Velarian

Having successfully navigated 2023, I'm in.

Well, I made it! Not a single purchase of anything in 2023. In fact the last thing I bought was in June 2022 so I lasted 18 months. I think I may have cured my GAS and in 2024 I can see myself actually shedding some gear. There are only two things that might change things in the future; 1) an unexpected influx of a reasonable sum of money and; 2) the discovery of a pre-CBS Precision in original condition for a price that the aforementioned reasonable sum of money would cover. 😉

The hammer price for this was £2,300 so it looks like the dubious provenance didn’t influence the outcome.

125 Roubles. That’s £1.07 in today’s money! 😂

Maybe his wife has told him to get rid of it but he wants to keep it, hence the high price and unhelpful response? “Sorry dear, I’ve tried but it’s just not selling” 😂

She could probably get going with this 5 video series from Rich Brown:

Well, you live and learn. It appears that the spaghetti logo was never used on the Jazz bass. This is from the Fender web site regarding the transition logo: - "With input from Leo Fender himself, Perine perfected a new Fender logo, bolder and thicker, and with gold lettering bounded by a thin black outline. It was trademarked in 1960, and its first appearance on an instrument headstock came that year with the debut of the Jazz Bass guitar. Every new Fender model launched after that point would have the new logo, and by 1965 most Fender instruments and amplifiers used the new logo."

Ah right, thanks. I was expecting a spaghetti logo but my knowledge is very limited. The serial number seems to check out as '61

Is it really a '61? The pencil mark on the neck is indistinct but, from what it looks like and the headstock logo, suggests it could be a '66

From my limited experience I would say there can be variations. I once bought a P-bass "style" body which was subtly different to a standard P bass and the pick guard was completely different. Knowing the origin of the body would help and, if it is already drilled does it have 13 or 10 holes (some 70s Fenders also have an extra screw hole in the middle of the plate between the pickup and neck heel)? Also, where the truss rod adjustment is could be different e.g. Mexican fenders are adjusted from the headstock so the pick guard doesn't have a cut out for the truss rod adjustment which US Fenders have at the neck heel. For reference, I've just pulled out four spare P-Bass pick guards which I had lying around and laid them on top of each other. They're all 13 hole models without the truss rod notch and all the pickup holes, control holes and fixing screw holes lined up exactly. There very subtle differences to some of the curves or pointy bits but nothing which would materially affect the fit on a standard bass.

Hopefully that fact will temper any over enthusiasm on the day.

Yes the story may affect the price but, so far, it is unproven and I wouldn’t want to put too much emphasis on that. I would like to think it will attract a price that is commensurate with a standard bass of that period. An interesting one to watch for sure.

An interesting bass coming up for auction at Gardiner Houlgate

Well, I dithered and the temptation evaporated, so I’m still in. 🙂

Interesting. So, double the money then. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Scarborough bass turns up there as well in a few weeks.

I did toy with the idea of going along to take a look at it. It would still have been a two hour drive though. I was thinking that in a worse-case scenario, if the neck was goosed and it needed a truss rod replacement, if it could be brought for well under £10k it would still be worth it. In the end, I decided GAS was getting the better of me and avoided the temptation. Just as well really as I’d also spotted this almost new Trace Elliot Elf and 110 cab which went for just £220 + fees, around half the price of new. 😅 https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/david-duggleby-scarborough/catalogue-id-srda10703/lot-ab75f8e3-2251-4e01-8997-b08b00f7bba7

The fees in the sale room are lower at 26.4% so anyone bidding at the venue would have paid around £9,860. A bit of an advantage against online bidders.

I’m not usually a fan of red but that colour really pops. Looks great. 😎

You could be right which is why I’m dithering on the edge of succumbing to GAS. I absolutely don’t need any more gear but when faced with a bargain it’s hard to resist. I’m hoping that dithering a little longer solves the problem.

I’m still in. It’s 15 months since I last bought anything but I’ve seen something I would like so there is a small possibility that I might not make it to the end of the year 😳

Another gem from the BBC archive.

I also wondered about the truss rod/neck. The truss rod adjustment nut looks a bit worn, particularly given that it’s supposed to have been stored for 54 years, so all the action was in the first 7 years of its life. Was the reason it was put away all those years ago because there was a problem with the neck? Also, I see the strings are not tensioned so does that suggest a neck issue or is that just because it’s been in storage? It would be a punt without seeing it in the flesh.

That’s a nice original bass with some mojo. It needs a good clean but what restoration would be appropriate for an instrument like that? Should things like the rusty chrome covers be touched or just left alone?

Just checked the site on my iPad (Safari/iOS) and all of the consents were un-ticked (apart from the greyed out ones). I wonder if some tweaking of the defaults has been carried out during the course of the day? All of this speculation is all well and good but how do we know that our explicit settings are actually being honoured? It could all be a placebo to make us think we’re in control. Call me cynical but any trust I might have had has completely evaporated. ☹️

Interesting. The fact that they can’t manage to present a consistent experience across different browsers/platforms suggests a degree of incompetence but I think obfuscation is still a likely aim.