Hey Fellas.
Up for sale is a
1965 Fender Jazz Bass. I am the second owner of this bass and have taken excellent care of her. I purchased the bass thinking she was a full 1965, but after a couple professional appraisals (scanned and posted below) it seems she's still VINTAGE, but has a few parts from 1965 to the early 1970's mixed in as well.
I have priced this bass accordingly as she's not all original '65 and have priced her to sell!
Here's all the info I've got on her...
Neck:
I've pulled the neck off the bass only one time to verify the build date and snapped some photos that are included here. The build date on the neck is April 7, 1965. This profile of the neck is absolutely Pre-CBS Jazz and is super slim and fast. No '66 telephone pole post-CBS neck here. The neck was re-fretted by a top notch professional 4 years ago and the job came out 10 out of 10. The neck was refinished at some time in the 70's by a professional and a new head stock decal was applied under the new finish. Besides the vintage refinish and the recent fret job,
The neck is all original- Pearl Dots and Beautiful Rosewood on Maple. It has the Original tuning machines, tuning machine hardware, Original nut, fingerboard, truss rod, truss rod adjustment nut. The neck is in absolutely beautiful shape. Dead straight, hardly any fret and fingerboard wear. Look at the photos, she's gorgeous.
NOTE: Look at the truss rod adjustment nut, it's almost flush with the outer edge. This is very rare on necks this old! Typically the nut has been buried and the truss rods maxed out/broken. This neck is dead straight and has a well working truss rod with another 50 years to go! Body:
The body is a very early 1970's natural finish on 3 piece Ash wood. The original finish under the pick guard is still glossy and beautiful.
The neck plate serial number is dated to 1968 which is also when we believe the pick guard, pick guard hardware, and neck plate hardware was built. The pick guard shrinking is fairly minimal and still fits the body well. The pick guard can be removed without any trouble and all the screw holes still line up. The pick guard has NO CRACKING!
What's been replaced:
There have been some pieces of the bass that were replaced in the past 5 years due to wanting to keep the bass in good sounding, excellent playing condition. The bridge is upgraded to a LeoQuan BadAss II, the control plate, pots, and pickups have been replaced with Genuine Fender Custom Shop replacements and no cost was spared. The new pups sound absolutely killer. Over-all the bass has a killer beautiful bright tone with the aged Ash body wood. With a fresh set of strings on her and the Leo Quan bridge, look out! The attack and sustain is unbelievable. This is definitely a 'players bass' to the bone. More of a utilitarian piece I'd call her, but can also appeal to the collectors out there being it consist of some killer vintage bits.
Pre-CBS or Not??
Well, according to my research and this thread with lots of good info in it (
Fair Price for a 1965 JAzz bass? ), some people would consider parts of this bass Pre-CBS and some wouldn't. The fact is, CBS purchased the Fender company from Leo Fender in early 1965, but the manufacturing process didn't "downgrade" till much later in the year and into 1966. So being that some of the components of this bass were built in April of '65, there's a good chance that this bass has the Pre-CBS build quality that collectors look for. It's impossible to know if the bass was actually assembled in 1968 using a '65 neck, or if the bass was built pre-CBS in '65 then the original owner swapped out some of the parts for '68 pieces (as the neck plate is dated).
Things to be noted:
The original owner, the owner before me, in the early 80's had routed a hole through the body between the control plate and the bridge to install a pre-amp. He also removed the original pickups and electronics to make way for the new active circuitry. He explained to me that "this was the cool thing to do in the early 80's when pre-amps were becoming popular and that lots of players were modding their vintage J basses to accept pre-amps". Some years later, the preamp and active electronics were removed and the body cavity was filled.
That's everything I can think of to tell you about the bass's history. She sounds unreal, plays great, and I'm certain will play great for another 50 years. I'd love to see a fellow TB'er give my J a good new home that will properly care for her.
The bass will come with a hard case as well.
Please view the photos for an honest representation of condition, and also view my 100% positive feedback for added buyer comfort.
I'm asking $1,950 shipping included
Location: Broward County, South FL
Email:
nickTnardone@gmail.com
Local pickup is fine, I can even deliver. You're more than welcome to talk to me on the phone as well about any questions, etc. PM me for my cell phone number. If you'd like a specific photo of anything you don't currently see, let me know and I'll do my best to accommodate your request.
Thanks everyone!
1965 Fender Jazz Bass Pre-CBS!! --> Beautiful Original Neck (Lots of Pics!!) 
