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Post subject: Help Me Figure Out The Mystery Of This Precision Bass Please
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 8:43 am
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Hi.

I traded a couple guitars for this bass a few weeks ago. I know some things about it but there are a lot of things I don't know. I'm pretty sure the neck and the body are from different guitars. I'm pretty sure the body started out as a natural finish from the factory but was painted blue during it's lifetime and taken back to a natural finish. I think the neck is a vintage Fender neck but was refinished and had a bad decal job done. I think the body may be a '73 but I don't know when the neck was made. The pickguard seems to not be original. The pickups may or may not be from around '73. The jack doesn't seem to be original and the pots may be from the '50s. I'm getting bits and pieces of info and opinion but I thought this would be the place to come for some definitive answers.

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Post subject: Re: Help Me Figure Out The Mystery Of This Precision Bass Pl
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 8:45 am
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Post subject: Re: Help Me Figure Out The Mystery Of This Precision Bass Pl
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 8:47 am
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Post subject: Re: Help Me Figure Out The Mystery Of This Precision Bass Pl
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 8:48 am
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Post subject: Re: Help Me Figure Out The Mystery Of This Precision Bass Pl
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 10:32 am
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That pot has a date from the 43rd week of 1973.
The body has the dowels.
That neck code is illegible to me,unfortunately.
It does look like Fender, so I'd guess late 1973 or early 1974.

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Post subject: Re: Help Me Figure Out The Mystery Of This Precision Bass Pl
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 11:07 am
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The one pot code I can read, 1377343 is 43rd week of 1973. That pot might be original and can't tell about the other one for sure but suspect they may both the original.

The serial neckplate is from 1973/1974 which jives with the pot codes. Also the tone capacitor present matches up to the correct type for the serial era also.

The jack is not Switchcraft which was stock on these and I'm actually sure who made this particular one.

I do not see one single original solder joint.

I can not read all the numbers in the date code on the neck butt. Often you can see them in person better than they can be photographed since some are so faint. If it reads something like 01014735 which is close as I can get from the photo with the last 4 numbers being a guess more than anything else, that would decode like this for example:

01 = Precision Bass
01 = Rosewood fretboard
47 = 47th Week
3 = 1973
5 = Friday (5th day of workweek)

Like I said I can't tell what the last 4 numbers are for sure and if you can tell better then just change the week, year and day numbers and recalculate based on the actual numbers. That is as close as I can get from the photo here. With a legible 8 digit code you can figure out the neck date down to the ACTUAL DAY it was stamped but less than half of them are fully legible so don't freak out if you can't read yours.

The decal is a repro since the font and solid black color logo script are wrong for 73/74 plus the patent numbers and trademark "R" are missing, but the tuners do appear correct for 73/74. Apparently this neck was refinished at some point a long time ago.

Bridge looks right. Knobs look right. Pickguard looks right maybe but I think on a natural finish you would see white pickguards on 73/74 natural P-Basses not black.

Certainly those are not original pickups. The brass baseplate is absent. The originals likely would have had gray flatwork, not black (on the back.) There being no date stamp is not unusual since the baseplate would have been stamped but the black bottoms are. Also the green interconnecting wire was not used on Fender P-Bass pickups but on some other brands. These are some sort of aftermarket pickups and look imported maybe. I don't know for sure what they are but they are not original to this body.

So what looks out of place is the for sure the headstock decal, jack and pickups. Maybe the pickguard is a swap but original Fender even if not original to the body.

The pickup is NOT Fender. Can't tell if the neck and body came together or not. However if you can decode the unreadable neck numbers and they come up 72 through 74 then the neck could be original to the body.

This is a player class instrument due to the refinishing at any rate so the goal would be to get it to sound great and play great and that is the best you can hope for with it.

I'd for sure check out the readings on those pickups. Resistance should be in the ballpark of 11.6 to 11.7K for the pair. I'm pretty sure I'd get a Fender, Novak, Fralin or Duncan pickup set for it and restore the brass baseplate wiring scheme. I can't tell what these pickups are, or if they even have Alnico magnets. Put a Switchcraft jack in when you do the pickup swap.


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Post subject: Re: Help Me Figure Out The Mystery Of This Precision Bass Pl
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 11:39 am
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Hey, thanks so much for the input! Everything you guys said is pretty much what the general consensus has been. Oddly/luckily, the pups sound great and I have no plans to swap them yet. I don't plan on selling the bass either but I'm kinda weird about things that don't match or add up as they should. I'm pretty happy with the bass.

I swapped a 1999 Washburn Custom Shop Maverick Studio. I rewired it with Duncan Antiquities, EVH pots and a Sprague p.i.o. cap. I had about $700 in that one. I also traded an Epiphone John Lennon acoustic that I had repaired and made a custom bone nut and bridge and bone string pins. I had about $300 in that one. Total was probably closer to $900 but I'll say $1000. With the way the bass plays and feels, I'd probably give $1000 for it again. Came with a tweed late model HSC.

Doesn't sound like it'd take a whole lot of cash to get this bass closer to original.

Thanks again for the input.


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Post subject: Re: Help Me Figure Out The Mystery Of This Precision Bass Pl
Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2014 12:05 pm
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I zoomed in more and you're right, that IS a 4. So, it's 0101 47 and I can't quite get the last two. Of course they're the most important numbers to figure out the year and day. I wish they'd taken just a bit more care when they stamped the heel. At least I'm pretty sure the neck isn't a fake.

I need a forensic team to prove the last two numbers to be 3 and 5, lol.


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Post subject: Re: Help Me Figure Out The Mystery Of This Precision Bass Pl
Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 10:37 pm
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The fretboard is radiused like a neck from the 60's. I'm not sure how long Fender did that. I had a 69 that had that - but not sure about rosewood boards in the 70's. My 74 is one piece maple.


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Post subject: Re: Help Me Figure Out The Mystery Of This Precision Bass Pl
Posted: Fri May 09, 2014 7:25 am
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Fender radius-ed the underside of their rosewood fingerboards well into the 80's. At least until the Vintage reissue's came out in 1982 and all necks didn't revert to the Vintage reissue specs even after 1982 so I would say it was done into the 80s.

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Post subject: Re: Help Me Figure Out The Mystery Of This Precision Bass Pl
Posted: Mon May 26, 2014 7:35 am
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Bit of an update.

I was going to buy a set of pickups to replace the ones in the bass because everyone thought they weren't original. I actually made the PayPal payment to a guy on Talk Bass forum (Brian). I sent him pictures of these pickups and he said they ARE pickups consistent with what Fender put into some basses during 1973 and 1974 only. Black bobbins with burgundy colored coil wire. The leads had been changed as they weren't soldered from the bottom of the pups (plus the green series wire). Instead, they went in between the bobbins and soldered them downward.

The guy was so cool. Not only did he refund the money for the pickups but he didn't even keep the $25 I asked him to keep for his trouble. He said he didn't want me to spend all that money on his pickups when I didn't need them as replacements.

I replaced the imported jack with a period correct SwitchCraft jack and the ground plate that goes under the pickups. I went on eBay and checked picture after picture of '72-'74 Fender Precision bass wiring. You can see the basses that are still factory wired and the ones that have been rewired. I rewired mine to match the factory wiring. (Point of information: There are a LOT of basses for sale on eBay that are listed in the $3k range that are not wired factory correct.).

You guys were absolutely right about the pick guard. It is a replacement. I still need a pick guard. I stupidly made an offer on a '74 pick guard instead of just buying it when I had the chance so I lost it.

My list of parts still needed to bring this bass close to restored are: pick guard, thumb or finger rest, plus pickup and bridge covers. I bought a period correct looking water slide decal. I'm going to have the headstock refinished and this decal put in place of the crappy decal job that sits there now. I probably won't buy a period correct case as the one I have now is very nice.

I'm not trying to get over on anyone. It'll just make me feel better to know I fixed most of the stuff other guys did to my bass over the years.

As for the neck. I can't tell what are the last two serial numbers. That's not uncommon for the serial number to not be quite legible. I'm going to lean toward it being the neck that came with the guitar and I believe the body and neck to be late '73 or early '74. I do appreciate all the input you guys gave. It cleared up a lot of things I didn't understand when I started the thread.


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