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Posted: Sat May 29, 2010 11:44 am
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Thats the one, I live close to Philly and decided to go check it out... the loaded body is worth double what I paid for it.... now it really has my attention. That is my post on talkbass (hence the same name)... the craigslist ad was the previous owner.


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Post subject: I can see where your confusion comes from
Posted: Sat May 29, 2010 3:41 pm
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Now that I am wide awake I went back to the beginning and noticed a few things. I had time to look at my 1977 Fender Bass body too.

I went and looked at the Craig's listing and I thought it was rather funny. The description really looks like it was written by somebody trying to defraud a buyer. The wording reminded me of a fraudulent bass listing that was pulled from Craig's list. As somebody else pointed out the description does seem to be copy and pasted from another guitar listed on ebay. It doesn't quite fit the bass.

You have to wonder how they know the maple neck plays very smoothly and pitch range is very precise and articulate considering the fact that the bass has no strings and the pickups have fallen.

Has anybody ever heard of a custom contoured body on a 1978 Fender? The pickguard looks tortoise shell to me and not Lava.

"All parts and hardware are original. The condition is great for its age - no damage AT ALL." hahaha yeah right, the pickguard is cracked the top of it is broken away and the face of it is damaged, a knob is missing, the pickup foam is rotted. The neck and tuners are not original. The neck is missing the Fender inspection sticker.

I think what is confusing you is you thinking that the neck is a real fender neck and the bass is some odd very rare bass.

You are letting the fact that you don't understand how they put on an after market Fender decal, or logo on the neck thereby it is tricking you into thinking the neck has to be real.

Real Fender Tuners have an "F" on them, or say "Fender" on them. The neck decal is not the type they used in either the late 1970's or early 1980's. I agree that the headstock decal/logo are bogus. The wood is not the type of wood I've seen on any Fender Bass from that time period that came from the Fender factory.

"The logo is silkscreened, and aged", doesn't that cry out "Faked" to you? "this decal just has the air of legitimacy to it", of course it does if their goal was to fake up a Fender Bass.

From your own words Fender Protects it's Logo. I am very confident that the neck is an aftermarket Schecter neck that somebody added to a Fender Body.

What is it that you have, and what was the owner's purpose? It could be that the bass originally had a broken or damaged neck and the owner replaced the factory neck with a Schecter.

Could it be somebody really wanted a complete Fender Bass but couldn't afford it but built one by mating an old body with an aftermarket neck, maybe. Maybe they added the Fender Logo so they felt like they had a real Fender.

Did you go to the guys house to buy the bass or did you meet him in a parking lot where you weren't able to pull the neck and see if the bass was real? Is that raising any red flags?

Rather than worry about was the Bass faked up lets look at what you have.

On my Fender Bass Body it has two stamps, one in the neck cavity and one in the pickup cavity. The stamp is a round circle with "FRR" inside the circle with a number underneath the "FRR". If your body has those stamps it is likely a real Fender Bass Body.

The split pickup should be gray on the bottom with a date written with an ink pen or from an ink stamp.

Possibly Fender went to a black bottom pickup in 1979 or 1980. But I've never seen a factory 1978 pickup that wasn't gray on the bottom. The guy was selling the bass as a 1978 due to the sticker.

I've never seen a serial number sticker on the body of any 1978 Fender, only on the pickguard. Did the pickguard have its own serial number sticker?

Possibly they started adding serial number stickers to bass bodies in 1979 and later years but I've never seen one from 1978 or earlier.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1978-Fender-P-Bass- ... 439bb876aa

Look at the internal pictures of the wiring and body cavities and see if your bass is similar.


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Posted: Sat May 29, 2010 5:13 pm
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Im very aware of what the bass is, and what it isnt. I do this not as a hobby, but as a living. The only thing confusing me is the neck.

"I think what is confusing you is you thinking that the neck is a real fender neck and the bass is some odd very rare bass. You are letting the fact that you don't understand how they put on an after market Fender decal, or logo on the neck thereby it is tricking you into thinking the neck has to be real. "

-I build 7-12 custom parts basses/partsocasters a month, to the delight of my customers (www.kutztownmusic.com) of whom I charge far less than Fender for a superior product. *IF* the customer desires it, I will apply a logo of their choice, ANY logo. Forgive me for not establishing my pedigree first. No, I dont silkscreen them, I do not have the equipment for that, but I can do an amazing job with waterslide. I know a good fake when I see it, and if this is indeed fake, its the best I have ever seen. Indeed it might be, but I thought id poke around and see if anyones ever seen this type of thing. I didnt post here to get flamed or be called an idiot in veiled terms.

"Real Fender Tuners have an "F" on them, or say "Fender" on them"

Im not even going to touch this one, because 1. thats not always the case and 2. I said at least 4-5 times that theyre aftermarket Schaller semi-open back models.

"The wood is not the type of wood I've seen on any Fender Bass from that time period that came from the Fender factory."

Youve never seen flamed maple with hints of birdseye all over from a P bass? :shock:

"Did you go to the guys house to buy the bass or did you meet him in a parking lot where you weren't able to pull the neck and see if the bass was real? Is that raising any red flags?"

Naw, I actually sent the money by carrier pigeon and it was delivered by Pony Express to my secret laboratory located in a cave in Utah. OF COURSE I DIDNT, I pulled the neck and the electronics to date things. His price of 700 was unacceptable, so I offered him 450 and he took it. The body alone is worth that... and the last time I saw a vintage Schecter neck sell on ebay, it went in excess of $500.

"Possibly Fender went to a black bottom pickup in 1979 or 1980. But I've never seen a factory 1978 pickup that wasn't gray on the bottom. The guy was selling the bass as a 1978 due to the sticker. "

I dont care if he was selling it as Leo's personal ashtray, I went to see it, and like my first post says, I DATE IT AS AN 1980 because of the pot dates...ive been doing this a while, and I know how to pot date a guitar.

"I've never seen a serial number sticker on the body of any 1978 Fender, only on the pickguard. Did the pickguard have its own serial number sticker? "

Please see previous answer...

Thanks to Jim, I think im pretty happy with what ive found out about the bass. The headstock logo is VERY well done, and led me to believe that maybe it was something that ive never seen before. I'll probably end up parting it out, I have no need for it.... but if youre questioning my investment? I paid $450. I'll double my money without raising a sweat.

Well, back to work... if anyone else has any more input im all ears!


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