Up for sale, a 1965 Fender Jazz Bass in excellent condition, featuring a Fiesta Red relic'd finish and complete with a hardshell case. The body and neck of this instrument are genuine vintage components, and the bass has been fitted with a later set of vintage gray bobbin Fullerton-made Fender pickups, along with a combination of vintage and modern hardware/plastics.

Lightweight at 8lbs 8oz, tonewoods include an alder body, maple neck, and dark Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, and the instrument has a smooth, balanced natural acoustic quality. The gray bobbin pickups accentuate the burp and growl of the bridge position single coil, with a rounder, broader bark from the neck pickup. The bass has been strung with fresh 45-100 roundwound strings, professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar with accurate intonation and easy-playing action.

The maple neck has an unusually chunky U-shaped profile carve with particularly full shoulders and rolled fretboard edges, measuring .860" deep at the 1st fret and .999" at the 12th. The Brazilian rosewood fretboard is dark and tight-grained with pearloid dot inlay and original slender fretwire. The frets have been leveled and crowned, showing no wear and playing cleanly in every register up the 34" scale. The neck is straight, and the truss rod is responsive in both directions, with the truss rod nut flush with the neck heel. The original nut is intact, measuring 1 1/2" in width, and the headstock has been fitted with Hipshot tuning machines that match the footprint and aesthetics of the original gears, while offering superior performance. The headstock also exhibits a small, common split at the headstock edge extending from the E string tuner plate, professionally repaired and smooth to the touch. The neck heel has a clean September, 1965 date stamp, and the neck pocket retains some original finish (Sunburst).

All of the electronics function as intended, and the genuine vintage Fender gray bobbin pickups have their original windings and ink stamps on their baseplates from 1981. The wiring harness comprises modern, vintage-spec CTS pots which date to '06. Hardware includes the original vintage threaded saddles mounted to a modern chrome bridge base, and the control plate is original as well. The "F" neck plate is a genuine vintage component, yet not from this instrument, dating to '68. Plastics include the original trio of knobs and a modern, aged wide bevel parchment pickguard.

The red refinish splits the difference between Fiesta Red and Dakota Red, trending towards the former, with prominent wear to the bare alder, ostensibly from both natural playwear and additional simulated relic’ing. Forward of the bridge are four small cleanly doweled holes from the individual string mutes used on Jazz Basses that predate this instrument. The smooth nitro lacquer gloss on the neck profile is original, with light palm wear through the lacquer behind frets 3-6.

A modern black tolex Fender hardshell case is included.