LeftyBassist.com

Thanks for your review AzWhoFan !!!

But I think 15-16k are still way too much..... I remember seeing that sunburst 64 P-Bass above for some time on the ebay and I was in contact with the seller back then ... - he would have sold it to me for 6400,- dollars ! I have not bought it because I just had recived my CS basses at this time.

Thanks AzWhoFan... Awesome review. Now I just need to scrape up 16k from my pocket link..... Nope, thats not happening. Too bad you could not adjust the truss rod. You know how those can be. It could or could not be fooked. That many years without a turn could be BAD!!!!

Anyway, thx for your time writing this. Would be a nice collector and player for sure.

Good advice! Now, pricing a lefty vintage instrument is not that easy. If you think in terms of offer/demand. It might be a nice and rare instrument but there are not legions of lefty bass players on the market ready to shell out 10k -15k so demand is proportionally low. I'd be very curious to find out how much they appraise it for.

Agreed. He did tell me it was last adjusted about 8 years ago by a local shop - dunno who did it tho - when he moved to town and tried to learn how to play.

Yeah, a Gruhn appraisal will carry more weight than one from The Bass Place, even tho TBP has a pretty good reputation. TBP said a righty in that condition is worth about 10K net (good luck! IMO), and since this one is most likely unique that he should ask for double as a reference point.

I could see him getting 12-13K net if he wanted to move it now, especially now that the market is firming back up. However, he's just as willing to shove it back under the bed and let it appreciate for a couple of years ...

Terrific review. Thanks for taking the time.

My opinion on the price? Still way too high at $12-15k. It's a post CBS era '68. There was a '64 sunburst J available a couple of years ago from The Guitar Broker that was available for the longest time before Yves Carbonne eventually grabbed it. (Is Yves a member here? He should be) I'm pretty sure he got it for under $10k:



Guitar broker has an all original righty '62 J right now for $9500, though the condition is worse than the '68 lefty J in question. My point is, while a lefty is clearly rarer than a righty, there should be a huge market difference between a pre and post CBS J.

My take on this is that the actual market price is under $10K, maybe $8K. It's definitely rare, but so few buyers in this category. I don't see the market getting any better.

As a side note, anybody considering investing on vintage Fender should be wary of bowed necks, especially thin Jazz-Bass necks. They can't always be fixed with a simple truss rod adjustment. If necks are strung with heavy-gauge strings and left with a bow for a long time, the necks will be permanently bowed beyond repair. There are certain techniques that can straighten a bowed neck, but by first-hand experience, I can tell you they don't always work.

I second this also from experience. I had a Jazz bass that sat in a closet for near 10 years unplayed with string tension. When I went to adjust the truss rod, there was as issue with the heel of the bass no moving. The upper registry frets had to be taken down to relieve the buzzing at the high registry. I also went to see a Fender Jazz Bass from a craigslist ad that was too good to be true. I got there and lord behold, the neck was fooked from several years of sitting. BIG Underbow. I tried straightening the neck to the point that the truss rod was barely moving and the neck still would not go straight.

A little oil inside the truss rod area can help a bit with seized trussrods but you still have to be careful. My point here is older basses can have serious truss rod issues with age...

Not just that old. I have a 1993 Fender CS Jazz and by 2003, the truss rod was completely messed up and the neck had to be replaced entirely.

Someone on Talkbass was saying that his guitar tech guy found out that the truss rod was maxed out on his recent Fender Custom Shop bass, the guy talked to Fender customer service to complain and ask for a replacement neck. Later on a Custom Shop guy called his guitar tech to ask if he had tried the "washer trick" to fix the truss rod and they subsequently made all kind of difficulties to replace the neck. That's a horrible, it would totally deter me from buying a CS bass.
You would think that for the price paid they would make no difficulties replacing a bad neck.

Forward bows are easier to fix than permanent backbows... especially with single action truss rods.

Sometimes necks are truly "ruined"... but I've taken necks that were supposed to be ruined with bad forward bows and fixed them by completely loosening the truss rod and forcing a back bow into them with clamps and wood blocks, letting it set for a few days, and then retightening the truss rod again just enough to hold.

Everytime I've done this, it has straightened right up again.

The REAL problem, IMO is a permanent back bow... a single-action truss rod isn't going to help you at all in that case, and, from what I understand, the only good way to fix that without replaning and refretting the fingerboard is by applying a heavy forward bow and enough heat to cause the fingerboard glue to soften enough so the neck can shift directions.

I had a scare not too long ago with my Stingray... I had 40-95's on it and the truss rod was too tight. I probably didn't readjust it or even mess with it for a couple of years. When I did finally sit down to give it some love and change strings and set it up, the neck had a slight backbow that wouldn't correct with full string tension and the truss rod loosened completely... even with heavier guage strings. I used a clamp and some blocks to force a forward bow into the neck and, after a month or so, I was able to bring it back to normal again... but, I was pretty scared there for a while.

Hang on-just checking down the back of the couch, I'm sure there must be close to $10k in change between the cushions.

This. While it's true lefty basses are more rare, so are lefty players. I cringe when the logic is dropped that because it's lefty it's worth more. Especially with TBP's advice of "double as a reference point"? Ridiculous.

That's right - I had a similar experience. I went to my local Fender CS rep and offered to buy a brand new neck direct from them. The guy called the CS and was told it's not possible. So I bought a Warmoth. It was pretty stupid of them because I was prepared to pay them for something they make. It's also ironic because one of the whole reasons Leo Fender insisted on bolt-on necks was because they were easy to replace if they broke.

it's back on the bay, at only a slightly more reasonable price .... $14K

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mint-68-Fender-Jazz-Bass-Left-Handed-/330571630281?pt=Guitar&hash=item4cf79ac6c9

I actually hope this finds a good home.

I don't doubt it will, eventually. But given the current state ofthe $USD, I think there's a goog chance it will end up out of the country.

Not double, sure, but "vintage" or rare lefties ARE worth more simply because buyers are paying more for them. Ebay completed listings says that. You can get a righty Zon Sonus 4 USA on Ebay for maybe $1600. Good luck getting a lefty at that price.

This bass here is a collector and the seller's asking a collector's price. Look how much interest its generated here. It's not something that's readily availabe and the demand is high. Good luck to the seller.

Also not a problem for me. The majority of my favorite bass players are from outside the US. Mostly the UK, but other places too. But that's a different topic entirely of course.