Beno

So I decided to bite the bullet and get the bass in to my luthier. It seems I'm a 'glass half empty type'. He was adamant that it did not need a re-fret and that a fret dress would be the way to go. I have adjusted the price accordingly. It is €2,400 or at today's euro - GBP rate of .86 that is £2,064

It sure is.

I think you're right Nick. It's a rubbish time for selling anything. I have a Boss pedal up f/s on a site here and this model of pedal are normally snapped up and it's on for ages too. The road ahead is far too uncertain. I think the weak pound is not helping me either. I don't agree it is "quite a high price" at all. I have a vested interest in mid 70's Fender P's, so have kept a keen eye on pricing over the years and have done my research. A quick scope around this site alone would confirm this pretty quickly.

Hello again. Just to reiterate - I'm stunned at the lack of responses I've had to this bass for sale. To cut through the possible *noise above, this is a 1975 P bass for sale for 1850 euro as it is or, a 1975 P bass with a repaired finger-board and new frets for 2400 euro. *Edit: by noise I ref to my posts

Hi J66Bass, no offence taken at all. Without the help of H.G. Wells, I really don’t know about the lack of a stamp on the butt of the neck. It’s not uncommon though. A very quick Google this morning throws up a similar situation with a 76 P. Our friend Señor Jorres/Torres, turns up again on this 75 neck on Reverb and in fact he was on a bass FS here recently. He may have been having an off day. My own theory is that the QC in Fender at the time was a bit lax to put it mildly. They were making fantastic guitars and basses, but didn’t realise it at the time. I was talking to a lad recently that lived in the US/Canada and is very well up on vintage Fender stuff. He pointed out a very plausible scenario about the way things were done there. For instance: a worker putting the neck plates (serial #’s) on guitars has a bin of plates. His bin runs low. Some guy tops up the bin with more plates leaving a few of the previous plates on the bottom. That’s why dating a Fender by s/n sometimes conflicts with other part dates. Another quick search shows: 2 x 1974 P’s for sale with serial/n’s 626646 and 620940. Both of those s/n's are approx 27,000 later than my 75 s/n. Not sure how that works. Anyway, I would be 100% confident that the neck is the original.

Was having a bit of a muse on this one. I’m a little bit surprised that there hasn’t been more interest in this bass. Perhaps it’s just a bad time to try to sell anything. Okay, I know it needs a re-fret soon and I understand that’s a pain in the hoop. I’d imagine a lad would want it to arrive ready to go. If I had done the re-fret and the board was in pristine condition, I would have listed it at about £2,100 and I think the general consensus would have been – ‘that’s about right’. A re-fret In Ireland would be about €300. I think in the UK it is around £200. It varies in other EU countries ie. Spain seems to be approx €250 The option is available to a buyer, for me to get it done here and price the bass at €2,150 which at todays ex rate of .90, is £1,935. That’s a hell of a price for a 1975 P bass with a new fret job done and a case imo. If a buyer in the UK got their guy to do the frets, that would be £1,665 + £200 (frets) = £1,865. Better again!! I doubt shipping would be much different than within mainland UK. Dublin is nearer to Manchester than London is (as the crow flies) I had a pm chat with a lad on the far side of Europe and I did an exercise on the UPS site and the cost of shipping was less than €80 (not sure if that was inc insurance though) I’m not in any hurry to sell the bass and was actually thinking about reversing my price drop, but I’ll let it sit for the moment and see what happens. Stg has been fairly fluid over the last few years and all it would take is something like a ‘great trade deal’ to be announced for GB with the EU and Stg could well improve. It could also go the other way. If either happens I would have to adjust my price. I know I’m a noob selling here with no feedback but everything will be done to ensure buyer is satisfied that all is legit before a transaction takes place.

@gareth, no I don't know the bass history before 1982. It may have had the saddles changed. There was I believe a preference for brass saddles as they were supposed to improve the resonance. My ears aren't that finely tuned though. I like them. I think they suit the natural finish better tbh and I suppose if someone didn't like them, a 15 quid set of Ni plated saddles would cure that fairly quickly.

Page 10 was quiet. Page 11 is a wasteland! A weekend bump needed 😊

New edit: 26/03/21 Had the f/b and fret work done with luthier and details and pics are in my post below. Ash body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard Vital stats:- Weight: On a kitchen scales it comes in at 4.2kgs. On a bathroom scales, it’s 4.4kgs so it’s there or there abouts. Either way, it’s a light bass and certainly one of the lightest bass I’ve played. Neck: 41.7mm at nut. I bought this bass in 1982. I have changed nothing on it (hardware) Personally, I think it’s a great looking bass (subjective of course) and has just the right amount of real road wear. It sounds fantastic.

I wouldn't worry what make it is (the lad says it plays well). For 75 quid, it looks like a perfect starter fretless. If you find you like/can handle fretless, move it on and get a better one. If not- just move it on. Interesting table project though