The Holy Grail of Bass Guitars in a Custom Color with Gold-Plated Hardware

This incredibly early and very rare custom-color Jazz Bass weighs just 9.20 lbs. and has a very narrow nut width (compared to the Precision Bass) of slightly under 1 9/16 inches and a scale length of 34 inches. Solid alder body, one-piece maple neck, and slab rosewood fretboard with 20 frets and clay dot position markers. Headstock with the original decal with "Fender" in gold with black trim, "JAZZ BASS," "TRADE MARK," and "ELECTRIC" in black in three lines beside it, followed by a small "PAT. PEND." in black in two lines, and then "OFFSET Contour Body" in black in three lines. Single round string tree. Four-bolt neck plate with serial number ("78896") between the top two screws. Two black eight-polepiece pickups with outputs of 7.48k and 7.40k. Tortoiseshell over white/black/white plastic pickguard with bevelled edges and twelve screws. Two concentric ("stacked") volume/tone controls and jack socket, all on metal plate adjoining pickguard (the two domed chrome volume knobs with knurled sides on top of the two black metal tone knobs with knurled sides). With the original (black plastic) thumbrest on the treble side of the pickguard. Combined bridge/tailpiece with four individually adjustable threaded saddles. Complete with the four original individual felt-tipped string mutes. All hardware gold-plated. The potentiometers stamped: "137 6009" (CTS March 1960). The neck is dated in pencil: "6-61." The neck pocket is dated in pencil: "5/61." On the back of the neck, the varnish has been worn away between the first and sixth frets. This totally original guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition and is the best example of an original "Custom-Color Slab-Board Stack-Knob" Jazz Bass that we have ever seen. Housed in its original Fender light brown Tolex hardshell case with brown leather ends and orange plush lining (8.75).

"After the introduction of the Jazzmaster in 1958, Fender needed an upscale model to augment the bass line. In 1960, Leo's new Jazz Bass borrowed the offset waist and part of the name from the Jazzmaster. It also featured a narrower neck width, which was faster playing than the Precision Bass" (J.W. Black and Albert Molinaro, The Fender Bass, p. 25).

"This addition to the Fender line incorporates a new tone circuit with two separate pickups and separate tandem tone and volume controls for each. A new pickup principle is employed on the jazz bass resulting in richer bass tones, to which varying degrees of treble may be added. Bassists will appreciate the slender neck design of the new bass. The body of the bass employs the Fender off-set waist design for playing ease. The separate tandem tone and volume controls used for each of the pickups permit any desired tone response and are positioned so as not to interefere [sic] with the player's hand. Other features include the truss-rod reinforced neck with rosewood fingerboard and a newly designed adjustable two-way bridge for each string for perfect string length and custom string height" (Namm Daily, July 12, 1960, in J.W. Black and Albert Molinaro, The Fender Bass, p. 26).