Another Vintage Fender Jazz ID Question

[matti777]

This is advertised as an all original 1969 jazz. It looks pretty good (so far) to me but what do I know? S/N indicates 66-67. I am confused about the thumb rest position over the years though. Any thoughts? I'm going to try and look at it tomorrow.

[matti777]

one more pic

[JimB52]

The finger rest moved to the bass side of the strings in mid-73. I think the switch to black pickguards happened around the same time, so it either has a changed pickguard or is from late '73- early '75.

[Mr.Fingers]

The guard is obviously a replacement, since the thumbrest didn't move to that location before 1974, and the blackguard is something from '75. It looks like the bridgepickup is in the 60's position, which places the body at the right era. Same applies for the headstock. It looks like a matching headstock, which was something that wasn't done in the seventies. Also the CBS-tuners (non-Schaller made) and the big TV-friendly-logo with the "curly script" and the trussrod at the heel are correct. Thumbrest has a "brownish hue" to it, which I saw before on late '60s basses.

It's hard to see on the pictures, but the bridge seems to miss the longer intonation screw on the G-saddle, while having the barrel-saddles, and that is period correct.


I think it's safe to say this could be very well a 1969 Jazz Bass, but with a replaced pickguard.

EDIT: This is a '68, with the correct guard on it: http://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/...recently-sold/

[matti777]

Thanks guys. The owner seems like a straight forward guy and has owned the bass for 27 years. I have an appointment to see it this afternoon. I hope it sounds great. I could always find a more original pickguard.

[Caca de Kick]

Obviously the pickguard was changed to a late 70's style gaurd, and the finger rest moved. So if you remove it you'll most definitely see a few redrilled screw holes.
The body definitely has the early 3.6" pickup spacing, so it seems correct for the era it's claimed to be.
The brigde has the regular length (short) G intonation screw.

[matti777]

I ended up buying it because it played well and sounded good. I'll probably start another post with some pics later. It is one cool bass IMHO. The funny thing is that earlier today I found another pic of a very similar '69 bass with the same pick guard, rest and yellowed finish. Strange.