File under "What were they thinking" - 63 Jazz EBay find

[2tonic]

Oh come now.

That bass isn't any more hacked up than Oakley's Tractor Bass.

And your point is.............?
They both look like experiments that escaped the island of Dr. Moro.

 

[Korladis]

And your point is.............?
They both look like experiments that escaped the island of Dr. Moro.

People talk about the tractor bass here in admiring tones all the time.

At the time it was probably modded, it was just some old bass. Nothing special.

 

[ThinCrappyTone]

I like it, but I like weird stuff.

 

[DirkP]

To me the body looks like being made of ash. Or is it some weired thing a previous owner did with the finish?
Where there any ash bodied '62 Jazz Basses?

 

[JMacBass65]

I just have to ask... why split the p pickup around the bridge jazz p/u? (I know, why do any of it?....) Why not just keep it together on neck side of bridge j p/u? The d/g side has to be useless twang...

Exactly! That's my "favorite" mod of all!

To me the body looks like being made of ash. Or is it some weired thing a previous owner did with the finish?
Where there any ash bodied '62 Jazz Basses?

I think it's something the owner did to the finish, but who knows.

 

[mongo2]

To me the body looks like being made of ash. Or is it some weired thing a previous owner did with the finish?
Where there any ash bodied '62 Jazz Basses?

It looks to me like somebody took a BernzOmatic to it to give it a slightly scorched effect. I've seen similar finishes on other wood items, walking sticks, boxes and the like.

 

[gitfiddl]

they got room for a 5th pickup in there ... they sure better get to work and add it in there

They just forgot to mention the piezo under the bridge...

 

[stonetone7]

I get the sense of desecration. But I dunno. If the neck truly is OG it might be pretty amazing.

There's probably a lot of us who never otherwise touch such a relic for that kind of money. But I'd never buy it without holding it.

 

[JMacBass65]

It looks to me like somebody took a BernzOmatic to it to give it a slightly scorched effect. I've seen similar finishes on other wood items, walking sticks, boxes and the like.

I emailed the seller and asked about the finishing process, he sent me this -

 

[brianrost]

Pretty normal 60s-70s era mod job. My 53P isn't far from that. We only think it's an abomination from our 21st century vintage worship perspective.

 

[gt96g]

Id buy it for 500, and send it to a very talented luthier for restoration. It will never be original but it could definitely be brought back to respectability.

 

[mongo2]

Id buy it for 500, and send it to a very talented luthier for restoration. It will never be original but it could definitely be brought back to respectability.

If I could buy it for $500 I would too but I wouldn't have it restored. First thing I'd do is figure out what those switches do and then gig it as often as I could.

 

[shortscalesrule]

The description claims that it sings. It probably sounds like a choir with all of those pickups. BobKos got it right when he said the tonal variety may be vast with all of the possibilities. May be a mojo laden tone machine of the veg-o-matic variety. At least the body hasn't been mutilated to the point you can't tell what it left the factory as. Those cases are really sad. This sort of reminds me of Walter Becker's P bass. As far as it being a rare find, unfortunately, idiocy runs rampant in our society.

Or the tonal variety may only be half-vast.

 

[tripp2k]

More Pickups = More Tones?

I wonder if the amount of pull on those strings screws up the tuning everytime a string is plucked.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

No soapbar? Must try harder.

 

[shortscalesrule]

I'm not going to get into the " how can you have done this" part of the conversation.
I actually kind of like the idea of extra pickup's & the jag control plate is interesting...

I just have to ask... why split the p pickup around the bridge jazz p/u? (I know, why do any of it?....) Why not just keep it together on neck side of bridge j p/u? The d/g side has to be useless twang...
Anyone seen that done before? Just a strange choice.
I think p/j/p/j pickup orientation would've been crazy enough and probably offer a huge tonal palette...

At the risk of sounding wonky, I think that is a Bass VI control plate. If it's vintage, it could add up to $12 to the value of the thing. . .

 

[fermata]

It is a rare find. I've never seen anything else like it, have you? (I'll admit, I'm a little curious about that P pickup...now that's what one calls a split coil.)

It's kind of a miracle the neck is in relatively decent shape. The rest looks like the bastard child of Billy Sheehan and Berry Oakley. Berry Sheehan?

Indeed, it may have once belonged to Berly Sheekley, who had it overhauled by luthier Mike Watt.

 

[otp57]

This one is indeed a "rare find".



1963 Fender Jazz Bass Guitar! RARE FIND (See below) | eBay

All I can say it was hard to keep from Going postal see this.
Who in the hell would do this.

 

[BooDoggie]

That thing looks like it was restored with a chainsaw and a blowtorch. Not to mention that it looks like they sprayed the entire thing with rattle-can clearcoat including the neck and the hardware... What a shame...

 

[Gord_oh]