Download image

This is an incredible New Old Stock Fender Artist Series Roscoe Beck Signature Bass in Teal Green made in 1996

N.O.S. meaning it's never really been played and it's in pristine condition (even the case). You won't find any other as clean as this one.

We believe this is Fender's best 5 string ever. It's 100% passive but extremely versatile and will give you classic J sounds (based on Roscoe Beck's own 1966 Jazz Bass) but also some other really cool ones.

Excellent playability and a really strong and clear low B. Simply amazing. And the Teal Green finish with matching headstock is absolutely gorgeous.

For us this is the definitive 5 string Jazz Bass.

Get it before it's gone for good!

The key feature of the Fender is its electronics. Sure, all of those switches and knobs look confusing—but they're quite easy to operate. The bass uses two Texas-size, dual-coil humbucking pickups, each of which can be run in single-, series-, or parallel-coil wiring modes. Two small DPDT (double pole, double throw) on/on/on switches control the modes: "up" is parallel, "center" is single-coil, and "down" is series. Since Roscoe is a fan of early J-Basses, the pickups' back coils are placed in exact Jazz-pickup position.

Another important element of the instrument's fat-and-round sound is the pickups' alnico "Tri-Pole" magnet configuration. Although the pickups appear to have 12 polepieces each, there are actually 22, as each string has two dedicated magnets directly below it, located underneath the pickups' covers. Fender says this arrangement reduces the "double-beating effect" for better intonation past the 12th fret, because the magnets have a softer magnetic pull, especially on the B and E strings. It works, as the bass has a very clean and stable sound in the upper positions, even along the B.

A 3-way pickup-selector switch toggles between bridge, bridge + neck, and neck pickups. The instrument's master volume control has a smooth taper and feel; also, pulling up on the master tone control engages a resistor that slightly lowers the output of the neck pickup. Why? Since the bass doesn't have a blend pot or individual pickup-volume controls, it's impossible to get any "in between" tones besides those offered by the 3-way switch. So, by reducing the output of the neck pickup a hair, the bass can also produce a classic J growl.

Onboard EQ? Not here—the electronics are all passive. However, thanks to the powerful, full sound of the Dual J-Bass humbuckers, not much tone sculpting from the amp is required under normal situations. With both pickups set to single-coil mode, the bass produces an authentic J-Bass tone across the entire instrument. The pickups also possess the crisp, organic quality of a good single coil—but yes, they do hum. (Although the hum is canceled when both pickups are selected.) Switching the pickups to parallel gives the instrument a more modern sound: a sharper attack with slightly less mids. (This is the setting for slappers.) In many ways, parallel mode sounds a lot like a single-coil pickup, but since there are two coils operating, there's a more powerful tone without the 60-cycle hum.

Series is the setting to select if you really want some punch: in this mode, the pickup's coils are configured like a standard humbucker, which has more output, bottom, and midrange, with a warmer high end. Our favorite combinations? Of course, the classic warmth of both pickups run as single coils is cool—but setting the bridge to series (for punch and beef) with the neck set to parallel (adding extra focus to the lows) makes for a massive tone indeed. And we love the sound of the bridge soloed in series. (Beaucoups balls.)

Enough wire talk…let's talk craftsmanship. The J-shaped body is made of two pieces of alder. (This is the same type of timber used in early J-Basses.) The body of the test bass was fairly lightweight, but the mass of the Gotoh bridge (which can be strung through the bridge or through the body) adds weight. To keep the overall weight down, the Fender sports Hipshot Ultralite tuners on its 4+1 headstock.

Two graphite bars reinforce a one-piece flatsawn maple neck: each bar is imbedded in the neck underneath a pau ferro fingerboard. To our ears, this African hardwood combines the snap of maple with the warmth of rosewood. Pau ferro is also nearly twice as dense as typical rock maple, so it adds stiffness to the neck, which is especially critical for a good B-string sound. The fingerboard holds 22 tall jumbo frets, all properly leveled and dressed on the test bass; in fact, our tester had some of the nicest fretwork we've seen in this price range. (The profile of the nut was a little high on the E through G strings, though.) Since the instrument has traditional dimensions and string spacing, however, that big, thick neck can take its toll on your fretting hand; combined with the test instrument's medium setup, I found my wrist a big sore after playing for only 30 minutes. (That glossy finish on the back of the neck doesn't help, either.) You'll have to fondle the neck for yourself to decide if the bass fits you.

We were surprised, however, by the "togetherness" of the B string, especially since the bass has a 34" scale. (We strung up with LaBella Hard Rockin' Steels gauged .045—.128, with the strings running through the bridge.) I personally prefer a 35" scale length for the extra tension and more uniform tone from the B, but the Fender holds its own as is. Notes in the C to E range all have distinct, deep pitches—whether you're plucking, picking, or popping.

Curious to test the authenticity of the Beck bass's single-coil sound, we pulled out an old faithful: a 1965 Jazz. We then compared the '65 and the Roscoe bass in single-coil mode. The Beck bass had a lower output than the vintage J, and the test bass's high end wasn't as transparent. The Fender bass is capable of producing an even wider range of usable tones than some instruments fitted with onboard active EQ. Overall, the Roscoe Beck is the most versatile passive 5-string on the market today.

According to Fender, their design goal was "to develop a non-active 5-string that would capture the nuances of a '60s Jazz Bass." We think the company has achieved their objective, as the Fender Roscoe Beck is about as close to the "ultimate mid-priced 5-string" as it gets.

By Roscoe Beck, as told to Scott Malandrone

Creating my signature instrument was an amazing process. I was actively involved in its design, because I didn't want the bass to be simply a stock model with my name on it. So I drew blueprints, made many phone calls, and took dozens of trips to the Fender Custom Shop.

Design-wise, since I've been a Jazz Bass player forever, I wanted to make a 5-string that had the same string spacing and scale length as a Jazz, as well as the sound. Anything else was gravy. I also wanted to correct the problem of balance, because I've found that most vintage basses are too neck-heavy.

Around 1984, I talked to Dan Smith [Vice President of Fender's Guitar R&D] about designing a 5-string. That same year, Mike Stevens [of Stevens Electrical Instruments] built me a 6-string with full string spacing and passive electronics—much like the way the 5-string turned out. Fender eventually hired Stevens to help start the Custom Shop in '87. But then all sorts of things happened; Stevens left after a few years, so all Fender and I did was talk. But we finally hooked up for the project after ten years. The first prototype was finished in 1993 and was introduced at the winter NAMM show in '94. Since that first instrument debuted, though, the pickups, the bridge, and the fret size have all changed. I wanted the bass to be passive, because in my mind, a good-sounding 5-string with passive electronics hadn't been made yet. Plus, I figure you can always add a preamp later. Making the pickups, though, turned out to be the hardest part of the process. I was looking for a passive double-coil pickup that honestly sounded like a Jazz Bass, but one you could run in single-coil, parallel, or series modes. But I couldn't find any pickups I was happy with; we went through six to eight different prototypes made by several different companies.

The first prototypes were merely copies of J-Bass pickups, but five strings wide. I thought it would be as simple as that, but it wasn't. What I discovered is that a Jazz Bass barely works; it's a freak of nature. You know how the E string on a Jazz gets wobbly-sounding past the 15th fret? That's caused by the strong pull of the alnico magnets on the string. On a J-Bass, each pickup has two alnico rods underneath the strings—and with a .105 E, the string mass in relation to the pull of those four magnets just barely allows sound to happen. If you lengthen the coil to accommodate five strings, it no longer sounds the same.

I took the prototype to Austin to do a session with Eric Johnson, but I couldn't get a sound I liked. I'll admit, I was nit-picking, but rightfully so—this was the shot I had waited ten years for. It had to be right.

The pickups we ended up using are handmade by Bill Lawrence. I have to give Bill full credit, because without him, I think the project would have died. After my first phone conversation with him, he told me the problem with making a passive 5-string pickup: it had to do with the magnetic field. So Bill not only corrected the "warble" problem on the B string but all across the instrument, because the strength of the magnets varies according to the mass of the string. There are smaller magnets you don't see; there's a stronger magnet underneath the G string than the B. It was all a matter of mathematics. Although a lot of people who see the bass think it has an active circuit, it doesn't. I wanted quick, usable sounds with simple controls; I chose the 3-way switch instead of a blend pot, because it allows you to make pickup switches really fast. The only problem, though, is that you can't switch to any of those "sweet spots." I very often use the sound on a J where both volume controls are cranked, but I roll back the neck pickup a bit so the sound opens up. So that's what the push/pull tone pot does: if you pull it up, a 27k resistor goes across the neck pickup to slightly reduce its output. Constantly during the design process, I compared the sound of the bass to my '66 Jazz until it was right.

About 95% of the time I use the pickups in single-coil mode—but if I'm playing in a room that has a bad 60-cycle-hum problem and I still want a single-coil sound, I switch to parallel. That mode sounds a lot like single-coil, but since there are four coils operating instead of two, the hum is canceled. Series humbucking mode is something else entirely; sometimes I use that on the bridge pickup if I'm going for a strong, rock kind of punch.

I played the new bass on Eric Johnson's Venus Isle [Capitol]; "When the Sun Meets the Sky" was recorded with both pickups in single-coil mode and the tone pot circuit engaged. In fact, when I'm playing with Eric, I usually select the center pickup-blend position with the pot pulled up, or the bridge pickup soloed in single-coil. Occasionally, though, I'll go to the neck pickup if I want a big tone; for example, we've been playing [Jimi Hendrix's] "The Wind Cries Mary" in concert, so the neck pickup in series is perfect for that Noel Redding vibe. I also used the bridge pickup in series for the solo on "Zap," which can be heard on G3—Live in Concert [Epic]. With Robben Ford, though, I usually use both pickups in single-coil mode with the tone pot in the "down" position.

We tried a few different bridges. At first I wanted a vintage-style bridge, but then I saw this Gotoh bridge on [Custom Shop Luthier] Mark Kendrick's bench, and we discovered it cleaned up the sound. The instrument got a little heavier, but I think it was worth it.

In the end, I thought designing a signature bass would be a lot easier than it turned out to be. Fortunately, Fender stuck with me until I got what I was after.