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Hello All,

I recently acquired what I believe to be an almost original 64 Jazzmaster, although it's in pretty rough shape. My brother in law rescued it from underneath a couch in an abandoned house that was being prepped for demolition. Any thoughts as to the authenticity of this axe and anything else for that matter, would be greatly appreciated.

Here's the first pics so that you can see what I'm working with... http://imgur.com/a/HzWDg

As best as I can determine, the only things missing are one of the tuners, the nut, the decal, and most importantly the serial plate. I can only guess as to what happened to it, but I'm guessing somewhere down the line someone in a shop or something swapped out the pre-CBS plate for the 68 model plate that it currently has, who knows? As you can see, I clearly have my work cut out for me. Any advice on not screwing this up would be greatly appreciated...

Although I have refurbed a couple of guitars before now, this is my first vintage piece. Thanks in advance for the info!

Are you flipping kidding? Your brother found this under a couch? What crazy good fortune to find a demolition-master!

So, I left my 64 Jazzmaster under a buddies couch. if anyone finds it, please let me know.

CAN HAZ PLZ? KTHXBAI

That is some of the coolest tort I've ever seen!

friendshipmaster wrote:That is some of the coolest tort I've ever seen!

Agreed.

Is it black or green btw? - really can't tell on my phone! Also, was the couch sat on top of a landfill? How anyone could get something like this into such a state is beyond me. That said, when you've finished you'll have a beauty, so congrats. Assume it hasn't cost you anything so far?

That serial number makes it a '68 or '69. . .amaaazingly cool find!

Funkmeister69 wrote:That serial number makes it a '68 or '69. . .amaaazingly cool find!

Actually according to the Fender website, serial numbers in the 200000 range started in 1966 and continued into 1969. What else about the guitar makes you tag it as a '64? Do you have the codes from the potentiometers?

http://www.fender.com/support/articles/ ... ct-dating/

I wasn't able to see all those photos - do you have a neck code?
'64 pots wouldn't necessarily rule out the guitar being from '66 onwards - I think the general rule in re: dating would be to date on the basis of the oldest original part.

So you've a veneer board without binding - which I guess would make it pre-D&B in 65 if the neck is original. Your neck plate suggests that it came from the blocks and binding years.

Your pot codes say '64' ... but that could be explained through large bulk purchases of pots (didn't someone on here mention that a purchasing manager got fired for bulk ordering far too many 1meg pots). My '66 B&B Jazzmaster has '64 pots.

It could be a vintage partscaster with the original neck plate ... or it could be that the neck plate was replaced, or any number of things.

But what matters is that YOUR BROTHER FOUND A FREAKING JAZZMASTER IN A BUILDING ABOUT TO BE DEMOLISHED!!

Which is nice.

Looking forward to following this restoration thread.

Oh yeah, you said that, sorry. . .I'm at work, so I just looked at the pics

Has anyone looked at the pics? Neck doesn't have blocks + binding or dots + binding.

just put some new strings on it and you'll be right

Nah, brah, I wouldn't touch a thing and rock it as-is!

Seriously though, nice find!

Wow, surprised there's so many responses this early in the morning! Sorry, I thought I had added the neck pics, theyre up now. The neck is obviously pre-CBS, with the coding being 4DEC63B. I still haven't removed any of the shielding or pickups yet, so not sure if it's a refin, but based on its condition I'd say that's not very probable but possible. Hopefully there's dates on the back of the pickups, and possibly a body date that I haven't gotten to yet. I based my 64 model assumption on the dates I've found so far.

Yeah, I was really blown away by how my brother in law got it. There's a land owner that he helps occasionally and this guitar was in an old house that had been abandoned for over ten years out in the middle of a field. There was no case (obviously) and has been living under the couch where he found it for no telling how long. I've given him $200 so far with the promise of another two once I confirm value and authenticity. Pretty neat, huh?