Vintage Fenders

[Reggaebass 4,534]

14 minutes ago, mowf said:

I've got a '75 P that I had refinished in natural when I bought it 20 odd years ago, as the previous owner had seen fit to do a DIY snakeskin effect job on it... The body is definitely two different lumps of wood and somebody told me it would have been a solid colour originally to mask this fact, don't know how true that is but sounds feasible. You can see the join line running between the bridge and the scratch plate in the photos.

Wow that’s so nice mowf, , great mojo, i like that 👍I know a lot of them have joins , it’s just me being picky , it doesn’t put me off buying one, I was just curious 

[Cuzzie 3,396]

Body joins come in all shapes and sizes and can ‘add’ to the look.

this is multiple pieces as seen by the lines

 

ends up like this

this one is 3 pieces as well, but a straight grain helps it

 

[Reggaebass 4,534]

13 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

this one is 3 pieces as well, but a straight grain helps it

Your right there cuzzie, the grain on that one does add character  

[Cuzzie 3,396]

29 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

Your right there cuzzie, the grain on that one does add character  

@foxyFuze has that bass, so i still got to see it from time to time, and will again when restrictions are lifted - its a real cracker

[Cuzzie 3,396]

1 hour ago, mowf said:

I've got a '75 P that I had refinished in natural when I bought it 20 odd years ago, as the previous owner had seen fit to do a DIY snakeskin effect job on it... The body is definitely two different lumps of wood and somebody told me it would have been a solid colour originally to mask this fact, don't know how true that is but sounds feasible. You can see the join line running between the bridge and the scratch plate in the photos.

This is noice

[mowf 60]

2 hours ago, Cuzzie said:

This is noice

The previous owner had painted it black, then wrapped fishnet stockings around it and sprayed grey over the top to give it a snakeskin effect. It had active Status pickups in and as a result both looked, and sounded, horrible. Looking back I have absolutely no idea why I bought it, other than I had just been bitten by the P-bass bug and it was the cheapest one I could find. I paid £400 plus another £50 for the shop to refinish it. Picked it up a week later and they had done an amazing job. Put some SD Quarter Pounders in it and it’s been my go to workhorse ever since. 

[Cuzzie 3,396]

43 minutes ago, mowf said:

The previous owner had painted it black, then wrapped fishnet stockings around it and sprayed grey over the top to give it a snakeskin effect. It had active Status pickups in and as a result both looked, and sounded, horrible. Looking back I have absolutely no idea why I bought it, other than I had just been bitten by the P-bass bug and it was the cheapest one I could find. I paid £400 plus another £50 for the shop to refinish it. Picked it up a week later and they had done an amazing job. Put some SD Quarter Pounders in it and it’s been my go to workhorse ever since. 

Money well spent - it’s a corker

[greavesbass 60]

Id lusted for years to get a early 70's sunburst P. Played it and sold it....heavy and the E string was sooo dead. Now play a VM squire P which I shall never sell.

[GuyR 415]

2 minutes ago, greavesbass said:

Id lusted for years to get a early 70's sunburst P. Played it and sold it....heavy and the E string was sooo dead. Now play a VM squire P which I shall never sell.

Thankfully, we will now recognise it next time it is advertised for sale.

[gareth 739]

1 hour ago, GuyR said:

Thankfully, we will now recognise it next time it is advertised for sale.

Wow

Looks exactly like my bass 

But my bass only weighs 8lbs 5ozs and the E string definitely ain’t dead

[GuyR 415]

3 hours ago, gareth said:

Wow

Looks exactly like my bass 

But my bass only weighs 8lbs 5ozs and the E string definitely ain’t dead

in common with every category of instrument, Vintage Fenders are not all created equal.

[gareth 739]

7 minutes ago, GuyR said:

in common with every category of instrument, Vintage Fenders are not all created equal.

Agreed

But I do think in general the chances finding a good one diminish over the course of the 70’s as the seasoning of woods diminished making for heavier basses and the machine tools wore out and the gaps in neck and pup pockets increased leading to floppy three bolt necks on jazzes and tele basses.

But redemption came in the form of Bill Shultz and the American vintage reissue series 

[gareth 739]

Look at the terrible matching of the body woods on this 1973 mustang - in earlier times Fender would have only used this body for solid colours

[SurroundedByManatees 358]

It seems like those terribly matched pieces of wood are especially to be found on the mustangs of the 70s. I've seen it a lot while searching for a nice one. 

Now I own a 71 jazz (around 3,85 kg) which is really resonant and acoustically loud. It sounds deep and growly with rounds, though I now have TIs fitted to see how I like them on this jazz. 

This is definitely one of the best sounding jazzes I've owned, along with a classic 60s Mexican Reissue and Yamaha jb600r. 

[Reggaebass 4,534]

One of my go to sites for information, vintagebassworld.com ,looks like it’s been taken down , are there any others you use 🙂

[greavesbass 60]

On 16/01/2021 at 17:16, GuyR said:

Thankfully, we will now recognise it next time it is advertised for sale.

Well it ended up on the other side of the planet so your ok....weird tho cause the neck was the smoothest comfiest neck Ive ever played...but God knows what was up with the body.....E string virtually inaudible..A & D strings thunderous and the G kind between the two....tried everything...nut, bridge, strings, PU's, nothing, even clamped bits of metal to the darn thing to move the resonance....can only conclude the body wood wasn't properly dried out or was sap wood or something, anyway maddening.....Probably the worse P bass that ever left the factory....guess there had to be one and I got it!  haha

Edited February 20 by greavesbass

[Doctor J 2,435]

On 17/01/2021 at 14:43, gareth said:

Look at the terrible matching of the body woods on this 1973 mustang - in earlier times Fender would have only used this body for solid colours

I remember seeing a white, late 50's P for sale, years ago. The finish was missing from much of the back of the body and you could see there were not just horizontal joins, but a diagonal one too. The body was assembled from random offcuts, by the looks of it. They still sold it for almost 10 grand, IIRC. I wish I had saved a picture of it.

Edited February 20 by Doctor J

[gareth 739]

4 minutes ago, Doctor J said:

I remember seeing a white, late 50's P for sale, years ago. The finish was missing from much of the back of the body and you could see there were not just horizontal joins, but a diagonal one too. The body was assembled from random offcuts, by the looks of it. They still sold it for almost 10 grand, IIRC. I wish I had saved a picture of it.

I think it’s more ok on solid colours but in excusable on sunbursts 

I had a sunburst four bolt 74 jazz with the same problem 

[meterman 476]

On 14/01/2021 at 17:37, mowf said:

I've got a '75 P that I had refinished in natural when I bought it 20 odd years ago, as the previous owner had seen fit to do a DIY snakeskin effect job on it... The body is definitely two different lumps of wood and somebody told me it would have been a solid colour originally to mask this fact, don't know how true that is but sounds feasible. You can see the join line running between the bridge and the scratch plate in the photos.

That is a beauty 👍

[Old Man Riva 637]

On 14/01/2021 at 16:37, mowf said:

I've got a '75 P that I had refinished in natural when I bought it 20 odd years ago, as the previous owner had seen fit to do a DIY snakeskin effect job on it... The body is definitely two different lumps of wood and somebody told me it would have been a solid colour originally to mask this fact, don't know how true that is but sounds feasible. You can see the join line running between the bridge and the scratch plate in the photos.

What bridge is that? They were around in the early 80s (poss 70s?) - the rolling/adjustable saddles were quite the thing...

[owen 1,372]

24 minutes ago, Old Man Riva said:

What bridge is that? They were around in the early 80s (poss 70s?) - the rolling/adjustable saddles were quite the thing...

Ha, vintage bridge envy

[Old Man Riva 637]

30 minutes ago, owen said:

Ha, vintage bridge envy

Definitely! I think it may be Schaller. A mate of mine had an early Squier and he swore by the replacement bridge he’d had fitted. A big talking point was the adjustable saddles - the hours flew by! 

[LukeFRC 1,967]

2 hours ago, Old Man Riva said:

What bridge is that? They were around in the early 80s (poss 70s?) - the rolling/adjustable saddles were quite the thing...

Schaller 3D isn’t it? Used to be standard on Warwicks in early 80s

[Old Man Riva 637]

44 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Schaller 3D isn’t it? Used to be standard on Warwicks in early 80s

Brilliant! Thank you, sir... 

[mowf 60]

3 hours ago, Old Man Riva said:

What bridge is that? They were around in the early 80s (poss 70s?) - the rolling/adjustable saddles were quite the thing...

Yep, I think it’s a Schaller. I should know for certain as I had it fitted soon after I bought it, but that was 25-odd years ago...