GuyR

Jvs are good, but not worth £900. They were a budget instrument - in the context of their time of manufacture, they were excellent, showing up the poor quality of some contemporary USA fender product. The Jazz basses were also the first reissues with a dot neck. I think a tokai from the same era is as good. I have 2 jv jazzes. One I bought at a year old in 1983 and another I bought new in 1984. I have a mid 80s tokai jazz also. At £5-600 a jv is a good buy imo.

If you're going to do it, I think in the corner is the most considerate place.

There is a young man who really might be better off with a short scale......

Why didn't Fender think of the RS-guitarworks 50s style jazz bass. It's fabulous.

Bass Gallery. You can't go wrong.

Love this. Thanks for posting

You liked how it played as delivered and want to know whether to modify it. I think you may have answered your own question 🙂

Great looking bass. If it plays as well as it looks, you haven't wasted your money. If the seller didn't disclose the neck refin, there might not be any harm in seeing if they might make a gesture to compensate. I always get Martin P to look over any vintage bass purchase. It's a good idea to buy subject to his inspection, with the option to return. Re the screws, I'm no expert, but my 64 jazz has control panel screws matching those on the scratchplate. On my 65 they are slightly different - the control panel ones are a little smaller, but still they don't look like yours. Pm me an email address and I'll send a close up image from my phone if that is useful. even with a few unexpected changes, so long as you have the original pickups £3500 is OK. Any 65 jazz bass purchase can't be a bad thing!!!

I said she no longer lives there, not she no longer lives. Mind you, my geraniums were particularly good last year.

A jv squier bass was £220 in Denmark st in 1984. I've still got the receipt. And the bass. Starter gear is much better value now than ever before. Rightly or wrongly, I doubt many new players worry too much about the ethics of production

If the neighbour finds the bass intrusive, use headphones and a zoom bfx or similar. It's no big deal for you, but it might be a big deal for her. I had a noisy neighbour, playing the ghastly "frozen" soundtrack repeatedly. It was torture. Her dog barked all night while she went clubbing. She ignored my repeated polite requests to moderate her behaviour. I did not retaliate with escalating noise wars, but let''s just say she no longer lives there.... your bass playing might sound fantastic to you, (or me!!) but it might be the equivalent of "frozen" to her. in my opinion, continuing to play amplified when a neighbour has asked you not to is inconsiderate and provocative.

Absolutely this. Dates a recording in the most unfortunate way and renders it unlistenable for me.

Most people who have played a good number of vintage basses seem to have had the experience of playing good ones, fantastic ones, and "dogs". Is it coincidence that it is only the fantastic ones that ever come up for sale? Similarly, considering how many vintage instruments have been modified/refinished/hacked about, it is quite surprising that most of the ones for sale are 100% original. Caveat emptor........

An excellent and pragmatic approach. I don't necessarily agree there is a widespread obsession with resale value. Certainly with regard to vintage purchases, I never buy with any anticipation or purpose of potential future profit. I just like playing and having permanent unrestricted access to fabulous vintage basses and guitars. The notion that you might not lose money in the unpalatable event that you might need to part with them is at best a fringe benefit. Others may feel differently, but it is none of my business if they do.

Not sure how to post the link to the above mentioned in the for sale thread, but I would give it serious consideration if I were looking. Good luck with your search oops P bass search. Sorry inappropriate content 😀

I am fortunate enough that I have access to that expertise free of charge, but, bearing in mind a set up costs about £40, checking over a vintage bass might be expected to take a similar time. Even if it cost £100, a good investment.

Nothing controversial, in a blind test you almost couldn't miss the vintage bass.

It is worth paying a reputable expert for an in-person report. Photos are not enough, in my opinion. Mistakes are v expensive!!

I have 8 jazz basses - 4 1965 or before, 3 1980s one 2015 relic. In a blind test with someone else playing, I'm not confident I'd get it 100% right.

The correct price range is fairly straightforward to arrive at, assuming you have enough basic knowledge, or access to a 3rd party with appropriate experience to ensure the instrument is as advertised, prior to a binding deal (I always have a 48hour approval agreement on any vintage purchase, to obtain expert advice, other than for auction, where the lower price makes a "punt" more acceptable). Once you are confident of what the instrument is, in terms of originality and, therefore, ability to recoup the thick end of your financial outlay, it only remains; does the instrument inspire you to buy it?

I toyed with the quotation marks on live 😀 Must be a great night out in November, watching the same old faces again, pretending to count in the new year. All more talented than me, but it does seem tired.

The major manufacturers had what seems to be commonly acknowledged as a reduction in quality of their products in the late 60s/early 70s, bringing about a preference for the instruments from the previous era, which was perfectly sensible in the era of the 3 bolt boat-anchor Jazz bass, but less relevant now. It may well be that the availability of properly seasoned timber and exotic hardwoods might give older instruments a head-start, but I have to say, when I went to try, then buy, a 64 jazz bass, having a try on the owner's fodera 4 string was quite an eye-opener. It was much the more sophisticated, refined and versatile of the two instruments, but the vintage jazz felt more comfortable, worn-in and enabled me to make a sound that made me happy to part with a sizeable wad. warm and rounded, not harsh or aggressive, with great harmonics and very responsive. How much of that is my wanting to like it who knows, but perhaps no coincidence I spent an hour playing it unaccompanied earlier today. I have played other pre cbs jazz basses that have been absolutely dead and have not "spoken to me" How the median-quality pre cbs bass, when new, would compare with the median-quality custom shop current production, sadly is only the subject of conjecture. My guess is you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. excellent, good-natured thread btw.

Soundly beats the alternative live music show on the adjacent channel