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Vintage Fenders


Reggaebass

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Just now, ped said:

3 minutes ago, ped said:

You live to fight another day :hi:

I'll refrain from posting an image of its sister "Telecaster" variant, also short-lived due to low take up. Best to quit whilst ahead

Edited by GuyR
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A couple from the 70s...

The Jazz is from ‘73. I bought it in the early 80s from the original owner. I was a factory apprentice and worked with the guy (he’d just bought himself a Music Man). I’d played the Jazz a few times and loved it but couldn’t afford it. The guy just said take it and give me what you can afford each Thursday (pay day). A wonderful gesture which took me years to pay off - he let me off with a fair bit of it in the end!

And the first thing I did... took it to a local luthier and had EMGs fitted!! I’ve since sourced a set of ‘73 p/ups for the bass but I think the p/ups are Seymour Duncans in the pic.

The bass has been everywhere with me, and will be the last to go...
 

The Precision is from ‘71. Lovely sound, and sporting an A-width Jazz-width neck. 

 

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A5E211D8-BA16-4C6A-814E-2E84712D8183.jpeg

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Of the vintage Fender’s I’ve owned, these were my favourite 3. A ‘64 Jazz (refin), ‘64 P, and a heavily nodded, and awesome, ‘71 Musicmaster. All were sold years back as I needed a deposit to buy a flat, out went a load of other vintage gear too. 
@Davo-London has the P, it’s in very good hands. 

I’ve been lucky to have some other great old Fenders before and since, but these 3 were a special combo. 

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Edited by Chiliwailer
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2 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Lovely bass 👍, would I be right in saying that there’s not many of those around with an A- width neck 

Thank you! Yes, it’s a fine instrument, and sounds and plays wonderfully.

I think you’re right. As far as I understand it the A-width neck on a Precision was something that was a special order - in ‘71 the standard Precision neck was a B-width. I’m not sure whether they fetch more, in terms of monetary value, but I think they’re harder to come by.

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18 minutes ago, Old Man Riva said:

A couple from the 70s...

The Jazz is from ‘73. I bought it in the early 80s from the original owner. I was a factory apprentice and worked with the guy (he’d just bought himself a Music Man). I’d played the Jazz a few times and loved it but couldn’t afford it. The guy just said take it and give me what you can afford each Thursday (pay day). A wonderful gesture which took me years to pay off - he let me off with a fair bit of it in the end!

And the first thing I did... took it to a local luthier and had EMGs fitted!! I’ve since sourced a set of ‘73 p/ups for the bass but I think the p/ups are Seymour Duncans in the pic.

The bass has been everywhere with me, and will be the last to go...
 

The Precision is from ‘71. Lovely sound, and sporting an A-width Jazz-width neck. 

 

3152B6D3-03D8-4D67-8E2F-15D313E030E2.jpeg

47D1F1DD-8529-448C-ADBC-812F7C7279F4.jpeg

A5E211D8-BA16-4C6A-814E-2E84712D8183.jpeg

What a wonderful story.

I once agreed to buy a vintage Precision from a chap who was giving up. Turns out he was seriously ill. He drove to my workplace and gave me a lift to the bank. When I’d bought the guitar we had a beer. £900 for a completely original 1969 Precision. Still remember the lady on the front desk calling me up!

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31 minutes ago, Old Man Riva said:

Thank you! Yes, it’s a fine instrument, and sounds and plays wonderfully.

I think you’re right. As far as I understand it the A-width neck on a Precision was something that was a special order - in ‘71 the standard Precision neck was a B-width. I’m not sure whether they fetch more, in terms of monetary value, but I think they’re harder to come by.

I bought an A width P neck and body from 73  on here a long time ago. I bolted a bass together using bits from the marketplace and a Spitfire scratchplate. It is a thing of joy. It has the biggest most 70s brass nut I have ever seen. If only I played 4 stringers.

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37 minutes ago, Burns-bass said:

What a wonderful story.

I once agreed to buy a vintage Precision from a chap who was giving up. Turns out he was seriously ill. He drove to my workplace and gave me a lift to the bank. When I’d bought the guitar we had a beer. £900 for a completely original 1969 Precision. Still remember the lady on the front desk calling me up!

That’s great! I’ve been fortunate to meet some really nice people in life, especially in music.

In the early days there were a few people who really took a chance on me and gave me an opportunity. In the first band I was in I was really out of my depth. They were fabulous musicians and I was a bit younger and nowhere near as good, really struggling to keep up. The easy thing would have been to have gotten someone better (locally they were a decent draw and could have had their pick of players) but they gave me a go, taking me under their wing and mentoring me. Sometimes all you need is someone to believe in you, isn’t it.

The guy who sold me the bass was a fabulous player - he’d played in a semi-professional capacity, backing all kinds of acts from Frank Carson to Englebert Humperdink on the cabaret circuit! - and was really encouraging. Never turn down a gig, he’d say, and of course he was right!

He could see I was really keen on music/bass (to say the least) and just decided to help me along the way.

The bass is special to me, and I’ve an agreement with my wife that (in the hopefully significantly distant future!) when I shuffle off, as long as she doesn’t need the money, the bass should be sold and the money donated to a charity for mentoring underprivileged kids who want to play music but may need a bit of a leg up... 

As I say, hopefully that’s a long way off yet!!! 

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30 minutes ago, owen said:

I bought an A width P neck and body from 73  on here a long time ago. I bolted a bass together using bits from the marketplace and a Spitfire scratchplate. It is a thing of joy. It has the biggest most 70s brass nut I have ever seen. If only I played 4 stringers.

Ahh, brass nuts; another 1970s bass improvement favourite! 

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6 hours ago, bakerster135 said:

Another dot/bound/lollipop 66 Jazz Bass! Super clean example that I got off pmjos on here a couple of years back. Absolute beaut to play, hear and look at!

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For some bizarre reason, in terms of playing/trying vintage basses, the 1966 dot and bound Fenders are the ones I think I’ve played the most of. Any one I’ve ever played/tried has been a fabulous instrument - really consistent in their build and overall quality. I also love the look of the dot and bound necks and lollipop tuners.

So odd that they were only produced for such a short period of time - only serving to add to the Fender myth and legend!! 

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14 minutes ago, Old Man Riva said:

For some bizarre reason, in terms of playing/trying vintage basses, the 1966 dot and bound Fenders are the ones I think I’ve played the most of. Any one I’ve ever played/tried has been a fabulous instrument - really consistent in their build and overall quality. I also love the look of the dot and bound necks and lollipop tuners.

So odd that they were only produced for such a short period of time - only serving to add to the Fender myth and legend!! 

Never had the opportunity to play a J of this vintage.  Interesting that '66 is seen by the collectors/purists as the start of the decline into CBS cost-cutting and yet there seem to be happy bunnies on here.  Clearly a massively small sample size of course.  George and Leo still involved of course but an interesting period for Fender instruments.

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57 minutes ago, ead said:

Never had the opportunity to play a J of this vintage.  Interesting that '66 is seen by the collectors/purists as the start of the decline into CBS cost-cutting and yet there seem to be happy bunnies on here.  Clearly a massively small sample size of course.  George and Leo still involved of course but an interesting period for Fender instruments.

For me, the basses were still as good (and sometimes bad) as Pre CBS until the design overhaul in ‘68. I’ve owned some absolutely cracking 66’s. 
 

The excellent ‘Fender Golden Age’ book puts that period as 1946 - 1970. 
 

But when I see the yellow & green wires on a ‘68 bass (because fender were using up old amp wires) I don’t know whether to laugh or cry! 

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4 minutes ago, Chiliwailer said:

But when I see the yellow & green wires on a ‘68 bass (because fender were using up old amp wires) I don’t know whether to laugh or cry! 

Thanks chiliwailer I’ve never heard that, great info 👍

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27 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

How long did they make the dot/ bound fretboard and did it change to block inlays after that in 67 

I’ve always heard it was approx 6 months, around early 66. They were going for that Gibson style deluxe look with the blocks and binding, and the Jazz was supposed to be the deluxe model. 
Happy to be corrected. 

Edited by Chiliwailer
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