2017 Fender Hama Okamoto Precision Bass #4, 3-Color Sunburst (MIJ)
Year: 2017
Finish/Color: 3-Color Sunburst
Made in: Japan (MIJ / Made in Japan)
Factory/Plant: Dyna Gakki
Body: Basswood, gloss polyester
Neck: Maple, U profile, 38,1 mm nut (measured)
Fingerboard: Rosewood, 7.25″ radius, 20 frets
Pickup: Vintage-Style Split Single-Coil Precision Bass®
Scale: 34″ long scale
The Hama Okamoto “#4” is Fender Japan’s signature Precision Bass for the OKAMOTO’S bassist, built to the spec of his own 1968 P-Bass: a Precision body and split-coil pickup carrying a 38,1 mm Jazz-width neck. The full story is in my guide to the Hama Okamoto #4, along with the other two in the vault.
The middle year
Owning one #4 tells you what the model is. Owning the year either side of it tells you whether Fender left it alone – and that is what this one is for.
Between the 2016 and this 2017 there is a year of production and, as far as I can measure, nothing else. Same 38,1 mm at the nut. Same U profile. Same split-coil, same hardware, same burst. If anything drifted between the first run and the second, it is not visible with the two of them side by side on the same bench.
That sounds like an anti climax and it is not. Signature models get quietly revised all the time – a different pickup, a thinner finish, a bridge substitution nobody announces – and buyers end up hunting a particular year on the strength of a forum rumour. For the #4, at least across 2016 and 2017, there is no year to hunt. Buy whichever one is in better condition.
The other #4s in the vault The 2016 in 3-Color Sunburst and the 2018 in Olympic White.
Spotted in the wild: the Hama Okamoto #4 Sunburst on location
A Japanese signature P-Bass in a Danish root cellar is not an obvious pairing, but the amber-to-cherry burst against the storage shelves in The Old Orchard Basement Storage reads like something that was always meant to be stored there.
2017 Hama Okamoto #4 FAQ
Not one that matters. I have both in the vault and there is nothing to separate them in playability, build quality or spec – each measures 38,1 mm at the nut and each handles the same in the hand. If you are weighing up two listings a year apart, judge them on condition and price. The year tells you nothing useful.
Basswood, under gloss polyester. Ash gets assumed because the model wears a vintage-style 3-Color Sunburst and that finish is associated with ash-bodied Fenders, but the #4 is not built that way. It is worth knowing before you pay an ash premium on a listing that claims one.
No. A sunburst is sprayed rather than printed, so no two land identically. Comparing my 2016 and 2017 directly, the tonation shifts and the depth of the sprayed colour varies between them. Neither one is wrong – but it does mean a photograph of one #4 is not a reliable guide to how another will look, which matters if you are buying unseen from a listing shot.
