1969 FENDER JAZZ BASS
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In 1969 the strapholder on the headstock back was discontinued. Fender began to use polyester as body and neck undercoat finishes. During the year a stamped ® mark was introduced onto the Fender name imprinted non-reverse clover tuners. Tuners with or without the ® mark were common in 1969. The underside of the grey bobbin pickups began to be date ink stamped and occasionally still used cloth wiring. The Fender "fishtail" silver plastic logo was introduced on the black Tolex case.
Other 1969 Jazz bass characteristics: Large two piece "C" logo including a small ® mark and four individual patent numbers applied under the finish, rosewood fretboard, white plastic binding on neck, pearloid block fret markers, medium jumbo fret wire, neck butt date etc. ink stamps, fifth hole on neck butt for hanging while painting, F Series neck plate, neck pocket paint stick etc., tortoise shell/white/black/white vinyl pickguard or white/black/white vinyl pickguard on custom colors, thumb rest under G string, ground shields under pickups,chrome pickup cover and bridge cover with foam rubber string mute, heptagonal shaped knobs, Stackpole or CTS potentiometers (often with overstocked 1966 codes), ground shield under pots assembly, cylindrical blue or orange striped "chicklet" tone capacitor, plastic coated wiring or occasionally cloth wiring, ground wire route underneath bridge, non-threaded single groove bridge saddles, hang tag.
Serial numbers ranged from roughly 216000 to 280500 although there are many overlapping exceptions. For more precise dating, cross reference the serial number with the instrument's neck butt stamp, pickup date and potentiometer codes.