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Post subject: 1968 Fender P-Bass Finish Question....
Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 5:17 pm
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Hello,
I'm a newb here. Been playing bass for about ten years now. I stumbled upon these forums because I have a question about a 1968 Fender P-bass. There is one of these basses for sale locally and I was wondering if there is anyway to tell if the finish is original. It looks to be in pretty good shape. The guy is asking $1,000 for it. I think this is a pretty good deal either way, but I would like to know in case I decided to resale it in the future... thanks in advance.


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Post subject: Re: 1968 Fender P-Bass Finish Question....
Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2011 8:30 pm
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Rock Star
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Location: Albemarle, NC
Might be hard to tell without removing the neck.


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Post subject: Re: 1968 Fender P-Bass Finish Question....
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 6:43 am
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what would I be looking for If I removed the neck?


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Post subject: Re: 1968 Fender P-Bass Finish Question....
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 4:54 pm
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Rock Star
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An unpainted area, usually referred to as a "paint stick mark." That is a misnomer as it was not caused by a stick but instead by a piece of metal electrical conduit flattened by a hammer which was screwed to the neck pocket where the neck goes so the body could be suspended and then painted. When removed from the "stick" you can see the outline in the pocket. Often when instruments are refinished you will not see the paint stick mark as it gets painted over.

You will also often find other colors in the pocket besides the body's seemingly original factory color. I wouldn't worry about seeing that as much as not seeing a paint stick mark. Often a sunburst or other difficult finish came out sub-par so it got painted over. This over-painting seemed to have been done a lot with custom color bodies for some reason, so don't sweat finding black or brown in the pocket too much.

They had stopped with the paint wheel nail holes by then so you can't check those. Another way to check for original finish is to look at the pickup lead solder connections in the control cavity. If they are obviously original factory solder connections, then it for sure hasn't been painted as you have to desolder the pickup leads to paint one. Post-factory solder connections do not prove a refinish but original solder connections are generally accepted as irrefutable evidence that it hasn't been refinished. Be sure to push back the cloth insulation on the pickup leads a tad as I have seen some "original" paint jobs where someone had pushed the cloth insulation WAY back, cut the wires, repainted, re-soldered and then pushed the insulation back so you could not tell unless you pushed the insulation back. Clever but deceitful.

You are right to be wary, that is a ridiculously low price for a 68 in any condition, but with original paint and all original parts it is about half of what you would expect to pay from a vintage dealerl if you dickered for a week.


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Post subject: Re: 1968 Fender P-Bass Finish Question....
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2011 7:54 pm
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Ok. Thanks. You have been more than helpful. I will check this out and get back to you, if interested I could post some pics in the next day or so.


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Post subject: Re: 1968 Fender P-Bass Finish Question....
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 3:57 am
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Everyone here will check them out as they love pics!


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Post subject: Re: 1968 Fender P-Bass Finish Question....
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2011 11:41 am
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A 1968 stripped down body and neck alone are worth well over a 1000.00$ nevermind one in playing condition w/original paint or not,thats to good to be true it seems...NO ?
A 68 in decent condition is 3000.00$ easy as long as its not filled with crappy StewMac hardware and pickups,its a hard call with no pics and it can go far in either way (good or bad) But DEFINATLY worth a long hard investigation,could have yourself a sleeper :shock: :shock:

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