Woody's 2000 (2001) Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass V 5-string guitar page with Pau Pao Ferro neck

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE
N-TUNE ONBOARD DIGITAL GUITAR TUNER

In 2011, I added an N-Tune onboard digital guitar tuner onto my Jazz bass.
It is really nice to always have a good tuner right handy.
The N-Tune tuner is not "officially" supported for active setups due to custom wiring requirements.

The tuner may stuggle some to go down to the 30.9 HZ Low-B note but, eventually, can find it.

Click on a picture to enlarge it for closer viewing

DATING MY FENDER JAZZ BASS
While the serial number (DZ0.....) indicates a 2000 bass,
according to Scott (Fender Customer Service, 03/28/2011)
all the parts didn't come together to be a finished guitar until July 2001.
Right after production, it was originally shipped from the Fender factory in California to the Larry Morgan Music Company (Garland, TX, closed 2008).

In my case, the neck serial number dates to 2000 but the actual date stamp on the base of the neck shows April 12, 2001
On the body in the neck cavity, a black-ink "Feb" is visible (rest of date is illegible)
Also in this same area a red-ink "Mar 28" is visible (rest of date is illegible)
Also seen is what appears to be perhaps N9685. Does anyone know what that might mean?
Fender records show that it actually "became a guitar" in July 2001.

Fender also buys assorted piece parts (volume, tone controls, wire, etc) in bulk.
The POT (potentiometer) code on my original volume control was R1379605.
This says that the POT was produced by CTS early in 1996 during the fifth week, a full half-a-decade before the guitar was built.

The take-a-way here is that Fender apparently produces great numbers of piece parts (necks and bodies)
and apparently stockpiles them, sometimes for long periods of time.
In this regard, the guitar's serial number and POT codes can be assumed to be only rough estimate of when the guitar was actually produced.
In my case:
* The serial number dates to 2000,
* The neck indicates it was made April 12, 2001,
*The POT dates to 1996
but
* Fender records conclude it all became a guitar in July 2001.

In my humble opinion, that's going to make it pretty tough on historians someday.
It is true that I am more than a little disappointed about this finding and
reaffirms my appreciation for such quality instruments as those made by Heritage and Martin
(who, unfortunately, do not make electric bass guitars).
At this point, if I was ever to replace this guitar,
I might consider a more personalized product.
Dates on my 1995 Fender Precision Bass are not at all as distressed as the Jazz Bass.
It almost appears that Fender's quality control and/or construction technologies were challenged in 2000/2001.
In the end this guitar was apparently nothing more than a mass produced factory product.
It does play and sound great and for that I remain grateful.

STRINGING THE 5-string FENDER JAZZ BASS
For years I have used GHS Precision Flatwound M3050 strings on my 4-string PBass.
In 2011, I tried a set of Thomastik-Infeld (TI) Vienna JF345 strings
really expensive at us$80 from JustStrings.com and, while these were okay,
I did replace them and went back to the
GHS 5-string Precision Flatwound M3050-5 strings us$37 off eBay.

The USA Fender Deluxe Jazz Bass electronics used in this bass consist of an
Active Master Volume, Tone Pots with Pan,
and a Three Band Equalizer.

THE ELECTRONICS

It all runs on a standard 9-volt battery which is disconnected when nothing is plugged in to the 1/4 (stereo) phono jack along the bottom of the bass.

This equalizer features:
Treble Boost/Cut: +/- 10 db @ 8kHz, a shift in the cut frequency,
and about a 2dB slope per octave.
Mid Boost/Cut: +10dB, -15dB @ 500Hz, and a wide band slope.
Bass Boost/Cut: +/- 12 db @ 40 Hz, with a 4dB slope per octave.

The original wiring setup for the 2000-series Fender American Deluxe Jazz Bass 5-string guitar

Since the "active electronics" inside this guitar require a 9-volt battery to be able to produce an output, it is very much recommended to always have at least one extra good 9-volt battery and a small screwdriver handy to change the internal battery, if required, during a set.

THE PICKUPS (PUPS)
	On this guitar were two nickel-plated pole-piece dual-coil Ceramic Noiseless series pickups designed by Bill Turner. These are "Reverse Wound, Reverse Polarity (RWRP)" to cancel hum and noise which both pickups are in use and the volume is cranked.

	THE HEADSTOCK (Peghead)
Since this was a 2000-series (actually assembled in 2001) it uses the "Five Inline" style tuners. I specifically looked for this as I personally do not care for the look of the current "4+1" headstock design that began in 2002. The original Fender tuners had been replaced by the former owner with 1/2-inch diameter Hipshot Ultralight Clovers.

THE FRETBOARD (Fingerboard)	A bit harder and smoother (less open grain) than a typical Rosewood finger board, it a breeze to play. I really like the way it feels. Pau Ferro is harder than rosewood and has been an ideal choice for 5-string and fretless bass guitar use.

Pau Ferro (occasionally spelled as Pao Ferro) is sometimes called Morado: and, because the wood is so similar in appearance and working properties to rosewood (but not actually from the rosewood family), it is also sometimes referred to as Bolivian or Santos Rosewood. It has been used in various capacities as a substitute for the endangered Brazilian Rosewood Between 1990 and 2005, five string basses came stock with Pau Ferro-wood fret boards on a 22-fret 34-inch Pau Ferro neck assembly had abalone inlays. Some feel it is "not as warm" as Rosewood (perhaps a "more lively" sound) and yet "not as bright" as Maple. It is sometimes used as a side and back wood on acoustic instruments	Due to demand for Pau Ferro it is currently in somewhat shortened supply. The CITIES group confirms that: "Populations throughout the species range have seriously declined..." Only 3a Birdseye Maple necks are (slightly) more expensive to produce than the top-of-the-line Pau Ferro necks.

AESTHETICS
I prefer the string and bridge covers as I believe they enhance appearance while reducing skin-scrapes when playing.
It adds diversity to the playing-style, as well, by allowing occasional use of a pick for some music styles
while bracing the playing hand on the center string cover.
The neck pickup cover (made for a 4-string bass) did not actually fit over the five strings
so I raised it slightly by inserting shims between the pick guard and the metal cover.
The 4-string bridge plate is also not wide enough to fully cover the wider 5-string bridge pickup
so I had to offset the cover slightly towards the bottom of the guitar.
This requires the bridge pickup to be slightly visible.

Click on a picture to enlarge it for closer viewing

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All personal comments, pictures copyright 1996-2011 - R. Linwood (4L RANCH)
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