Review – Flea Jazz Bass from Fender

Brand new from Fender comes the Flea Jazz Bass. I don’t know of any bassist that is not familiar with Flea and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. If you want to see and hear the bass in action, just check out the RHCP official video for Dark Necessities on YouTube:

The look and tone of Flea’s original bass match exactly to that of the Fender Flea Jazz Bass. The original is a ’61 Pre-CBS, bringing that classic tone that really fits well with Flea’s stylistic funk and jazz style bass lines. The new Fender model features an alder body with a road worn and faded pink lacquer finish. The 34” scale neck is C shape with a 7.25” radius and 20 fret rosewood fingerboard with white dots. The neck plate has artwork designed by Flea himself!

Electronics are the American Vintage reissue ’64 pickups, with each pickup having it’s own stacked volume and tone control. These pickups give you the vintage sound from the 1960’s that everyone is looking for. The bridge is the same vintage style as from the 1960’s era, which gives plenty of stability and sustain. The nut is made of synthetic bone, and all hardware is chrome. The truss rod for the neck is adjusted just like some of the earlier basses from yesteryear with a Philips screw where the neck meets the body. Strings are Fender USA NPS .045-.105 and it also comes with a Fender Deluxe Gig Bag with plenty of pockets to hold cables, tuners, sheet music and more.

The Flea Bass from Fender is an exact replica of Flea’s bass, right down to the road worn finish, complete with all the wear of the finish in the exact places. The hardware has the worn look as well, and the feel of this bass is exact to one from the 1960’s. If I didn’t know any better, and walked into a music store and saw this bass, I would think that this was an actual bass from 1961. That is exactly how this bass looks, feels, and sounds, but without the price of what one would bring today if it were actually from the ’60’s.

Fender did an excellent job of recreating a one-of-a-kind masterpiece that is used by one of the greatest bassists that has been on the scene since the early 80’s. Check out the Flea Jazz Bass from Fender at a Fender retailer near you… but act fast, word is out on this magnificent bass and the time to get one is now!