1969 Fender Jazz Bass Electric Bass Guitar

I've had some choice '60s Jazz Basses in the shop over the years. This is the first one that I (and some buddies, too) have fallen hard for in a while. It plays like a fiend and sounds authoritative and "sculpted" right off the bat. We've all got moon-eyes, for sure. I learned (poorly) bass on a cheap Squier Jazz Bass (who wasn't influenced by JPJ?) so whenever I play the real thing I appreciate it thoroughly.

Anyhow, this one was purchased by my consignor from the original owner. It's all-original right down to the screws and last pieces of hardware and comes with its original case, instruction manual, kick-butt giant '60s strap, and Fender polishing cloth. How about that?

My work was light -- I gave it a level/dress of the frets (it'd been played) and a heavy-handed level-down of the ones at the neck joint as this has the usual "Fender fatigue hump" in that area. I've gotten playability spot-on the way that I set up the average bass -- 3/32" bass and 1/16" treble at the 12th fret -- but if you're an aggressive player you might get a hair of fret buzz on the low E&A strings from frets 15-on-up if you're digging-in hard. I and my cadre of swooners didn't have trouble, but I know plenty of heavy-hitting bassists out there so I like to give fair warning.

That said, it plays quick and fast and is ready to roll. It's currently wearing old Fender flatwound strings (I'm judging by the wrappings) in gauges something like 100w-45w or 105w-45w or so. I would love to hear and feel it with a set of 95w-39w LaBella flats, though. I'm guessing it would be slinky as heck and fat-sounding, too.

When I set it up I made sure that the bridge pickup was free to travel and had new springy-foam underneath it so it could be adjusted. Because of that I was able to crank it up towards the strings and get the volume balance for each pickup to be correct. I didn't yank the pickguard and pull-out the neck pickup, though, because the celluloid pickguard has shrunk a bit and I didn't see the need to go mucking with it and potentially damage the guard or pickup covers. I remember a harrowing experience with an old Jaguar pickup that had gotten stuck to its pickguard but needed to be removed. Sigh...

This guy has the slim, quick, narrow-nutted Jazz neck that I'm always looking for, too -- in addition to a ton of playwear and finish wear that makes it just look glorious. Sigh number two...

Repairs included: a fret level/dress, cleaning, adjustments, and setup.

Body wood: looks like alder to me

Bridge: 4-saddle adjustable

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: maple

Pickups: 2x Fender Jazz Bass single coils

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: approx. 100w-45w flatwounds (Fender-branded?)

Neck shape: slim-med C

Board radius: ~7.5"

Truss rod: adjustable (a few turns-more left)

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: medium-low

Scale length: 34"

Nut width: 1 1/2"

Body width: 13 3/4"

Body depth: 1 5/8"

Weight: 9 lbs 7 oz

Condition notes: clearly, the finish shows wear and flaking-off here and there throughout but the effect is "glory" instead of "dingy scum." There's lacquer-checking to the top clearcoat throughout, too, and tons of fading from UV exposure. There's a photo of under the bridge cover and you can see how much the sunburst's color leeched as it aged. Yeah -- it looks killer, let's admit it! I also mentioned the "hump" in the neck in the last 5 frets or so. This is completely normal on old Fenders (I haven't played an old Fender bass without it) and happens as they age. I ameliorated this with a level/dress of the frets which took off extra material on the very last 5 frets to get the overall relief in the neck correct. I would be more than happy to plane the board and refret if that's more desirable to the next owner, but it plays quick and cozy right now, so that's more a matter of fret preference than anything else...

It comes with: an original instruction manual, period wide-style strap, Fender polishing cloth, and original hard case.