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Post subject: Donald "Duck" Dunn P-Bass?
Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 1:08 pm
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A guy on another forum asked for info about his P-Bass and he showed a pic of the headstock with Donald "Duck" Dunn's signature on it. I've looked around on the Fender website and I can't find anything on this bass. I'm assuming it's not a current production model. Anyone know anything about it, and can you give a rough idea of what such a thing might be worth in decent condition?


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Post subject: Re: Donald "Duck" Dunn P-Bass?
Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 5:42 pm
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Misterboston wrote:
A guy on another forum asked for info about his P-Bass and he showed a pic of the headstock with Donald "Duck" Dunn's signature on it. I've looked around on the Fender website and I can't find anything on this bass. I'm assuming it's not a current production model. Anyone know anything about it, and can you give a rough idea of what such a thing might be worth in decent condition?


How do you know he didnt get him to just sign the headstock on a standard model?


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Post subject: Re: Donald "Duck" Dunn P-Bass?
Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 6:43 pm
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Democratis wrote:
Misterboston wrote:
A guy on another forum asked for info about his P-Bass and he showed a pic of the headstock with Donald "Duck" Dunn's signature on it. I've looked around on the Fender website and I can't find anything on this bass. I'm assuming it's not a current production model. Anyone know anything about it, and can you give a rough idea of what such a thing might be worth in decent condition?


How do you know he didnt get him to just sign the headstock on a standard model?


Wouldn't you be able to tell a market sig and a printed sig, like the Geddy Lee has his sig but you can tell it wasn't a real sig.

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Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 6:21 am
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I'm not sure if he has ever had a fender sig model, but he has a Lakland sig - they have vaguely similar headstocks and are almost identical to fender P's in every other aesthetic (save the bridge).


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Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 3:38 pm
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I found out a little more; it's a Japanese P-Bass. The pictures aren't very high quality so it's hard to tell it the signature was an autograph in ink, or a stamped signature. I don't know much about the Japanese Fenders so I had no idea if it was a signature model or not. The kid seems to have abandoned the thread too; so I may never know lol.


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Post subject: The FENDER Duck Dunn
Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 5:00 pm
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The Fender Duck Dunn Precision Bass was introduced in 1998 as a "Limited Edition" bass. Produced by Fender Japan and imported in tiny quantities to the USA it was truly a limited run and there were never enough to go around. They rarely ever appear for sale on eBay or elsewhere.

A Fender Duck Dunn Bass from 1998: Image

The Fender Duck Dunn Precision Bass was available in only one color, Candy Apple Red over alder. It had a 1950's shape 34" scale one piece maple neck with maple fretboard and 20 frets. I can not remember the fret size, but I think they were smallish and not medium-jumbo. The hardware was the chrome plated nickel variety including vintage style machine heads and 4 saddle bridge. One standout feature was the gold anodized pickguard with a finger rest mounted on the G-string side. (Dunn never used a finger or thumb rest choosing instead to rest his thumb on the pickup or on the E-string, however he is often seen playing Precisions with these rests since they were standard equipment for his year model of choice which is 1958.)

Another feature of this bass was that it came with Schaller strap locks already installed as standard equipment which to me was a nice touch.

I wish I'd bought the one I played at a store in Charlotte in 1998 but I put it off. I figured they'd be plenty of them around, but could not have been more mistaken!

The Donald Dunn Lakland bass is a completely different animal. The body shape is Precisionesque and it has four strings. That is where the similarity to any bass Mr. Dunn played at any of his legendary sessions ends. This thing has a white block inlaid rosewood fretboard with white binding and I've never seen him play such a neck as this, but it could have happened. It also comes in 18 colors.

I think of the two, I'd rather have the Fender. Actually any stock '58 Fender P-bass loaded with Labella 760M's is pretty much a "Duck Dunn Bass" and would be identical to the two he used on most of his Stax Volt recordings and played live so long as you remove the stock pickup cover. One of these '58's had a maple board and the other one had rosewood. According to Tim Tindall, author of "What Duck Done," Mr. Dunn gifted one of these basses to James Alexander and it was lost in the tragic plane crash that took the lives of Otis Redding and most of his backup band the Bar-Kays.


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Post subject:
Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 1:54 pm
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WOW Brotherdave, THANK YOU for that info. I'm not sure why, I was just intrigued by that bass. I'm not even a bass player. Well I am in the sense that all guitarists THINK they can play bass :)


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Post subject: You are Welcome
Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 2:35 pm
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Misterboston wrote:
WOW Brotherdave, THANK YOU for that info. I'm not sure why, I was just intrigued by that bass. I'm not even a bass player. Well I am in the sense that all guitarists THINK they can play bass :)


You're welcome MisterBoston...well, make that as welcome as a guitar player who thinks that they can play bass and on top of that actually posts in the P-bass forum! :shock:

LOL! Just kidding. :P

Seriously though, if this guy is trying to sell this bass have him contact me through my band's website on my profile or through the MY SPACE link on the band site. Thank you.


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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 1:49 pm
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Interesting, I thought only Lakland had a Dunn sig model.


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Post subject: Lakland?
Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:56 pm
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Mastermold wrote:
Interesting, I thought only Lakland had a Dunn sig model.


The mystery here is why did Fender stop making these? Why were they so limited?

I've not played the Lakland model, In fact I wouldn't be caught dead playing it. Lakland makes some nice basses, but the Lakland Duck Dunn model reminds me of those pimpmobiles in the early & mid 70's where some guys, mostly pimps and "players" and "wannabes" took a really big and nice expensive car like a Lincoln, Cadillac or Electra 225 and did all sorts of tacky modifications to it. Zebra or leopard seatcovers, TV antennas on the back, gold grills, gold wheels and radiophones. (Cell phones hadn't been invented yet.)

"Diamond in the back, sunroof top...digging the scene with the gangstaleen, ummm huhhhh."

Sorry, I just broke out singing a very, very obscure 70's soul tune about pimpmobiles by William DeVaughn for no apparent reason.

Seriously, is the Duck actually playing this Lakland monstrosity? Anyone know? Anyone actually SEE him play one of these Lakland things with his name on it? Sheesh I just can't wrap my mind around that concept...and I'm a pretty open minded guy.

Funny what people will do for money isn't it? I mean you make a really, really good living for 50 years playing your old Fender P-basses with other legendary musicians and even get into a couple of movies with SPEAKING parts and you get to play your trusty stock Fender P-bass...and then after all those years you sell out and put your name on this Lakland thing with a JAZZ pickup on it for Pete's sake!

I was so disappointed when I saw this bass on the Lakland website. It is so unlike any bass I've ever seen him play. I mean those neck inlays...come on!

I'm a huge Duck Dunn fan. I grew up and got into my first band in the 60's. You could not play bass in the south (or probably anywhere else) in the 60's without Mr. Dunn being a major, make that "MAJOR" in all caps, influence. I mean all those Stax/Volt tracks. My stars. Listening to John R on WLAC out of Nashville playing all those great R&B songs which were mostly coming out of Memphis, then ordering them by the dozens from ERNIE'S RECORD MART by mail and tearing open the package to put them on a Hi-Fi so you could hear the bass parts better.....that was me from 67 to '72. It as later that I learned one guy played most of those bass lines out of Memphis that I liked best.

I remain a fan of Mr. Dunn's work because it was elegant and perfect simplicity...which is in fact very.much like a P-bass itself isn't it! But I am not by any means a fan of the Lakland bass bearing his name. I was expecting a really first class P-bass recreation of a swell '58 P-bass when this Lakland thing turned out to be more of a P-Bass Special with a 72 Jazz neck bolted onto it in some sort of evil gene splicing experiment. I just can't imagine him playing one of these Lakeland things....or me either for that matter.

On the other hand, I COULD see myself playing one of the 1998 Fender Duck Dunn P-basses, if I could only find an excellent one that wasn't beat to death or modified all to heck.


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Post subject: Re: The FENDER Duck Dunn
Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 12:21 pm
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Hi:

My local Fender dealer (now out of business) had one back in 99...Red body gold pickguard and a thick skin tinted neck. Said crafted in Japan on the neck. I wanted that bass soooooo bad, just didn't have the cash. It had a fairly thick neck and a 7.25 radius. The neck was very smooth. some guys may have to adjust to the thicker neck, much bigger than my 89 MIJ P-Bass.

They had it quite a while before it finally sold




brotherdave wrote:
The Fender Duck Dunn Precision Bass was introduced in 1998 as a "Limited Edition" bass. Produced by Fender Japan and imported in tiny quantities to the USA it was truly a limited run and there were never enough to go around. They rarely ever appear for sale on eBay or elsewhere.

A Fender Duck Dunn Bass from 1998: Image

The Fender Duck Dunn Precision Bass was available in only one color, Candy Apple Red over alder. It had a 1950's shape 34" scale one piece maple neck with maple fretboard and 20 frets. I can not remember the fret size, but I think they were smallish and not medium-jumbo. The hardware was the chrome plated nickel variety including vintage style machine heads and 4 saddle bridge. One standout feature was the gold anodized pickguard with a finger rest mounted on the G-string side. (Dunn never used a finger or thumb rest choosing instead to rest his thumb on the pickup or on the E-string, however he is often seen playing Precisions with these rests since they were standard equipment for his year model of choice which is 1958.)

Another feature of this bass was that it came with Schaller strap locks already installed as standard equipment which to me was a nice touch.

I wish I'd bought the one I played at a store in Charlotte in 1998 but I put it off. I figured they'd be plenty of them around, but could not have been more mistaken!

The Donald Dunn Lakland bass is a completely different animal. The body shape is Precisionesque and it has four strings. That is where the similarity to any bass Mr. Dunn played at any of his legendary sessions ends. This thing has a white block inlaid rosewood fretboard with white binding and I've never seen him play such a neck as this, but it could have happened. It also comes in 18 colors.

I think of the two, I'd rather have the Fender. Actually any stock '58 Fender P-bass loaded with Labella 760M's is pretty much a "Duck Dunn Bass" and would be identical to the two he used on most of his Stax Volt recordings and played live so long as you remove the stock pickup cover. One of these '58's had a maple board and the other one had rosewood. According to Tim Tindall, author of "What Duck Done," Mr. Dunn gifted one of these basses to James Alexander and it was lost in the tragic plane crash that took the lives of Otis Redding and most of his backup band the Bar-Kays.


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Post subject: FYI
Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:24 am
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One of these just popped up on eBay, item number 130261216126 with opening bid of $600. No takers yet.


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Post subject: Re: FYI
Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:43 pm
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brotherdave wrote:
One of these just popped up on eBay, item number 130261216126 with opening bid of $600. No takers yet.


Just to follow up. This bass got ZERO bids. Maybe it will be relisted with a lower opening bid, but I doubt it. This seller does relist basses, but usually at the same price. It has a few dings and nicks, so the price obviously is too high.[/list]


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Post subject:
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:17 am
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The Lakland with blocks and binding was a nod to another of his Fenders which he'd swapped the neck on. He put a late 60s Jazz neck on, which has those blocks and binding.

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Post subject: Good info
Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:25 am
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Telebass wrote:
The Lakland with blocks and binding was a nod to another of his Fenders which he'd swapped the neck on. He put a late 60s Jazz neck on, which has those blocks and binding.


I've seen him play 5 or 6 times. Never saw him playing anything other than the sunburst '58 in stock setup. That is interesting. Do you know of any specific recordings where this bass was used?


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