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1960 Fender Precision finish

#4
Mmm, no...that's not a '60. Wood grain is all wrong, as said before...looks a bit like ash or possibly mahogany (??). I didn't see a datestamp on the neck, either, though that appears to have some serious mileage on it. Could be that the neck is actually older than the body, but without numbers it's difficult to tell. Hardware seems age appropriate, but that could have been transferred from another body as well. It just doesn't add up, IMO.

What kind of info did the seller give you about this?
 
#5
I bought this bass from bass shop in USA who own good reputation even here on talkbass. I trusted the seller who told me the bass is all original except the body finish. I believe the body is alder. I watched many photos before buy it and everything seems OK.
 
#9
It's very possible that is mahogany IMO. Fender has been known to have made a small number of basses with mahogany bodies. The grain appears to have a similar fine porous texture as mahogany. If it was an original burst finish over mahogany, it would be extremely rare and valuable.
 
#10
Looks more like a '61 to me (because the decal has 2 pat.#s). The body looks original to me from the pics, even has the nail holes (done when the body was originally finished by Fender). But the finish isn't original, as the others have said. The grain does look a lot like ash, but it would be a lot more likely that it's alder that happens to look like ash, IMO.

I say refin it! If you do a period correct color, it can only help it's value/desirability from here. BTW, if you do it 3 tone burst, the '60s and '61s had a much wider black border around the body than before and after those years.
 
#11
Thanks thebrian and all others!!! You are great!!!


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Just added more pics of the body and the neck plate here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/x4z1lmscq0zfds1/RpE4u1YFIS
As you can notice the wood of the body is very soft - the neck plate has entered into it. I don't know which wood is softer - alder or ash.
I also noticed that the contour of the body on the left side to neck plate is oddly shaped.
Does anyone has motivated arguments that the body is not original?
Thanks again!
Youlian
 
#13
Definitely not an original finish. Even if it were a rare Fender finish, the finish would be faded compared to the pickguard area. Body does look original, although the contours were sounded down during the refinish. Looks like alder to me, but the grain was likely made more pronounced due to the refin technique. That's a very nice bass, congrats.
 

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