Trades...
Please, please, NO trades UNLESS it is one of these two items. If it's not, please do not inquire about your item anyways, as that's just wasting both our time!
1.
Fender American Vintage '62 Jazz Bass in 3TS ONLY, or
2.
Fender American Vintage '62 Precision Bass in Olympic white ONLY
Please, please, PLEASE do NOT PM me with ANY other trade offers as it will cause the earth to explode. Thanks for understanding
History
I bought this 2007 Fender American Vintage '62 Precision bass in late 2010. It's original factor color was a so-so 3TS (not much red) and I had it refinished in Fiesta Red Nitrocellulose lacquer. The finish is extremely thin, and this is a plus because it allows the bass to resonate more (or so i've heard!). If anyone has been paying attention to my gear collective, there's always something Sadowsky in there, and this bass is no exception... I had the onboard Sadowsky pre w/VTC installed in the bass. It was a pro job: a battery box was routed and it looks very OEM! I love the way the Sadowsky pre kind of takes away the super middy bite that most P basses have. Of course, the pre is totally defeatable by pulling up the volume pot. I also had the tech swap out the original '62 precision bass pickup for Jason Lollar's P bass pickup, which sounds more vintage to my ears. Plenty of good options out there for p-bass replacement pickups, but out of all the ones i've tried, i think these really nail it for vintage early 60's tone.
Overall the finish is in pretty good condition. There are surface scratches here and there from random pick playing. And there is a chip just to the left of the bridge plate cover. Otherwise it is in complete working condition. Action is super low with the included Thomastik-Infeld Jazz flats, and the truss word works perfectly. Tuners are sturdy and no issues there either.
I'm selling because i'm kind of thinning the herd (also have my Dingwall Super J on the chopping block) to make room for some all-passive basses.
Tone
I love having a p bass in the stable, as it's a nice bass to grab before more "rockish" gigs or gigs where i KNOW i'll be doing supportive stuff the whole time (so, no slap or up front stuff). I like the way flats on this bass in particular kind of fit that perfectly. The Sadowsky preamp, IMO, kind of adds that 'studio' touch to my live tone. It's kind of hard to describe, because if you haven't used the Sadowsky preamp in a live context, it might be hard to tell its benefits over a purely passive setup (and i'm a passive guy at heart for sure). In the most laymen of descriptive terms, the pre seems to add a slight amount of compression (most apparent when slapping), as well as an overall "smoothing" of the passive signal. Even with the active EQ's flat, the buffer alone tends to kind of clean up the signal a bit. Sometimes that's what you want, and sometimes you want a more grindy tone. That's why i love having the bypass on the pre
Here is a clip from about 6 months ago, with the bass for sale here in a contemporary Christian musical context. If you can't tell by the disproportionate amount of 'harmony' in the vox (lol), the audio here is mostly from the board's feed with a *touch* of the Flip recorder's audio out in the audience. The signal chain is the bass (with TI flats), volume maxed, tone rolled off about 50%, Sadowsky pre active with no treble boost, and a slight ~25% bass boost, to the Mogami Platinum instrument cable, to the Summit Audio TD-100 straight to the board via a ~50' snake. The little 'live' audio mixed into the track contains all that plus the Summit Audio TLA-50 into a Bergantino IP112/EX112 (before i got the "ER" versions).
A Mighty Fortress (Christy Nockels)
Includes
It comes with the original G&G brown Fender case, the original Fender owner's manual, registration card, strap, and pickup cover + bridge cover (both will be installed at time of shipment).
Price
The bass cost me $1000 when i picked it up last year, and the sadowsky onboard pre is $250, the refinish was $200, and the Lollar P pickup is $110. That's $1560 in total '$$$ put in on my end.' Since i'm kinda hoping to just liquidate everything, i'll put this at...
$1200 shipped paypal e-check Full Specs:
Serial Number: V161183
Case: Fender brown tolex case (G&G)
Made In: Corona, CA
Construction
Neck: Maple with vintage 'C' Shape
Fingerboard: 20 vintage style frets; Indian rosewood fretboard with 7.25" radius
Body: Alder
Finish: Fiesta Red Nitrocellulose lacquer
Dimensions
Scale Length: 34"
Width at Nut: 1.750"
String Spacing at Bridge: 19mm
Weight: 8.6 Lbs
Electronics
Pickups: Lollar Precision Bass split-coil pickup
Controls: 1 Master Volume (push/pull for preamp), passive tone (VTC), stacked treble & bass
Output Jack: Chrome, 1/4" Side Mounted
Preamp: Sadowsky onboard w/VTC
Pics:
Here is a pic of the chip I mentioned...probably a screwdriver or something. It's been there maybe a couple months now..could probably be fixed?
This pic shows where some of the finish has worn through on the neck. I think it's from a wall-hanger that wasn't so nitro safe (though, I cant find any evidence of damage on the rest of the back of where the headstock meets the neck.hmm...)
These next shots were to show the case that is included, but sadly i forgot to adjust the white balance and ISO settings before i just snapped a few.. So the color is more accurate in the previous shots...
