So my friend says ...

[felix'apprentice]

... I have this old bass guitar of my dads. Turns out, its a 1957 Fender Jazz Bass. i thought he was kidding .... definitely wasn't kidding. he had no idea that i was worth anything. I know its worth some money, I dont have the serial number - but you guys have any idea how much this thing would be worth?

I have a picture, i cant figure out how to post it. If you wanna see it, I could email it.

glad he didnt sell it for like 100 bucks lol. unless it was to me .. jk jk

- kayla

[Banned]

... he had no idea that i was worth anything.

- kayla

LOL!!!

[felix'apprentice]

lol .. thats exactly what i thought. im drooling over this bass .. and hes like ... what?

[JackANSI]

Its worth lots.

a reissue body and neck would cost you about $700-$800 new. Thats just the wood too.

[Feelgood]

he had no idea that i was worth anything.

Nor did I.

[MeYatch]

no suck thing as a 1957 jazz bass.

There are some rediculously rare prototypes dated 59-60. But I've never heard of anything even close to a 57

[felix'apprentice]

hmm ... lol wrong year. like he knows, all i've seen are pictures and i dont have the serial number yet.

maybe its a 75? i dont know...wish i could post the pic

[MeYatch]

send me a picture.

(email edited to avoid spam crawling robots)

[MeYatch]

hard to tell just from pictures.



When the jazz bass was introduced in 1962, it had 2 concentric knobs for volume/tone, volume/tone. that layout lasted a few years til they switched to the 3 knob layout shown there.



In 1974 the thumrest moved above the strings, instead of below the strings, as shown there.



a 1966 jazz has neck binding, and dot inlays. 67 through sometime in the early 80s have block inlays and neck binding.

I can't tell if the neck is bound from the pictures, but I'd guess not.



So I'd say its something like a 64-65.



Take the neck off (or have someone else take the neck off) and look for a date on the butt end of the neck.

There are also some pre-1962 prototypes with the 3 knob layout. But I think its a pretty safe guess that it isn't one of those.

[MeYatch]

this is also asuming its not just a reisue that he thinks is old.

[felix'apprentice]

he said his dad was in a band in the 60's and 70's ... so im guessing your pretty close to the right year. im not sure he'd let me take it apart to check the year.

[MeYatch]

if he ever wants to sell it for top dollar, he will need a shot of the neck date, and the neck pocket to verify original finish.

[witchhunt]

he had no idea that i was worth anything.

Nor did I.

Just keeps getting better.

[lonewolf]

There are also some pre-1962 prototypes with the 3 knob layout. But I think its a pretty safe guess that it isn't one of those.

They started making the J-style Bass in 1960, but they called it the Deluxe until they changed the name to Jazz Bass in 1962.

[MeYatch]

it went in to full production in 1962.

Mostly semantics. suffice to say that a pre-1962 jazz bass is very rare, but does exist.

I do think the pre-62 jazz basses do say Jazz Bass on the headstock, so I think you're wrong about the nomenclature.

[MeYatch]

here's a picture of flea's 1961 jazz bass

http://www.honey-crazy.com/theadmin/kab ... _zukai.jpg

[MeYatch]

this is supposedly a 1960

Hard to make out that it says "jazz bass" but you can definitely tell it doesn't say "deluxe"

[lonewolf]

it went in to full production in 1962.

Mostly semantics. suffice to say that a pre-1962 jazz bass is very rare, but does exist.

I do think the pre-62 jazz basses do say Jazz Bass on the headstock, so I think you're wrong about the nomenclature.

Nope, I know that I am correct about the Deluxe model nomenclature, however, I could be wrong about the year they changed the name to Jazz:

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-History-o ... id=2253496

http://www.vintageinstrumentcenter.com/ ... jazz-bass/

and the old, dreaded wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Jazz_Bass

[MeYatch]

I'll read your links tomorrow, but I'm aware the jazz bass was originally referred to as a deluxe model. It was originally designed almost purely as a marketing gimmick to have a model more "deluxe" than the single pickup precision bass.

It was also designed to be a companion to the Jazzmaster guitar, hence the name they went with.

I am unaware of any jazz bass ever being made with a "Deluxe" logo on it.

If you ever found one of those you'd have a rare find indeed.

[MeYatch]

ok, I read the first link now

The Fender Jazz Bass was launched in 1960 as a bass companion to the Jazzmaster guitar, as Fender thought the neck design would appeal more to jazz musicians- the neck is quite thick but with a narrow fingerboard. It also has a similar sound to basses such as the Rickenbacker 4001, with lots of midrange and a bright tone.

It is also similar in style to the Jazzmaster- it has sculpted edges, a contoured body and the famous "offset waist" design of the Jazzmaster, and later the Jaguar. Stylistically the only difference to the Jazzmaster is the top half, where there are two Stratocaster-style offset cutaways. The Jazz was launched in 1960 as the Deluxe Model. Its original intention was to persuade jazz bassists who used double bass to switch to bass guitar.

it does not appear to contradict either one of us. I postulate that the capitilization of "Deluxe Model" is a typo.

If you read it uncapitilized it conveys exactly what I was just saying.

[MeYatch]

I went ahead and read the other links too, not very long.

I still say that the Jazz bass was never called anything other than a Jazz bass, once it entered production.

[MeYatch]

so I looked up the patent numbers on the early jazz bass headstocks, hoping one of them reffered to it as "jazz bass" but they are all utility patents for the bridge/pickups/truss road

here is an interesting read about a 1959 jazz bass belonging to Herbie Flowers
http://www.curtisnovak.com/vintage/JazzBass59/

Unfortunately the decal has been replaced, but I maintain that a jazz bass was never made with "deluxe" on the headstock instead of jazz.

to say the jazz bass started production in any 1960, 62 or any specific year is misleading. We aren't talking model years of cars here.

However to say the name was changed from Deluxe bass to Jazz bass is untrue. I know it was referred to as the deluxe bass during design, and perhaps even in marketing that doesn't mean the name was changed to jazz, it just means it was the yet-unamed-deluxe bass

[bassist_25]

Doodz, while dressed up in cosplay as Goku, I just got into this epic battle on usenet with a Klingon lord over who had more savory tits, Wonder Woman or Power Girl. I totally owned that Klingon bastard but referring to Power Girl Volume 15, Issue 2, page 45, frame 3 in which the author used a special kind of ink that gave her breasts a more round look. He countered by quoting Lynda Carter's cup size as grounds for superior breasts. I typed back, using the native langaguge of the Tuskans, that a live action character cannot be used to determine the best superherione breasts since that's out of the artist's hands. Then my mom called me out from amongst the mountains of pizza boxes and nacho bags in the basement to go take out the garbage.

[DirtySanchez]

Doodz, while dressed up in cosplay as Goku, I just got into this epic battle on usenet with a Klingon lord over who had more savory tits, Wonder Woman or Power Girl. I totally owned that Klingon bastard but referring to Power Girl Volume 15, Issue 2, page 45, frame 3 in which the author used a special kind of ink that gave her breasts a more round look. He countered by quoting Lynda Carter's cup size as grounds for superior breasts. I typed back, using the native langaguge of the Tuskans, that a live action character cannot be used to determine the best superherione breasts since that's out of the artist's hands. Then my mom called me out from amongst the mountains of pizza boxes and nacho bags in the basement to go take out the garbage.

Good Read! hahahahaaaahAAAAAAAAHHHHahahahaaaaaahhaa!

[DirtySanchez]

What is Lynda Carter's cup size?