Bitsa 70’s Fender fretless jazz bass neck with precision body - *SOLD* £850 Radlett

[david1711]

1970’s unlined fretless Fender jazz bass with unspecified precision body.

 

Not sure what year as the last digit has rubbed off. Tuners unknown but looks the part.

 

Condition 8/10. 38mm at the nut.

 

No idea about the body but it’s in good condition overall. 34 inch scale, 4kg weight, 19mm spacing.
 

All working including the truss rod. Amazing tones!

 

No case so pick up only unless you want the neck or body, which I will split neck £600/100 excluding all postage.

 

Now £700.

 

 

Edited November 4, 2024 by david1711
Comments and lower price

[Beedster]

Unless there's two extremelty similar necks out there (split in the binding at the heel being the giveaway), I suspect that's my old neck, bought form the US around 15 years back, and then worked on by Paul Herman at Wal. Although sold to me as 'original', it's not original per se in that the board has been replaced (unlined and bound ebony boards not having been an option on 70's Jazzes). But it remains a lovely neck 👍

[Linus27]

2 minutes ago, Beedster said:

Unless there's two extremelty similar necks out there (split in the binding at the heel being the giveaway), I suspect that's my old neck, bought form the US around 15 years back, and then worked on by Paul Herman at Wal. Although sold to me as 'original', it's not original per se in that the board has been replaced (unlined and bound ebony boards not having been an option on 70's Jazzes). But it remains a lovely neck 👍

 

Do you know what year the neck is or did you buy it new 15 years back?

[Beedster]

4 minutes ago, Linus27 said:

 

Do you know what year the neck is or did you buy it new 15 years back?

 

Early '70s IIRC, the board had not been especially well done and needed some wizardry from Paul to get it right. I bought it to go on a mongrel '71 P/J I had at the time but realised after all the hassle and work that the bass in question worked better with a Precision neck 🤔

 

It was also an expensive lesson in not trusting everything an apparently expert and highly rated musical instrument dealer tells you about a neck 😡

[BassBod]

I think that particular (Beedster) neck is still on my bitser Jazz, but that does look similar 😎.  

[Beedster]

4 minutes ago, BassBod said:

I think that particular (Beedster) neck is still on my bitser Jazz, but that does look similar 😎.  

 

Ah, a coincidence and a half!

[david1711]

Given Beedster’s helpful comments I have amended the description and reduced the price. David 

[Beedster]

24 minutes ago, david1711 said:

Given Beedster’s helpful comments I have amended the description and reduced the price. David 

 

@david1711 apologies as I'm guessing my comments were not entirely helpful given the above. If it's any consolation, I was working under the impression that my old Jazz neck was also original for quite a long time, IIRC it was @wateroftyne who pointed out my error, which set me to researching what seemed to me at the time the rather surprising history of fretless instruments at Fender; specifically that with the exception of a couple of prototypes, there no factory fretless Jazz Basses until the mid-late 80's, and I think even then they were MIJ. Given that - certainly as far as bassists were concerned - one of the most iconic Fender instruments of the 70's/80's was Jaco's Jazz, it struck me as odd.

 

Anyway, following brief PM chat with @BassBod  I was looking for some info about my old neck yesterday evening and came across a post by @AndyTravis from years back indicating that he'd worked on what sounded like an identical neck (i.e., early 70's bound Jazz Bass neck with replacement fretless ebony board), so I'm guessing there are at least two of them out there. Re the similarity, I guess it's possible that the split in the binding at the heel is part and parcel of getting the binding off to replace the board...?

 

Anyway, your neck looks to be in exceptional condition as well as nicely done, all the best with the sale. A neck of similar quality and specification from Warmoth would probably come in at a higher price than you're asking for a lovely vintage piece with a whole lot of mojo and history. 

 

Apologies again for the derail 👍   

Edited October 16, 2024 by Beedster

[david1711]

No apologies necessary. All the best. David 

[AndyTravis]

This is the bass I worked on…

[Beedster]

13 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

This is the bass I worked on…

 

Legend 🙏

[david1711]

Awestruck. We are not worthy!

[Beedster]

57 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

This is the bass I worked on…

 

Do you have pics of all the basses Andy....?

[potato bass]

Have Leo Fender ever made a bass with a ebony board ?

[Beedster]

2 minutes ago, potato bass said:

Have Leo Fender ever made a bass with a ebony board ?

 

Yes, certainly there were production models from the early 80s and several models since, notably IMO a lovely recent Jazz Bass with ebony neck, blocks and binding (although I forget the model) 

[Linus27]

26 minutes ago, potato bass said:

Have Leo Fender ever made a bass with a ebony board ?

 

The only fretless I'm aware off is the Tony Franklin bass.

[dmz]

PM’ed