Agent 00Soul

What don't you like about Jefferson Airplane?

That's a good word for it: punchy. Also the word I would use to describe Thomas' sound on the Costello songs. Also, it's the loudest pickup out of all my instruments.

Not sure if you've ever tried one of the Precision Elites from that year. My friend had one at the time and I thought it was the coolest. Of course, I was 15 and didn't have much experience so no idea what I'd think of it now.

I most definitely did NOT know that - thanks for filling me in! All these years I thought it was the day (but I'm also a gear ignoramous). Being a Jazzmaster, not a Jaguar, I looked up the number guide from another board. Apparently 1968 Jazzmasters are 19 and Jags are 15 as you said. So either the instrument was misnumbered, unlikely as one is long-scale and one is short, or far more likely, I misremembered. Either way - 15 or 19 - is still about 3 weeks after I was born, so that didn't change.

The picture is slightly distorted. The headstock is standard CBS-era as far as I know. Jazzmasters didn't get the larger headstock that Strats did, right? The finish was never stock - it came in that sparkle green that a previous owner added. I added the targets a few years after I got it. From a chip on the lower bout after I dropped it on a concrete floor, I could see that it was originally sunburst.

Based on how often people claim they shift gear on all the boards and social media groups I subscribe to, you would think so. I'm more of an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" person, although I certainly have accumulated a few more intsruments over the years. A life of living in tiny apartments and being left-handed is great preventative medicine for GAS!

Not a bass (obviously) but: My first electric instrument was a Jazzmaster that I got in 1984. Nobody was buying them then so it was dirt cheap. A few years later, I unscrewed the neck and found out it was dated 15 June 68, three weeks from my date of birth. I still have it. I didn't know this was a thing until I read this thread!

I haven't played out in a few years, but this story is worth posting. I was in a band back in the 2000s where it got to the point that the gig itself had become just a delivery mechanism for the afterparty. We did a couple of reunion shows in 2022, in San Francisco and Brooklyn, and we picked up that tradition again for old times sake but this time we all were older and had enough money to rent out a space in a bar or hold house parties.

Getting some early 80s Cure vibes!

"We Built This City," or as my AV teacher called it when it hit number 1 in the US, "DJs and radio stations are great! We love them!" It's one of the mysteries of the universe how Jefferson Airplane, one of the best and most challenging bands of the 1960s devolved through the 70s to emerge as Starship, one of the worst and least challenging bands of the 80s.

Those are great basses for hard rock and overdrive pedals. Must be the pickups.

I would just call and ask. What's the worst that can happen?