A re-imagined version of a classic Fender bass restored to the way it was when it was introduced all those years ago.
The American Vintage series introduces an all-new lineup of original-era model year guitars and basses that bring Fender history and heritage to authentic and exciting new life. With key features and pivotal design elements spanning the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, new American Vintage series instruments delve deep into Fender's roots--expertly preserving an innovative U.S. guitar-making legacy and vividly demonstrating like never before that Fender not only knows where it's going, but also remembers where it came from.
The American Vintage Series has long presented some of Fender's best-selling guitars and basses (their early-'80s introduction, in fact, was one of the first signs that Fender was "back" as the CBS era ended). Today, Fender has boldly cleared the slate to make way for a fresh American Vintage series with new features, new specs and the most meticulous level of vintage accuracy yet. Rather than just replacing the previous models with different ones, Fender has completely and comprehensively re-imagined the entire vintage-reissue concept--restoring original tooling dies, voicing new pickups, reformulating vintage colors and more--based on actual vintage guitars and basses they tracked down to make sure they had it right. Fender did the work, and it shows, because there's pure magic in each new American Vintage instrument.
Significant changes were afoot in 1974 for the Jazz Bass. The bridge pickup had been moved about half an inch closer to the bridge only the year before, and 1974 saw the last of the four-bolt necks for quite a while. Further, the slim "C"-shaped maple neck was re-sculpted with a meatier U-shaped profile (and acquired a walnut "skunk" stripe), white fingerboard binding and pearl block inlays made their first appearance, and black pickguards replaced their longstanding tortoiseshell predecessors.
The American Vintage '74 Jazz Bass encompasses all of the above and is the sole member of the new American Vintage bass lineup to offer a choice of maple and round-laminated rosewood fingerboards, each with white binding, pearl block inlays and 20 vintage-style frets. Other authentic features include a urethane-finished alder body (ash on Natural-finish model), three-ply black/white/black pickguard (three-ply white/black/white on Black model), new American Vintage '74 Jazz Bass single-coil pickups, upper-mounted thumb rest, vintage-style bridge with single-groove steel "barrel" saddles, '70s-style "Fender"-stamped open-gear tuners, four-bolt "F"-stamped neck plate, chrome pickup and "F"-stamped bridge covers with vintage-accurate positioning, and more. Available in 3-color Sunburst, Olympic White, Black and Natural.
