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Post subject: 1963 Red Sunburst Precition Bass
Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 6:49 pm
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As promised, here is a pic of the 63, red sunburst, Precision. It is really beautiful to behold in person. Just tightened and tuned, ran a couple scales, and am about to give it a couple hours of my time. Has rounds on it, I will swap them out for flats another day.

After several months of dealing on this bass, unable to pull the trigger because of my inability to validate the color - and the color is what attracted me - the dealer consented to making sale contingent on an in hand authentication by George Gruhn. No expense to me if it's fake, my expense if it's not. It's all legit, and as George writes "a very rare bass".

The red sunburst, the mint green pickguard, stunning. No unusual damage upon inspection, couple of dings and some finish flakes and the few minutes I had it up, the sound was just fine. I am a very happy camper, but now I really have to sell a few off. No more room!

Tomorrow there is a photo shoot of my Fender collection, so arriving the day before is something special. Only one bass is missing in action and the photographer says he can cut it in later. I guess he takes individual pictures of them all, then builds the collections from the individual photos. It will be interesting to watch and learn. Then maybe I will have a yard sale...lol.

Nice day!



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Post subject: Re: 1963 Red Sunburst Precition Bass
Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 6:51 pm
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Don't ask about the T in Precision. Fenton said it looked better that way.

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Post subject: Re: 1963 Red Sunburst Precition Bass
Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 7:02 pm
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Post subject: Re: 1963 Red Sunburst Precition Bass
Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 7:04 pm
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affprod wrote:
Don't ask about the T in Precision. Fenton said it looked better that way.


+1 :lol:

I wish I were your photographer! You're going to be very busy shuttling basses all day. :)

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Post subject: Re: 1963 Red Sunburst Precition Bass
Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 7:15 pm
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Tell me linnin! I'm figuring three trips, about 25 minutes one way. The photographer's wife has volunteered to use a polishing cloth for me and my wife said she will take a load over. Starting at 10:30 and hoping to have them all home by suppertime. It's all digital, but not sure how long it will take him to put the different groupings together. Since I am going to break up the gang, I need to do this.

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Post subject: Re: 1963 Red Sunburst Precition Bass
Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 9:56 pm
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Nice Bass Affprod !! & I hope you share those photos with us.. :)


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Post subject: Re: 1963 Red Sunburst Precition Bass
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 10:10 am
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affprod wrote:
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Red Sunburst was offered as a custom color as far as can I tell. Therefore this finish was not listed in the 1963 pricelist.

Brotherdave, we need your help.

Shed us your light in that rare piece!


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Post subject: Re: 1963 Red Sunburst Precition Bass
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 10:56 am
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I've never been a fan of Cherry burst - probably because you always see it on Les Pauls, but lawdy lawdy that's a purdy bass!

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Post subject: Re: 1963 Red Sunburst Precition Bass
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 11:17 am
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Not necessarily a fan of the red, but that is a nice looking bass. :D

Looking forward to pictures of your collection.

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Post subject: Re: 1963 Red Sunburst Precition Bass
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 12:19 pm
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Although there have been books on Fender Bass Guitars before, I'm willing to bet this endeavor of Steve's would make for a superlative tome. Literally years in the making. Especially given that he is going to the expense of having his collection professionally photographed. It would make for a superb coffee table book or DVD/download.

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Post subject: Re: 1963 Red Sunburst Precition Bass
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 12:32 pm
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It would go very well with my copy of "The John Entwistle Bass Collection"

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Post subject: Re: 1963 Red Sunburst Precition Bass
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 1:05 pm
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linnin wrote:
Although there have been books on Fender Bass Guitars before, I'm willing to bet this endeavor of Steve's would make for a superlative tome. Literally years in the making. Especially given that he is going to the expense of having his collection professionally photographed. It would make for a superb coffee table book or DVD/download.


I have already PM-ed him the same thing. Like a week ago.


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Post subject: Re: 1963 Red Sunburst Precition Bass
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 1:50 pm
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I've never heard of nor seen a red sunburst Precision bass and certainly not in 1963!

If it is legit, it is a very rare bass.

I agree. It is a very cool looking bass.

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Post subject: Re: 1963 Red Sunburst Precition Bass
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 2:04 pm
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chromeface wrote:
affprod wrote:
Image


Red Sunburst was offered as a custom color as far as can I tell. Therefore this finish was not listed in the 1963 pricelist.

Brotherdave, we need your help.

Shed us your light in that rare piece!


Fender doesn't acknowledge it as a factory color. They say it must be a refinish. George Gruhn says it is definitely Fender Fullerton Factory Original. I've NEVER seen another one this color. Ever.

Fender didn't do REQUESTS even for endorsers. This appears to be the ONLY ONE. If Gruhn says it is original then I'm convinced that it is original.

When I saw the multiple higher resolution photos sent to me I knew it was probably one of the rarest original pre-CBS ones I've ever checked out or that it was an insanely good fake. I could only find that the paint looked original yet seemed to have extraordinary wear patterns especially when compared to the apparently super clean hardware that looks A+. The finish seems to have popped off in oddly shaped little spots, not the flaking chunks normally seen on a Fender sunburst nitro. The hardware actually looked almost TOO good compared to the finish that was in average to good condition for the year. All the numbers, decal, hallmarks, hardware were correct. The pot codes correct. Wiring looked factory original and untouched. The neck stamping also looked PERFECT! No smudge, nothing uneven....freaky. Usually stampings were sort of haphazard. I judged it to appear to either be original or the most outrageous fake ever or maybe a relic treatment refinish from the photos. I mean if you were going to fake a '63, collect all the right parts, age the finish like that but use a color treatment Fender had NEVER EVER used....that would be totally outrageous to the point of insanity and there would be no point in using that color on a fake whatsoever. The lack of rust and heat damage indicates it was carefully stored and the A+ hardware shows it was very seldom if ever used.

Here is a POSSIBLE scenario. Leo Fender loved colors. He invented Fender Blonde and Candy Apple Red. I think the argument could be made that this was a color prototype. There would be one, but no more than a couple at most, made with this color treatment in each of the main models in the same spray session in 1963. So it is likely there is also a Strat, Tele and maybe even a Jazz in that color somewhere, or was at one time anyway. Leo and George would have poured over the color prototypes deciding whether or not it was a "go." They would want to see a new color treatment on all models that had a custom color option and not just on the Precision alone.

It is entirely possible that in '63 they planned on the cherry sunburst to be a go for 64/65. HOWEVER starting in 1964 the entire finishing process went through major changes as streamlining was underway. Fender was ramping up production capacity to make the company more attractive to investors. Fender was also negotiating the V.C. Squier purchase which was taking up some of his time. It is understandable that a custom color addition would get put on hold with all the other stuff going on. The process used to create this finish in 1963 had also changed by mid 1964 and it would have to be redone anyway with the new procedures to see how it looked after the changes. Maybe it got delayed to 65/66. So when Fender was sold to CBS the color simply got lost in the shuffle. Somebody working at Fender then would probably know for sure but I don't know how you could get up with the survivors with R&D knowledge.

It is more possible that this is a "lost" color than it is that this color was done by custom order to please a lone endorsing player. I mean, how would they tell Fender what the color was or how to mix it? Pretty much this would almost have to be a color prototype for a Fender color treatment that wound up never getting offered. One has to wonder where the Strat and Tele and maybe the Jazz prototypes are? How did this thing get out of Fullerton? I've never seen the other models in this treatment either. If this was a color prototype, and I think it just might be, then they surely were made too.

Since this has been authenticated by Gruhn Guitars it is without a doubt the rarest and most intriguing P-Bass I've ever seen. It has kept me awake. I have lost sleep over this thing. Pre-CBS is rare enough, but this is AN UNPRECEDENTED FIND and actually could be in the HISTORICAL category. As to what it is worth, I have no idea as it is totally out of my scope of experience. But it is A WHOLE LOT and certainly far more than any other '63 Fender around.


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Post subject: Re: 1963 Red Sunburst Precition Bass
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 2:12 pm
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Also I forgot to mention that this instrument has a very unusual mark on the neck paddle. Sort of a gigantic sweeping underlined black "P" and the bold black underlining is visible with the neck attached to the instrument as it covers the entire paddle. This is also odd and leads me to think it is a prototype and the mark was there so that it would not accidentally get by an inspector and get shipped. Just a tiny portion of the mark is visible, but enough that an inspector would stop it.

I don't know what Gruhn said about that mark but would like to know. I've never seen a neck factory marked like that. It could be owner applied, but I really doubt it.


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