1961 Fender Jazz Bass Stack Knob Vintage Pre-CBS Electric Bass Guitar Inca Silver w/ Case

Up for sale, a 1961 Fender "Stack Knob" Jazz Bass in exceptional condition and in perfect working order. Originally introduced in 1960 as the “Deluxe Model” and stablemate to the Jazzmaster, the Jazz Bass title was assumed shortly thereafter. The coveted stack knob design with individual Volume and Tone knobs for each pickup was available only on models from 1960-early '62, and this Pre-CBS instrument boasts original hardware, plastics, and electronics with an older, honestly-aged (and not artificially relic'd) Inca Silver nitro lacquer refinish. A true testament to Fender's golden age, this Jazz Bass is an extremely responsive, elegant, and tonally rich instrument. The tone and feel of this instrument is everything one expects from a Jazz Bass crafted in Fender's golden age, with a very resonant alder body paired with a maple neck and thick slab Brazilian rosewood fretboard, delivering a clear, even sound across all strings. Weighing 9lbs 8oz, yet feeling a bit lighter given its excellent balance, the bass has just enough heft to sustain very well and deliver a strong, fundamental note attack. The pickups cover a wide sonic range, with sweet, complex growl and a slightly nasally upper midrange cut that defines a Jazz Bass bridge pickup. The neck position offers more breadth and thump with significant variation available between the two pickups and their more versatile stack knob control array. Professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar, this Jazz Bass has low action and accurate intonation, strung with D'addario Chromes 45-100 flatwound strings. The maple neck has a very slender and fast-feeling C-shaped profile carve at the nut, with rolled fretboard edges and a gentle increase in overall heft and shoulder as you travel up the fretboard, measuring .770" deep at the 1st fret and .970" at the 12th. The headstock and neck heel have been refinished in a lightly ambered nitro gloss, while the neck profile is smooth, bare maple, ostensibly a combination of natural playwear and purposeful aging. The Brazilian rosewood slab fretboard is an extremely dark cut of this hallowed tonewood with dynamic, swirling grain, and the board has been refretted with medium jumbos. The frets have been leveled and crowned, currently quite flat and fretting extremely well in every register, allowing for particularly slinky action and showing no wear. The nut is a new hand-carved piece of bone for optimal sustain and note clarity. On the headstock, the original clover button reverse gear tuning machines are intact, with a smooth, reliable response and clean nickel plating. The headstock face has a replacement vintage-spec waterslide decal. The headstock also exhibits a small and common partial split adjacent to the E string tuner post, very cleanly addressed and structurally sound. The neck heel has its 6/61 grease pencil date, and the pocket retains the original Sunburst finish as well as a vintage shim. The truss rod nut is flush with the heel of the neck, necessitating little adjustment in the last 60+ years and responding as it should. All of the electronics function as intended, and both original black bobbin single coil pickups are intact and rewound to spec, reading a healthy 7.88k ohms in the bridge position and 7.67k at the neck. The harness features one original Stackpole-made stacked pot that dates to the 8th week of 1961, and one replacement CTS stacked pot from 1982. The network of resistors and paper-in-oil tone capacitors are modern, vintage-spec components. Original hardware includes the stacked knobs, chrome control plate, serialized neck plate, and bridge base with threaded saddles. The "ashtray" bridge and pickup covers are genuine vintage Fender parts as well, dating to the mid 1960s. The original tortoise pickguard has the swirly depth and dimension of the earliest Fender tortoise guards, and the guard exhibits very little shrinkage with a very glossy, vibrant appearance. The finger rest shows some age but is more recent than the instrument. The Inca Silver nitro lacquer exhibits natural playwear, with forearm wear on the bass-side body edge, a shallow pick-related divot between the ashtray covers, various dings on the body as a whole, and some isolated areas of tight “shattered glass” lacquer checking. The neck profile is silky smooth along its length with barely a mark on it. A mid-60s Fender black tolex hardshell case is included. All original latches are intact and working, the stock handle is clean, and the black leather ends are in good shape. The orange plush interior is quite clean too, and the case pocket is present with its stock leather tab.