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Restore 1965 Fender Jazz?

#25
Refin's can get a suspicious buyer later on *if* you decide to sell it. With the finish stripped, at least you can see the original wood was never routed or modified in any way. I'm not saying you're gonna do this, but when I see a refin, I don't know if previous routs and other holes had to be repaired. Locally, there is a 63 that had a body cracked in 1/2 and glued back together! A refin would hide it, ouch!

If you don't care and you're gonna keep the 65 forever (like I would), sure go for the refin and relic it. No, fender will not do it for you, you'll have to find another shop. If you look at gbase.com, there is a shop that's listing refinish & relic jobs at an excellent price. If the bass still has the original decal on the headstock, do not refinish the neck!
I'm sorry but refinishes do not add value like I see someone has posted above. The value of a bass is only what people are willing to pay for them, not what appraisers say, and I think ebay is the best source of what people are willing.

The price is iffy, maybe a tad high. Original finish 65/66's J's are now $4000/4500 and over. Refins and strip finishes are worth 1/2 that as long as the bass still has it's original parts. $1900-2000 probably wouldn't be bad at today's market, but you need to research what other hard-to-replace parts are missing because that definitely subracts value and what you should offer.

You can't compare prices of Precisions to Jazzes...J's are worth more when you compare the same given year P & J.

The important thing, you already said the bass is a great sounding player, so just a little more research and you could have a great vintage piece.
 
#26
I think the price would be fair for a refnished one with all the parts intact. The pickguard alone (original) would be worth $100-$200. About 5 years ago, I bought a to be refnished '65 with everything (including ashtrays) for $1600. I even had the choice of what nitro color I wanted (it is sonic blue). After committing, the seller had it professinally refinished (great job), cost included in the $1600 price.

I agree with everyone else; once the finish has been touched, you might as well get it done the way you want it.

This site has some good info on Fender paint:

http://www.provide.net/~cfh/feature.html
 
#28
$1200! Not at todays current market. 4 years ago you could have still bought one close to 1200, but not today. Over the last two years the vintage maket has skyrocketed rediculous.

Today's market, about $1200 will buy you a stripped finish 1970 Jazz.
 
#29
Caca de Kick said:
$1200! Not at todays current market. 4 years ago you could have still bought one close to 1200, but not today. Over the last two years the vintage maket has skyrocketed rediculous.

Today's market, about $1200 will buy you a stripped finish 1970 Jazz.
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Yup. $1200. Considering everything that's wrong with it, I would say that's more than fair. If it had a finish and all original parts, I'd say you could creep up into the $2000 price range.

I agree that the market has jumped back up again, but only in the past six-nine months have we gotten back into the pre-911 price ranges.
 
#30
Caca de Kick said:
You can't compare prices of Precisions to Jazzes...J's are worth more when you compare the same given year P & J.
Click to expand...

Agreed. However, while J's fetch $4k-$5k pretty easily, P's still don't seem to fetch as much. If this was a Jbass, I would have advised the original poster to pay a little more, but I still stand by my original price.
 
#33
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#35
I own several "vintage instruments" (my definition is at least 20 years old), and I can understand why some might be a bit apprehensive about paying a lot for an instrument that has clearly seen better days. Most of the instruments I've bought were less than perfect, but that's OK. I play mine. I bought them because I liked them for various reasons, and I don't keep them in a closet or box. If you're a collector primarily interested in future value, then yes, you need to ask questions and determine whether a purchase is warranted or not based on the answers to those questions. If you're not a collector, your first question should be whether what you're thinking about doing to the instrument will make it more appealing, playable, better sounding, etc.

I've had my '73 Jazz's neck refinished and refretted, new pickups put in, and a badass put on. My '79 Stingray had a similar neck refin and refret. My '87 Thunderbird? Bart pickups. To me, it's all about playability. My '74 Gibson Ripper is undergoing a complete refinish because I just wanted it to look nicer. Am I losing money because I did these things? Probably. Does what I did make these instruments more appealing to me (and hopefully others)? Yes. Does it lower their value? Most definitely. Do I care? No. To me, it's only money (and no, I'm not rich, nor do I have money to waste - I just view things differerently, I guess). The last time looked, when you die there isn't a U-Haul behind your hearse. Might as well enjoy what you have when you have it.

If you're buying an instrument as an investment, cool. If not, buy it, fix it up to your liking, and play it. That's what it's there for.

My recommendation: If you like that Jazz, you can afford it, and want to refinish it, go for it. Sure, you might lose money, but if losing money is not an issue, you should enjoy the instrument. Over time it will pay for itself in hours of enjoyment, happiness, and other intangibles no amount of money can ever compensate for.

My two cents,

Alan
 
#37
I bought a refin 65 Jazz with some 70's hardware off my buddy for 400 bucks. This was after he sold the forever warped neck for about 600 bucks at a vintage show. The neck was all original but very much unplayable and still brought some money. I parted out the rest later for over a grand on ebay. So parted out, refinished, with a warped neck, and unoriginal hardware the bass brought about $1,600.

What will make you sick is that my buddy found it in a pawn shop for $150. The guy didn't know what he had.
 
#38
r379 said:
Heck, now I don't feel so bad saying that $2500 was in the ballpark. Too high, maybe, but might be OK for an asking price.
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Yeah, I was feelin' like a bit of a jerk suggesting it wasn't an outrageous price...I still think it's not bad. If it plays well and speaks to you, than I think it would be worth it.
 
#39
growlngrind said:
I bought a refin 65 Jazz with some 70's hardware off my buddy for 400 bucks. This was after he sold the forever warped neck for about 600 bucks at a vintage show. The neck was all original but very much unplayable and still brought some money. I parted out the rest later for over a grand on ebay. So parted out, refinished, with a warped neck, and unoriginal hardware the bass brought about $1,600.

What will make you sick is that my buddy found it in a pawn shop for $150. The guy didn't know what he had.
Click to expand...

I always think that the neck is worth the most and is the most important part of a guitar or bass. If someone sells a vintage fender, and it's just body with hardware and a replacement neck...then it's not a vintage fender anymore...it's parts.
 
#40
I mentioned in an earlier post that I'd been shopping for a pre CBS jazz recently. No more. For less money than I'd have paid for a '64 refin I bought a used Lakland USA JO 4 string. I'm not looking for an old Fender anymore; I'm more than pleased with the Joe.
 

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