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Post subject: Bullet Bass help!
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 5:06 pm
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Hey all,

I have an old Bullet bass I bought over 20 years ago.
Over the years I have expanded my repertoire to include guitar, bass, upright, accordion, bagpipes, dulcimer, and so on.
This was the first bass I ever owned, and I bought it from a guy I worked with at a restaurant who was a bass player, and this was his first bass.

It was MORE than beat when I got it, but served the purpose as a learning instrument as well as being useful for home recordings.
It's been in a pile of guitars I don't use often for many years now, and I'm finally getting around to refinishing it, cutting a new pickguard, and giving it the once-over twice.

The thing is, when I pulled it out again, I remembered the LAST time I'd had it out for a tune-up and a polish, and I remember being horrified that a bunch of the headstock decal came off with my first swipe of the cloth!

I basically haven't touched it since, and all that can clearly be made out is the Fender logo, the star, "n USA" and "Deluxe"

There is a stamp on the back of the neck that has FRR 20 in a circle, and another that says "H. Gastelum"

The neck pocket has a stamp that is hard to make out any more than "P. MOR"

I'm trying to date it - I'm guessing '80, and wondering what to do regarding the headstock decal, so I'm open to suggestions!

Thanks for your time!


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Post subject: Re: Bullet Bass help!
Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 4:38 am
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3 posts same subject , can you delete two of them.


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Post subject: Re: Bullet Bass help!
Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 7:50 am
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The message I got 3 times last night trying to post:

Proxy Error

The proxy server received an invalid response from an upstream server.
The proxy server could not handle the request POST /posting.php.

Reason: Error reading from remote server


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Post subject: Re: Bullet Bass help!
Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2016 2:17 pm
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Start with the serial number stamped into the neck plate. That will give you a year.

Then looks at the date codes on the electronics to further verify.

It is important, first and foremost, to make sure the bass is what you think it it before going any further. Have it authenticated by a pro if necessary.

We cannot do much hear based on your description other than say the Deluxe would mean a full scale version and confirm that the Bullet was a student bass, replacing the Mustang and MusicMaster.

Don't worry about the decal. If the bass turns out to be the real deal, and you are going to have it refinished by a pro, they will find the right repro decal for you.

Sorry cannot be of more help.

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Collector of vintage Fender 4 string basses.


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Post subject: Re: Bullet Bass help!
Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 4:20 am
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Serial will tell you the year as previous post indicated. They were introduced in 1982. There were two models, B30 with a 30 inch scale plus a downsized body and B34 with a 34" scale with a full sized body. Since it is USA made it is either 82 or 83 model year since in 84 production moved to Japan under the Squier brand and the headstock changed from a Tele to a P-Bass shape.

What happened to the original pickguard? You still have it I hope. I would discourage refinishing it. No matter how beat up it is now it is worth way more with the original finish and pickguard on it. Nicer all original examples are bringing $1,000 and escalating. Even rough it should be worth 500. They are sort of scarce and a refinish will seriously hurt collector value.


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Post subject: Re: Bullet Bass help!
Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 1:18 pm
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brotherdave wrote:

What happened to the original pickguard? You still have it I hope. I would discourage refinishing it. No matter how beat up it is now it is worth way more with the original finish and pickguard on it. Nicer all original examples are bringing $1,000 and escalating. Even rough it should be worth 500. They are sort of scarce and a refinish will seriously hurt collector value.



+1


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Post subject: Re: Bullet Bass help!
Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2016 3:25 pm
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I'll see about posting some pics if I can get some taken of the neck plate, I sure don't see anything other than the "F" logo stamped on it.
The original color was the beige/tan with white pickguard, it's already been stripped.

The original pickguard was broken when I got it, between the lower knob and the input jack, and then my bass player at the time managed to break even more off of it.

The bridge was also replaced with a Badass II when I got it.

I've gotten a lot of different information regarding this bass from the internet - always a dubious source...

It is a 34" scale, but the body on this thing has always looked small to me - I think b/c it is dwarfish compared to the Gibson Thunderbird and the Mosrite Ventures basses that have been compared to it size-wise.


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Post subject: Re: Bullet Bass help!
Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2016 10:45 pm
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hellcat wrote:
I'll see about posting some pics if I can get some taken of the neck plate, I sure don't see anything other than the "F" logo stamped on it.
The original color was the beige/tan with white pickguard, it's already been stripped.

The original pickguard was broken when I got it, between the lower knob and the input jack, and then my bass player at the time managed to break even more off of it.

The bridge was also replaced with a Badass II when I got it.

I've gotten a lot of different information regarding this bass from the internet - always a dubious source...

It is a 34" scale, but the body on this thing has always looked small to me - I think b/c it is dwarfish compared to the Gibson Thunderbird and the Mosrite Ventures basses that have been compared to it size-wise.


The serial actually should be on the headstock. If you removed the decal you lost the serial with it. Thought you said you had a serial on the neckplate which was weird. It should be on the headstock. There may or may not be a date code on the neck butt when disassembled for refinishing check that. Does not much matter because it is either an 82 or 83 and what you have now is a parts bass and is not a collectible class bass at all. It could make a good player or very interesting backup. Badass II on a Bullet? Congratulations, never heard of anyone doing that.

These had smallish bodies so that is not unusual with the 30 inch scale body being about 10% to 15% smaller.

Finding a Bullet decal ready made is going to be tough. If you are going to refinish yourself contact Fender Consumer Relations and see what kind of hoops you have to jump through to get a decal through Fender. Most better restoration shops can get a replica generic Fender decal. The Bullet decal however is very unique and will probably have to be made. It will not be cheap. Here is a good example of the decal:
Image

If the neck code stamping is legible you can post it here for decoding. I would consider restoring the original type bridge on it.


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Post subject: Re: Bullet Bass help!
Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2016 5:35 pm
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Here you can see it next to a Mosrite Ventures bass neck, and a shot of the decal...

Image

Image

Image


image hosting 10mb limit


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