Okay, folks, I'm back from the seller's after trying this bass out first-hand. The bass is located at Valley Road Guitars in Montclair, which I had never been to before. Sorry for the long-winded post, but I want to offer as much info as possible:
One of the owners, Neal, was friendly and accommodating enough, while another owner sat with his laptop and appeared to try his best to keep quiet through the whole proceedings. I had a laundry list of notes/questions, and I also brought my main '72 to visually compare. He set me up with the bass and as I started writing down my observations he appeared a little uneasy, so I explained that I was just making sure everything checked out.
The bass appears to be 95% original and all parts check out, (neck plate serial number 330118, which is earlier than either of my '72s), with the exception of the pots, which appear to have been replaced and have no CTS coding on top. Given that he advertised the bass as being all original and reiterated that the pots were not changed and solder untouched before I had him open it up to prove him wrong, that was strike 1. There's no stamping on the heel of the neck according to him, and since I didn't insist he remove the neck I took his word for it. Likewise, pickguard had nothing written on it (On both my '72 Js someone wrote, "LH" in magic marker, though I'm not sure if Fender always did that).
Body weight about average and consistent with mine (about 9.5lbs). Overall condition pretty decent, cosmetically better than either of mine. Plugged in, pots were a little scratchy, but may clean up with a bit of contact spray. It sounded like a J, albeit thumpier and fatter due to the ancient flats he had on it, but it was difficult to play. The action was VERY high. That immediately raised the question as to whether or not the truss rod was working properly. He assured me it did, since he claimed he had adjusted it "many times" when photographing it, which begs the question why would he set it up so high when he put it back together. Looking at the end of the truss rod, it was jutting further out slightly beyond the neck heel than normal, so perhaps the knucklehead put no tension on the neck at all. At any rate, it was very difficult to get it up to pitch, as the tuning heads felt very tight with a lot of tension on them. Perhaps with a good setup and a working truss rod it would be fine, but I don't know.
Addison, you were correct on both counts. The neck pocket does jut out beyond the edge of the neck. My Js also have this slightly, but this bass definitely had it more. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it sticks out about 3mm or so. Furthermore, the strings are indeed not centered straight down the neck, though it wasn't as bad as it appears in the photos. Still, it's definitely not a shining moment of Fender's sketchy 70's assembly.
What else? I had noticed what appeared to be an additional screw hole to the right of the bridge in the photos and brought it up to him. He claimed he didn't notice it, but sure enough when removing the bridge cover there's a filled in screw hole. Perhaps Fender did it, perhaps not. Regardless, I find it surprising that he "didn't notice it".
Despite removing most components for me to double check for markings, originality, etc., I really got the sense that they weren't going to offer any insightful info beyond what I specifically questioned, and perhaps were guarding certain aspects or playing dumb when questioned. Perhaps they are dumb and don't know the specifics of what they've got or how to check for originality (The guy grappled with trying to tune it up for me with a tuner for a few minutes before I finally said, "Just give me the bass, I'll tune it up by ear."
), but I have a real problem with people who sell stuff and deliberately keep certain bits of info unmentioned in hopes they'll go unnoticed.
They mention in their auction that they do offer a 7 day return policy, so perhaps it's worth a shot, but I'd be VERY cautious.