Some buyers might be deterred by the fact that the production date on this bass is later than the sale to CBS. I realize it may be of the same quality as a pre-CBS but we are talking about the high-end collector market here.
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1966 P-Bass Overpriced?
- Thread starter selowitch
- Start date
I know how to set up basses and tried, it was dead, didn't sound that good and had high action, the neck was bowed and it was very difficult to turn the truss rod etc, if it were mine could I have gotten it to play and sound good? Don't know but as it wasn't I didn't want to take any chances of snapping a 1965 truss rod.
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Better stay away from steptococcal bacteria too!
Finding out if it is a streptococcal bacteria is easy today with a antigen detection test (wasn't invented in the 60s)
No wonder it wasn't diagnosed right. Most sinus infections ars viral.
Bacterial sinus infections are treated with antibiotics (very hard ones!) which should be avoided
for viral infections, because they don't help at all and can be risky!
Even today the antibiotics cocktail that is needed to kill streptococcal bacteria (tough beasts!)
is the last thing a doctor wants to give you.
greetings
Wise
hi guys 
What a collector wants is something rare and vintage. Or at least vintage and collectable.
when the first collectors discovered e- guitars and basses, only pre CBS instruments were vintage and only the
guitars and basses that were build before 1960 were considered rare.
Only Fenders that were older than 1962 were considered collectable!!!
"Leo cheaped out his guitars when he started to put a curved fretboard on them."
(that's what you could still read in articles about vintage guitars in the 80s!)
Times change!
Today this bass is more than two times a vintage. (vintage = older than 25)
It is rare (a custom finish in that condition is awesome)
It's rare to the point that a lot of people think it's not original.
And today a lot of people realize that, although the CBS years were not Fender's best time,
the basses CBS made were not all bad.
In the 80s you could get them for a price of a Squier (or cheaper)
The known problems were ski jump necks (which you also can find on pre CBS basses!), warped necks,
neck pockets that were too wide (creditcard holders), crappy bridges, bad pots (old) and pickups that couldn't be used with active electronics (which was hip in the 80s)
Those with bad necks probably ended on a landfill or got a replacement neck.
The bridges were replaced with a badass (first generation that needs a route)
Electronics were swapped (another route for the preamp and the battery)
And of course nobody kept the original guts.
=> The few good basses, that survived that modding orgy (which was fun btw) are now collectable!
Chop sticks!
And will stay there forever!
A lot of these guys don't want to sell their stuff (they won't haggle!)
greetings
Wise(b)ass
What a collector wants is something rare and vintage. Or at least vintage and collectable.
when the first collectors discovered e- guitars and basses, only pre CBS instruments were vintage and only the
guitars and basses that were build before 1960 were considered rare.
Only Fenders that were older than 1962 were considered collectable!!!
"Leo cheaped out his guitars when he started to put a curved fretboard on them."
(that's what you could still read in articles about vintage guitars in the 80s!)
Times change!
Today this bass is more than two times a vintage.
(vintage = older than 25)It is rare (a custom finish in that condition is awesome)
It's rare to the point that a lot of people think it's not original.
And today a lot of people realize that, although the CBS years were not Fender's best time,
the basses CBS made were not all bad.
In the 80s you could get them for a price of a Squier (or cheaper)
The known problems were ski jump necks (which you also can find on pre CBS basses!), warped necks,
neck pockets that were too wide (creditcard holders
), crappy bridges, bad pots (old) and pickups that couldn't be used with active electronics (which was hip in the 80s)Those with bad necks probably ended on a landfill or got a replacement neck.
The bridges were replaced with a badass (first generation that needs a route)
Electronics were swapped (another route for the preamp and the battery)
And of course nobody kept the original guts.
=> The few good basses, that survived that modding orgy (which was fun btw) are now collectable!
Chop sticks!
And will stay there forever!
A lot of these guys don't want to sell their stuff (they won't haggle!)
greetings
Wise(b)ass
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While I tend to agree that a lot can be achieved with a good set up, a bowed or twisted neck is a true defect requiring real repair work (if possible). Still, while "dog" may be too pejorative, some are definitely better than others. I had a '65 that weighted probably 10 1/2 lbs, had a thick U shaped neck profile I could never jell with and the pickups sounded thin no matter the height adjustment, etc - neck was straight, action was good and all parts, frets and finish original. Looked fantastic. Had another '65 that was an easy 2 lbs lighter, great, thin C profile and great full sounding pickups. Was really striking how radically different they were.
Oh, man, those were so sad. When I worked in a repair shop saw many old Fender basses with coutersunk Badass I bridges. Still remember a particularly nice clean (like the one in the OP) '62 CAR P with green guard - and a crudely routed in Badass... Same with a previously near mint '56 Strat a guy installed a Floyd Rose and locking nut in - with hand tools.
hi guys
What a collector wants is something rare and vintage. Or at least vintage and collectable.
when the first collectors discovered e- guitars and basses, only pre CBS instruments were vintage and only the
guitars and basses that were build before 1960 were considered rare.
Only Fenders that were older than 1962 were considered collectable!!!
"Leo cheaped out his guitars when he started to put a curved fretboard on them."
(that's what you could still read in articles about vintage guitars in the 80s!)
Times change!
Today this bass is more than two times a vintage.
It is rare (a custom finish in that condition is awesome)
It's rare to the point that a lot of people think it's not original.
And today a lot of people realize that, although the CBS years were not Fender's best time,
the basses CBS made were not all bad.
In the 80s you could get them for a price of a Squier (or cheaper)
The known problems were ski jump necks (which you also can find on pre CBS basses!), warped necks,
neck pockets that were too wide (creditcard holders
Those with bad necks probably ended on a landfill or got a replacement neck.
The bridges were replaced with a badass (first generation that needs a route)
Electronics were swapped (another route for the preamp and the battery)
And of course nobody kept the original guts.
=> The few good basses, that survived that modding orgy (which was fun btw) are now collectable!
Chop sticks!
And will stay there forever!
A lot of these guys don't want to sell their stuff (they won't haggle!)
greetings
Wise(b)ass
This will make your tummies hurt then.
1962 P bass,mine
Defret, yes? This thing must record like a beast!
What's the neck pickup? Like Son of Wobble said I'm sure it's a great bass.
Of course the Jazz Bass bridge pickup was a really common mod. Saw a lot of Jazz Basses with Mudbuckers or others added at the butt of the neck. Maybe that was a Bay Area thing - like I think we saw a lot of those first version Badass mods as Quan was local in SF.
This!
I worked in a shop (soldering guitars and basses) when a guy showed up with a Strat.
Floyd Rose and bridge humbucker routes, new Eddie Van H finish (red with the black and white stripes, 80s
)The neckpocket had traces of blue. Guy told me he didn't like that fugly baby blue and
he had the Strat from his uncle (who "was a pro back in the days")
It was a daphne blue early 60s Strat
And of course the guy had sold all the guts on a flea market!
That was the most expensive Eddie VH lookalike guitar I ever saw!
He could have bought a dozen Kramers had he sold his uncle's guitar!
Wise
edit to add: this happend in the 80s when Eddie was still a hero and Daphne blue, Shell pink and Surf green were ugly.
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Nah! Just another mod!
(seen it before too many times to be shocked)Hope it sounds like it looks though!
(I love it!)Wise
That sounds wise to me. I do think it is overpriced (that specific bass - not getting lost in the whole argument about vintage in general). Unless they really shoot up further in price - which I think unlikely - it would be very difficult to get your money back out of it - even if negotiated down to $10K or so. $8K it starts getting worth considering....
This!
I worked in a shop (soldering guitars and basses) when a guy showed up with a Strat.
Floyd Rose and bridge humbucker routes, new Eddie Van H finish (red with the black and white stripes, 80s
The neckpocket had traces of blue. Guy told me he didn't like that fugly baby blue and
he had the Strat from his uncle (who "was a pro back in the days")
It was a daphne blue early 60s Strat
And of course the guy had sold all the guts on a flea market!
That was the most expensive Eddie VH lookalike guitar I ever saw!
He could have bought a dozen Kramers had he sold his uncle's guitar!
Wise
edit to add: this happend in the 80s when Eddie was still a hero and Daphne blue, Shell pink and Surf green were ugly.
So many stories like that (the '56 - which was 'just' a tobacco sunburst - was also in the 80's and, interestingly, also came from the guy's uncle IIRC - maybe the same guy!!!) Of course, that so many met such fates is a big part of why unmolested originals are worth what they are (back in the 80's/early 90's I think the majority of Pre-CBS basses, Strats and Teles I saw suffered at least the 'hippy refin' treatment -- somehow Jazzmasters, Jaguars, Mustangs, etc seemed to do better). The most expensive such mod I've ever seen was a 1960 sunburst Les Paul - that someone converted to a double cutaway!
So the take away is;
> It wasn't your bass.
> You weren't in a position to see the setup through to the finish.
> You don't know if you could have properly adjusted it.
> But your assessment was that it was just a "bad" bass?
You do understand that any old guitar can develop a bad neck over time, right? And that that doesn't mean it started life as a "bad" bass. Nor does it mean that a skilled guitar tech couldn't repair even a neglected, bowed neck. We all know that they could, and that they do. Maybe you're just not the expert setup guy you imagine you are. Cool story, though.
I traded a Tele bass for a late 60's P bass in 1977, it had a humbucker (EB-0 I think) at the neck, they guy wanted it so I said sure take it. Wish I had it now.
That sounds wise to me. I do think it is overpriced (that specific bass - not getting lost in the whole argument about vintage in general). Unless they really shoot up further in price - which I think unlikely - it would be very difficult to get your money back out of it - even if negotiated down to $10K or so. $8K it starts getting worth considering....
The most expensive such mod I've ever seen was a 1960 sunburst Les Paul - that someone converted to a double cutaway!
How many player sanded off their sunburst finishes because they were sick of sunburst? If you walked into a guitar store and they had 20 Fenders, they had twenty sunburst Fenders. I bought my first Fender in 1970 and I remember 6 Fender VI's hanging on the all, all sunburst. I can remember seeing a lot of sunburst P basses when I was a kid and I don't remember them making any until early 70's
