franzbassist Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 (edited) So, after Clarky spotted this bass on eBay I spoke with the shop selling the bass and bought it direct, as the opportunity to get a first production year fretless P was just too good to pass up. I received the bass yesterday, and I spent last night dismantling it, giving it a good clean, fitting an East P-Retro circuit, some aged Fender pickup screws (the orginal pots and screws were long gone, so I had no qualms doing this) and a set of medium D'Addario Chromes to replace the black nylons that had been on there since 1985! A quick set up later and we were in business. The bass was dirty, and I mean [i]very[/i] dirty, with lots of grime and oxidisation. A naphtha bath for almost all the metalwork cleaned things up no end, and although I got patches of the body to clean and gloss back up, a lot of it has resisted and stayed quite grimy. It's almost as if the muck has penetrated the finish and, in a couple of places, there are even fingerprints visible! I'll keep going at it to see if I can improve it, but at least most of this is confined to the back. There's quite a lot of checking in the finish too. The bass has a December 1970 neck with a lovely rosewood fingerboard. The neck is in great shape. The oval tuners and threaded saddles look original to the bass, even though they had been officially phased out by 1970 - perhaps it was an older body from around 1968 but finished with a new neck? The bass balances very well and weighs a shade under 9lbs. It plays beautifully and I have a nice low action with minimal curve to the neck. The sound? Deliciously woody and smoky in passive mode, which is I am sure how I will use it most of the time, but the P Retro in active mode may well come in useful for subtle changes of eq when I need to cut through. Overall though, a lovely bass. Some pictures for your pleasure.... 9/2012 Update: I removed the new pots and jack and replaced them with a genuine harness from 1968. Also now sports La Bella medium flats. Edited October 27, 2012 by walbassist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted November 9, 2011 Share Posted November 9, 2011 Lovely! I didn't think I'd ever see one older than mine (Feb '71), but I've been beaten by a couple of months! Incidentally, we share a neck-pocket stamp... Incidentally, I put a Raven Labs PBR-1 active pre in mine. It's nice, but I'm not sure I need it. Happy mwaaahing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franzbassist Posted November 9, 2011 Author Share Posted November 9, 2011 Same shim too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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