Up for sale, a 1968 Fender Jazz Bass, complete with the original hardshell case. This clearly well-loved Jazz Bass has Fender’s infamous “faux burst,” with an Olympic White base and sealer coat obscuring the actual wood grain, and simulated grain added below the Sunburst gloss. The finish wear of this faux burst is common for this particular finish application, and the remaining Sunburst is deeply ambered and checked.

This Jazz Bass is a transitional example featuring original winds on the gray bobbin pickups, cloth-covered pickup leads, clover buttons tuners, and a bound rosewood fingerboard with block inlays.With an alder body, maple neck and bound rosewood fretboard, the bass has a very smooth, balanced and deep-sounding natural acoustic tone channeled faithfully through the pickup pair. The gray bobbin pickups deliver a round, articulate sound: the bass has plenty of upper midrange presence and burp, with a more woody, round sound with the neck pickup favored, and thicker thump with the Tone control rolled back. This Jazz Bass weighs 8lbs 15oz, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar with 45-100 roundwound strings, easy-playing action, and accurate intonation.

Neck Specs:

• Wood: Maple
• Shape: Medium U, measuring .845” 1st fret, 1.005” 12th fret
• Fretboard: Rosewood, bound, 7 ¼” radius, block inlay
• Frets: Slender, leveled/crowned, no wear
• Length: 34”
• Nut: 1 1/2” (replacement)
• Tuners: Clover buttons, “Fender”-stamped baseplates
• Serialization: Six-digit stamp (“F” neck plate) dates to ‘68
• Factory Markings: Faint (illegible) date stamp on neck heel

Body Specs:

• Wood: Alder
• Pickups: Gray bobbin single coil x2
• Controls: Volume x2, Tone
• Harness: Untouched solder, Stackpole pots date to the 31st week of ‘66, tropical fish tone capacitor
• Hardware: Leo Quan Badass Bass II bridge (replacement), control plate
• Plastics: Aged pointer knobs and pickup covers

The gloss Sunburst finish has the kind of stunning playwear that the finest relics can only dream of displaying; the finish is 100% original with no touch-up or overspray, exhibiting prominent tight checking and several areas where the Olympic White base coat is exposed, the most prominent of which is on top where the pickguard would typically sit (the guard has been removed Jaco-style). There’s a intuitive comfort and worn-in ease to this bass that’s the stuff of magic. It’s a bass that’s meant to be played and doesn’t disappoint.

The original hardshell case is included.