Refurbish Fender Jaguar SS Bass

I wanted a nice short scale (30") bass guitar which is a lot easier for people that are primarily guitar players to play than the standard 34" bass guitar scale. For versatility, I wanted one with a P/J pickup configuration which combines the neck pickup from a Precision Bass with the bridge pickup from a Jazz Bass. In the Fender line, the Jaguar SS Vintage Modified Bass fits those needs very nicely (the SS meaning Short Scale).

I found one that I could get for a fantastic price on eBay because the previous owner had dropped it onto a hard floor and cracked a huge chunk of the finish from the lower bout.

I found a Sharpie marker that matched the color pretty well and used it to cover over the bare wood and primer. Then I set the guitar up vertically with the headstock on the floor and balanced it so the damaged piece was at the very top and dripped in sucessive layers of clear super glue to build a clear layer on top of the red and level it up to where it matched the surface of the original paint job. I had to keep making micro adjustments of how I tipped the guitar to make sure the super glue stayed in the indented areas. It turned out pretty good!

When testing the guitar, the jazz bass pickup in the bridge position was much weaker (only 4.3k Ohms) than the P-bass style pickup in the neck position (only 6.3k Ohms). I replaced it with a Fender brand Vintage 75 Jazz Bass pickup that measures 7.3k Ohms. It now sounds much more balanced and with a good setup, it is a joy to play!