Originally posted by thechicken[..]
The thing here are the knobs...the 61 has two tone two volume knobs...and this bass with the big block inlays has the more usual volume volume tone knobs...so, not the same bass.
As the 1972 and 1961 were mentioned in the 2000 Bass Player and featured on the cover, I'm confident that is the 1961 on the cover.
Like I said, I will have a strong long look at the Vertigo tour bass you showed the piccy of... and pull out my FENDER books and do some research to ascertain it's vintage.
Back to the original bit about if the bass on the cover was the one from the Joshua Tree tour, it isn't. I don't think he had it then.
He did have the 1972 during the JT tour - although he seemed to favor the finsih challenged" Precision bass
As for the 1972 Jazz, while stripped of it's finish by it's sale at the Icons of Music auction, it was still somewhat 'tobacco' on the JT tour.