Vintage Fenders

[BassAgent]

Many many experts here. If you just ask the question in this topic, many people will be willing to help with the correct info

[ped]

I’m the best expert

[ossyrocks]

19 minutes ago, sprocketflup said:

Who are the vintage Fender experts on here? hoping for a bit of help

 

I would say just ask your question in this thread. There are plenty of very knowledgeable people here who regularly contribute to this thread.

 

Rob

[BassAgent]

9 minutes ago, ped said:

I’m the best expert

In which particular subject?

[Owen]

42 minutes ago, sprocketflup said:

Who are the vintage Fender experts on here? hoping for a bit of help

I can confirm that many Jazz necks are labeled 7 and not 5. I suspect you need more info than that. 

[Owen]

29 minutes ago, ped said:

I’m the best expert

Extraordinary. Who knew that Trump was running this site all along?

[Reggaebass]

1 hour ago, sprocketflup said:

Who are the vintage Fender experts on here? hoping for a bit of help

I’m sure between us we will be able to help 

[Burns-bass]

On 21/11/2024 at 11:32, vincbt said:

I have the opposite situation on my Precision, and I am not 100% sure how to explain it.

 

The pots are 66

The serial number would point to 69 (264XXX)
The neck is 71

 

I would have thought the neck plate with the serial number should be the last thing to go on together with the neck, so why would anyone put a 69 plate on a 71 neck escapes me... 

 

Did you buy it new?

 

The interchangeability of Fender parts makes it hard sometimes. The accepted age is the newest part.

 

While people love the idea of Fender having bins of parts and spent time cobbling together basses from bits, it’s nonsense. This was a factory with stock and inventory management systems and  (for them) modern production techniques.

 

This isn’t a workshop where they’d sometimes just build basses for the fun of it out of whatever parts were there. If you had the cash I’m sure they’d build you a custom order, but that’s about it. It was a production line process.

 

It’s more likely that yours is a 69 body and bits and that someone has swapped the neck.

[Burns-bass]

16 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

I’m sure between us we will be able to help 

And we’ll do it positively, constructively and without arguing or contradicting ourselves (as they do on other forums!)

[Rick's Fine '52]

1 hour ago, sprocketflup said:

Who are the vintage Fender experts on here? hoping for a bit of help

What’s the specific question? Having a quick scroll, there appears to be several queries here, regarding different basses? I may be able to help. 👍

[vincbt]

4 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

 

Did you buy it new?

 

The interchangeability of Fender parts makes it hard sometimes. The accepted age is the newest part.

 

While people love the idea of Fender having bins of parts and spent time cobbling together basses from bits, it’s nonsense. This was a factory with stock and inventory management systems and  (for them) modern production techniques.

 

This isn’t a workshop where they’d sometimes just build basses for the fun of it out of whatever parts were there. If you had the cash I’m sure they’d build you a custom order, but that’s about it. It was a production line process.

 

It’s more likely that yours is a 69 body and bits and that someone has swapped the neck.

No, I bought it on here from someone who had bought it on here from someone else who bought it on Reverb.

 

There’s probably a longer chain onwards so my thinking is the same as yours so far, probably a swap at some point in his life

[Burns-bass]

4 minutes ago, vincbt said:

No, I bought it on here from someone who had bought it on here from someone else who bought it on Reverb.

 

There’s probably a longer chain onwards so my thinking is the same as yours so far, probably a swap at some point in his life

Makes sense. Whatever has happened it’s still, for me, is one of the best periods for Fender Precision necks. 

[Bagman]

13 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

And we’ll do it positively, constructively and without arguing or contradicting ourselves (as they do on other forums!)

I strongly disagree 

 

not sure why and can't present an arguement but there you go 

[Belka]

The Gallery have an interesting Jazz on sale at the moment. It's a 1970 in what looks like LPB and it appears to be a factory fretless. I thought that there were only a handful of these made and if it is genuine it is probably extremely rare and considerably undervalued at the price they have it for sale at.

 

Fender Jazz 1970 Fretless – The Bass Gallery

 

Of course, it could be a replacement neck, but the tuners and black binding look right for the era, and it's not likely to be a defret job as fretted basses of this era would have had black blocks. I think by this time maple necks were one piece rather than the earlier capped jobs they did in 1966-1968, so if it's had a replacement fretless board it should be fairly easy to tell.

 

Shame about the Badass though. And as is typical of the Gallery, as much as I love the shop, the description is worse than useless.

 

Here's a photo (from I think Geddy Lee's book) for reference of confirmed genuine factory fretless Jazzes (one of which also seems to be in LPB).

 

Edited December 2, 2024 by Belka

[Piers_Williamson]

22 minutes ago, Belka said:

The Gallery have an interesting Jazz on sale at the moment. It's a 1970 in what looks like LPB and it appears to be a factory fretless. I thought that there were only a handful of these made and if it is genuine it is probably extremely rare and considerably undervalued at the price they have it for sale at.

 

Fender Jazz 1970 Fretless – The Bass Gallery

 

Of course, it could be a replacement neck, but the tuners and black binding look right for the era, and it's not likely to be a defret job as fretted basses of this era would have had black blocks. I think by this time maple necks were one piece rather than the earlier capped jobs they did in 1966-1968, so if it's had a replacement fretless board it should be fairly easy to tell.

 

Shame about the Badass though. And as is typical of the Gallery, as much as I love the shop, the description is worse than useless.

 

Here's a photo (from I think Geddy Lee's book) for reference of confirmed genuine factory fretless Jazzes (one of which also seems to be in LPB).

 

4.44kg without frets....that's got to be genuine...what a beast.  All you've got to be able to do is play it well!

[Burns-bass]

5 minutes ago, Piers_Williamson said:

4.44kg without frets....that's got to be genuine...what a beast.  All you've got to be able to do is play it well!

I’ve emailed them. Let’s see what they say.

[Burns-bass]

Been sold apparently.

 

Looks like a refin to me, but what do I know.

[BassAgent]

41 minutes ago, Piers_Williamson said:

4.44kg without frets....that's got to be genuine...what a beast.  All you've got to be able to do is play it well!

Imagine the weight with frets

[Beedster]

57 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

Been sold apparently.

 

Looks like a refin to me, but what do I know.

 

I hope whoever paid £5K did their homework, my gut instinct when I saw the price tag was 'I'd need a lot of provenance before paying that'. Might be a one-off in early FCS model, might be one of a very short factory run, but in either of those cases I'd expect a price tag significantly uphill of £5k, after all plenty of mint condition but otherwise standard instrument from that era get quite close to that figure as it is. 

[Beedster]

4 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

I hope whoever paid £5K did their homework, my gut instinct when I saw the price tag was 'I'd need a lot of provenance before paying that'. Might be a one-off in early FCS model, might be one of a very short factory run, but in either of those cases I'd expect a price tag significantly uphill of £5k, after all plenty of mint condition but otherwise standard instrument from that era get quite close to that figure as it is. 

 

Either I'm going mad or they revised the listing, but when I first saw it I'm sure it was listed at 1980. It being 1970, mint, and apparently rare, means it's probably not the latter and has been modified/refinished.

 

Either that or a buyer got very lucky 👍

[Belka]

8 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

Either I'm going mad or they revised the listing, but when I first saw it I'm sure it was listed at 1980. It being 1970, mint, and apparently rare, means it's probably not the latter and has been modified/refinished.

 

Either that or a buyer got very lucky 👍

It could well be refinished, but it's definitely not a 1980 model. The pickup spacing is 1960s, the tuners are late '60s ones, and black binding disappeared in 1972/3. Also, Fender didn't make fretless Jazzes until the late '80s, and those would have had rosewood boards.

Edited December 2, 2024 by Belka

[Beedster]

8 minutes ago, Belka said:

Also, Fender didn't make fretless Jazzes until the late '80s, and those would have had rosewood boards.

 

Well, they did, as per the two in the Geddy Lee book 👍

 

But yes, it's a mystery bass, I'd didn;t take too close a look at it just assumed it was modified to a greater or lesser degree 👍

[Burns-bass]

10 minutes ago, Belka said:

It could well be refinished, but it's definitely not a 1980 model. The pickup spacing is 1960s, the tuners are late '60s ones, and black binding disappeared in 1972/3. Also, Fender didn't make fretless Jazzes until the late '80s, and those would have had rosewood boards.

There are all manner of ways you can create something like this. Unless it’s parted out and meticulously documented who knows what it is?

[Beedster]

1 minute ago, Burns-bass said:

There are all manner of ways you can create something like this. Unless it’s parted out and meticulously documented who knows what it is?

 

That's the truth 👍

[Beedster]

......and if it is genuine, I imagine it will resurface at a significantly higher price in the near future 👍