Wondering where to go with this.

[Kenny Wiebusch]

Pre CBS jazz pawn shop bass. Let me say I am a guitarist. Played for almost 50 years but I have always loved the bass line. I do play a bit of upright. I could leave it just like it is-got mojo and plays great. You either love the green headstock or hate it. If I paint a custom color I could paint the headstock. I always loved a natural bass but matching the headstock may be hard. I could sell it but love thumping it. Love a tortoise pickguard. What would you do? What preserves the most value? Pickups are not original nor pickguard.

 

[jd56hawk]

Only thing I'd change would be the strings.
Seriously, I'd even keep the price tag on the pickguard.

 

[Johnny Alien]

Holy crap that is the best bridge grounding method I have ever seen. That bass is pretty cool as is. And it shocks me that I am saying that.

 

[scourgeofgod]

Only thing I'd change would be the strings.
Seriously, I'd even keep the price tag on the pickguard.

Same here, wouldn't make a cosmetic change, a tortoise guard would really clash with the headstock.

 

[jd56hawk]

Seriously, I have three pawn shops in my town and I drop in every few weeks hoping to find something different, something you won't see in the used section of Guitar Center.
If I'd found that, I'd consider my frequent, so far fruitless searches to be well worthwhile.

 

[reddog]

Yeah Baby! Keep it as is... I.d only add a lightening rod.

 

[hrodbert696]

My first reaction was, "bah, it's not stock anyway, mod it how you want." But as I looked at the pictures, I thought differently. Don't change a thing. And I love that grounding wire.

 

[Bill Whitehurst]

Well there is no doubt it has mojo.
If you are planning to keep to play for your own amuzement,
then no one but you will care what it looks like because they won't know.
As far as value, the original finish is long gone, so any refinish could only help.
A period correct refin might bring up the value some.
All in all, it's yours, so do what feels right to you.

 

[M.R. Ogle]

I can put up with a TON of funk and mojo, but that headstock would be where I draw the line.
Get rid of that horrid green sparkle gunk and the bass will be a lot cooler, IMHO.

 

[Sollie7]

yeah Id say sand off green flake headstock and maybe throw a fender waterslide on there, otherwise id keep it as is. If you ever want to sell it let me know though.

 

[DwaynieAD]

that thing is awesome. keep it as is and gig it out.

 

[reddog]

Hang a red Xmas ball off the head and you're set!

 

[jim777]

Man, I would leave it as is - I wouldn't rewrite that story for nothin' Only thing I would consider changing is throwing Fralins in it if it didn't sound as unbelievably cool as it looks.

 

[TinIndian]

Gotta admit, I'm really diggin that thing too. Don't care for the headstock just because it clashes in a big way, but I could see leaving that too.

Rock that thing!

 

[Funk$tar]

That is a beautiful bass, especially that body!
The glossy wooden texture is just straight up cool, keep everything man!

 

[xed]

Can't believe I'm saying this but yeah, leave it as is. It's to odd and originally quirky to mess with.

 

[Ajapses]

Leave it "as-is", except replace that ground wire with jumper cables.

 

[Kenny Wiebusch]

Thank's for the input. The headstock was white when I got it. It looked like krylon so a bit of thinner removed it. Was hoping to find natural wood under it but instead I got carnival ride green. It makes me wonder if the whole bass was green at one time. Notice the GRETZCH knob. I like the idea on not "changing the story". There is no hole for a bridge ground so it is missing the brass ground strip. It tells me the body is also real 63.

 

[interp]

Other than the hideous headstock (I'm sorry, folks, it is NOT cool) and possibly the non-matching knob I would leave it as is.

 

[Iridescentone]

I'd pay to have it restored. Then I'd play it anywhere. Even a restored '63 Jazz is worth quite a bit, but not so much as to worry about it.

It looks extremely unappealing now, and reminds me of all the old Fenders that had their finishes stripped by hippies back in the day. That aint mojo, that's destruction IMO.

The ground jumper wire is cool though, kinda hints at steampunk, but no one in their right mind would steampunk a '63 Jazz. lol

Regardless, it's a nice rare pawn shop find.