ash Posted November 5, 2022 Share Posted November 5, 2022 (edited) 1973/4 second version US made Fender Telecaster Bass. The version with the single humbucker, bullet trussrod and three bolt micro-tilt neck. This bass is definitely not a case Queen! It’s been modified and refinished in black by the previous owner. The neck, tuners, body, neck plate, strap buttons are all original. The slab body has been routed for an extra P bass pickup. The Mudbucker is a Fender reissue as the originals are very hard to source. The Seymour Duncan quarter pounder sounds really punchy and is hot enough to match the big humbucker and the bass sustains forever. The scratchplate is none original and none standard it has had a repair as it is quite brittle plastic and looks quite old. I had it wired to the Seymour Duncan Pickup only whilst I sourced a replacement Humbucker and will include a black scratchplate as pictured so you can choose if you want to use it without the humbucker. You can see where the original through body stringing holes would have been on the rear of the bass however it has been filled and fitted with a 70’s Fender BBOT bridge with one odd saddle fitted by myself as the bridge supplied was in pieces and a saddle missing. The original rout for the side jack cup has also been filled before the refinish. It could be possible to convert back to the original if wanted I would think. As I wanted a project I took a risk and bought this as a partly rebuilt Tele bass body and neck with some parts - the owner had inherited it and knew that it was good quality instrument but in a bad state. The body had already been refinished and the neck definitely needed a refret which I got my luthier to do (not cheap) having found that the neck was straight and the bullet trussrod worked perfectly. The original frets were literally hanging out and it looked like a butcher had been at the board when I bought it. It weighs a very reasonable 4.7kgs for a big slab of wood (ash?) and plays and sounds great. Without the humbucker it weighs 4.3kgs! I have two Tele basses and as I need to release some funds one has to go. It’s a rare bass and I’m sure the mods could be reversed if required The humbucker has a lot more variation than you would expect and you can get some very beefy and varied sounds. As expected the SD has that great P bass grunt we all know and love. Two pots and the capacitor appear to be original or at least contemporary. I added a volume pot and replaced some of the wiring. The jack socket is also an old replacement and works okay but will benefit from an upgrade at some point (I didn’t have any spares). No trades unless you have a Musicman Sterling bass with a maple board to p ex. Nothing else sorry. UK only. No case I’m afraid. Pickup preferred but could look into posting at buyer’s cost. Any questions please ask. Price reflects the modifications and none original parts. I’ve added pictures supplied by the original seller showing the body routs, neck pocket and neck. You can also see where the original string ferrules were on the back of the body so drilling them out should be a pretty straightforward job. Edited November 6, 2022 by ash Sold many thanks 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted November 5, 2022 Share Posted November 5, 2022 Interesting back story, I have personal experience of a 72 that had been similarly modified! GLWTS 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ash Posted November 6, 2022 Author Share Posted November 6, 2022 3 hours ago, yorks5stringer said: Interesting back story, I have personal experience of a 72 that had been similarly modified! GLWTS I’d like to see pics of that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.gif.9ad672bb8b84505709f76b39c8c256ec.gif)
Recommended Posts