NO TRADES - Gotta Sell To Help Finance My '71 J...
- Bass is in very good condition overall. Frets have some minor wear on the first few up by the headstock (this is normal), but plenty of life left on them. Bass has some minor player wear, but nothing serious. It is not a museum quality bass. It's a players bass that is in real good condition. I recently had her fully setup by the best setup guy in all of Maryland (IMHO), Ron Carney of Coffey Music.
- All parts appear to be original except for (from what I can tell):
- Nut (it has a brass nut). Replacement vintage bone nuts are dirt cheap (under $10 from Stew Mac).
- Pickup and pots. When I got the bass a while ago, it had an EMG in her. I took it out and went to seek out the best P replacement and best pots, cap, etc that I could find. I found Bill Lawrence. He consulted for Fender and Gibson and designed the pickup system on the USA Fender Roscoe Beck Signature bass, the Gibson Ripper bass and many other models from Fender and Gibson. He now makes his own vintage replacement pickups which use Alnico V magnets, the proper gauge of vintage wire and he hand wax pots them.
I also used CTS audio taper pots, a .1 MFD Orange Drop cap, USA Switchcraft input jack and vintage cloth covered wire. I also purchased a vintage brass grounding plate to go under the Lawrence P pickup (it's under there now). It's done RIGHT and pretty much back to factory spec, but without the reliability issues with stock, old electronics.
TBer (and awesome tech) JKDahlman did the electronics install. John does excellent work! John commentted that this is the best sounding P he has ever played and is by far the most quiet too (virtually no noise). Bill Lawrence sure knows how to make a great pickup and using quality pots, wire, cap, jack, etc does not hurt either!!!
- There is a small professionally done route (not a hack job, looks factory) under the pcikguard that the previous owner did for the 9v battery when the EMG was installed.
- The case is an old Fender USA Wood/Tolex in excellent condition, but I don't believe it's original to the bass (probably 80's or 90's). Its the same type of case that came with these, but it just looks newer than the bass to me.
Knobs, pickguard (with vintage Fender stamps on inside), frets, body, tuners, bridge, etc, etc all appear to be 100% original. Bass truly plays like a dream and the tone of the Bill Lawrence pickup system is the most even sounding, noise free P system I've ever heard, hands down! The best darn P for recording you will ever put your hands on. I spared literally NO expense on the electronics. She has the best pickup, pots, cap, jack, etc period! $1375 + Ship. I've recenty seen a few '77 and '78 P's that sold for over $2000 on Evil Bay, so I think that this is a VERY fair deal. Oh, she weighs 9.6 lbs according to my cheap postal scale.
Pics:
1977 Fender P - You Gotta See This One! 
I guess I should have asked more $$$ as fast as this sold! 
