Fender Custom Shop Basses: Vintage Soul, Built One at a Time

There's the Fender you buy off the wall, and then there's the Fender Custom Shop. Since 1987, the Custom Shop in Corona, California has been Fender's dream factory — a small team of builders recreating the golden-era Jazz and Precision basses in obsessive detail, and building limited runs you'd never find in a standard production line. Hand-selected woods, hand-wound pickups, and aging work done by hand, one instrument at a time.

At Bass Central, Fender Custom Shop basses are a specialty, not a sideline. Here's how to make sense of the lineup — and what's on our wall right now.

The aging levels, in plain English

Custom Shop names confuse everybody the first time. The model year tells you which vintage year the bass recreates; the finish term tells you how much life it's lived:

• NOS (New Old Stock) — Built to vintage spec but finished like it's brand new, as if you found a 1975 bass still in its case in the back of a store. Pristine, glossy, no wear.
• Closet Classic — Light lacquer checking and subtle aging, like a bass that spent most of its life in a closet and came out for special occasions.
• Journeyman Relic — Honest light play wear: a few dings, slightly worn finish, broken-in feel. The most popular level we sell — vintage character without the vintage risk.
• Relic / Heavy Relic — Worn like a working bass that's seen thirty years of stages. Heavy Relic is the full treatment — worn finish, aged hardware, stories built in.
• Time Machine / Time Capsule — Fender's vintage-recreation series names; the aging level in the name tells you the condition.
• Artisan — The showpieces: exotic figured woods like koa and flame maple burl, built to be as beautiful as they are playable.
• Postmodern — The Custom Shop's modern take: vintage flavor with contemporary touches, like the Precision/Jazz pickup pairing on the Postmodern PJ.

On the wall at Bass Central right now

The wall is stocked deep right now — Jazz, Precision, PJ and Artisan models, all 4-strings, priced from $4,400 to $6,550:

Jazz Basses

• 1975 NOS Jazz, Natural — $5,355
• 1975 NOS Jazz, Faded Walnut — $5,600
• 1975 Jazz, Faded Cherry Sunburst — $5,600
• 1964 Journeyman Jazz, Faded Seafoam Green — $5,200
• 1965 Journeyman Jazz, Faded Inca Silver — $4,625
• Journeyman 1965 Jazz, Faded Burgundy Mist — $4,625
• Time Machine Journeyman 1965 Jazz, Faded Dakota Red — $4,400
• Heavy Relic 1961 Jazz, Faded Bleached 3-Color Sunburst — $5,200
• Journeyman Relic LTD Jazz Special, Tobacco Sunburst — $4,900

Precision Basses & the Postmodern PJ

• 1957 Time Capsule Closet Classic Precision, Faded 3-Color Sunburst — $4,650
• 1965 Precision, Violin Burst — $4,975
• Time Machine Relic 1964 Precision, Lake Placid Blue — $4,850
• Postmodern Precision PJ, Aged Inca Silver — $5,450
• Closet Classic Postmodern PJ, Ebony Transparent — $5,450

Artisan Series

• NOS Artisan Precision, Koa — $5,050
• NOS Artisan Jazz, Flame Maple Burl — $5,350
• NOS Artisan Jazz, Aged Natural Flame Maple Burl — $5,350
• 1964 Relic Artisan Jazz, Honeyburst Flame Maple Burl — $6,550

Hear them before you buy

A Custom Shop bass is a serious purchase, and a spec sheet only tells you so much. So we're filming a demo of every Fender Custom Shop bass in the shop — same player, same amp, same settings, simple playing — so you can compare them honestly. The demos live right in each product's photo gallery: open a listing and you'll find the video with the pictures. Start with the 1975 NOS Jazz in Natural and the Postmodern PJ in Aged Inca Silver, and more are being added as we film them.

Why buy your Custom Shop from Bass Central?

The #1 Bass Dealer Since 1996 — with 500 plus basses in stock, basses are all we do. Every Custom Shop bass we sell is photographed, weighed, and inspected here in Fern Park, Florida, and the one in the photos is the one that ships to you.

Questions on any of these basses? Call or Email 800-545-8813 or sales@basscentral.com
NO TAX (Excl FL) FREE SHIPPING in the Continental USA

Browse the full lineup at www.basscentral.com — and if the one you want just sold, call us. Customs move fast, and more are always on the way.