Fender Jazz Bass 69/70/73 Pots 66 (pre-owned)

This is a real one. A Fullerton-built Fender Jazz Bass from the early CBS years, dated to around 1970 by its serial, its bound block-inlay neck, and the CTS pot inside. Somewhere along the way it lost its original color to a natural refinish and picked up a later pickup, but everything that matters about a vintage J — the neck feel, the woods, the passive single-coil voice — is still right here.

We’d rather be straight with you than dress this up as something it isn’t. It’s not an all-original collector piece, and it isn’t priced like one. It’s the Jazz Bass you actually take to the gig — vintage tone and a vintage neck, at a price that says play me, don’t insure me.

The body is alder, the wood Fender used under sunburst through this era, and it’s the backbone of the classic Jazz Bass sound — warm in the lows, even through the mids, with a woody character that sits in a band rather than fighting it. The original sunburst is gone, replaced by a natural refinish, so what you see now is the wood itself rather than the factory colour.

Up top is the heart of any vintage J: a maple neck capped with a bound rosewood fingerboard and pearloid block inlays, the spec that defines the look of a late-’60s/early-’70s Jazz Bass. The rosewood adds a touch of warmth and roll-off on top of the snap, and the binding-and-blocks neck is the one people chase. Four-bolt heel, heel-adjust truss rod — built the way these were meant to be built.

It’s a 34-inch long-scale bass, the standard that gives the Jazz its tension, its clarity, and that immediately familiar feel under the left hand. Decades of playing have worn it in, not out — it moves like an instrument that’s been used.

Let’s be clear about what this bass is. The body has been refinished from its original to natural, and it shows the honest playwear of a 50-year-old working instrument. This is a player-grade vintage Jazz Bass, sold as such — the value is in the vibe and the feel, not in matching paint and paperwork.

The electronics tell the story of a bass that’s been gigged and serviced over the years rather than sealed in a case. The pickups dates to 1973, slightly later than the body and neck, and the controls are a mix —  CTS potentiometers from 1966 (Fender stockpiled these and ran them for years) alongside one later replacement pot. The pickups themselves are genuine vintage Fender grey-bottom single-coils with the period-correct “+” flatwork stamp. The tortoise pickguard and cloth wiring are all part of the package.

In short: a real Fullerton Jazz Bass with mixed-date, period-correct parts and a refinish. If you want originality and matching numbers, this isn’t that bass. If you want the genuine article to plug in and play, it absolutely is. Ships in a hardshell case.

Two single-coil pickups, the classic Jazz Bass layout: one near the neck for warmth and body, one near the bridge for that nasal, growling bark. Both are genuine vintage Fender units. Run them together and you get the scooped, hum-cancelling tone the Jazz is famous for; favour the bridge and you get the aggressive midrange that cuts through any mix.

It’s fully passive — two volumes and a tone, no battery, no preamp, nothing between the pickups and your amp. That’s the point. The 250K pots keep the top end rounded and vintage rather than hi-fi, and the whole thing responds to your hands the way an old Fender should.

Who’s this for? The player who wants a true vintage Jazz Bass to use, not to lock away. You’re getting a real CBS-era Fullerton J — bound block neck, passive single-coils, decades of mojo — without paying the all-original premium. That’s a rare thing, and it’s exactly the kind of bass we love having on the wall.