Pre-CBS Jazz Choice (which one of these two would you get?)

I'd get the '64 because (1) I prefer the 3-knob layout, and (2) the rewound pickups. But that's me.

 

Investment-wise, all original > than anything refinished/reconditioned.

If you're gigging it; the best player. Paying gigs always pays down gear costs.

 

No point buying an old bass over a new one at considerably cheaper cost unless it has features or a sound that a new bass can't produce.
We all know some people cannot hear any difference.
Maybe they are lucky?
For me, it's the '61.

 

I’d take the 64.

 

Probably the '61, but maybe the refinished color makes a difference? For me, if one was refinished black and the other refinished olympic white, I'd get the white one, for instance.

 

If I had to choose, I'd probably get the '61. I would only ever use an instrument like this to record with.

Really, if working with a pre-CBS Fender budget, I'd rather have a Sadowsky, a Lakland if all-passive was a requirement, or new Fender if it had to be a Fender, and pocket the difference. Newer, made with more recent and, IMO, better guitar building techniques.

 

If money is no concern , just get the one that feels better. I mean , both are refinished, the rewound pickups really don’t matter to me (you could always have them rewound to your own spec ).

 

If money is no concern, get both!
Who needs a car anyway?
Otherwise, get whichever plays and sounds better
There’s a big difference from bass to bass on those old ones. Some are gems and some are just old

 

Grrr back in my day these old fenders were just old! My brand new glarry with emgs and 3 strings plays better than any pre cbs bass, heck my old back cant gig anything more than 2.1 lbs which I achieve thanks to ultralights!


heck, if you’re looking for a vintage jazz bass, you should get a 6 string chambered fodera with a 19” radius and soapbars, they’re the same bass and it has cnc machining which is obviously better!

Obvious sarcasm is obvious

get the 61 man

 

My first “real” bass was a early sixties with three knobs. I’d go that way.

 

Which one plays better?
Which one sounds better?
Which one is lighter?
Which one looks cooler?

These are the considerations that would drive me in one direction or the other

 

If I can't try them I'm leaning toward the 64'.
If I can try them, is the 61' possessed? If so, money doesn't matter.

 

64

 

I'd get the best player.

 

As bad as this sounds, the colors would likely make the decision for me.

 

The '61 has more appeal to me, but I would default the best player, if those two basses were my only choices.

In reality, I would not spend huge amounts of money on an older, refinished bass with additional fixes. I'd go to one of my two favorite builders and commission a custom build to my specifications. Not a bit of hesitation or question in my mind.

Koog

 

If it wasn't already refinned by either Gord or Riggio, then I'd buy the year that appealed to me and ship it straight to Riggio for his accurate refin.

 

I'd get the one with the least amount of 'S' curve to the neck. Sadly, time is a cruel MF- 'S' curves on older Fender basses- even headstocks bent upwards, is a real issue. If you're spending late model used car money on a bass- make absolutely sure that
you can actually adjust the neck, and the fingerboard isn't warped up at the first 5 frets...
and therefore, there is little or no 'S' curve or 60 year compression warping of wood fibers, that can never be taken out of the neck.

 

There's the rub here - when you talk about basses that are as old as these, if you're wanting to use it as a musical instrument, the assumption that they're in the same condition (or indeed that they're both even playable) is something you need to be careful about. A lot of old Fenders have had very high tension strings on them long enough, and/or had periods of neglect that the necks are anything but flat.

The thing you need for a good electric bass guitar is a straight neck - everything else is secondary, and can be fixed fairly easily. When you apply that to old Fenders, the first question is not "which one should I buy?" - the first question is "Is either of these something I should buy?' - a lot of times, the answer to that will be no. Once you look at the condition of the basses, with special emphasis on the necks, I predict the decision will be much simpler - it's going to be pretty rare that both are great players, and there's a pretty decent chance neither will be great players. Either of those makes the decision easy.

If you can't play them before you buy, that'd be an automatic no on both for me - there is just way too much chance of getting an expensive turd in this kind of situation.