Identifying a vintage JazzBass

[mrforest]

Hello everybody.
Since this is my first post, let me first of all introduce myself.
My name is Francesco and I'm a left handed (obviously) bass player living in Florence, Italy.
I have a tough task at hand and I need help from someone more expert than me about vintage Fender basses..
While looking for a bass to add to my tiny collection (Stingray5, fretless Jazz and G&L SB2),
I have found a seemingly vintage Jazz Bass 60 miles from where I live. The seller sent me some
photos of the bass, and I spotted the serial number on the backplate, which dates back to mid 70s,
However, I have some doubt that this could be a fake (or a Japanese reissue, I'm no expert at all on vintage Fenders),
so I'd like some advice from You. You can find the photos he sent me here :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/63746024@N ... 0447213484
Also, he's asking me less than 2000$ and it seems not bad for a 70s jazz bass in this condition (notice how some screws are missing,
the original pickups have been substituted and there is no case), but maybe it's a fake and
I'm about to waste the money.

So, the question is : what do you think about it?

Thanks for helping me!

[Addison]

Looks fake to me.

I only spent about 2 minutes looking at it, but here's what I see that's wrong:

The tuners are not period... or even Fender, for that matter.
It doesn't have the "bullet" truss rod adjuster at the headstock.
The bridge should have slotted head adjustment screws and not hex key
Polyester finish does not wear like that
The bridge pickup is not in the 70's position
The 4-bolt neck is questionable... should probably be 3.
There is no oxidation on any of the hardware... it's too shiny.
The finish isn't right on the neck and body... they almost look like nitro and it should be poly.
It has aftermarket pickups
It doesn't have the right pickguard holes...

I'm sure if I took the time, I could find a lot more.

Stay away.

[Matt R.]

Fake.

[Lefty007]

Yup. Not a Fender. The only Fender components that I can see is the neck plate and the pickups, which appear to be American noiseless pickups. The neck is definitely not Fender.

Although the bass looks nice and decent enough, and could play and sound really nice. In the states I don't think anybody would pay more than $300 for such a bass even if the full story was known and disclosed.