Fender Jazz....or not? Help!

[Zombbg4]

I came across this guy at a small guitar shop that is, well, run by young olympians or in other words indie-greener-hipster-hippies. It says fender jazz MIA on the headstock, it may be hard to see but the "Jazz Bass" is block lettering, i've never seen that before, and the tag said it was a deluxe. The things that keep the strings down before the nut are plastic too, haven't seen that. The body is the real mystery. There no pg but theres holes, ok no biggy, but the i have NEVER seen this color jazz bass. Also, there isn't a control know plate. It has bartolini jazz pickups. The dude says it's about 5 years old. Please help me with this!! Oh, the price is 695. It's got a few knicks on it but i think it's a good price if this is the real deal.

sorry for pic quality, cell phone camera

 

[Double Agent]

I looks like an early 90's Jazz Bass Plus to my amatuer eyes. They are pretty highly thought of around as hidden gems of that era. I am pretty sure it more than 5 years old, but a good deal nontheless.

 

[Jeremy Crockett]

Headstock looks bogus to my amateur eyes. But that could be because it's a 5-er.

 

[Roadman]

looks questionable to me too.

Plug it in, if you still can't tell, do what I did. Buy a Squier.

lol

 

[KyleAwesome]

I could be wrong but I thought all fender j basses had the control cavity routed out for the pots and was thus covered by the plate?

 

[Double Agent]

Sorry guys, but the headstock is legit. That was what they looked like.

Here is a pic of a black one:
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Here is a better shot of what the headstock looks like:

If this has the Kubicki electronics, they are pretty hard to find.

 

[Zombbg4]

yep, thats the head stock...

The kubicki electronics are active, arent they? The bass' controls were v/v/t...maybe due to the barts that were in it? Either way its a great playing and sounding bass. Thanks for the help! More thoughts on it would be great, too.

 

[ianm76]

Run the S/N through this site to get an idea of the age.

http://guitardaterproject.org/fender.aspx

 

[Nino Valenti]

This is a real USA Fender Plus bass. The 2st 2 letters will tell you the year it was made E9... Eighty Nine, N3... Ninety Three.....

It looks like the preamp was changed but it could just be the knobs.

 

[mikeswals]

Yeah, I remember thos back in the late 80's/early 90's too. I probably still have a catalog here somewhere but buried in and old box.

 

[Sean S]

This is a real USA Fender Plus bass. The 2st 2 letters will tell you the year it was made E9... Eighty Nine, N3... Ninety Three.....

It looks like the preamp was changed but it could just be the knobs.

I think I made out an "N2" from the pics. '92?

 

[fretlessman71]

That would be the right era for these. I had a student with a 4 string blue one that was above average.

 

[madbassplaya]

i saw a black one on ebay a few weeks ago. it went for about 400 dollars.