UFO: Unknown Fender Object

[Lujon]

Took a chance on this unmarked fretless bass, wondering if there's a way to identify what kind of body it is? Also wondering who made the reverse tuners?

The body is two piece alder, originally black, stripped and given a pretty poor natural finish. No routes besides control cavity and pickups. Everything has been replaced, including an unmarked 21 fret neck. So I don't know if there's really a way to identify it further.

 

[Lujon]

Ok, I think the tuners might be Gotoh Res-o-lite reverse but they don't have Gotoh etched on them so maybe not. Still no idea about the body.

 

[FRoss6788]

How does it play?

Looks cool...

 

[Flaked Beans]

Looks great. I like it, congrats! Nice bass.

 

[Lujon]

How does it play?

Looks cool...

Did a quick setup, replaced the old strings and lowered the saddles. Sounds nice, and the neck is very pleasant to play. I don't know who made it but they did a nice job!

 

[Killing Floor]

It's not a Fender because it's shielded. That neck looks nice. I dig it. Those look like nice tuners, can't tell the brand. I agree they look like Gotoh but who knows.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Did a quick setup, replaced the old strings and lowered the saddles. Sounds nice, and the neck is very pleasant to play. I don't know who made it but they did a nice job!

As long as you didn't pay too much, who cares who made it? It is certainly a beauty.

 

[Lujon]

As long as you didn't pay too much, who cares who made it? It is certainly a beauty.

Totally agree, definitely doesn't matter, but I do like a good mystery!

 

[Grinderman]

I see potential but that foil in the control cavity is a weirdo mess and I would have swapped out those VVT knobs already if it were me; just sayin'

The tuning machines look Gotoh but not Res-O-Lite. I suspect that neck might be from Musikraft.

 

[Killing Floor]

Totally agree, definitely doesn't matter, but I do like a good mystery!

So many mods you may never find out but does it have a stamp or any marks under one of the pickups?

 

[Lujon]

The cavity looks worse since I tried to take out the foil but they must have used some glue. I have some thoughts about refinishing the entire body, and I agree the knobs need to go.

Under the pickups is just black paint. I did see it has a veneer over the top.

 

[Grinderman]

Definitely not a Fender body because there's no hump where the bottom horn wraps around and meets the neck pocket.

 

[Fender_Bender]

Gotoh vintage reverse tuners. The non res o lite tuners are quite heavy. They have a much finer tuning ratio than the originals and likely a much better build and quality. Two of my basses have them and they are rock solid. Stringing up takes more care because the tuning posts are straight cylinders.

 

[JW56789]

It's a Clint Eastwood Signature Fretless Jazz, the bass with no name.

Certainly looks like it was built by someone who knew what they were doing, a beautiful solder job with Bartolini's and 22-fret neck. I give it extra points for NOT having a brand name on it, if it plays well and sounds good, who cares ?

I love 'brown basses'. If it was me, I'd fill in the PG holes, change out to black hardware, and work the wood to an oil-finish dull look, maybe go back to one of those black crinkle finish metal pickguards.

 

[Lujon]

Definitely not a Fender body because there's no hump where the bottom horn wraps around and meets the neck pocket.

View attachment 4514635

I could be wrong, definitely know less about this stuff than you all, but I thought I read somewhere here that the "Fullerton bump" is not always present. I did a quick search of bodies on Reverb and found a few that don't. Not saying it's a Fender by any means.

Gotoh vintage reverse tuners. The non res o lite tuners are quite heavy. They have a much finer tuning ratio than the originals and likely a much better build and quality. Two of my basses have them and they are rock solid. Stringing up takes more care because the tuning posts are straight cylinders.

Appreciate the info, I was confused as they don't look exactly like the resolites. Good to know!

 

[Lujon]

It's a Clint Eastwood Signature Fretless Jazz, the bass with no name.

Certainly looks like it was built by someone who knew what they were doing, a beautiful solder job with Bartolini's and 22-fret neck. I give it extra points for NOT having a brand name on it, if it plays well and sounds good, who cares ?

I like that name, the Eastwood! Also, I had to edit and correct my post, it's a 21 fret neck.

 

[Grinderman]

I could be wrong, definitely know less about this stuff than you all, but I thought I read somewhere here that the "Fullerton bump" is not always present. I did a quick search of bodies on Reverb and found a few that don't. Not saying it's a Fender by any means.



Appreciate the info, I was confused as they don't look exactly like the resolites. Good to know!

That would be news to me because I've never seen a genuine U.S. made Fender Precision or Jazz bass without the hump, bump or ramp. It could be MIJ/CIJ.

 

[Lujon]

That would be news to me because I've never seen a genuine U.S. made Fender Precision or Jazz bass without the hump, bump or ramp. It could be MIJ/CIJ.

I defer to you!

 

[Grinderman]

I defer to you!

I take that back, I do see a few online from between the early '70s and mid-'80s that appear to have no hump or they're so subtly small it's hard to tell from the pictures.

BTW, to be clear, I'm not suggesting I think it matters whether there's a hump or that it's a Fender body. I currently own three non-Fender/FSO bass bodies, none have that hump.

 

[Lujon]

Plot twist: so I was having a really hard time intonation this thing. I stood it next to my other jazz bass and noticed it's shorter . . . did some measurements, lo and behold the distance between the frets is shorter as well. The overall scale length measures 34 but clearly this neck is made for something else, something shorter perhaps.