Found a possible 1961 Jazzmaster (can you help identify?)

[sonic pumpkin]

A friend of mine owns a guitar store and this strung out looking SOB came in while I was there on Saturday with a couple of guitars to sell. One was a Jazzmaster style guitar with Strat single coils. My friend knows that I am into offsets (although don't have a lot of experience with vintage ones) so he asked me to look it over and see what I thought. I told him the body was for sure painted with lacquer and not poly and had the right checking and cracking in the paint to be vintage, but that I wasn't 100% sure it was a Fender body. I also told him that the bridge plate and bridge looked legit and were VERY early Jazzmaster. I couldn't make heads or tails of the neck, it seemed to have the right finish and patina and looked to have clay fret markers, but it seemed kinda chintzy. It was also clear that if it was a real Fender body it would have to have been routed to accommodate the extra pickup. The old boy who brought in did not know anything about it (or guitars in general). He said that he had received the guitar from a famous Branson, Missouri performer who happened to be a relative of his (this not too far fetched since our town is only about a half an hour away from Branson, and my friend also happens to have one of Box Car Willies acoustic guitars in his shop).Anyway, he wanted cash right now and didn't want to wait around for us to take the guitar apart or research it, so my friend offered him a VERY VERY VERY low figure for it since he wasn't sure what it was. The guy agreed and my friend didn't think too much about it until I went back in shop Monday to see if he had found anything out. He said he hadn't done anything with it, but he didn't think it was "real". He told me he would sell it to me for $300, having just gotten into a spat with my wife about buying up every guitar I came across, I declined (I am gonna kick myself for a long time about that one). I went back to the store today, and he finally did some checking on this guitar and everything seems to coming up that other than the electronics and pickguard this is a legit 1960-1961 Jazzmaster. The bridge plate says PATENT PENDING, the s/n on the neck plate comes up as 1960 and the decal on the neck is even beginning to check out. Needless to say the guitar is not still for sale for $300, but being the nice guy I am, I told him I would post some pics and see if any of my Offset Guitar Forum friends had anymore info or could help verify this guitars legitimacy. So, if you have any info or even if you see anything that looks fishy (I still have my doubts about some of it) please let me know. BTW the Branson entertainer who supposedly gifted this guitar has been contacting to ensure that they were legally obtained from him, we have yet to hear back from him.

[cursesfoiled]

The neck looks refinished or oversprayed, with a new nut and repro tuners & decal, and possibly refretted. But the date and slab board look legitimate. You might want to check, too, if the tuner holes have been redrilled or have conversion bushings.

Usually, the clay dots are darker if the rosewood hasn't been touched, and they'll be more white if the rosewood has been sanded as part of the fret prep or if the fretboard has been re-leveled. I can't see why Fender or anyone else would use that decal if the neck weren't refinished at some point.

[Pacafeliz]

dude i could SWEAR this thing has been down to mexico!!! literally, i mean. the mods, and especially the logo, etc. just like mine (and paul's).
i think it could be original.
pretty cool, somehow. and for $300, it's a NO-BRAINER!!!
the neckplate alone sells for half of that!

good luck,

Pat.

[Pacafeliz]

sure hope you have it at home near you by now!!!

[mezcalhead]

Pat, he says the $300 offer no longer stands.

The neck date looks legit, and the neck does look oversprayed to me as well.

It would be unusual to refin the neck and not the body. It would be good to see some shots with the guard off. The guard itself is obviously an aftermarket job, and who knows how much of the original electronics will remain. I think the bridge is probably vintage and the trem block is definitely vintage, AFAIK the "PAT PEND" was never reproduced.

[Pacafeliz]

mine also had the logo changed (exact same thing) and i think it's also some more recent clearcoat or so, cuz of the wear.
look at that neck... you can't fake that.

it's legit. or i'll cut my balls off.
yes.

[sonic pumpkin]

Well, bad news. The guitar did turn out to be stolen and was returned yesterday to the rightful owner. I guess it's a good thing I didn't buy it after all.

[DeathStalker]

Yeh, that's bad luck to buy a stolen guitar... string might break and poke an eye out or something

[emanon313]

Well, bad news. The guitar did turn out to be stolen and was returned yesterday to the rightful owner. I guess it's a good thing I didn't buy it after all.

Was it stolen from the performer he claimed gave it to him? The bright side is it goes back to it's rightful owner--alot of people should be so lucky!