Here we have a Fender Jazz Bass dating to 7 May 1962 with a Burgundy refinish replacing the original Sunburst. This is a fairly rare Rosewood Slab Board model, indicating a type of neck built in Fullerton, California until mid 1962. The Fender Jazz Bass was introduced in 1960, aimed at the Jazz bass players who had not adopted the Precision Bass or who wanted a thinner neck and more focused tone. The Offset Body that debuted on the 1958 Jazzmaster was used for the Jazz Bass body.
Refinish
Built from 1974 to 1979, the Travis Bean TB1000S was the ‘Standard’ version of these innovative instruments, also available as the TB1000A or ‘Artist’ with carved top. 1,422 were built before the company folded and this example is number 1214. Travis Bean had a varied career, including stints as a machinist, luthier, motorcycle racer, movie set builder and rock drummer among other pursuits. Born in 1947, Bean died in 2011. At the launch of Travis Bean Guitars, his partners included Marc McElwee and Gary Kramer – Kramer went on to form Kramer Guitars in 1975.
This instrument has sold
MORE →Here is a Fender Jazz Bass Natural refinish, with body and neck built towards the end of 1965 but assembled, wired and sold in early 1966. The Jazz Bass was introduced in 1960, as Leo Fender’s second distinct bass after the two versions of the Precision Bass. Targeted towards Jazz players and taking design cues from the then-new Jazzmaster and Jaguar models, particularly the offset body, the Jazz Bass offered a brighter, more focused tone with less fundamental than the Precision Bass along with a much narrower neck.
This instrument has sold
MORE →Introduced in 1952, the Gibson Les Paul GoldTop was Gibson’s first foray into the brand new solidbody electric guitar market. With the now standard carved Maple cap on a Mahogany slab body, a metal-flake Gold finish was applied to the top to increase its ‘upmarket’ appeal. The carved top was certainly a nod towards the archtops that Gibson was already well established in making, but importantly, Gibson had the equipment to do this, and Fender did not.
This instrument has sold
MORE →Introduced in 1979 as an update to the 4001 model, the Rickenbacker 4003 Bass and its sisters have been a distinctive alternative to the ‘ordinary’ basses available. Here we are looking at a great deal on a Rickenbacker 4003 Bass, built during November of 1982 at the Rick plant in Santa Ana, California. It has been refinished in Natural, and the new finish has a fair amount of wear. During the refinish process, the top contours were rounded slightly, which probably makes the bass a bit more comfortable to play.
This instrument has sold
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