1959 Fender Precision Basses

[Dynacord]

Gathering what's been posted here. A 3 Tone Sunburst 1959 Fender Precision Bass with a rosewood fingerboard, is pretty rare. I've seen lots of Custom Shop Reproductions of this particular bass, but
only a few examples of a actual 59 with the Gold Anodized Pickguard sporting a rosewood fingerboard. This pretty much lines up with the idea that the 59's with those appointments were simply
using up the supply of Gold Pickguards on hand until they ran out, adding a rosewood fingerboard which was easier to install (if you goofed up you didn't destroy a finished neck) and move to the
less expensive Tortoise shell pickguards. I also guessing that the newer neck profile was easier to shape. Just my take however.

I tend to think there are more '59s with rosewood boards than maple - based both on anecdotal experience and that maple was made roughly January into April while rosewood was made April through the end of the year. Exactly how many months there was the combo of rosewood with anodized I'm not sure - though I don't think it was that long (I've seen three including a blonde in the flesh and know of a number of others - including the one Duck Dunn used that went down on the plane with Otis Redding and the one that was at American Studios in Memphis). There are quite a few rosewood with tort '59s out there - that's the variation I've seen the most of.

 

[Iridescentone]

Transition from maple to rosewood (as far as the neck dates go - caveat is they were dated just after being rough cut, not on completion) was 4/59 - examples of both maple and rosewood can be found dated that same month. Then there are the very sought after rosewood with gold guards. Following these were rosewood boards with tort (I have seen these fully dated '59). Some of the early tort guards in '59 had the same 10 hole screw pattern as on the anodized guards and there was at least one with an 11 hole pattern* before settling on the still used 13 hole pattern - quite a few variations within that year and by the end of '59 it was pretty much the same as the '60s through mid '62s (when the board construction changed and dating changed from pencil to ink stamp).

*the 11 hole pattern example was very likely an in-house test as it has a tort guard but also has a 4/59 date - the earliest example I know of a tort guard on a P and there are gold guard/rosewood board examples with dates later than that.

Add to this that many late '59s/early '60s had undated necks (bodies were generally dated in the pickup cavity).

Interesting to know about the short-lived 11 hole torts, thanks for posting that. I have one of the 10 hole tort guards here, along with its Kaiser alum backing plate. Bought it from a vintage dealer ~ '84 for $10 as a conversation piece, as it's too messed up to ever be mounted again.

Yeah agree on the '59 rosewood/ano P bass being much sought after....the Grand Daddy of the vintage P's to some, every vintage Fender bass nut would give a kidney to find one.

The '59-60 no-dates always fascinated me, especially ones with the serial # on the bottom of the plate. Speaking of odd serial #'s...my guitar player back in the day found an original black '57 hardtail Strat with an era correct "-1".... serial number on the bottom of its neck plate (go figure). For some reason it seems that 60-ish Fenders were prone to have their 3-tone bursts fade to 2-tone from sunlight exposure. I've seen a couple that had the red faded completely off the front, while still fully intact on the rear. I have a theory as to why that may have happened especially to Fenders circa 59-60.

 

[InstantEctobass]

Interesting to know about the short-lived 11 hole torts, thanks for posting that. I have one of the 10 hole tort guards here, along with its Kaiser alum backing plate. Bought it from a vintage dealer ~ '84 for $10 as a conversation piece, as it's too messed up to ever be mounted again.

Yeah agree on the '59 rosewood/ano P bass being much sought after....the Grand Daddy of the vintage P's to some, every vintage Fender bass nut would give a kidney to find one.

The '59-60 no-dates always fascinated me, especially ones with the serial # on the bottom of the plate. Speaking of odd serial #'s...my guitar player back in the day found an original black '57 hardtail Strat with an era correct "-1".... serial number on the bottom of its neck plate (go figure). For some reason it seems that 60-ish Fenders were prone to have their 3-tone bursts fade to 2-tone from sunlight exposure. I've seen a couple that had the red faded completely off the front, while still fully intact on the rear. I have a theory as to why that may have happened especially to Fenders circa 59-60.

So much sought after, and that's why I did a cheap replica — minus the fact that's open pore —, using a '86 Ash Squier Precision bass body and a '12 Classic Vibe Rosewood Squier Precision neck... I also think I used the wrong pickup chrome cover, but oh well, I liked this one better than the other one

 

[MAFbass1992]

Interesting read, I'm gasing over this 59 refin and I'm having a hard time figuring if the pickguard is original or not... This one has a 7/59 serial in the pickup cavity. I've been looking over sold 59 all over the net and I haven't seen another tort/59 that's around the same serial.

Fender Precision Bass 1959 - Sunburst | Reverb

 

[Dynacord]

Interesting read, I'm gasing over this 59 refin and I'm having a hard time figuring if the pickguard is original or not... This one has a 7/59 serial in the pickup cavity. I've been looking over sold 59 all over the net and I haven't seen another tort/59 that's around the same serial.

Fender Precision Bass 1959 - Sunburst | Reverb

Serial number doesn't look like a red flag to me - it's within a reasonable range and these weren't consecutive. Looks like a nice bass.

 

[Dynacord]

Serial number doesn't look like a red flag to me - it's within a reasonable range and these weren't consecutive. Looks like a nice bass.

EDIT: read before coffee... sorry!
Guard looks OK for late '59 (as much as I can see from the pics, anyway) - other than the pickup cover holes having been enlarged/countersunk. You could ask for a photo of the body with the guard off to see if there are traces of screw holes from the 10 hole pattern (some screws were in shared positions but not all). Also the control cavity routing changed slightly once the change was settled on.

 

[kurpak]

Spring 59 the maple transitions to rosewood (but still ano guard.) Around the early summer of 59 they start experimenting with the tort, we've seen the first 11 hole version here (is there a 10 hole tort?).. but there are also transition versions of the tort. Before the classic 13 hole pattern we all know on these basses, but after the 11 hole, there was another version that had the screws in a slightly different place (more holes line up with the ano guard screw hole locations) before settling on the final 13 hole pattern. These are pretty rare like the 11 holes, I've only ever seen 3. There is one in post #18 of this thread, I saw a pic of one years ago on gbase, here is mine. Notice how weird the screw pattern is near the knobs. I can fit an anodized guard on this body without drilling any extra holes. I heard somewhere the different screw pattern experiments were attempting to keep the plastic from warping and flat against the body.
Body is dated 8/59 38474

 

[Dynacord]

(is there a 10 hole tort?)..

Yes. I think more than the 11 hole version.

 

[kurpak]

I've owned p basses from every year from 57-64, the 59 rosewoods are my favorite. I also really like the early 57-58s, those had a little chunkier necks and a different tone. The 57 v necks especially have their own sound, it's super chunky but transparent, with dead heavy thuddy flats they sound sooo good.
This is the only pre cbs bass I have left, I bought and sold lots of them over the years but this one always sounded the best so I still have it August 1959

 

[Dynacord]

I've owned p basses from every year from 57-64, the 59 rosewoods are my favorite. I also really like the early 57-58s, those had a little chunkier necks and a different tone. The 57 v necks especially have their own sound, it's super chunky but transparent, with dead heavy thuddy flats they sound sooo good.
This is the only pre cbs bass I have left, I bought and sold lots of them over the years but this one always sounded the best so I still have it August 1959
View attachment 5277570

Beauty. Red still under the bridge, guard, etc?

The '57 V necks are cool though I didn't care for the profile personally. I can see how it would be great for guitar players doubling or switching to bass. I always tried to do the double bass thing of centering the left hand thumb on the back of the neck vs having it come over the top on the E string side - if that was one's approach then I can see why one could prefer them. But those '57s do sound good regardless!

 

[chris_b]

That bridge. . . like putting slicks on a Model T Ford!

 

[Jim C]

I've owned p basses from every year from 57-64, the 59 rosewoods are my favorite. I also really like the early 57-58s, those had a little chunkier necks and a different tone. The 57 v necks especially have their own sound, it's super chunky but transparent, with dead heavy thuddy flats they sound sooo good.
This is the only pre cbs bass I have left, I bought and sold lots of them over the years but this one always sounded the best so I still have it August 1959
View attachment 5277570

Beauty!
That guard really shrank a lot. My 1960 hasn't shrunk nearly that much.

 

[kurpak]

Beauty. Red still under the bridge, guard, etc?

The '57 V necks are cool though I didn't care for the profile personally. I can see how it would be great for guitar players doubling or switching to bass. I always tried to do the double bass thing of centering the left hand thumb on the back of the neck vs having it come over the top on the E string side - if that was one's approach then I can see why one could prefer them. But those '57s do sound good regardless!

Under the pickguard is brighter yellow, I haven't actually taken the bridge off but I bet it's more red under there. Some dimwit in the past 60 years put a different bridge on this I think, there are faint marks in the finish where maybe a badass bridge or something similar was. No idea why they drilled 2 extra holes for the bridge cover
Somebody in the 60s also thought nitro wear was bad so a couple small spots have black paint trying to cover up some chips haha. Regardless it's back to the original bridge, original stock everything. The finish on the back is really worn, this one has been played for sure. Not sure what Chris_b is talking about with the bridge

 

[kurpak]

Beauty!
That guard really shrank a lot. My 1960 hasn't shrunk nearly that much.

I have an original 1959 gold anodized guard that I might swap out at some point when the tort eventually falls off haha.

 

[Gervais Cote]

I've owned p basses from every year from 57-64, the 59 rosewoods are my favorite. I also really like the early 57-58s, those had a little chunkier necks and a different tone. The 57 v necks especially have their own sound, it's super chunky but transparent, with dead heavy thuddy flats they sound sooo good.
This is the only pre cbs bass I have left, I bought and sold lots of them over the years but this one always sounded the best so I still have it August 1959
View attachment 5277570

Respect man, respect. Outstanding !

 

[s_wood]

Here's mine. It's a Joe Ruggio body-only refin, but I think it's otherwise original (possibly excepting the ashtrays, which look suspiciously clean). The body date is 3/59, the pots date to the 47th week of '59 (roughly the first week of December) and the neck, as is typical for '59's, is undated. Serial number is in the 43000's. What a great sounding bass this is!

 

[JIO]

Here's mine. It's a Joe Ruggio body-only refin, but I think it's otherwise original (possibly excepting the ashtrays, which look suspiciously clean). The body date is 3/59, the pots date to the 47th week of '59 (roughly the first week of December) and the neck, as is typical for '59's, is undated. Serial number is in the 43000's. What a great sounding bass this is!

View attachment 5304419

It's very pretty too. I love how dark the rosewood fb is - my '66 P has a dark rosewood fb also.

 

[Dynacord]

Here's mine. It's a Joe Ruggio body-only refin, but I think it's otherwise original (possibly excepting the ashtrays, which look suspiciously clean). The body date is 3/59, the pots date to the 47th week of '59 (roughly the first week of December) and the neck, as is typical for '59's, is undated. Serial number is in the 43000's. What a great sounding bass this is!

View attachment 5304419

Very nice bass. Undated necks were generally later '59 - early '60 (which seems consistent with the pot dates).

 

[arts]

Mine is a 10-hole pickguard. Serial # 389xx. And yes, the G is mis-aligned and is in a little "tighter" than it should be. The nut broke right in the groove (day of a show, go figure..), so I just filed a new slot as close as I could get. I should get on that, but it only happened a few decades ago, so why rush

 

[Rayjay]

I saw a video of James Alexander playing a 59 recording with Isaac Hayes on the HBO Stax: Soulsville USA documentary. BIG sound, 3-tone burst, gold guard, rosewood board. I knew that bass right away.

Here's a pic of my CS '59, one of my favorite looks.