Fender JAZZ BASS 1962 - Original Sunburst

 Boys and girls, this is the real thing, not a reissue or relic. When I bought it in the early ‘70s it was hanging on the wall where the undesirable, cheap and generally ugly guitars were hanging and at first sight, I was not impressed. I wanted a two pickup bass, though, and just for grins asked the proprietor to hand it to me and HOLY CRAP!, this thing felt like it belonged in my hands! Even with black tape-wound strings it had an indescribably warm and rich sound so I took it home with me immediately and never looked back. I had some subtle reversable electronic modifications performed (listed below), put on round-wound strings and it is the most versatile bass I’ve ever played. It’s an incredibly responsive living thing with almost infinitely variable tone. I spent 25 years as a recording engineer and studio musician and used it on almost every cut. Recently, I’ve had to accept that though I’ve held it for many years, I’ve only been its conservator and it’s time to pass it on to someone younger than I.

 Upon cursory examination (serial number, type of controls, etc.) this would appear to be a 1962 Fender Jazz Bass. However, at the base of the neck UNDERNEATH THE LACQUER written in pencil is the date 9-60. An obvious conclusion would be that this is a “Frankenstein” assembled from non-numbers matching instruments. However, if you examine the back of the neck in the area inside the pocket you can see (again in pencil UNDERNEATH the lacquer) there is a spot that was marked over with a Sharpie ON TOP OF THE LACQUER that when I took a pencil eraser and wiped it off says “SECOND” and then underneath it says “OK Leo” with the L in Leo being a combination of the letters L & F. I suspect that this is Leo Fender’s abbreviated signature and I believe that this indicates that sometime during a run of Jazz Basses in 1962 they ran out of necks and Leo Fender went into the ‘seconds’ pile and pulled out what he considered to be an acceptable neck and signed it to indicate that it was he who had passed it. I don’t know if this is an asset or not.

 This is a player’s instrument and has been subtly modified to make it more controllable. The linear taper pots have been replaced with audio taper pots, the customary tone capacitor has been replaced by a Bill Lawrence tone network and the cavity has been shielded with lead foil to help combat RF interference. I have 3 sets of Jazz Bass electronics and don’t know which came from this instrument but if this is important I think it might be possible to suss this out. I also have the bridge and pickup covers and sundry other parts that came from it. It plays and sounds like only an early Jazz Bass does.