What do I have here?

[bolophonic]

I recently made a trade with a guitarist in my scene. A nice guitar amp (but completely useless to me) for a reasonably nice bass plus an extra neck. I haven’t decided what to do with the bass yet, but the extra neck is intriguing to me.

The guitarist said that he ordered it from Fender years ago and it looked like he had sanded the headstock in preparation for a Telecaster conversion (I erased all the pencil sketched lines off already.) It looks like an American Fender neck to me, but is there any way to date this based on the “J Uribe” stamp?

 

[elgranluis]

There seems to be plenty of j. Uribe necks for sale. However , I will tell you that a custom-made ink stamp is around 10 bucks.

anyway , fender has been selling “reissue” necks for over 20 years now, so this could potentially be one of them, however the whole neck looks unfinished , as opposed to “sanding off the logo”.

 

[bolophonic]

There seems to be plenty of j. Uribe necks for sale. However , I will tell you that a custom-made ink stamp is around 10 bucks.

anyway , fender has been selling “reissue” necks for over 20 years now, so this could potentially be one of them, however the whole neck looks unfinished , as opposed to “sanding off the logo”.

The neck has a very natural feel, but it’s pretty obvious when it’s in your hand that only the front of the headstock was sanded. The fretboard and frets are “factory.” I’m certain that the guy I got it from had no interest in counterfeiting a Fender, he was just a guitarist who got tired of tinkering with a bass project.

This neck isn’t raw wood, but it has a natural feel like some Allparts/Warmoth necks that I’ve had in the past, not a slick poly coat like I’m used to seeing on Fenders.

 

[yodedude2]

no nut? hmmm ... fretboard looks raw, butt looks like it has sanding marks ... pics of the entire neck?

 

[RSBBass]

I am no Fender expert, so take this with a grain or ten of salt. That said, every real Fender neck I have seen, including in many pictures here on TB has had more than just a name stamp on them. I am not saying the guitarist was trying to fool you. He may have been fooled himself.

 

[bolophonic]

no nut? hmmm ... fretboard looks raw, butt looks like it has sanding marks ... pics of the entire neck?

No nut, tuners have obviously been installed and removed at some point. The mounting holes on the butt are clean, though, so I am pretty sure it has never been installed on a bass. The finish is a light satin coat, definitely not raw, but not as thick or glossy as a standard MIM neck, like I’m used to. It looks like someone was toying with the idea of a 5-string conversion on top of the sketched-out Telecaster conversion. I’ll take more photos.

 

[yodedude2]

maybe it was one of those replacement necks that fender used to sell ...

 

[bolophonic]

I am no Fender expert, so take this with a grain or ten of salt. That said, every real Fender neck I have seen, including in many pictures here on TB has had more than just a name stamp on them. I am not saying the guitarist was trying to fool you. He may have been fooled himself.

Same here, I’ve always expected a date stamp or sometimes a label. But I’m having trouble believing that someone attempted a counterfeit by stamping a builder’s name and not by the usual waterslide method. It just seems like an obscure way to create provenance, if there was none. There is a thread on a Stratocaster board that mentions J Uribe as a Fender artisan, but not much else out there.

 

[bolophonic]

maybe it was one of those replacement necks that fender used to sell ...

The guy said he ordered it from Fender to replace the neck on the bass he gave me.
Longer shot of neck:

Back of headstock. Evidence of tuners, and a tap of a forstner bit for a 5th tuner?

Or perhaps a space for a birth year penny inlay?

 

[yodedude2]

The guy said he ordered it from Fender to replace the neck on the bass he gave me.

i remember those sorts of necks being available as a regular part from fender some time during the '00s. i think. they came wrapped in a velvet bag inside a white box that had a drawing of the neck on the outside of it. looks like uribe himself stamped necks over a more than 20-year period ... best i can do ...

 

[bolophonic]

i remember those sorts of necks being available as a regular part from fender some time during the '00s. i think. they came wrapped in a velvet bag inside a white box that had a drawing of the neck on the outside of it. looks like uribe himself stamped necks over a more than 20-year period ... best i can do ...

I appreciate the info. I would use this neck on my next bass if the truss adjustment was at the headstock. But I think a velvet bag would sweeten the deal if I sell it — maybe not as much as still having the logo on the face, though!!