Fender Jaco Pastorius Fretless Jazz Bass Guitar  

This is one of the highest quality basses I've ever purchased. I love playing Fender Jazz basses, and I really wanted a new fretless that could replace the Fender Standard Jazz fretless that I had used previously. This bass fit exactly what I wanted, so I decided to pull the trigger. It was painful to wait for it to be built and get into stock, but once it arrived, I was totally blown away. The craftsmanship was perfect - I went to give it an initial setup, and it required absolutely no adjustments. Neck relief, saddles, everything matched up to the millimeter on my tools. If you inspect the neck, you'll see why this bass plays so beautifully. It's hard and slippery, very nicely finished. After plugging it in, I spent a lot of time playing through a tuner on my amp and found that every note rings through like it should (and they sound amazing through the vintage pickups). As far as looks, the 60s stylings were reproduced very nicely. Even the inlays have that "clay" color that matches the 60s headstock. The only downside I could possibly mention comes from the way it was strung. The strings that came with it (Fender's darkened flatwounds, the "greasy" ones) weren't bad, but they were strung poorly. The wrappings weren't tight, and the G and E strings were cut so short they couldn't even make one revolution around the tuning peg. It made tuning the bass initially a little rough. Overall, I recommend this bass to everyone. It's a little pricey, but it's worth it.

This is a wonderful bass with all the right  appointments in the right places as one would expect from a signature series instrument. The flawless body and neck are beautiful, and the tone is wonderful from the vintage pickups. The Jaco growl is present and accounted for.  The fuller c-style neck took some getting used to but am very imperssed on lack of dead spots on the neck.  So far I have not been able to find any..This is a huge compliment regarding its craftsmanship. Complaints would center on the flatwound strings in a heavier gauge than is my personal choice,not only killing the sound, but was the culprit behind the huge neck relief that rendered the bass unplayable out of the case.  Swapping strings to lighter-gauge roundwounds and minor trussrod adjustments put the neck where it should have been from the factory, enabling the bass to sing the way it was intended...and it does sing... I have a squire tribute jazz with custom shop 60's pups that gives the this one a tonal run for its money, but the feel is no where close.  You cannot fake a quality instrument at any price. Playing a "Portrait of Tracy" or "Continuum" on this wonderful instrument brought Jaco into the room for me....outstanding.  You have leaders and followers. This is definitely a leader.  I would buy this again.

This is a fantastic tribute to the greatest bass player ever, period! I recommend this bass to anyone who dares to have the chops to be able to play a fretless jazz bass the way Jaco did. Everything from the tone to the playability, right down to the quality. This is it! I'm very picky with my basses and guitars but this one gets a 10 out of 10 rating. Jaco lives!

This is the best basses I have ever played. I know it costs more than the "American Standard", but that the "Jaco" name really does make a difference. When I played this bass, I did so after playing an "American Standard Fretless". The Jaco bass was a million times better. The neck felt so right, with no friction on my hand at all when I slid. The bass sounds great. You can get that nice warm Jaco sound. This is definitely the best bass I have ever played. I am currently saving up to buy it.

I upgraded from my MIM jazz bass to the Japanese Jaco bass which is identitcal to the American. This bass is absoulutly incredable. There are no flaws with this bass ass far as I can tell everything is amazing. You can really get the Jaco sound by playing at the bridge pickup. This is just all around amazing.