1970 FENDER JAZZ BASS
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Fender offered options such as choosing either a maple or rosewood fretboard and a fretless neck. Fender name imprinted non-reverse clover tuners with no rivet and either with or without an ® mark were common in 1970. Natural finish was introduced. There was now an extra body hole in neck pocket for hanging while painting. Late in the year ink stamps of employee names began to appear in the neck pocket, along with other inspection stamps and neck pocket paint stick mark. The ground wire route underneath the bridge was now larger and oval.
Other 1970 Jazz bass characteristics: Large two piece "C" logo including four individual patent numbers and an ® mark applied under the finish, 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, tortoise shell/white/black/white vinyl pickguard or white/black/white vinyl pickguard on custom colors, thumb rest under G string, date ink stamped grey bobbin pickups, 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, small silver with red stripe or cylindrical blue tone capacitor, plastic wiring, non-threaded single groove bridge saddles (often with longer G string intonation screw), input jack, black tolex case with silver plastic fishtail logo.
Serial numbers ranged from roughly 277000 to 300000 although there are many overlapping exceptions. For more precise dating, cross reference the serial number with the instrument's neck butt stamp, pickup stamp and potentiometer codes.