My ol Fender Precision

[oldschool22]

I got this great ol bass from my uncle, he bought it 1970. We think it's a 1955 or 56. If any one can tell me moore about this guitar I would appreciate it. I love this bass and cant wait to record with it.
Serial #6962, I pulled the neck and there is no stamp... on the bottom of the neck.

 

[guitar junkie]

wow thats cool i am drooling now, so i want to know how does it sound?

 

[Light]

It is NOT a 55/56, unless my memory is wrong. A 55 or 56 would still be a "Tele" style Precision, and I do believe the early "Strat" style Precisions (which came out in somewhere around 56/57, I believe) were all maple fingerboards and sunbursts. I will try to remember to look all this up when I am at the shop tomorrow. It is more likely to be an early sixties Precision, as that is when the rosewood fingerboards and "custom" colors became more prominent.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Light]

Yeah, that's what I thought.


http://www.scottymoore.net/55PBass.html


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Bassman Brad]

Yeah! Now THAT's a nice bass!

It is NOT a 55/56, unless my memory is wrong. A 55 or 56 would still be a "Tele" style Precision, and I do believe the early "Strat" style Precisions (which came out in somewhere around 56/57, I believe) were all maple fingerboards and sunbursts. I will try to remember to look all this up when I am at the shop tomorrow. It is more likely to be an early sixties Precision, as that is when the rosewood fingerboards and "custom" colors became more prominent.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

Light is correct. 1957 was when the Precision took on the modern design with the sleeker body shape, and the split coil pups came in at this time, too. You will see some LATE 50's Precisions with rosewood fingerboards. (I once had an original '59 with a rosewood 'board.) But most of them were still made in sunburst in those days. It does NOT have the "spagetti style" Fender logo, which came along in the mid-60's. So, early 60's is probably right.

Very sweet bass, dude!

 

[ggunn]

I got this great ol bass from my uncle, he bought it 1970. We think it's a 1955 or 56. If any one can tell me moore about this guitar I would appreciate it. I love this bass and cant wait to record with it.
Serial #6962, I pulled the neck and there is no stamp... on the bottom of the neck.

From the Fender website (http://www.fender.com/support/dating/fender_us_dating.php), this excerpt:

DATING YOUR INSTRUMENT

The following chart details the Fender serial number schemes used from 1950 to 1964....

Up to 6000 1950 to 1954
Up to 10,000 1954 to 1956
10,000s 1955 to 1956

According to this, it appears that what you have is a '54 - '56. Congratulations!

EDIT: Of course, since your uncle did not buy it new, it is possible that the bass was assembled later from parts. You might have an appraisal done to make sure.

 

[lpdeluxe]

According to this, it appears that what you have is a '54 - '56.

Except for the fact that it has features first introduced in 1957 (contoured body, pickguard-mounted controls, and split pickups); another feature, the rosewood fingerboard, introduced in 1959; and a final one, the "tortoise-shell" pickguard, introduced in 1960 and phased out in the late '60's in favor of a black or white unit. Until 1966, the tuners turned "backwards:" that is, you turned the key toward you to tune a string sharper*. That year Forrest White developed a conventional tuner that turned away from you to sharp, just like guitar tuners. Prior to 1964, the tuners didn't sit flush on the headstock, owing to a protruding screw head. That year Fender started drilling out 2 "divots" in the surface of the headstock underneath the tuner plate to allow the tuners to sit flush. Also, in 1966, the pin securing the tuner key was eliminated.

I hope this helps you date the bass. It's a beauty. I'd love to have it!

______
*If this isn't clear, turn the bass over and look at the threads on the worm gear: if the tops appear to lean to the left, it's a pre-66; if they lean to the right, a '66 or later.

 

[ggunn]

Except for the fact that it has features first introduced in 1957 (contoured body, pickguard-mounted controls, and split pickups); another feature, the rosewood fingerboard, introduced in 1959; and a final one, the "tortoise-shell" pickguard, introduced in 1960 and phased out in the late '60's in favor of a black or white unit. Until 1966, the tuners turned "backwards:" that is, you turned the key toward you to tune a string sharper*. That year Forrest White developed a conventional tuner that turned away from you to sharp, just like guitar tuners. Prior to 1964, the tuners didn't sit flush on the headstock, owing to a protruding screw head. That year Fender started drilling out 2 "divots" in the surface of the headstock underneath the tuner plate to allow the tuners to sit flush. Also, in 1966, the pin securing the tuner key was eliminated.

I hope this helps you date the bass. It's a beauty. I'd love to have it!

______
*If this isn't clear, turn the bass over and look at the threads on the worm gear: if the tops appear to lean to the left, it's a pre-66; if they lean to the right, a '66 or

later.

If all that is true, maybe he misread the serial number, or maybe (as I postulated) the bass was assembled from parts. Is the serial number stamped on the metal plate that backs up the neck screws, like it is on an old Strat? Maybe it's a neck plate from an older instrument. I'd assume that Fender knows their own serial numbering scheme.

 

[lpdeluxe]

ggunn, who knows?

Fender instituted the "L" series in 1963. There has been speculation that the "L" was actually meant to be a "1", since they followed the series ending in "99999" in 1963. The Ls started with L00000, which seems to make sense in that interpretation. If this one has an L prefix, that would make it a '63 or later.

Another possibility is that the neck plate was replaced with one out of stock. I have read that the SNs are fairly unreliable unless coupled with the known features of the year since, until 1976, the SN was attached to an easily removable -- or replaceable -- part of the bass. Other than the SN, the bass is consistent with an early-to-mid '60's, depending on the tuner situation. If I found that in a pawnshop, I sure wouldn't let the SN bother me. It's no worse than the situation at Gibson, where the SN records for much of the '60's and '70's were lost forever, apparently because, when the current owners of Gibson took over, they didn't get the password into Norlin's computer system that kept track!

In the book "The Fender Bass" by Fender employees Black and Molinaro, they say the SN "should not be relied on for dating the instrument." That's probably useful advice for any instrument.

Finally, date codes on the potentiometers give a general idea of when an axe was built, or at least when those pots were made, if not when they were purchased by Fender or actually installed on a bass...if the bass has original pots dated in 1966, it's not any older, anyhow. And pots, like neck plates, are frequently replaced. Fender used 2 suppliers, and a 3+4-digit code. 137 was CTS, and 304 was Stackpole: a Stackpole pot marked "304-6520" was made in the 20th week of 1965, for example. If the pots were replaced, another brand might have been used, which throws everything off.

Any mods done to the bass in question were done some time ago, to judge by the photos.

So much for beating the horse already dead, I guess. It's still a damn attractive bass.

So, ggunn, you're in Austin? I get down there from time to time...saw Charlie Musselwhite at Zilker a year ago ("Blues on the Green") and all those skimpily clad UT coeds throwing frisbees took me back to my distant youth.

But not enough to make me get out of my lawn chair....

 

[Light]

I'd assume that Fender knows their own serial numbering scheme.

That would be an erroneous assumption. They are better than Gibson, but Fender's records are not very good on that score.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Light]

In the book "The Fender Bass" by Fender employees Black and Molinaro, they say the SN "should not be relied on for dating the instrument." That's probably useful advice for any instrument.

Unless you are dealing with Martin, in which case the serial number is 100% reliable all the way back to 1898. And it is stamped on the neck block, so there is no way you are going to change it.

Just one more reason I like Martin, as a company, so much.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[lpdeluxe]

Unless you are dealing with Martin...

...who don't stamp their SNs on neck plates....

 

[hiwatt357]

Regardless of the year...it's a sweet bass.

\m/

 

[Yvon]

Just take the neck off and we know for sure what year it is.

 

[lpdeluxe]

I pulled the neck and there is no stamp...

That's what the man said.

 

[mrface2112]

Fender was NOTORIOUS for putting together guitars (and especially basses) from parts they had lying around in stock back in those days. so it's very common to see a late 50's neck on an early/mid 60's body, etc., and vice-versa.

this (and the shoddy record keeping) is one of the biggest reasons you can't date a fender guitar or bass solely on serial number. and, like Light, it's one of the reasons i like Martin so much as a company.

a buddy of mine has a Fender Precision bass he bought new in the 70's that is one of those "melange" basses. he's attempted to "date" it several times, and has had no success getting anything definitive. it's a black body, whith pickguard P-bass with maple fretboard, and the best we can come up with is "late 60s or early 70s". we know it's not been "tampered" with, as he's the only owner......


cheers,
wade

 

[lpdeluxe]

I understand that, in the early '80's, as CBS lost interest in their toy, many instruments were assembled out of inventory, as opposed to manufacturing new parts and building new guitars out of them.

If you look at photos of the Fender plant, it's not something to inspire confidence...but, that said, they made great basses, and a lot of players love the Strats and Teles.

In his book, "American Guitars," Tom Wheeler printed a long interview with Leo Fender. In the course of it, Mr Fender described how the workers finished the guitar and bass bodies. A fire department inspector came to check it out, and left the building and called from a pay phone to tell them it was too dangerous to continue!

After Fender left, the company suffered from large, bureaucratic management and record-keeping suffered, unlike Martin, which has been family owned since the dinosaurs.

 

[oldschool22]

Re old bass

Man!
Thanks guys for all the input. Man I know I got A really great Bass here and will keep it for life,I watch'ed and listend to my uncle play it sence I was a punk. I have a gut feeling ggunn's right it could be a 54 or 56 But mrface2112 makes a ? point.
Once agine gang thanks I know yer having fun with this Bass, It is sweet Man!
Oh mrface2112 I will have to get the old s# on my ol Martin 1922 i'v been told from the local music store guy. Waiting for my new dig camera, Will post pictures of it.

Thanks Fellas.

 

[Light]

I have a gut feeling ggunn's right it could be a 54 or 56

It flat out can NOT be that old. Up uyntil 1957, they were the "Tele" basses. They did not make necks with rosewood fingerboards until 1959, so the earliest it could be is 1959 with a custom color. But the thing is, the color looks like a typical early sixties "custom" color (which were not actually custom, as such). They hadn't even designed that bass in 1956.

At any rate, I talked to my shop manager today, and he agreed with me, early 1960's.

Which is every bit as cool if you ask me.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[oldschool22]

Yea!

Thanks Light.
60"s is good! I just love the good old stuff, and man I got some of it!
Verry happy guitar player here!