2000 American Deluxe Jazz Bass V

Based on the serial number, GuitarDater Project affirms that this instrument "is from the American Deluxe Series made at the Corona Plant (Fender) in 2000." Amongst its most prominent features are an alder body finished in "Crimson Transparent," five-in-line tuners, a bone nut, straplock-ready strap buttons, active electronics, "Noiseless" pickups, through-body stringing; and a maple fretboard with genuine abalone dot inlays. Controls for the active electronics comprise a Master Volume, Pan Pot for pickup blending, concentric boost/cut controls for Bass [lower] and Treble [upper]; and a Mid control. 

The bass was sent in because the Mid control was really noisy and scratchy; even after being sprayed with contact cleaner. Popping the control plate revealed some rather gnarly wiring and soldering, indicating that someone had been messing around beforehand. Long story short, the troublesome Mid control pot was replaced; and the taped-up wire splices cut, stripped, resoldered, and insulated with black heat-shrink tubing. Yes, that's about it for this 2000 American Deluxe Jazz Bass V. Thanks for dropping by, and God bless :)

Mymozika Frankenstrat Build | Part Four

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

After eight months, the Mymozika Frankenstrat is finally ready. Having finalized the position of the bridge and body-mounted hardware, the control cavity was shielded with conductive shielding paint. Once the paint was dry and the grounding tab screwed in, I was able to wrap up the wiring end of things.

Meanwhile, there was the issue of the gnarly satin finish on the fretboard, back of neck; and headstock. To protect it while in transit, someone had wrapped this beautiful Canadian hard rock maple neck tightly in plastic cling film. As a result of this, the thin finish had crinkled up and developed unsightly lines. 

I'd actually put off dealing with this problem until the very last; as just looking at the damage made me very depressed. Thank goodness a few hours of gentle buffing with 0000 steel wool got rid of most of the lines and smoothened out the finish somewhat. Following this, the whole neck was waxed and buffed.

One interesting feature of this neck is that it sports a vintage 7.25" radius. Based upon the size of the frets, I was expecting the radius to be at least 9.5". In any case, after stringing the Mymozika with Ernie Ball 10s; a routine setup was carried out. Now, what does this Frankenstrat sound like? Ballsy and full of stratty spank, methinks. If you're curious, do check out these two YouTube videos: Mymozika Frankenstrat - Clean Tones and Mymozika Frankenstrat - Overdrive.

It's been a long and bumpy ride, but well worth it. Never thought that those Japanese Fender pickups would work so well with the Fender SCN ST-BR (albeit after some rewiring); but they do. That about wraps it up for this Mymozika Frankenstrat Build. Thanks for dropping by. As always, stay safe, stay healthy; and God bless :)

Note: Fender®, Stratocaster®, Strat®, Telecaster®, Tele®, P Bass®, Precision Bass®, and the distinctive headstock designs of these guitars are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.