Vintage ESP J Bass - Looking for Info

[tandem_jump420]

Hi all, I'm new to this forum. I decided to sign up after seeing some ESP info on here that is close to what I'm looking for. The threads were on the older side for I figured I would start a new one.

I am looking for information about this bass. General stuff like approximate year of manufacture and whether it was made in Japan or in the NYC 48th Street shop, or something else. Also, does anyone have a similar bass? The identifying features are: ESP "Electrical Sound Products" sticker logo on headstock, plain no-logo neck plate with "03705" serial number. No other ESP markings aside from the original ESP faux leather gig bag (very dank, not pictured). I took off the neck a couple of months ago but didn't photograph it. There was a vague pencil marking but I don't remember what it said. I would rather not take it off again until it's time for a set up. I bought this bass from a seller in Long Island (I live in Brooklyn). Before buying it, I sent the listing to bass hound Michael Rile on Instagram and he told me it was a legit early ESP sticker logo bass. I had been looking for a matching headstock Japanese Fender or Fender style bass (like the Boxer Series for ex.) and this ticked all the boxes. I tried it before purchasing and it is a really nice instrument. So now I am just curious to see if anyone else has one exactly like or even close to this in terms of headstock logo, neck place, configuration, etc.

I did a Google Lens search and a bunch of Moon basses came up in the search. Honestly the Moon basses are the closest to this one with the slanted pickup and control configuration. Makes sense, as I have gathered that this was another ESP affiliate.

Okay that's all I've got. Looking forward to hearing from some other bass heads out there.

 

[swagbotbilly]

No info here, but looks killer. Will be watching the thread with great interest

 

[Deleted member 407575]

Digging through ESP's archives, I found this.

It could be an "Order Made JB," and the first owner chose the slanted neck PU, black hardware, color, etc.

That said, the examples in the '81 catalog seems to be branded under their Navigator line. But as you learned with their Moon line, many aspects seem to be carried over between ESP's products. Additionally, the late 70's Navigator catalog has a custom order J-type bass called the "SP03."

Perhaps finding an order form from the era would be helpful, but the internet is understandably not helpful in this regard.

 

[tandem_jump420]

Digging through ESP's archives, I found this.

It could be an "Order Made JB," and the first owner chose the slanted neck PU, black hardware, color, etc.

That said, the examples in the '81 catalog seems to be branded under their Navigator line. But as you learned with their Moon line, many aspects seem to be carried over between ESP's products. Additionally, the late 70's Navigator catalog has a custom order J-type bass called the "SP03."

Perhaps finding an order form from the era would be helpful, but the internet is understandably not helpful in this regard.

Thanks for this! Yeah the Order Made JB idea makes a ton of sense. I wonder when they were doing the sticker logos and if it predates the printed logos or if it was really just random.

 

[DubHunter]

Love the vintage ESP builds. I’m sure it’s a funk machine.