Fender Jazz Bass 1968 Fretless (Ex Mo Foster)

From Mo Foster collection

inspired by the exquisite sounds being made
by Jaco Pastorius I enlisted the help of symphony-bass repairman and craftsman Neville Whitehead; it was his suggestion that he remove the entire fingerboard of my beloved Fender Jazz Bass, frets and all, and replace it with a 100-year old piece of ebony that he'd removed from an old upright. It seemed like a good idea. He went through three plane blades. Each visit to his workshop felt like I was being fitted for a suit. The finished bass was amazing and although the neck was a little fat, front to back, that soon ceased to be a problem. The main thing - the 'sound' was there - the growls, the singing. The neck was pure black with no lines, no markers, and I struggled like this (and played some sessions on it) for six months even though I had great difficulty knowing where I was on the neck. I finally rationalised that I should have helpful fret-lines put on and entrusted luthier Dick Knight with the task. He did a beautiful job. Some time later the body was stripped to plain wood and I replaced the bridge with a Badass. EMG pickups were added in 1982. This instrument has become my 'voice'.

Specs

Nut Width: 38mm

String Spacing: 19mm

Scale Length: 34"

Weight: 4.4kg