molan Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Having taken the plunge recently into the world of vintage Fender P basses, and buying both a '72 (for the second time) & a '63, I've decided it might be fun to restore a bit of an old wreck of a '64 (or possibly '65) P that really needs some care and attention It had a really nasty wood stain finish to both neck and body and the previous owner put the neck in for a complete 'as new' refinish. Unfortunately he ran out of money at this stage so the body still needs some serious work. Luckily it's all original apart from the refinish without any additional routing or screw holes. The neck and fretboard are really, really nice - especially the very dark brazilian rosewood board with clay dots Original parts that came with include: Tuners, ferrules, string tree, neck plate, control knobs, thumb rest, brass shielding plate for the pickups, intact wiring harness with cloth wiring and some other mounting screws (including some for parts which are long gone!). Missing parts include the pickups, pickguard and shield, pickguard screws, pickup and bridge covers, strap buttons (including the headstock button) bridge and bridge screws. The original case came with it as well & is just beautifully knackered! Really no use other than as a storage item but it's great that it's still, mostly, in one piece and lived with the bass for so long Precise dating is complicated as the neck date stamp has been mostly erased from the first refinishing project. The guy who recently refinned it is a real vintage Fender pro and he says he thinks it's late '63, early '64 (God knows quite how he can tell this but he's been restoring vintage Fenders for years and seems very genuine). The pots are Stackpole and dated Dec '64 and the neckplate is also dated '64 so I think it's a safe bet to place this as a '64 bass, although it's possible it wasn't finally sold until '65. Either way it's definitely pre CBS sale. For the time being I've already sourced a Fender relic'd vintage bridge replacement and an old ('70's I think but designed for a '60's bass) aftermarket celluloid tort pickguard. Neither cost a huge amount and both look 'period correct'. Next stage is to get the body sorted and to think seriously about pickup replacements. Ideally I'd like to source something from '63 - '65 but prices for these are often crazy. May fit some modern vintage replicas for now and then watch out for something original. The next big decision is about body colour. It was originally Olympic White and I do quite like this colour. I had been thinking of trying to build a bit of a Pino replica in vintage relic'd Fiesta red but now I've seen how the neck has been refinished I may re-think this. The neck looks like how Fender describe NOS so the body obviously needs to be sympathetic in finish. Sonic blue has always been my favourite old Fender colour but Oly white would certainly look pretty cool - especially against that, very dark, rosewood board So - here's some pics as it currently looks: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimBobTTD Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Very nice fingerboard! I understand why you want to refinish the body. I'm a sucker for white, but sonic blue isn't really a million miles off the original colour. I'm looking forward to seeing your choices and watching this one progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted July 31, 2011 Author Share Posted July 31, 2011 [quote name='JimBobTTD' post='1322519' date='Jul 31 2011, 09:29 PM']Very nice fingerboard! I understand why you want to refinish the body. I'm a sucker for white, but sonic blue isn't really a million miles off the original colour. I'm looking forward to seeing your choices and watching this one progress.[/quote] I must admit it was the 'board that really sold me on this one. Previous owner fitted the neck to a black MIJ P bass to make sure it was working nicely under tension with strings and that dark board looked great against the black body Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Lovely! Looking forward to this one. If it were mine, I'd be tempted to forget about the tort guard and go with mint instead.... I've yet to see a repro tort guard that looks right. But that's just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted July 31, 2011 Author Share Posted July 31, 2011 [quote name='wateroftyne' post='1322563' date='Jul 31 2011, 10:14 PM']Lovely! Looking forward to this one. If it were mine, I'd be tempted to forget about the tort guard and go with mint instead.... I've yet to see a repro tort guard that looks right. But that's just me. [/quote] I'll get some pics and see what you think. From what I can make out it was made in the '70's and fitted to a bass until quite recently so it's got a bit of a worn-in feel. I've looked at original guards with back plates but they are kicking around the £375 - £450 level. I won't own up at the moment how much I paid for the parts I've bought but a £400 pickguard would represent a pretty hefty percentage of the total cost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 Ahh... if it were made back then, it might be made of the real stuff. That's different! Fingers crossed it's a good'un! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blademan_98 Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 This looks like it will be a fantastic bass when it's finished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soloshchenko Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 If it was Olympic White I'd definitely take it back to that colour. Looks a great project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick's Fine '52 Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Pics look great, been looking forward to seeing this. Is there any of the date stamp left at all? I´m a sucker for sunbursts, although it may look odd on this, if the grain shows through too much on the finish, as its a 3 piece body, which is probably why it was Oly white in the first place. Depends how good the repro guard is, but if it looks good, then you can´t go wrong with oly white, also you can be satisfied at restoring it back to its original appearance. Difficult to date accurately, without stamps, but from what you say, and the pot codes, late ´64 seems right, looks like the decal was replaced during the neck refin also, so hard to tell from that, although its right for a late ´64/´65. The tuners are also correct up to early ´66. Good luck with the rest, if i see anything around that may be of use, I´ll let you know. Nice project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bass Doc Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 For a late '64/early'65 I would have expected the neck to have pearl dots. And maybe the 'tighter' headstock logo. Any neckplate/number? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 [quote name='The Bass Doc' post='1323112' date='Aug 1 2011, 02:20 PM']For a late '64/early'65 I would have expected the neck to have pearl dots. And maybe the 'tighter' headstock logo. Any neckplate/number?[/quote] Good point, totally forgot the neck plate number it's L64953 which I think would be a '65? I have to admit I don't really know how to tell the material of the dots but the restorer in the USA said they were clay. Maybe this is why he thought the neck was a late '63 or early '64? He also specified the logo and said it was the correct one for the year - in fact I think he said it was a '63 - '65 logo but can't remember offhand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted August 1, 2011 Author Share Posted August 1, 2011 [quote name='Rick's Fine '52' post='1323049' date='Aug 1 2011, 01:34 PM']Pics look great, been looking forward to seeing this. Is there any of the date stamp left at all? I´m a sucker for sunbursts, although it may look odd on this, if the grain shows through too much on the finish, as its a 3 piece body, which is probably why it was Oly white in the first place. Depends how good the repro guard is, but if it looks good, then you can´t go wrong with oly white, also you can be satisfied at restoring it back to its original appearance. Difficult to date accurately, without stamps, but from what you say, and the pot codes, late ´64 seems right, looks like the decal was replaced during the neck refin also, so hard to tell from that, although its right for a late ´64/´65. The tuners are also correct up to early ´66. Good luck with the rest, if i see anything around that may be of use, I´ll let you know. Nice project.[/quote] I haven't removed the neck yet Previous owner said it had been mostly obliterated with the first refinish which was, apparently, really very nasty indeed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bass Doc Posted August 1, 2011 Share Posted August 1, 2011 Assuming the neckplate and pots have followed the body, it may be a case of the neck being earlier i.e. 63-v-65. I've known of a few cases where owners have swapped necks and bodies within the pre-CBS period and it doesn't seem to affect the value [i]too[/i] much. Certainly as a player (as opposed to a collector's piece) it should be up there with other re-fins carrying [i]some[/i] non-original parts which I happen to think is a fair percentage of old Fenders which appear on the market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick's Fine '52 Posted August 2, 2011 Share Posted August 2, 2011 [quote name='The Bass Doc' post='1323112' date='Aug 1 2011, 02:20 PM']For a late '64/early'65 I would have expected the neck to have pearl dots.[/quote] Pearl dots started in December ´64, so this could be one of the last clays, which would tie-in with the pot dates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
molan Posted August 2, 2011 Author Share Posted August 2, 2011 Thanks for all the help and pointers guys - I'm a real novice at this! I have managed to source some pics of the headstock before the recent refin - not nice at all. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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