• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

NBD: 1971 Precision Bass

Tonegasm

Tonegasm

Fast cars and vintage guitars.
Mar 22, 2010
2,988
914
NJ
#1
Thanks to some help and advice I received from some fellow TB'ers I picked up this early '71 P Bass late last night. The bass plays excellent except for one issue I'll get to below concerning two of the frets. Here are my thoughts and observations so far:

Body - A really nice and faded sunburst finish with plenty of checking and natural wear. The bass currently has EMG pickups in it and the control cavity was routed (very cleanly) for a battery. There are some extra screw holes in the pickguard and body, as well. Bridge and pickguard look to be original.

Neck - Beautiful B (1.625") neck with a nice, full shape and minimal wear. The only really visible wear is wear the nitro has worn off in the necks bottom area which lays in your hand. Love this thing. Tuners are original with an awesome patina and little specks of rust. They function great. Frets are in fantastic shape and just in need of a little polishing.

Issue (see third pic from bottom): There are two frets high up on the neck which are lifting up and out of the neck on the bass side. I've never seen this before and am not sure how to correct it. Advice please!

Electronics - As I mentioned earlier, the bass currently has EMG pickups. They sound pretty good but I'm a passive pickup kind of guy and plan on swapping out the EMG's in favor of a nice passive set. I'll be looking into options next. The bass also came with a set of old Seymour Duncan pickups with 3 rocker switches on one of them attached to a wiring harness. Maybe these are the original pots?

Case - Original but 2 latches are missing and it's pretty much trashed. I'll keep it and maybe try to get some new latches for it one day. I don't see myself using it much, though.

Overall the bass plays and sounds fantastic. What really gets me is the weight. I don't think this bass can be more than 8 lbs. (my digital scale didn't want to give me a reading). Extremely light and resonant. You pluck and open string and it rings and rings and rings and rings.... This was a cool first move into the vintage world and, once this bass is set up with new pickups and the fret issue is corrected, it'll be hitting the stage with me and rocking shows everywhere.

Thanks for reading and to all whom helped!

IMG00171-20110720-0652.jpg

IMG00170-20110720-0652.jpg

IMG00172-20110720-0653.jpg

IMG00173-20110720-0654.jpg

IMG00174-20110720-0654.jpg

IMG00178-20110720-0656.jpg

IMG00175-20110720-0655.jpg

IMG00181-20110720-0657.jpg

IMG00180-20110720-0657.jpg

IMG00177-20110720-0656.jpg

IMG00179-20110720-0656.jpg

IMG00176-20110720-0655.jpg

IMG00182-20110720-0658.jpg

IMG00183-20110720-0658.jpg


Fret issue

IMG00186-20110720-0659.jpg


Extra Seymour Duncan pickups with rocker switches

IMG00188-20110720-0702.jpg


Extra wiring harness

IMG00187-20110720-0701.jpg
 
#3
Very cool, man - glad to see you got it!

Not long ago I picked up a vintage P that had EMGs in it, and I was surprised how good it sounded. However, I too wanted more of a passive sound, so I sprung for a set of Fralins. Can't recommend them enough. There are plenty of other good passive "vintage" pickups too though.

I'm sure others can chime in on the pots and frets.

Enjoy it and play the hell out of it!
 
#5
Nice bass, reminds me of my 73 P-bass.

As far as pickups go, I would personally throw in a set of Fender 62 RI pickups. Great pickups and then you'd keep the bass all Fender.

You should look up pot codes to see how old the ones included are and if they're original to the bass.

The frets can be fixed. I had the same issue on the 66 Jazz bass I just had restored by JohnK. I believe he pulled the frets out, re-radiused them and installed them back in.

Congrats on the new bass!
 
#10
That is a real beauty, congrats!
As stated above, the frets are not much of a problem - this is a fairly common occurrence/repair. If you don't have a fret hammer I suggest you take it to a local repair shop - this is minor work when done by an experienced tech.
 
#15
Thanks, guys.

A fret hammer wont help much as the fret end pops up on its own when I let it go. I think I'm going to have to clamp the edge and then drip some super glue in from the end.

John: what's wrong with the screw? I think I'm going blind.
 
#16
it's a slot head screw and should be a philips.

BTW, you don't need to drip the glue in from the edge of the fingerboard. if you use thin CA, you can just do it from the top, along the fret's edges, but i use a fret press that's radiused 7.25" to maintain even pressure to hold it in place while the glue sets.
 
#18
johnk_10 said:
it's a slot head screw and should be a philips.

BTW, you don't need to drip the glue in from the edge of the fingerboard. if you use thin CA, you can just do it from the top, along the fret's edges, but i use a fret press that's radiused 7.25" to maintain even pressure to hold it in place while the glue sets.
Click to expand...
Wow - great eye!

I'll try a Quick-grip clamp with a softer pad to distribute the force as evenly as I can. It won't be a radius'ed fret press but my resources are limited and it should do fine.

Regular Krazy Glue will do?
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back