telecaster dating

[jefbogaerts]

I just posted something on the "sales department": a lefthanded telecaster bass with single coil. I never questioned the thing, just played it. Now I want to sell it, but trying to get an idea about its worth, I am getting more and more puzzled about how old it is, howcome it has a "P-neck", etc.
Can someone please help me out on this one, I posted some pictures there as well and can provide more...

Very many thanks.

[mikeswals]

You simply have a scabbed-together Fender. It's a 68-72 Tele body with a similar era Precision neck modded to fit. The Teles, even left handed ones, only came with maple boards.

At the heel of the neck, the P neck is rounded, whereas the Tele heel is flat. And looking at your pic the heel was originally rounded, but looks like someone modded it to fit the squared neck pocket. So I'm sure the original date stamping is sanded off if you remove the neck for inspection.

If the pots are original, then they will be stamped with a code, example: 137-6842. 137 is the pot manufacturer, 66 is the year, and 42 is the week. Alot of 66-70 basses wore '66 pots, so it isn't right to just use the pots for dating.
The bottom side of the pickup will also be dated if you remove it. It will either be handwritten with a full date on the earlier ones, or if it has a later 4digit code like: 9341, the last digit translates the year (71) and the center two digits the week.

[jefbogaerts]

Thanks,
I'm gonna check this weekend!

[jefbogaerts]

Here are some pictures. Code on the neck says 10 71 R. Single coil has a grounding wire that links to the pu-guard.[attachment=81280:P1040751.JPG][attachment=81279:P1040742.JPG][attachment=81278:P1040754.JPG]