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Post subject: When did the Precision Bass design become moderized?
Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 9:17 am
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Ive been playing for over 20 years but its only been recently that I have had the curiosity about bass gear and how and why it sounds the way it sounds and does the things it does. RE the over all bass design and construction inside and out. The Precision bass has been around since 1951 and when it was released there was nothing else like it to compare it to. Leo was a true pioneer. As gear tech evolved when did the P-bass externaly as well as internally change with the times? How close or how far is my new Highway One P-bass from say a 1957 design? And since I'm asking dumb questions what year would my Highway one be the closet too as far as over all design?


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Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 9:33 am
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The split-coil, contour body P was announced July 16, 1957. While the original 1951 P was almost entirely designed by Leo Fender, by 1953 he had hired Freddie Tavares, a talented musician and draftsman. The difference is amazing: the '51 was a plank of wood with various components bolted to it.

In contrast, the '57 model had a graceful, integrated shape with the controls and output jack installed in the pickguard, and a Strat-inspired headstock. There are those of us who like the '51, with all its postwar industrial awkwardness, but the '57 was a step up esthetically.

Modern variations include those with added Jazz bridge pickups, or active electronics, or 22 fret necks; there have been others with two split-coil pickups and S-1 switching.

The Highway one is pretty close to the '57. It has a slightly different pickup, different capacitor value, and whatnot, but it's a traditional P.

I prefer the earlier ones, as reissued: I have an '06 '51 P, a Classic '50s P and a newly acquired American Vintage '57 (I'm selling the Classic '50s), and I also have a Standard FSR natural ash P with a fretless Warmoth neck.

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Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:09 am
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Thank you for the info it was very informative.


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Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:19 am
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You're welcome. If you are interested in Precision history, there's a great book called "The Fender Bass -- a History" by Black and Molinaro. It's page after page of Fender color photos and detailed analysis.

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"Digo: 'paciencia, y barajar.'" Don Quijote de la Mancha, Part II, Chapter 23


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Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2009 10:53 am
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I will have to check that out.


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Posted: Tue Oct 06, 2009 8:47 am
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Wow that was a loaded topic title if ever there was one.

First modernization? Leo Fender "Modernized" the original Astron Paper In Oil cap with 15k 0.5 watt resistor tone circuit to a much cheaper ceramic capacitor but stuck with the 15k resistor for a while, then switched to a 22k 0.5 watt resistor for some reason out of the blue. Some of the later resistor setups actually had 220k 0.5 watt resistors. Nobody I know can explain that. What the heck was that about? Does anyone know?

1953 Fender started some body contouring. 1954 more dramatic contouring was the norm like on the STING artist version. By 1956 the resistor in any value vanished completely because Fender was now marketing a bass amp that could take all the bass that the single coil pickup could produce.

1957 brought the second generation P-bass design with the split coil pickup and aluminum pickguard. Compared to the first generation's sharp edges it was SEXY. And all sorts of colors became available instead of ash blonde or alder sunburst. None of the original hardware was used on the second generation. None of it. Not even pickguard screws were the same. It was truly a new breed.

There have been tweaks with the pickup windings, caps, pickguards, bridges, tuners, body woods, finishes, grounding system, tone circuit, fretboards, frets and neck radius ever since then. About halfway through 1964 they started machining the bodies and necks instead of hand making them with jigs. About this same time they started the Fullerplast treatment on the bodies which some say was the DOOM of the Fender bass, but I don't think so. (My idea of "doom" hasn't happened yet.)

Long story short, every year and sometimes even during a production year changes for the better or worse were made in the name of improvement. There have been HUNDREDS of changes. But I'll take a first generation P-bass over today's "improved" version any day. They speak to me.

S-1 switches for example were a recent "improvement." Improvements, imshrovements. If you are lucky enough to have a P-bass, then just play it.


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