Vintage Fender bass body authentication

You simply can't. And that's the risk you are taking.

There are sanity checks though - e.g. are the holes/routes correct (e.g. older Fender bodies had nail holes from the painting process).
Also, some vintage bodies have characteristic shapes from routing at the time.

In the end, it's difficult enough to identify a vintage body with original lacquer nowadays, with all the retro-models out there...

 

The router hump and filled nail holes from finishing are the hallmarks of all legit vintage bodies

 

Ask for picture with pickups removed. If they didn't overspray the cavities there is sometimes a date written.

 

Dating 60ies Fender Jazz bodies?

...check these pictures.

 

I wanna say 62 was the last year Fender wrote dates in the pickup cavities.

But yeah, putting on a solid color covers up any of the factory tell tale manufacturing details. The pan head screws on the control plate look bubblier like they're replacements.
If this was an original body, clearly the tug bar screw holes were filled in, while the bridge ashtray cover screws weren't?
And if so, whoever refinished it didn't appear to leave any router hump.

 

62 would have had the tug bar under the G.
Probably a newer PG.
Check for signs of holes under it.
Many refins sand out the router humps.
Sure, it just looks like an imperfection.
OK, it is, but one that aids in authinticating
an older body.
A lot of people don't know it was suppose to be there
so they sand off a detail that might have gotten them
a lot more money if it had been left.

I completely agree about the bang for the buck on refins.
I got a great deal on my clear finished '66.
From the specks left under the aluminum PG sheild I
found it was once once LPB.
Sometime in the 70s Bubba sanded off about 3-4K
and made it affordable for me later.

 

The router hump has been present in several reissues/squiers. The nail holes, in my experience, are not filled. but, they are there nevertheless.

I think in the end it[s a matter of experience-if youve owned plenty a vintage fenders you can tell one. Of course, that alone wont keep you from getting fooled by an elaborate fake.