Fender Custom Shop 1964 NOS Jazz Bass in Three Tone Sunburst
As its lineage would denote. . . this is one seriously killer bass. It's a highly accurate clone of a brand new 1964 Fender Jazz Bass would've been, either on the shelf 52 years ago or stowed away in a case for half a century. It feels like a million bucks in your hands. The weight, the feel, the neck, the punchy, fat, growly, warm tone. . . everything. It's honestly about as good as it gets. I have a 1963 P Bass in near mint condition and the quality of this Custom Shop Jazz feels about the same as that, but for a massive fraction of the cost of a vintage bass in this shape.
If you're not super familiar with the different Custom Shop finishes, this one is NOS ("New Old Stock"), which means Fender made it to be as close to what a 1964 Jazz Bass would be like as it arrived in your local music shop in the summer of '64. No factory relic'ing. You've got to do that yourself. That comes with the hours you'll put in on this bass, just like the $25,000 '64 Jazz sitting in the window at a vintage shop. It'll age gracefully and naturally just like those basses. . . something a newer, lesser bass with its thick, gobby polyurethane finish can never do. It's already a little on its way, as is the nature of vintage nitrocellulose lacquer. There are a couple little finish lines here and there, though no dings. Nitro finishes such as this (and vintage ones) are thin and let the wood breathe. . . you can really hear it in the deep tone and hefty sustain. And it'll only get better with age!
I absolutely LOVE the neck on this one. Beautiful quarter sawn maple that glimmers in the light. Gorgeous rosewood fretboard with awesome grain to it. I condition it with lemon oil properly and it's just such a beautiful, dark piece of rosewood. I'm primarily a P Bass player, never really liked the super duper thin Geddy Lee type of Jazz neck. This one's got the standard vintage Jazz nut width (which is skinnier than a P Bass), but it's got a nice bit of girth to it. It doesn't feel wimpy. It feels substantial enough to remind you that you're playing greatness. And it vibrates up and down the whole neck when you pluck a note. You'll just FEEL it when you play. Now, when you plug it in. . .
The tone is ballsy. The neck pickup is lovely and round with tons of warmth on tap -- not as thumpy as a P Bass, but close. You can hear the wood. The bridge pickup is growly -- cuts through a mix with ease, sounds absolutely insane with fuzz or an SVT on the edge of breakup, or funky when played clean and plucked closer to the bridge. Awesome for soloing -- the tone is just punchy and snappy and makes you want to play fast. Both pickups together is heavenly -- warm and full, but so punchy. Absolutely killer slap tone. Yes, that's right -- a passive bass that absolutely slays at funk and slapping! Honestly a more pleasing slap tone than my old Stingray. This bass can really do everything. So much sustain, too. The body, the wood, the pickups. . . all magic. From John Paul Jones/Zeppelin rock tones to midrange-heavy funky Flea slap stuff to Jaco jazz leads to Vulfpeck blazing funky solos and literally everything in between, this bass absolutely gives you all of those million dollar Jazz Bass tones if you've got the fingers to coax them out.
Comes with G&G '64 style black case, pickup and bridge cover, the original screws for both of those. No COA. Just threw a fresh set of flatwounds on it. If you prefer round wounds, I can swap them out with a new set of D'Addarios rounds. Bass is all original, no repairs or mods or damage or anything at all. Hasn't really been played too too much.
This is basically an exact copy of a 1964 Jazz Bass. New Custom Shop Jazzes are in the $4-6k range. You're getting a hand made Custom Shop '64 Jazz created by some of the top luthiers in the world for the price of their newer, factory mass produced AVRI '64 Jazz. Night and day difference in quality and tone and magic and mojo.
I've got a few basses and this one isn't getting as much play, so I'm interested to see if anyone has anything cool to trade, or wants to buy it and let me continue my bass journey! If not, happy to hold on to it for forever! Don't have a need to sell it or get cash or anything. But it's always fun to try new things, right?
I'm primarily a vintage player, so vintage trades get preference. 60s refin Precision Bass, early 70s Precision ('70-73), Mustang Bass, 60s Gibson EB-2 or EB-2D, Custom Shop relic P-Bass (or maybe different Jazz? I'd love a relic'd one, or closet classic), Danocaster. Could be happy with a cheaper bass plus cash, like a Harmony H-22. Also would love a Moog Sub 37 -- with cash or another bass. 60s blackface Fender Bassman with cabinet + cash or a bass? Pedals, guitars, keyboards, synths, amps. Combine things! Add cash! Or trade me one value-equivalent bass! The world is our oyster.
I'm a nice and easy-to-talk-to guy -- drop me a message, the worst you'll ever get from me is a polite "looks awesome, but not what i'm going for now. thanks!". I know my stuff, too. I'm interested in hearing what you've got. Don't be shy, talk gear with me!
I live in Los Angeles; if you're local, let me know if you want to come see it.
More pics on photobucket: Fender Custom Shop 1964 Jazz Bass NOS Sunburst by brennanmcnally
More pics on imgur (loads faster on mobile... also just better than photobucket, I think. Though it seems to have embedded it in the ad if you're on a computer, so you'll have to click the "imgur" in the top left corner to go to the full album. But I like giving you options!):
Well, that about does it. Thanks for reading and keep kicking ass!
