Amazing amount of speculation here, and obviously a lot of comments from well meaning folk that have not yet determined how to use components/features to identify a Fender based product ...
As I eluded to way back in post #6, answers to the few questions I posted would tell us a lot .... so, after a quick phone call, and a ' bass in hand' series of questions to the seller, we know that the bass's birthdate ('08) was determined by a local luthier that set the bass up for him, and had the neck off which revealed an '08 date stamped in the neck pocket ... seller says he purchased the bass in the condition it is in, minus a pickgaurd, he added that .... and, there is NO channel routing on the body under the pickguard ... he said that the previous seller added the aftermarket bridge, to which I informed him that it is more likely a stock component to the model, especially with the factory notched saddles ... the back of the headstock has also been sanded clean, although it does use the open back style machines .... add to that the heel adjust truss rod, and the style of string tree used, it tells us more as well... I did not take the time to ask him to open the control cavity, which may or may not have revealed a GreaseBucket Tone Circuitry intact (I didn't want to take the phone time to explain that to him) ....
Bottom line, as a couple folk have stated, and my immediate suspicion, this is very likely a 2008
upgraded Fender Hwy One Jazz ... the case would be the style used on the first 2-3 years of the American Series, not the flimsy one they switched to for the rest of that run ....
Are all the electronics still stock? who knows ... is everything he told me true, maybe, maybe not, but I formed my questions in an 'either/or' manner, so the response was more likely a choice based on what he was actually looking at ...
So we likely have an alder Fender body (with no channel routing), a factory slotted BAII, a heel adjust truss rod Fender neck with graphite wrapped Posi-Flex support rods, and a good condition Fender case that came with one of their top MIA basses at the time, with all latches and handles working ...
Why does it look like it does? ... TB'er 'design' shared the thought it may be a stolen bass ... maybe, maybe not, but the thought crossed my mind too ... somewhere along the line, whether accidentally or intentionally, the guy I talked to or 'the guy he got it from' did everything possible to hide anything resembling what it looked like previously, and any identifying markings ... people in normal circunstances will not sand off graphics that will
add value to something ....
Now the speculation posts may resume ... much more fun than knowing what it likely is
