JP-90 : when light is cheap

The Fender JP-90 has an explicit name : it was released in 1990, has a Jazz-bass pickup and a Precision pickup! It used to be one of these attempts to put a cheap american bass on the market to make the brand more accessible. Actually, the JP-90 is the equivalent of the Fender Bullet Bass from the 80's, a "different" design, simplified and for the price of a japanese instrument.

The design in itself is quite interesting: everything has been streamlined, the shape is thinner, the neck is fast, the controls are easy as ABC, two different pickups for the versatility, no frills, a kind of Fender Jr as Gibson had done with its melody maker series, but modern like the popular PJ bass produced in Japan and generally played in heavy metal bands.

Even the JP-90 mention has its own modern font

So what went wrong with this bass? Firstly, the Made in U.S.A is partly true, the parts had been made in Mexico and assembled in Corona. In theses days, it would mean badly dried woods, a less resonant body, less precise sound. Maybe the look was a bit outdated in 1990, people were more into traditional design again after a decade of flashy/kitschy designs, they wanted the real McCoy, that's probably why the Made in Mexico Fender Standard basses became more and more successful during the 90's. Maybe the last reason is the bass was marketed as a light instrument and people perceived it as "cheap" instead. Fender did give it another try in 2003 with the Highway One series, Made in USA for all with a light satin lacquer finish (which meant you had it relic'ed after 6 months of intensive use...).

So what about today? The collectibility of an instrument is related to its uncover by a popular artist. For example, the Starcaster Bass has been promoted by Mike Kerr from Royal Blood so even if an instrument may have been unsuccessful during its years if production, it has a second chance if a major artist adopts it. As far as the JP-90 is concerned, nobody known did promote it. What a pity!