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Post subject: Nut width on an old P Bass
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 3:16 pm
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What was the width of the nut on a '68-'69 P bass? Anybody help out


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Post subject: Re: Nut width on an old P Bass
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2011 6:08 pm
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Check the stamping on the heel. An "A" means a 1.5" nut (usually on Jazzes but a few P-basses were ordered with an "A" neck), B is 1.625" with a 1 and 5/8 nut fitting correctly, and C is 1.75" but often the nut is cut to 1 & 11/16ths to fit properly. Precisions were mostly made with the B & C width in 1968 & 1969. 1 and 5/8th's (B) is the most common in 68/69 but I think you could still get a 1.75" if you ordered it up. I've seen 68's with both the B&C widths.


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Post subject: Re: Nut width on an old P Bass
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:41 pm
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Thanks.


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Post subject: Re: Nut width on an old P Bass
Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 2:26 am
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Brotherdave- would most original '57s have had the 'B' neck/ 1 5/8" nut?

I ask this because I played a NOS CS '57 last week in a store and the neck was noticeably wider at the nut than this (uncomfortably so in actual fact) and much wider that the current generation MIA Standard. The salesman was adamant that necks on original '57s were this wide and the factory had made it as per original spec.

I has the honour of holding an original one briefly a few years ago and although I'm working from memory, I'm sure the neck width at the nut was in fact more comparable with my own current generation 'P' (although perhaps a touch wider).

Also, this supposedly accurate representation of a '57 had a 'C' neck: not a 'V' in site and yet he said that this was correct for a real '57, too..!!


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Post subject: Re: Nut width on an old P Bass
Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2011 1:53 pm
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REDLAWMAN wrote:
Brotherdave- would most original '57s have had the 'B' neck/ 1 5/8" nut?


A real Fender '57 bass neck would be 1.75" wide and have a Hard-V neck back shape. In 1958 they went to a thick C shaped neck back. V-necks only lasted two model years, 1956 (soft) and 1957 (hard.) The neck back shape was universal across the entire guitar/bass line. More people like a C shaped neck back, so the Fender American Vintage 1957 RI P-Bass has a C shaped neck back and I expect that on the Custom Shop 1957's unless you specify you want a V-shaped neck back when you order, then you get a C shaped neck back. I have seen C.S. instruments with the Hard-V neck back, but they were Stratocasters. I once found a 1957 C.S. P-Bass listed in UK described as having a V-shaped neck but I've never actually seen one in person.

That store representative was telling you what they thought to be accurate, but it isn't exactly accurate. A C shaped neck back is not identical to a real 1957 Fender anything.

I actually prefer the 1959 model with the thinner neck profile.


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