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'66 Precision restoration project

StuartV

StuartV

Finally figuring out what I really like
Supporting Member
Jul 27, 2006
6,110
1,271
Manassas, VA
#1
As some of you may remember, I recently acquired the #1 entry on my Dream Bass list - a Fender Precision from the year I was born, 1966.

The bass is now in the hands of TB's very own JohnK_10 for a restoration. I'm starting this thread to share with you all and provide a running documentary on the process as it goes.

When I purchased the bass, it appeared to be all original with the following exceptions:

- body has been stripped and refinished in clear. You can't really see it very well in the pictures, but it was refinished long enough ago that even the current finish is worn through in a lot of spots.

- a Jazz pickup was added in the bridge position.

- body was routed under the pickguard to accomodate another volume pot, in addition to the two stock ones.

- two small switches were added between the knobs. One is a 3-position pickup selector and the other is a 2-position phase switch.

- headstock has Grover Titan tuning machines.

- non-original pickguard.

Here's a couple of pictures of it as I received it.

IMG_1096.jpg

IMG_1097.jpg

IMG_1101.jpg

IMG_1115.jpg

DSC00159.jpg
 
#7
So, I shipped it off to JohnK and he got it last week. He called me after he unpacked it and checked it out. It's been over a week and I still remember two things VERY clearly that he said. "This thing is WICKED" and "this is a Stradivarius of P basses. It sings!" Yaay!! :D :hyper:

I spoke to him yesterday, now that he's had a chance to take it apart and really check it out and these are the new things I learned.

It's original color was Lake Placid Blue. That's a very pretty color, but I'm just not a blue bass guy. So, I'm not going to get it re-done in that color.

The P pickup and 2 of the pots are original. The J pickup, extra pot, and switches were simply added to what was there.

The pickguard is not original, but the metal shielding plate under it is, as are all the pickguard screws.

The bass shipped to me with the original tuners in a box. They were only missing one washer that goes on the back of one of the tuning heads. They even had the original screws for mounting the tuners. JohnK nickel plated a steel washer to make it look like the 3 original ones, and has already taken the Grovers off and put the originals back on.

Essentially, I think the only original parts that are missing are the one tuning machine washer, and the original pickguard. SWEET!

So, the plan going forward is that JohnK is hand selecting a piece of alder with grain that matches the grain of the body and he's going to cut a piece to fit in the hole where the J pickup is currently installed. He will remove the J pickup and fill that hole. He is also going to make an alder plug to fill in where the body was routed under the pickguard, too.

Then, he's going to seal the whole body with Fullerplast, just like the Fender factory did back in 1966.

Then, spray it with a very thin coat of Shoreline Gold Metallic nitrocellulose lacquer (one of the custom colors available from Fender in 1966).

Reassemble using the original pickguard screws, knobs, etc, and install a Fender parchment pickguard.

Send it back to me with a very absorbent bib.

He's going to send me pics as he goes along, which I will post here.
 
#8
BigOldHarry said:
Man, why restore it? It looks pretty good to go as is! A fine example of what so many guys did to their old P-basses back in the day.
Click to expand...

In addition to not really being a blue bass guy, I'm also not really a natural bass guy. ;)

After spending some quality time comparing P pickup sound to J pickup to P+J pickup, I decided that I could not envision ever using this bass any other way than solo P. Neither of the other options sounded as good, as full, to me. So, I decided to take JohnK's recommendation and fully restore it back to factory specs for that year.

It looks good now, but in the end, I think the way it will look, after the restoration - like a '66 P bass straight from the factory - will be even way mo' better!
 
#19
Looks fantastic. Finally, someone else who has added the 2nd volume knob where I did on my custom P-style rather than try to rout out a side-winder Tele-style jack.

Three comments:

1) I hope, in order to better match the P pickup, a humbucking-style J pickup is considered down the road. With both pickups on, the single coil J will overbalance the P pickup from a noise perspective.

2) I never cared for out-of-phase on a bass, and I found a selector switch superfluous after awhile, and eventually went with the standard J-bass V-V-T wiring.

3) In order to eliminate comb filtering, or the slight wash-out that occurs with both pickups full on, I added a .01 inline capacitor between the hot lead of the J bridge pickup and its volume pot. This didn't really detract anything from the tone of the J pickup, but cut out the comb interference of both pickups so I can dial in as much P pickup as necessary to cement the fundamental when soloing on the bridge pickup.

Again, great job. Even if it is only used occasionally or rarely, I am a huge proponent of going to this kind of P-J configuration. If you want just P, just turn down the J volume control. The bridge pickup circuit doesn't load down to any audible degree the P pickup circuit, at least to my ears, and makes the bass so much more versatile.

One thought: to get a really different tone, especially with both pickups selected, I would urge consideration of reassigning the phase switch as a series-parallel switch on the P pickup, to retain the humbucking characteristics.
 
#20
StuartV said:
In addition to not really being a blue bass guy, I'm also not really a natural bass guy. ;)

After spending some quality time comparing P pickup sound to J pickup to P+J pickup, I decided that I could not envision ever using this bass any other way than solo P. Neither of the other options sounded as good, as full, to me. So, I decided to take JohnK's recommendation and fully restore it back to factory specs for that year.

It looks good now, but in the end, I think the way it will look, after the restoration - like a '66 P bass straight from the factory - will be even way mo' better!
Click to expand...

Fair enough.

Have you determined what the original color was? If it's sunburst, you'll have your work cut out for you, what with that J route... but a solid color can be done for sure.
 

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