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Dating 60ies Fender Jazz bodies?

Wehner

Wehner

Mar 13, 2007
132
2
Denmark
www.myspace.com
#1
I have trouble finding out if there were any visible changes to the Fender Jazz bodies Fender produced from app. '63-'69.

Before 1963 the grounding wire to the bridge was external, so the missing body routing will identify those. In 1970 the bridge pickup moved closer to the bridge and the routing for the grounding wire under the bridge got larger.

Did anything else happen from '63-'69 (besides finish changing to poly)? It would be nice to be able to date stripped 60ies bodies a bit more precisely.
 
#2
Wehner said:
I have trouble finding out if there were any visible changes to the Fender Jazz bodies Fender produced from app. '63-'69.

Before 1963 the grounding wire to the bridge was external, so the missing body routing will identify those. In 1970 the bridge pickup moved closer to the bridge and the routing for the grounding wire under the bridge got larger.

Did anything else happen from '63-'69 (besides finish changing to ploy)? It would be nice to be able to date stripped 60ies bodies a bit more precisely.
Click to expand...

This is actually almost verbatim, the same thing I was wondering recently, I hope someone that knows chimes in on this.

I'm also curious when the router hump stopped showing up.
 
#4
Wehner said:
The router hump?
Click to expand...



image-975078601.jpg

The part where the neck pocket bumps out.

image-1697941437.jpg
 
#5
The router hump is very much there and pronounced on my '69 Jazz as it is on any early 60's Jazz.
I would guess the belly cut and forearm contour maybe got a little lazy during the late 60's CBS builds, but it would kind of be a little hard to tell in pics.

The '72 P I had definitely had way lazier contours, and the router hump was barely noticable. But Precision jigs were undoubtedly getting more use than the Jazz ones were.
 
#9
johnk_10 said:
my '72 has the router hump. it's not as pronounced as on some of the earlier jazzes, but it's definitely there as opposed to a perfectly rounded transition from the lower cutaway to the side of the neck pocket (see pic below). IIRC it was '73 when they no longer had them.

72Jazzbassbodyrear.jpg
Click to expand...

They must have been working from a cut-out.

I have a '73 J. Zero hump. The neck sucked, BTW. Still have it, though. The original neck, that is -- I've had it replaced twice.
 
#10
johnk_10 said:
my '72 has the router hump. it's not as pronounced as on some of the earlier jazzes, but it's definitely there as opposed to a perfectly rounded transition from the lower cutaway to the side of the neck pocket (see pic below). IIRC it was '73 when they no longer had them.
Click to expand...

Interesting, okay so then we go 72 until debunked.
Maybe that was the transition year and your's is a little younger than his 72.
 
#12
Hey guys/gals, I acquired an old '72 jazz bass a few years ago which had to be refinished to replace an even nastier black poly job which was flaking off. Ok the new refin was OK to put it mildly. Since then I have stripped it back to do a proper nitro job. Now, does any body know about the mystery dowels in the top and bottom of the back? I remember the guy that resprayed it was saying that the body was a lot older than the neck, and that the bass had gone though a few changes during it's life (side jack being one of them). I can't find any dates on the actual body, only the neck plate which matches the neck.
Can anyone help me date this one up?
 
#13
If you read the following piece on Fender painting over the years, you'll find it's not directly on point to body routing standards, but you will see that Fender manufacturing has been far more hit and miss than we would like to believe. The only thing that seems consistent is a degree of inconsistency. The descriptions of all the different ways pre-CBS Fenders were painted are good for a chuckle. :D

Link Removed
 
#14
bassman10096 said:
If you read the following piece on Fender painting over the years, you'll find it's not directly on point to body routing standards, but you will see that Fender manufacturing has been far more hit and miss than we would like to believe. The only thing that seems consistent is a degree of inconsistency. The descriptions of all the different ways pre-CBS Fenders were painted are good for a chuckle. :D

Link Removed
Click to expand...

well, IMO, to their credit, they were made in an era that didn't use cncs or automated spray booths and buffing machines. back then, they were made much more by hand, and in alot lower quantities than they are today.
 

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