A Mid-60's Custom Color Dot Neck Jazz Bass

One of the very few early 1966 Jazz Basses featuring binding added to the dot inlay neck, an upgrade consistent with other high-end instruments in the Fender line and their competitors. The bound neck was purely cosmetic, and was augmented by block inlays by mid-1966. This very lightweight bass guitar weighs just 9.10 lbs. and has a very narrow nut width (compared to the Precision Bass) of 1 1/2 inches and a scale length of 34 inches. Solid alder body, one-piece maple neck, and rosewood veneer fretboard with 20 frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock decal with "Fender" in gold with black trim and five patent numbers in black below it, "Jazz Bass," "Trade Mark," and "Electric Bass" in black in three lines beside it, and "Offset Contour Body" at the ball end of the headstock. Single round string tree. Individual Fender tuners with oval "paddle" metal buttons. Four-bolt neck plate with the Fender backward "F" logo and the serial number ("145114") above it. Two eight-polepiece pickups with outputs of 6.07k and 6.34k. Three-layer white/black/white plastic pickguard with bevelled edges. Three controls (two volume blend controls, one for each pickup, and one master tone control) and jack socket, all on metal plate adjoining pickguard. With the original thumb rest on the treble side of the pickguard. Black plastic knobs with white markings. Combined four-saddle bridge/tailpiece. With both original bass pickup and bridge pickup covers, the bridge cover with the original mute. The neck is dated "7 APR 66 A" and the pots are dated "137-6612" (the twelfth week of 1966). There is some fine body checking and an area of belt buckle wear of approximately 3 3/4 x 3 inches on the back of the guitar where the finish is worn down to the wood. There are a few small surface chips on the sides, but overall this forty year old custom color Jazz bass is in exceptionally fine condition. Housed in it's original Fender black hardshell case with orange plush lining (9.0).

"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).