I was just about to buy this until I noticed that the logo was rather oddly placed. What do you guys think? Tuners checked out. It has been refretted. No date or stamp on neck heel. Refinished.
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1973 Jazz neck authenticity
- Thread starter tdizzle
- Start date
Rosewood board or maple?
FWIW my 73 Jazz with a rosewood board does not have a skunk stripe.
The logo does seem slightly off ("Jazz bass portion) but those things were put on by hand so who knows?
Bad pic but here's a headstock shot of mine for reference:
FWIW my 73 Jazz with a rosewood board does not have a skunk stripe.
The logo does seem slightly off ("Jazz bass portion) but those things were put on by hand so who knows?
Bad pic but here's a headstock shot of mine for reference:
Decal looks way out of place(right decal AFAIK, just wrongly positioned), plus the finish looks remarkably shiny for a 73. Smells funny to me.
Maple board, so skunk stripe is correct. I just found a picture on the net of a 74 Tele with the same inspector name and symbol, X. Armenta. That is a little re-assuring.
BurningSkies
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I donut like it myself. Beyond the skunk stripe (my 73 P doesn't have one either), That headstock finish is too glossy and thick looking. In 73 the headstock face was nitro still, and doesn't have the same look.
- Feb 16, 2008
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The differences between these two that I see, are the numbers under "Fender."
Xavier Armenta was a final neck sander at Fender that worked on necks from the late '60s into the early '70s.
Agreed...
My '77 with rosewood *DID* have a skunk-stripe (as I recall...) so that didn't throw me. The rest did.
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loend68
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my '73 decal looks much closer to 'thisSNsucks' as far as placement.....but, you can tell it's done by hand because the top of the last 'S' in 'bass' is under the tuner ferrule...
The body was refinished. The question is whether or not the neck is "real". I have never seen the decal placed in such a way, more in the style of a Precision decal. "Jazz Bass" usually rides the bottom contour of the headstock. Perhaps the headstock was refinished as a part of the refret, and the decal was re-applied in a wonky way. Everything else checks out, though. Seeing the X. Armenta stamp on another Fender from the era puts my mind at ease.
As far as the skunk stripe thing, it was in 77-78 that Fender started putting skunk stripes on all the basses regardless of fret board wood. Earlier rosewood boards did not have stripe because the truss rod was laid in before the application of the fret board. Maple boards/necks are one piece, so a channel had to be routed to put the rod in. I have, however, seen some laminated maple boards with no stripe, but only on the guitars.
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OK, so I missed this portion(last word- thank you, elgecko 
)of the OP: REFIN
So the poorly-placed decal might just mean nothing, moreless. Remember- many musicians/guitar/bass techs were stoned through the entirety of the 70's.
)of the OP: REFINSo the poorly-placed decal might just mean nothing, moreless. Remember- many musicians/guitar/bass techs were stoned through the entirety of the 70's.
