ronswanson

I thought the tar-like stuff might be the foam but didn't think it be so unrecognisable in consistency. With the location, etc it makes sense though. Despite how it might look in the photos, the finish is still really solid and smooth to touch. I was a bit surprised. If it has been refinished or varnished it's been done in a fairly professional way. In terms of the mystery repair plug in the neck pocket. There are no signs of a hole on the other side, so bit of a mystery. I'm liking the info about the pickups - thanks @bloke_zero I'm also pretty lazy so if they sound good and might not be too much hassle I might well leave them for a while too!

I've picked up the bass now. After seeing it in person and checking a few things I'm really happy with it. First thing was the neck. Stamped 103-1655 so that checks out for 1975. Also stamped R BUSH which I've seen on images of others. With the pick guard and bridge remoed, the overall shape of the routing was consistent for that era, based on this thread: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/128339-70s-fender-precision-timeline/. Also good to see the through-hole holes were quite small and tidy and the original bridge holes there as you'd expect. The EMG pick up is active with a battery hiding in the main cavity - no scary routing for it thankfully. Battery was dated 2012 😀 The neck pocket isn't quite what I expected. Fully painted, some black and no stamps visible - does this suggest a refin? There's also a odd circular patch - could it have been originally made as for a 3-bolt neck? There no signs on the back of it ever having being 3 holes instead of 4. The cavities are mostly a similar shade to the main colour, maybe some black and white paint visible although the pickups seem to have tar-like black adhesive underneath. Paint under the pickguard has more of a red-shade - I don't know if the colour changes under the pickguard or only fades on the uncovered part. There's also what looks like a paint imperfection which I'm guessing Fender wouldn't have allowed. There are no date markings on the pots that I recognised. The pickups have no stamps or markings on the back. Did EMG produce a fully wired set with pots back then? Pick guard has pencil writing on the back - swirly hand-writing, probably L, LBR, and upper case JMD. The covered hole that might have had a switch has been patched with epoxy or similar on the back. Frets are quite worn but I used it with the band last night and it felt great. Heavier than my early 80s bass and maybe it bit punchier. I'm even coming round to the bridge and controls now I see them in real life. I'll probably leave it alone for a while at least. The first thing might be putting in a passive pickup. I've never had an active bass and the battery isn't easy to change in a hurry.

Thanks again for all the replies. It was an auction house through their online portal. They have T&Cs that cover forgeries. If the buyer can prove it's a forgery then they'll refund so I'm not too concerned on that front. It was described as 1975 Fender Precision with no real caveats apart from condition. It came from the estate of a working musician who'd passed away, so I don't think there's anything devious going on - just the potential that the family didn't really know. Based on the feedback, it seems likely to be genuine, thanks @MrFingers especially. Definitely nothing conclusive to say otherwise so I have to pick it up to investigate further. I'd like it to be a player. I have an early 80s P bass that I love but I played a 78 at a studio recently and it was very nice. I'd probably try to restore it a little with original parts if I can. Expect a future question on tackling the bridge situation! How much did I pay? .... £1150 including fees. If it's mostly genuine I think that's a good price. It doesn't seem uncommon for these to be around £3K but Rich Tone Music has one on eBay just now (a 76) for £2K. I'll post some updates once I've collected it.

Wow. Thanks for the replies. It's definitely a dog's breakfast 😀 The dowel holes is an interesting observation @MrFingers thanks. I've been searching for natural-ish Hondo's for comparison. I can't find any that show dowel holes. The ferrule holes are pretty shocking. Most of the Hondo's I can find have them straight - this initially made me think it was a DIY job (possibly meaning it's not a Hondo). I suppose if you set the bridge how you want it and then drill pilot holes from the front, you'll end up with something like this. But I did find some Hondo's that were similar like this one on reverb: and this one on gumtree: I somehow didn't even notice the brown inlays on the fretboard 🙄 Again, I've been search for examples of anything at all with brown dots but can't find any. Just another wierd customisation? A close up Another interesting bit is the scratchplate. It appears to have had a switch fitted at some point and then the whole covered: Why would it need a switch? That makes me think the scratch plate might also be from another bass - one that maybe had a PJ setup, like this.... also a Hondo but I don't think the PJ setup is standard. Those knobs look familiar. A few more images... Side view of neck join showing fretboard Back of headstock with tuners Front of headstock Thanks again!

Hello. I'm Looking for some advice on a bass I've purchased via auction, I've yet to collect. It was listed as 1975 Fender Precision Bass mocha finish. From the photos I thought the neck and neck plate looked genuine. I thought the body had obviously had a hard time and had some bits changed but didn't think too much of it. 3 or 4 things looked obviously non-original for a Fender: bridge pickups knobs string-through - I wasn't sure about this but thought it was possible or could have been a mod. By chance, after the auction I saw an image of a P bass copy on Facebook that has made me doubt it's fully authentic - a Hondo H-830 Fame. Any one of those parts being different didn't ring any alarm bells but seeing the Hondo having 3 or 4 similarities is a bit of a co-incidence. The bridge design matches a Hondo exactly. It's also string-through with the holes on the back not in a straight line. The knobs are dom topped rather than flat. The pickups on the "Fender" seem to have "EMG" written on them, while the Hondo I think has DiMarzio, so nothing to conclude from that. What do you think? Genuine or partscaster? I've got other photos but hopefully you can zoom in on these. Hondo Fame 830 on reverb for reference: https://reverb.com/item/29455437-hondo-fame-830-bass-guitar-used Next steps will be to pass the info back to the auction house and suggest checking the neck pocket and pots. It's a 3 hour round trip so I'm hoping to resolve this without having to go in person. Cheers!