It is currently Mon Mar 16, 2020 8:21 pm

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 21 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2
Go to page Previous  1, 2
Author Message
Post subject: Re: Intro + bass ID question
Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 6:44 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 10:49 am
Posts: 12
PVTele wrote:
brotherdave wrote:
Secondly, many parts instruments and radically modified basses are passed off as late Fullerton and then the irregularities are explained away as "crazy last minute stuff made out of the parts they had left." I have been personally assured by some of the people working Fullerton till the last day in Quality Control/Final Inspection that "THE SPECS WERE THE SPECS" and no irregular basses were allowed to be shipped even on the very last day. Therefore I'm wondering whether there was a neck swap.


That's interesting, Br Dave, and thanks very much for coming in on our discussion! I'd wondered about a neck swap, but if it is, would it be an Elite neck (which it does look like, as I said earlier) or would there be issues with the microtilt neck? (Though I did at one time play a '78 Strat with a 3-bolt microtilt neck, I never had the neck off to see if the heel would fit a normal pocket...)

What you say about the last days at Fullerton makes sense; and yet there is this persistent story of CBS, earlier than the actual factory move, starting in maybe '83, producing 'bitsers' - see f'r instance the 'transitional' instruments mentioned in Black & Molinaro's The Fender Bass, an Illustrated History on p.79, where there's even a pic of a mixed-up Jazz Bass from 1983. Do you, and your contacts at Fullerton / Corona, know anything about this period particularly?


I also appreciate your input, Brother Dave. The plot thickens! :wink: I suppose a neck swap might've happened at the shop. The previous owner bought the bass as new in 2000 (apparently with tags, wrenches, etc) but the fact that it went unsold for that long tends to suggest something out of the ordinary (though I've never worked in a guitar shop so what the heck do I know? :mrgreen: ). But it appears that the neck, body and hardware all come from the same time period. So why would the shop swap out the neck? Perhaps another customer wanted the Special neck for their Elite? Was the Special neck thinner, perhaps? Or was Fender doing any custom work at the time?

This gets more mysterious by the day! :D Reminds me of a quote I heard in a talk by Terence McKenna in regards to learning ... "the bigger you build the campfire, the more darkness you reveal".

_________________
'83/'97 Precision (original body was replaced with a '97)
'78 Rick 4001
Traynor YBA-1 (early '70s)


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject: Re: Intro + bass ID question
Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 8:38 am
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:12 pm
Posts: 6355
Location: Albemarle, NC
There was a post years ago, before the overhaul of the forum, where I had posted about odd transitional instruments I'd seen that appeared genuine. It was in that post where a final days Final Inspection person said that nothing like that ever happened. I've searched for and have been unable to locate it as I referenced it here.

Since that time just about every irregularity I have ran across can be explained by mods and parts swaps.

If the bass had a bad neck and it was replaced by one of the replacement necks Fender would ship out and later were produced briefly at Corona then that does not explain the E3 serial. I'm guessing that you have a serial irregularity, which is somewhat rare.

Yes this is somewhat of a mystery. If the neck code is complete and readable please post it here should you ever get it. There may even be corresponding assembly stickers in the body's neck pocket and on the neck paddle that would confirm it is the original neck.

The late day Fullerton active Specials with the single P-Bass pickup was a really nice and today somewhat rare instrument. Even with oddball serial it would still sound amazing.


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Intro + bass ID question
Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 9:52 am
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 10:49 am
Posts: 12
brotherdave wrote:
Yes this is somewhat of a mystery. If the neck code is complete and readable please post it here should you ever get it. There may even be corresponding assembly stickers in the body's neck pocket and on the neck paddle that would confirm it is the original neck.


Thanks again for your input. I'm curious enough that I'll probably check the neck code sometime this weekend. I'll certainly post whatever I find.

_________________
'83/'97 Precision (original body was replaced with a '97)
'78 Rick 4001
Traynor YBA-1 (early '70s)


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Intro + bass ID question
Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 1:27 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2007 1:27 pm
Posts: 326
Location: Swanage, UK
On the microtilt question, I found this informative page http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/repair/electric-guitar/neck-angle.php which seems to suggest that a 4-bolt microtilt neck would fit a standard neck pocket (and vice versa) without any problem; the 3-bolt (apart from Strats, only fitted to late 70s - early 80s Jazz Basses AFAIK) is of course a law unto itself...


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Intro + bass ID question
Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 5:45 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist
User avatar

Joined: Mon May 16, 2011 10:49 am
Posts: 12
Mystery solved, to some degree. We are in fact dealing with a neck swap and two pieces from over a decade apart.

We have a neck from May 13, 1983:

Image

And a body from November, 1997:

Image


That's a bit of a disappointment, but it's still a great looking, great sounding instrument and I wasn't charged a "vintage" price for it. Now it just leaves me to wonder where/when the hardware and circuitry came from. Does the marking on the body suggest that it was at least made by Fender? The bridge is from the early 80s, right?

Hmmmm .... what should I call this thing, a '83/'97?


*Update to the story ...

In light of this discovery, the seller offered a full refund. He had no idea that the body was not original (he purchased it with the Fender tags as new, as I said). I've decided to keep it because I love the thing and still feel that I was charged a reasonable price for it. I don't see myself trying to sell this thing anytime soon (if ever), so I'm not terribly concerned with its market value (whatever that might be).

We're thinking that the original body was probably damaged at the shop and replaced.

_________________
'83/'97 Precision (original body was replaced with a '97)
'78 Rick 4001
Traynor YBA-1 (early '70s)


Top
Profile
Post subject: Re: Intro + bass ID question
Posted: Sun May 22, 2011 1:03 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Sun Jul 08, 2007 1:27 pm
Posts: 326
Location: Swanage, UK
SoulFinger wrote:
We're thinking that the original body was probably damaged at the shop and replaced.


Perhaps that's it. The electronics and hardware look totally genuine from your pictures, so maybe they are indeed the original early 80s items - no valid reason to suspect otherwise, since I've never heard of a '97 bass with those specs.

I reckon you're right to keep it. Instruments are for playing music, and if yours does that so well, what more can you ask? (I can well remember one or two I've had over the years that I've let go for non-musical reasons, and I still miss them...)


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 21 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2
Go to page Previous  1, 2

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: