GuyR

Have never dealt with BD but it is always good to hear about positive experiences. 

I have only skimmed this thread after the first page. I don't understand why you would have an opinion or make judgements about about other people or their motivation based on their choice of instrument.

3 hours ago, TorVic said:

The sale ad mentions: "The neck has received a veil of transparent finish over it"

I thought all the options for phrases to downplay "refin" had been exhausted. 

That's a lovely bass. ACGs shapes are a little "out there" perhaps, but they are original, which is not easy 70 years into the evolution of electric basses. The blue against the burl is reminiscent of of natural opal. Overall, a thing of beauty and I expect it will be not too shabby to play.

Thanks for sharing.

On 30 January 2021 at 11:36, ezbass said:

The Gallery https://thebassgallery.com/pages/commission-sales

15% commission.

Have sold two relatively high value basses recently via bassgallery. Both sold quickly for a decent retail value, so 15% commission was excellent value and zero hassle factor.

You would be most welcome Jon. I could probably get a box of some description from bass gallery, which is near my work. There is someone at home 24/7 currently for collection so I'll PM you my address. 

1 hour ago, prowla said:

It reminds me of the Columbus, which was my first bass.

Too far and anti-lockdown for me to collect.

However, I think I have one of those generic Japanese tuners in my parts box, so could contribute that to help get it up and running.

It's certainly got the look of that era. I'm sure whoever wants it will appreciate the offer.

As an update, I've plugged it in and it is in full working order, all pots crackle free. It sounded OK.

I have been given what looks like a 70s No name Jazz type Bass by a friend who does house clearances. It’s fairly horrible. One of the tuners doesn’t work- spins on its shaft, but the neck is playable and overall it seems in ok condition. It is fully functioning, pickups and electrics all good. There is no case.

On the basis it won’t immediately appear on gumtree/eBay, anyone who is able to collect it from either Barnet or Kentish Town is very welcome to it.

On 18 January 2021 at 12:25, drTStingray said:

Amazing - I've never seen that before.

His Stingray is a 79 which he bought in Mannys (New York). It appears on most of his work in that era - indeed he still uses it with some of the projects he works on.

As stated the board has been dealt with numerous times. I wonder whether this was an instance when the board was being fixed and he put a separate neck on - who knows but it's very interesting. 

He also had at least one additional back up Stingray fretless bass, one of which was fairly recently re-sold. 

That does look like a Status type neck.

The back up recently sold, also a '79, was bought in the early 90s for use when his no1 was in for repair. Although it is a great bass, it didn't appear to have been used much. The bass in the video is not the backup.

3 hours ago, gareth said:

Wow

Looks exactly like my bass 

But my bass only weighs 8lbs 5ozs and the E string definitely ain’t dead

in common with every category of instrument, Vintage Fenders are not all created equal.

2 minutes ago, greavesbass said:

Id lusted for years to get a early 70's sunburst P. Played it and sold it....heavy and the E string was sooo dead. Now play a VM squire P which I shall never sell.

Thankfully, we will now recognise it next time it is advertised for sale.

3 minutes ago, weezergeezer said:

Agree with you there friend..most people would rather spend the money on a new car or holiday..but not everyone has the love of old vintages..

Thank goodness they don't, otherwise the prices would be even more painful. And give me a worn looking bass every time. There are usually two reasons for a pre cbs Fender to be pristine; either it has a sad story, or it is a dog, of which there are plenty. 

55 minutes ago, bakerster135 said:

It's here https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/806605429912273/

Looks pretty good from the photos, and £8k's about right atm. Reckon that's a padauk fretboard too which they did on the odd bass then

That looks as good as any l series I have seen, and the price does not seem excessive, but I’m sure the condition would put me off using it. My crop of pre cbs basses and guitars never see the inside of a case, often being left randomly around the house. That 65 is too clean for serious action.

17 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

You managed to sell it, and keep it?! 

Excellent work. You’re not that Mick Mason bloke, are you?

52 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Nothing definite yet, I’m looking at jazzes mainly, possibly a 62-66 white and tort with the dot fret markers before they changed to block inlays , I wasn’t really a fan of inlays , but saying that I viewed a 72 and a 74 I quite liked but they turned out to be not all original 🙂

A decent looking '64 Oly White, tort and white headstock Jazz at ATB currently. Been in stock for a while, I think on commission IIRC from my visit there. Possibly worth a look and perhaps open to offers.

2 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

Thanks bakerster, I’d forgotten about new kings road guitars, my friend bought a really nice P from them, and ATB guitars is one I didn’t know  👍

I have bought well from ATB and found them straightforward. I understand guitaravenue are reputable too, although that is not from personal experience.

If you have confidence in your own judgement, Gardiner Houlgate have four auctions per year. I have also got excellent value there.

I'm putting every available £ into used Sansamps. Seems you can get 10x your money back.

I don't understand why you are still engaging in this person's game, @Prowla. In my opinion, you would be best served to put it in the hands of the police today.

1 hour ago, KevL said:

A few people claim the first run 'Fender' branded JVs are a touch better. I've seen a couple of later Squiers that have had less-than-perfect fit and finish details but I think it's a case of taking each one on its own merit, don't generalise. The pickups for your Precisions would have been Japanese and the 82 (Fender) could well have originally been slightly different to your 83 Squier - the retrofitted one could possibly have differed again, there was a fair bit of inconsistency.

The first run JVs have some minor differences in detail - for instance on the Jazz bass, the Fender logo tortoise scratch plate has one fewer layers of ply than the later version. Not sure if the same is true for other tort plate JVs.

I can't see any difference in fit and finish on my examples. The 84 is noticeably lighter than the Sen ash 82. I'm not sure what th body wood is on the 84 as it is Oly White. When I bought it I tried every JV Jazz in Denmark St. The one I bought was special, so unsurprisingly it is better than the 82. I have an 84 JV Strat which is also fabulous and extremely light. It so outshone the Fender logo 82 Strat I formerly had (which had a serial numbe about 100 away from my 82 Jazz and was an identical piece of wood) that I sold the early example. 

In my opinion, the pickups of JVs in general are the weak point. All mine are unchanged, but I don't think they quite do justice to the potential contained in he unamplifed tone.

1 minute ago, LukeFRC said:

£220 - £1500 is 680% rise
An original 1962 Jazz would be more than £5,500 I think... 

Shows you where the real value was........possibly still is?

12 hours ago, KevL said:

The success of the Squier JV Series was the result of a few things that are unlikely to occur now. They were made to a high standard in terms of materials (good wood was the norm, US pickups, decent hardware etc), construction (the Japanese had shown the standard of guitars they could make, Dan Smith played that to his advantage), accuracy (the Japanese pretty much made the instruments exactly as per the year being copied), no really limiting budget (these were a main product for Fender whilst the US production was getting sorted out). 

Many excellent points made in the full version of your post.
With regard to the JV jazz basses, they were the first dot-neck versions produced by Fender since 1966, so  for those looking for that specification, there was plenty of pent up demand for a vintage accurate reissue, which had never previously been produced by Fender. 

The Fender logo version was already trading at a Modest premium over the Squier logo when I bought mine in 1983. £220 used against £200 for a new one and £800 for an original 62. 
A number of Fender logo JVs sold at auction last week at up to £1488 including premium, which seems a lot when you can buy a CS relic privately for circa £2k. When JVs went over to Squier logo after 10000 units approx, it was obvious the more desirable originals would increase in value, but less so that the second version did, particularly with the large number made. I have one with a serial number around 75000 from 1984.

In terms of what might be the next JV equivalent, I think the market is more flooded with excellent competing options than ever. The number of overlapping ranges offered by Fender makes it very hard to predict. Anything interesting with a short run - the Solid rosewood neck basses in pink and green produced last year would be my choice if speculating.

Having said that, buy a bass you love to play and the value becomes irrelevant. I still have my JVs bought in 83, 84 and 89/90ish, so even if they had reduced in value, I have had an excellent return on them. I pick one up most days.

King Crimson at the Hackney Empire a couple of years ago was quite impressive.

All my vintage Fenders have been refretted at least once. If you don't get it done, it eventually ceases to be a musical instrument.

It will also enhance the life of the fingerboard, which will be taking more wear from the strings with low frets.

If you are concerned to keep the bass as original as possible, ask the luthier not to plane the fingerboard. I had my 66 Tele (rare 6 string short scale bass, didn't catch on) done recently by Bass gallery, using correct profile profile CS frets-retaining the divots between the frets. So much better when I got it back. No buzzing, no playing around worn areas.

38 minutes ago, onehandclapping said:

The 62 slab here is a little darker/bassier than veneer board.An original stacker sounds very different to a vvt and it would  not be my pick.A reissue stacker compared to an original does not have the capacitors in that to my ear throttle the sound.The 62 here has a bigger neck than my 63 and 64 which are very similar,the 63 being my favourite.I did play another 62 slab vvt the other day and the neck was awesome being quite small like my 63...hope this helps😀

My 62 curved board has a smaller neck than my 64 and 65, which are both still similar to each other and narrow. The 62 is darker sounding, the 64 very zingy and modern, the 65 somewhere in between. To me, all early Jazzes are have their own individual character. I tried a wonderful 64 once with a very full feeling neck. It would be interesting to see how much variation there is between the measured profiles of vintage basses manufactured in the same month. It wouldn't surprise me to see a wide difference.

I acquired a CS Jazz bass, Sei Jazz and a 65 Strat.

CS moved on as the neck profile was too chunky, although the bass was otherwise magnificent