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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 2:41 pm
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Sorry for the huge bump, but what are the main differences between a 1951 and 1952 P BasS?

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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 4:37 pm
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That it left the factory after December 31, 1951. The first Precisions were probably delivered, at the earliest, in November 1951, so it was still a very young instrument. The changes didn't really begin until 1954.

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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 12:34 am
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When did they start taking orders? Anyone know? As the model year ran July 1 to June 30 the following year does anyone else think it weird that they would introduce a new instrument halfway through the model year?


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 2:42 am
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dimi_le_matheux@hotmail.fr wrote:
so electric bass is 60 years old this year, in July


Not exactly. This isn't a fact frequently acknowledged here, but in reality the first solid body, fretted electric bass that played like a guitar was invented in the 1930's. Read this page: http://www.b0b.com/infoedu/tutmarc1.html


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 9:07 am
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thanks for this rare information! but this first bass has never been produced and sold, was it?


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Sun Jun 26, 2011 4:37 pm
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dimi_le_matheux@hotmail.fr wrote:
thanks for this rare information! but this first bass has never been produced and sold, was it?


Yes but I've read that fewer than 100 were sold over several years in the late 1930's and even less of the re-branded versions in the late 1940's. It is interesting to note that if I try to post the brand names and the inventor's name I get a page error every time. But it did let me post the link. If you read the following WIKI page you can see more about the 1930's and 40's models too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_guitar


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 2:52 am
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Thank you very much! ;)


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:16 am
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ledzep1968 wrote:
....what are the main differences between a 1951 and 1952 P BasS?


There was a ground wire to the chrome pickup cover on the earlier ones. Otherwise, not much.


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 10:47 am
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I could'nt decide beween the two different years(50 or 51) So I bought one of each! :mrgreen:

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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:57 am
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In the book, Fender Precision Basses 1951-1954, Detlef Schmidt states the first Precisions left the factory "certainly not before October 31 and no later than late November." He repeats Richard Smith's assertion in Fender: the Sound Heard 'Round the World, based on Leo's personal notes, that 83 basses were produced during 1951. I don't believe the later "model year" concept applied when Fender had one guitar in two variations and a couple of amplifiers. Don Randall probably influenced Fender on that, with the idea of introducing new models at the July NAMM show, but in the early '50s he was still working for Radio-Tel; Fender Sales (in which Leo and Don were partners) didn't start up until 1954. Likewise, the ground wire was very likely a change on the assembly line -- Leo was notorious for introducing changes in the amp circuits on the line, until Forrest White put a stop to it (in the interest in protecting his inventory management system).

By the time of the Stratocaster, Fender had settled into a routine of preparing new amps and instruments in time for July -- the split-coil Precision, for example, was announced at the July 1957 NAMM.

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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 11:19 pm
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lpdeluxe wrote:
In the book, Fender Precision Basses 1951-1954, Detlef Schmidt states the first Precisions left the factory "certainly not before October 31 and no later than late November." He repeats Richard Smith's assertion in Fender: the Sound Heard 'Round the World, based on Leo's personal notes, that 83 basses were produced during 1951. I don't believe the later "model year" concept applied when Fender had one guitar in two variations and a couple of amplifiers. Don Randall probably influenced Fender on that, with the idea of introducing new models at the July NAMM show, but in the early '50s he was still working for Radio-Tel; Fender Sales (in which Leo and Don were partners) didn't start up until 1954. Likewise, the ground wire was very likely a change on the assembly line -- Leo was notorious for introducing changes in the amp circuits on the line, until Forrest White put a stop to it (in the interest in protecting his inventory management system).

By the time of the Stratocaster, Fender had settled into a routine of preparing new amps and instruments in time for July -- the split-coil Precision, for example, was announced at the July 1957 NAMM.


COOL information! True it was still small scale.


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Post subject: Re: P.51
Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2011 10:35 am
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I think read somewhere that Fender had 20 employees. Radio-Tel wasn't promoting Fender products, something Leo complained about. F C Hall had another agenda: he bought Rickenbacker and in effect became a competitor of the Fender line he was supposed to be selling. Don Randall started up Fender Sales in 1954 so he could a) be his own boss and b) level the playing field. Hall was a partner in that until he was forced out in 1955, which is about when Fender really took off (with the help of the Strat and the contoured P). In 1953 and 1954 Leo hired two critical employees: Freddie Tavares, who had the artistic eye Leo so notably lacked (compare the Tele and early P with the Strat and split-coil P and you'll see what I mean) and Forrest White, who had some real-world experience with aircraft and armored vehicle manufacture, who turned Fender's job shop into a genuine factory.

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