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1974 Jazz craigslist score UPDATE

denton57

denton57

Supporting Member
Nov 1, 2005
3,969
3,004
Arkansas
#1
In a previous thread, I told the story of my 74 Jazz score (have @ $600 in it total). Interesting thing about it...the bridge had been moved from its original position, but the strings lined up perfectly :eyebrow:. Just got it back from a luthier today, and now I know why. According to him and another Fender guy, the body has a nitro finish and has to be a 60's body! No date code on the body, but the neck (which dates to 74 as well as the pickups) isnt original to the body, which is why there is alignment issues. The alignment is real close to being normal now thanks to the luthier. The body has a lot of natural wear with a million cracks in it. I definitely doesnt feel like poly...feels very thin. It also is EXTREMELY light, which makes me very happy!!!!

Am I dissapointed that this isnt all original? NO WAY! This bass has been a warrior it's whole life. The body has scars that the Custom Shop cant reproduce. I think I have found my lifelong friend :)

So was 1968 the last year for nitro? Was black a custom color every year?
 
#3
denton57 said:
In a previous thread, I told the story of my 74 Jazz score (have @ $600 in it total). Interesting thing about it...the bridge had been moved from its original position, but the strings lined up perfectly :eyebrow:. Just got it back from a luthier today, and now I know why. According to him and another Fender guy, the body has a nitro finish and has to be a 60's body! No date code on the body, but the neck (which dates to 74 as well as the pickups) isnt original to the body, which is why there is alignment issues. The alignment is real close to being normal now thanks to the luthier. The body has a lot of natural wear with a million cracks in it. I definitely doesnt feel like poly...feels very thin. It also is EXTREMELY light, which makes me very happy!!!!

Am I dissapointed that this isnt all original? NO WAY! This bass has been a warrior it's whole life. The body has scars that the Custom Shop cant reproduce. I think I have found my lifelong friend :)

So was 1968 the last year for nitro? Was black a custom color every year?
Click to expand...

cool story...congrats...

as far as fender info...I'm a blind man wearing a blindfold in a dark cave at midnight on a moonless night.
 
#4
the fender bass book says 1969 is the year that a poly undercoat was first applied with lacquer as the color coat and 1970 is the year that the "thick-skin" coat begins which i would assume is the thick poly coating you see on the 70s basses.
 
#6
What's the pickup spacing?
Measure from the poles of one pickup to the poles of the next pickup. It's either 3.6 inches, or 4.0 inches. That will tell us which era the body is from. CBS didn't get into date coding the bodies. Also is there holes from the finger rest position? or thumb rest position? The pickguard would also have a different screw pattern in '74 vs 73 and older.
 
#7
I just found your pics from the other thread....

attachment.jpg


This bass has the 4" pickup spacing (4" spacing first appeard on very late 69 Jazzes and used through the 70's)
The pickguard on that bass has the 74-81 screw pattern.

So it appears to be an all 1974 bass to me, it can't be a 60's body. Early 70's basses that had alder bodies were also still lightweight, so no suprize there.
68 was the last year for nitro, but don't know what to say about you bass other than, anything could have happened in 34yrs, it could be an old refin.

On the bridge thing, there have been one or two tech articles in BP magazine from a repair shop in Palo Alto I think is called The Guitar Hospital, where they've covered having to relocate bridges on 70's Fenders due to sloppy factory installs. I wish I could find that old BP issue, but it's buried deep in a box in my garage.
 
#8
Interesting. Maybe it is an older refinish. It is definitely nitro and is very light. One explanation the fender guy said was that the 70's necks were a little narrower...thus a slightly bigger neck pocket and potential for misalignment?? I dont know, but the luthier said the guy took the bass outside in the sunlight and studied it for a long time.

This is fun! I'll take more pics later tonight of the finish.
 
#9
denton57 said:
Maybe it is an older refinish. It is definitely nitro and is very light. One explanation the fender guy said was that the 70's necks were a little narrower...thus a slightly bigger neck pocket and potential for misalignment?? I dont know, but the luthier said the guy took the bass outside in the sunlight and studied it for a long time.

This is fun! I'll take more pics later tonight of the finish.
Click to expand...

That 'fender guy' doesn't have a clue about vintage Fenders.
No, the necks at the neck pocket area are not any different. Jazz necks are only narrower toward the nut-end. They were all supposed to have the same butt-end and neck pocket are. But by saying "supposed to", the jigs were getting very worn by the mid 70's and it was the neck pocket that made a sloppy fit. And over the years, I have seen a few misaligned bridges where the strings would be listing way over to the G side of the neck edge.
 
#13
I refinished a '74 Jazz in black nitro about 7 years ago with no primer, I think about 5 coats. Sold it to Galaxy Music near Stone Mountain, Georgia. I recall there was a little slop in the neck pocket.

It would be a longshot, but if I can dig up any photos or paperwork, I'll post. That would be an interesting coincidence if you have my old bass. As far as wear, I could see one getting that worn fairly quick if you played the snot out of it. One band's gear I used to work on aged in dog years.
 
#14
throbgod13 said:
it's probably all 74.. but, big deal.. drill/plug the bridge holes and remount the bridge in the correct alignment..

it's cool for 600 bucks..
Click to expand...

He can't just put the bridge back, because the string/neck alignment would be way off; The bridge was moved to correct that flaw. I would put in a set of barts or EMGs so that the pickup to string alignment wouldn't look so bad, or plug the pickup routes and recut them in the correct location, then refin the body.
 
#15
king_biscuit said:
He can't just put the bridge back, because the string/neck alignment would be way off; The bridge was moved to correct that flaw. I would put in a set of barts or EMGs so that the pickup to string alignment wouldn't look so bad, or plug the pickup routes and recut them in the correct location, then refin the body.
Click to expand...

Bridge is back in the correct position now. The luthier guy did a great job on this. Strings are still a little off, but definitely doesnt effect the playablility for me. Feels normal while playing it. Plus, put Barts or EMG's in it just because of the cosmetics? No way. I have two 74 Jazz pups that work perfectly. Anyway, pickup covers could hide everything if I was worried about that. Making a pickup choice based on cosmetics seems absurd, especially since I have real 74's in it! (7.5K bridge/7.2K neck)

I (and the Fender guy) may have made a mistake on this being nitro. It might be that the poly finish is so worn down and thin that it just doesnt look like poly anymore.

Body definitely has the 70's spacing. Also, heres a link to a bass exactly like it on ebay where the owner states that his weighs 7.8lbs, which would explain why mine is so light:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1974-Fender-Jaz...ryZ64400QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I now think this has to be the original body. The "Fender guy" must not really know his stuff. Anyway, im gonna go take some pics of the finished product. I'll post them in a sec!
 
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#18
Does poly wear like this? I've never owned one so worn down. When they say "the worn ones of the era must be the good ones since they got played", they must be talking about ones like this. It plays like butta, sounds fantastic, and is feather light! It definitely is a good one, and it must have been played very regularly in its life :bassist:
 

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