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Post subject: P.51
Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 4:07 am
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Hey! Does someone knows the date of production of the first P.51 bass? I can't find it on the web.
Thank you!


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 7:37 am
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dimi_le_matheux@hotmail.fr wrote:
Hey! Does someone knows the date of production of the first P.51 bass? I can't find it on the web.
Thank you!


developed in 1950 (source english wiki) the first selling was on november 1951 (source german wiki)

other knowledge concerning e-basses: (source english wiki)
In the 1930s, musician and inventor Paul Tutmarc from Seattle, Washington, developed the first electric string bass in its modern form, a fretted instrument designed to be held and played horizontally. The 1935 sales catalog for Tutmarc's electronic musical instrument company, Audiovox, featured his "Model 736 Bass Fiddle," a four-stringed, solid-bodied, fretted electric bass instrument with a 30½-inch scale length.[7] The change to a "guitar" form made the instrument easier to hold and transport, and the addition of frets enabled bassists to play in tune more easily. Around 100 of these instruments were made during this period.
Around 1947, Tutmarc's son, Bud, began marketing a similar bass under the Serenader brand name, prominently advertised in the nationally distributed L.D. Heater Co. wholesale jobber catalogue of '48. However, the Tutmarc family inventions did not achieve market success.


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Thu May 05, 2011 7:50 pm
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one of he earliest known p bass is dated OCT. 30 (body)and Nov.20 (neck) 1951. $199.00 That was alot of money in 1951


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Fri May 06, 2011 12:34 am
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stroker vance wrote:
one of he earliest known p bass is dated OCT. 30 (body)and Nov.20 (neck) 1951. $199.00 That was alot of money in 1951


i don't think leo fender went up to the market with only a few precis made:

leo fender-interview (source klaus blasquiz, the fender bass):
l.f.: "we came out with our first electric bass at the end of 1950...."

preci-serial-nrs. go up to 161 for oct. 1951 (source klaus blasquiz)
so there must be some more earlier ones 'cause fender always tried to cover the market of his products as far as possible, say with some more than just a handful of instruments made in '51.
that means fender already has started a serial-production before oct./nov. 1951.


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Fri May 06, 2011 6:18 am
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He was probubly working on it in 49. I've heard that before. Who knows for sure?


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Fri May 06, 2011 10:52 am
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thank you everybody!


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Fri May 06, 2011 12:15 pm
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you are welcome.


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Fri May 06, 2011 12:23 pm
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pleased to give hand... cheers.


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 8:42 am
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I have read that probably 83 Ps were built in the first year (1951). Four hundred were planned for the first six months of 1952, but it's almost a sure thing that no such numbers were attained. Fender built to fulfill orders from Radio-Tel, their sales agent (before Don Randall came up with Fender Sales in 1955) and it's pretty clear that R-T wasn't moving many basses. Bands were sticking with the upright, partly because of familiarity and partly because of the relatively high cost of a Precision + amplifier (you had to buy an amp! -- and Ampeg, also pricey, was the only alternative to the Bassman).

I have a 2006 Classic '51 reissue that I love, and I'd sure like to get my hands on an original. However, since the most recent one I saw was a '54 for $18.5K, that's probably unlikely. :mrgreen:

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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Wed May 11, 2011 9:06 pm
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The '51 P-Bass went on sale Summer of 1951. The prototypes dating to 1950 were not sold, but where the prototypes are today is anyone's guess. The final prototype would be the one that the jigs for the production neck and body were created from. Locating that final prototype would be a real find, akin to finding Jamerson's Funk Machine.


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 4:52 am
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The 51 Model Year ran July 1 of 1951 through June 30, 1952. So some basses produced in 1952 fall in the serial number range of a 1951 model P-Bass. Since they were serialized separate from the Telecasters and the 51 P-Bass serial numbers start at 100 and end at 400, it would seem that as many as 300 were produced through June 30, 1952. Some bridges may have been defective, or basses not shipped for one reason or another. Also some bridges stamped up to 400 might have been set aside as replacement parts, but that would not have been a large number. The 52 model year P-Basses went to a 4 digit serial starting at 0001 running until 1954 with the serial number range ending at 0999, so based on known serial numbers it seems that about 300 basses per year were produced through July 1 1955. Some will be quick to point out that there may have been some overlap in serials from one model year to the next but it appears there were 300 of the three digit bridges produced.


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 1:17 pm
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so electric bass is 60 years old this year, in July


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 1:52 pm
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From what I've seen published, the earliest neck dates were October 1951. I doubt the July date: Leo took delivery of the die for trimming the tuner plates on August 14 of that year, and it was September before Fender got delivery of the saw arbor for the frets and the body template. A quick scan of recorded serial numbers through #1493 shows four dated 10/51, seven from 11/51, five from 12/51 and three that were simply "51."

The split-coil introduction is a little better documented: it was announced on July 16, 1957 in a publication at the NAMM show that year. It's a little hard to believe that all that action took place over a short six year span especially factoring in the development of the Strat and the Jazz Bass.

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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 2:48 pm
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hey guys, this thread is simply great, what a whole lotta information, thank you all very much!!!
very pleased to meet you... :mrgreen:


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Thu May 12, 2011 5:53 pm
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low-Hz-blow wrote:
hey guys, this thread is simply great, what a whole lotta information, thank you all very much!!!
very pleased to meet you... :mrgreen:

Thank you. There's a lot of published information and a lot of online misinformation. If your interested I can recommend a few books, and I am sure Brother Dave can as well.

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