I suspect I'll end up having to part this out, but hey, one has to start somewhere
This was an ebay find I was able to pick up locally. It came to me as a stock MIJ Fender Jazz with an Allparts fretless neck. The fingerboard had been coated with superglue, and though it was a well-applied job, there were a few spots where the finish had worn through from use. I used one of my trusty Stew Mac radius sanding blocks to even out the finish, which I believe is now just the bare ebony, albeit treated with some Behlen Fingerboard Oil.
After that I went a little banoodles and here's how the specs read now:
- Fender MIJ body (ground strip removed and new ground run from under the bridge to the control cavity)
- Allparts fretless J neck with lined ebony board and Fender decal
- Hipshot Ultralite tuners + dtuner
- DiMarzio Model J humbuckers
- Gotoh 201 bridge
- Schaller straplocks
- new control cavity cover and harness from BestBassGear.
I have the original (or at least
AFAIK original) bridge, pickups and tuners as well.
Oh, and I also have the original white pickguard. The one on their currently is this flat black single-ply guard that I had sitting in my parts bin. I routed a channel for truss-rod access and lined the edge with a silver paint marker. I like it
The neck is finished in something satin-y. Very smooth and comfortable. The body is dinged and scratched and would, in time, make a lovely relic, though a refin wouldn't be terribly difficult.
The control cavity is fully shielded, as are the pickup cavities, as are the connecting channels. My goal here was to put together a solid workhorse fretless that was dead-quiet in any environment, and it totally does that. I love the DiMarzio Model J's for fretless. I think they're big and growly and woody and warm, especially with the DR Sunbeams that are on there.
Asking $640 shipped.
More pictures online
here.
