Vintage Fenders

[Steve Browning]

20 hours ago, Hellzero said:

 

Personally, I would never have bought such a questionable assembly at this price tag...

Well done you. What a wonderfully helpful comment. 

[Hellzero]

36 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

What a wonderfully helpful comment. 

Thanks to you too for your out of context comment, but indeed it's a wonderful comment, thanks again.

 

So keep doing the ostrich and never give a true answer to anyone, lying is so convenient.

 

He could have asked for advice first, but no, he did the opposite, so he must be prepared for the plain truth.

 

Sorry for you, but I never lie, it's a waste of time and energy.

[Burns-bass]

Just now, Hellzero said:

Thanks to you too for your out of context comment, but indeed it's a wonderful comment, thanks again.

 

So keep doing the ostrich and never give a true answer to anyone, lying is so convenient.

 

He could have asked for advice first, but no, he did the opposite, so he must be prepared for the plain truth.

 

Sorry for you, but I never lie, it's a waste of time and energy.

Got to say, if you post on a forum asking for opinions you’ll get them, and in this case I think it’s totally fair.

[BassAgent]

On 22/02/2026 at 15:40, Mrbigstuff said:

If the neck has been refinished it’s most likely had a new decal, and possibly a mod to the truss access. I’m not sure of the screw measurements for the tuning pegs ever changed in the 70s, but if there are holes behind then it would have had something else over its life.

 

On 22/02/2026 at 16:23, Reggaebass said:

I can’t quite work out what’s happening with the neck, a S7 should have a bullet truss rod and 3 bolt neckplate , but the stamp reads 1977 4-Thursday, and to me the logo looks genuine , strange 

Yeah it's very iffy in a lot of ways. The logo does look genuine, so do the tuners. If a neck has been refinished they rarely reapply the serial so I guess it's genuine. It does not explain the missing bullet truss. Unléss it's a Precision neck (as @Hellzero also pointed out), maybe a custom order for someone who wanted a P neck on their bass. As the people in South Park's Margharitaville episode say: it is improbable, but not impossible. That is my best guess; someone at Fender branded a neck originally made for a P as a Jazz neck et voilà, a 4-bolt non-bullet truss neck. It is even possible the original owner of that '72 body ordered it from Fender when the original neck broke and said "listen, I have a 4 bolt body that needs a neck" and Fender only made 4 bolt P necks at the time.

 

The saddle on the A-string has probably been replaced. Also, an early 70's bridge would have flat screws for the saddles instead of the hex screws you see here.

 

From the rest of the photos, it's impossible to determine the age and originality of the body. It does look like a very nice bass for the price. If you like it, don't worry about the stories. Give it a proper bridge (Fender sells 70's reissue bridges) and don't worry about the rest.

[Beedster]

6 minutes ago, BassAgent said:

From the rest of the photos, it's impossible to determine the age and originality of the body. It does look like a very nice bass for the price. If you like it, don't worry about the stories. Give it a proper bridge (Fender sells 70's reissue bridges) and don't worry about the rest.

 

That's good advice 👍

[Burns-bass]

7 minutes ago, BassAgent said:

From the rest of the photos, it's impossible to determine the age and originality of the body. It does look like a very nice bass for the price. If you like it, don't worry about the stories. Give it a proper bridge (Fender sells 70's reissue bridges) and don't worry about the rest.

I disagree as the shop has sold you something it isn’t at a huge premium.

 

If you go back 70 odd pages, you’ll see one of my old basses was being sold by a shop and the description was incorrect. It was a parts bass that was built in Bristol by someone I know. I bought it and sold it with clear description of what it was and, crucially, what it wasn’t.

 

Through the sale and resale this got lost. Someone ended up paying over the odds for a parts bass that had lots of changes and damage to it.

Another example, I sold a 70s Precision bass body on here. It would have been super easy to stick a 70d neck on it and claim it was all original. Thankfully, it’s been sold to BC royalty and this won’t happen.

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Burns-bass

[BassAgent]

Ah yes, I do agree with that from a shop owner's point of view. They have to be honest about what they're selling. And as far as I can see, they're not [i]dishonest[/i], just not...sufficient. From what I can see in the photos, description and @Belka's post, they never said the body was fully original, or the hardware. You bought a bass built from (among other things) a '72 body and a '77 neck, with Dimarzio pickups and modded electronics. I don't imagine the people at the Gallery leaving info behind on purpose. The bass player's universe is relatively tiny. If they would be swindling people, half of UK bassists would know within an instant. 

Edited 3 hours ago by BassAgent

[Burns-bass]

11 minutes ago, BassAgent said:

Ah yes, I do agree with that from a shop owner's point of view. They have to be honest about what they're selling. And as far as I can see, they're not [i]dishonest[/i], just not...sufficient. From what I can see in the photos, description and @Belka's post, they never said the body was fully original, or the hardware. You bought a bass built from (among other things) a '72 body and a '77 neck, with Dimarzio pickups and modded electronics. I don't imagine the people at the Gallery leaving info behind on purpose. The bass player's universe is relatively tiny. If they would be swindling people, half of UK bassists would know within an instant. 

I get that. What they’ve probably done is accepted it on commission and simply taken as gospel what the seller has told them.

 

Thats plausible deniability. 
 

Of course, they may have taken it all apart and meticulously verified it. If they have, then all good. 
 

As for shops swindling people, I’m cynical I’m afraid. 

 

 

[Beedster]

1 minute ago, Burns-bass said:

Of course, they may have taken it all apart and meticulously verified it. If they have, then all good. 

 

 

 

I get where you're at Lawrie, but at £1650 for a bass the buyer likes and preferred over others that were more expensive, I've seen worse deals from shops, in fact I've bought worse deals from shops 🤔

[Steve Browning]

32 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

Got to say, if you post on a forum asking for opinions you’ll get them, and in this case I think it’s totally fair.

I believe the request was information, not have someone imply they think you're an idiot. 

 

Surely experts can share their impressive and useful knowledge without appearing to denigrate someone seeking that information. 

 

The information preceding the opinion was useful. I just thought the final sentence was unnecessary, especially from someone who had enough knowledge to make such a decision based on that knowledge. 

[BassAgent]

6 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

 

As for shops swindling people, I’m cynical I’m afraid. 

 

 

As someone who has bought a stolen bass from a used products shop before, I get you  

[Beedster]

1 minute ago, Steve Browning said:

I believe the request was information, not have someone imply they think you're an idiot. 

 

Surely experts can share their impressive and useful knowledge without appearing to denigrate someone seeking that information. 

 

The information preceding the opinion was useful. I just thought the final sentence was unnecessary, especially from someone who had enough knowledge to make such a decision based on that knowledge. 

 

I have a lot of respect for all the folks who post in this forum, sometimes things get lost in translation I suspect Steve 👍

[Steve Browning]

4 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

I have a lot of respect for all the folks who post in this forum, sometimes things get lost in translation I suspect Steve 👍

That would be my hope. 

[Burns-bass]

17 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

I get where you're at Lawrie, but at £1650 for a bass the buyer likes and preferred over others that were more expensive, I've seen worse deals from shops, in fact I've bought worse deals from shops 🤔

We’ll have to disagree on this. The only value in this bass is if it’s a vintage one. The only reason it was purchased was because someone wanted a vintage jazz.

[Burns-bass]

18 minutes ago, Steve Browning said:

I believe the request was information, not have someone imply they think you're an idiot. 

 

Surely experts can share their impressive and useful knowledge without appearing to denigrate someone seeking that information. 

 

The information preceding the opinion was useful. I just thought the final sentence was unnecessary, especially from someone who had enough knowledge to make such a decision based on that knowledge. 

Fair point.

[Beedster]

4 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

The only value in this bass is if it’s a vintage one

 

Really? Sale price is not much more than the retail cost of some recent MIM Sig models (DM is £1499), I buy stuff that plays well and sounds good, which is what the buyer appears to have done?

[Burns-bass]

6 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

Really? Sale price is not much more than the retail cost of some recent MIM Sig models (DM is £1499), I buy stuff that plays well and sounds good, which is what the buyer appears to have done?

Again, if I’d have stuck an old neck on the precision body I sold could I charge £1600 for it?

 

It’s literally the same principle. 

The bass may play wonderfully well, but its value evaporates if it’s not a vintage item.

 

Put it another way, if I sold you a 70s bass that turned out to be made of parts. Would you message me back and ask me what I had done, or would you shrug your shoulders and chalk it up to experience?

 

Finally, the buyer is obviously concerned about this. He’s spent £1600 and could have been ripped off, so as someone who is on the board of Citizens Advice I’m professionally offended too! 

Edited 2 hours ago by Burns-bass

[Beedster]

3 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

Again, if I’d have stuck an old neck on the precision body I sold could I charge £1600 for it?

 

It’s literally the same principle. 

The bass may play wonderfully well, but its value evaporates if it’s not a vintage item.

 

Put it another way, if I sold you a 70s bass that turned out to be made of parts. Would you message me back and ask me what I had done, or would you shrug your shoulders and chalk it up to experience?

 

Finally, the buyer is obviously concerned about this. He’s spent £1600 and could have been ripped off, so as someone who is on the board of Citizens Advice I’m professionally offended too! 

 

Yes, we'll have to disagree 👍

[peteb]

Are really talking about vintage prices at £1.6k?

 

It was advertised as a bitsa made of Fender parts, all of which have been modded / refinished. It appears that the provenance of some of the bits is a bit unclear, but if it kinda look like 70s Fender parts to my un-rained eye. At worse, he may have paid £300 or so too much, but if it plays well enough and is gigable, then that's not the end of the world.

 

It would be a different story if he had paid £3k for it! 

 

[peteb]

10 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

Put it another way, if I sold you a 70d bass that turned out to be made of parts. Would you message me back and ask me what I had done

 

Not if you told me upfront that it was made of parts. 

 

[Burns-bass]

9 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

Yes, we'll have to disagree 👍

Honestly, I can’t believe nobody else is as upset as me that a bass player has potentially been sold a dud here.

 

To me it’s all part of the murky, messy world of vintage basses. Off to play some now rather than bang on about it. 
 

 

 

[BassAgent]

Except nobody told this person it was a genuine, original vintage bass. When I bought my 1970 Jazz and found out it needed a refret, the elcetronics were trash and it needed a few hundred euros of repairs, now thát was a moment where I was upset.

Edited 1 hour ago by BassAgent

[peteb]

13 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

To me it’s all part of the murky, messy world of vintage basses.

 

The main reason why I wouldn't buy a genuine vintage bass, as much as I might fancy one! 

 

[Belka]

Thanks for the comments guys. Lots of helpful stuff and some not so.

 

I want to reiterate - I went into this purchase fully aware that it's a parts bass. I wasn't looking for anyone to tell me I had a bargain, I just wanted to know if anyone had ever seen a neck like this before. I do know quite a lot about vintage stuff myself, so am fully aware that the lack of a three bolt attachment/bullet truss rod makes this unlikely to be a '77 neck. It's not a precision neck that's been reshaped (they never had blocks and binding); I'm going to guess that the most likely explanation is that it's a '74 neck that had the wrong decal/stamps put on when it was refinished.

 

I also didn't pay the full asking price. I got a decent discount.

 

I didn't buy it because I wanted a vintage bass and have bought into some kind of dream. I've tried before to get a decent sounding '70s Jazz with Japanese reissues and AVRIs, but never got there  - they always sounded a bit too thin/hollow compared to really good '70s ones. Before buying this I tried out basses at Bass Direct, Andy Baxter, Wunjo and ATB. the only one which was comparable was the Mocha '77 at Wunjo.

 

I already knew the bridge was aftermarket. I have a spare '70S Pure Vintage one I can put on it.

 

Maybe you think I paid to much for essentially a bunch of parts, and with perseverance perhaps I could have assembled my own for less money, but there'd be no guarantee what it would sound like. I put together a P bass with Musikraft/Guitar Build parts recently, and there wasn't much change from £1500 with all modern parts.

 

Don't worry about it being a dud  - the dud would be the all original '78 in white I also tried at the Gallery . Much prettier, but it sounded absolutely dead.

 

And I'm not going to stick a 1974 logo/serial on it and sell it for double the price as all original, don't worry on that score.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Beedster]

19 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

Honestly, I can’t believe nobody else is as upset as me that a bass player has potentially been sold a dud here.

 

To me it’s all part of the murky, messy world of vintage basses. Off to play some now rather than bang on about it. 
 

 

 

 

I suspect your strong and consistent sense of fair play has been challenged mate, but given that, my reading of the ad - and the asking price - was very much 'This is NOT an all original mid-'70s Fender by a long stretch....'.

 

Enjoy the playing 👍