playing ability can account for! I love 'em.), and certainly not a vintage '54!
To understand proportions and placement etc, I set up this bass image chart and resized the most similar images I had on hand to make each bass body appear equally (there is still camera lens distortion to consider, and the angles are not all exact, but I've got them very close, and the relatives are quite accurate IMHO.
Interesting to note is the JT's placement of their neck and bridge. Fender has more body behind their necks, but the JT's upper fret access is better. The bass scale distance looks the same though, as both bridge and neck placement looks to be the same amount forward, from the Fender design.
Anyway, for an inexpensive bass, my JTB-401 is a real sweety, and the single coil in it, what ever the heck it is, sounds REALLY good. Read the reviews of it at Harmony Central.com and Ultimate Guitar.com. Kick ass value. And after the P46 is in there, Shazaam!
Fender and JTB-401 body comparison
I own a JTB-401 and as a fun, learning process project will add a humbucking split-coil pickup to it. The idea comes from a bass hero of mine: the late, great Carl Radle who did the same to his '68 Fender Tele bass. The pickup I've chosen to add is a Bill Lawrence P46. Bill is a legend in his own right in pickup design.
Then one day I found Talkbass forum Dan Howard's reproduction of Carl's '68. He did a tremendous job, at some expense by a master luthier, but created (pretty well) the 'real' thing. I am out to make the bass unique and have more flexibility as I can't afford a modern Precision (American Standard Precision Bass: Rosewood Fretboard, Olympic White, 4-Ply Brown Shell Pickguard
Model : 0190460705 $1356.00CND tax in-comes with a hardshell case and a few other goodies/tools SOMEDAY! But I have 5 basses already... more than my playing ability can account for! I love 'em.), and certainly not a vintage '54!
To understand proportions and placement etc, I set up this bass image chart and resized the most similar images I had on hand to make each bass body appear equally (there is still camera lens distortion to consider, and the angles are not all exact, but I've got them very close, and the relatives are quite accurate IMHO.
Interesting to note is the JT's placement of their neck and bridge. Fender has more body behind their necks, but the JT's upper fret access is better. The bass scale distance looks the same though, as both bridge and neck placement looks to be the same amount forward, from the Fender design.
Anyway, for an inexpensive bass, my JTB-401 is a real sweety, and the single coil in it, what ever the heck it is, sounds REALLY good. Read the reviews of it at Harmony Central.com and Ultimate Guitar.com. Kick ass value. And after the P46 is in there, Shazaam!