Fender introduces Blacktop Precision and Jazz basses
(Dave Molter | Posted 2011-07-14)
It figures that with the success of its Blacktop guitars, Fender would offer basses, and it's welcome news. The Blacktop Precision Bass® and Blacktop Jazz Bass® guitars offer unique designs at an affordable price: $699 USD MSRP, which means a street price of around $450-$499 USD!
Fender hasn't changed body styles -- there's a reason the Precision is the most imitated bass in the world -- but the Blacktop Precision Bass features two Blacktop Bass humbucking pickups that make it one of the most powerful basses - if not the most powerful bass - Fender has ever offered. Other new touches are three Jazz Bass control knobs (volume for each pickup and master tone) and a Blacktop™ HiMass bridge. Other features include an alder body, maple neck with modern C shape and gloss urethane finish, rosewood fretboard with 9.5” radius and 20 medium jumbo frets, three-ply black-white-black pickguard, open-gear tuners and chrome hardware. The neck width is 1.625" At the nut -- the standard for "modern" P basses. It's available in Black and new White Chrome Pearl.
The Blacktop Jazz Bass features dual Blacktop split-coil Precision Bass® pickups. SO it's a "Jazzcision," I guess. Like its P bass brother, the Blacktop Jazz has three Jazz Bass control knobs, an alder body, a maple neck with modern C shape (1.5" At the nut) and gloss urethane finish, rosewood fretboard with 9.5” radius and 20 medium jumbo frets, three-ply black-white-black pickguard, open-gear tuners and chrome hardware. It's also available in Black and White Chrome Pearl.
Different, but just enough different -- and affordable enough -- that I can see players flocking to these basses. Not to quibble, but if I had my way, her are the changes I'd make: Offer the P with a 1.75" nut width; go with one volume, one tone and a pickup blend control; offer these suckers in Candy Apple Red. But that's just me.
The new Blacktop basses are now available through your local Fender dealer.
