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1980 Precision Bass Special

#21
They also did the Precision Elite and Elite II. They had twin split coils and a preamp. It was Fender's answer to the 80's onslaught of active basses. Elites in particular are fetching very good money on the used market.

image.jpg
 
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#23
Interesting advertisement. Explains why the neck is so comfortable (made to the specs of a '61 B-style neck). Yeah, the treble in the preamp is pretty harsh. I always ran mine flat. 15 dB of cut/boost explains the massive amount of low end possible from this beast! Really wish mine wouldn't have a dead spot on the low F of the E string otherwise I would use it more.
 
#24
PolkaHero said:
Interesting advertisement. Explains why the neck is so comfortable (made to the specs of a '61 B-style neck). Yeah, the treble in the preamp is pretty harsh. .
Click to expand...

Mine isn't comfy, it has a generous 1-5/8" width with a very thick/deep U shaped back, feels like a baseball bat. Every early 60's P I've tried have 1-3/4" widths but really thin front-to-back. Yup pretty crude preamp, I also always use it passive.

The only electronics issue mine had was the toggle switch failed twice.
 
#25
First to reiterate the error corrections...

It as a P bass body and neck, one splt-coil P pickup with different specs than a regular P from then. The PUP was passive, not active. It had an active EQ preamp that could be bypassed to fully passive. Big heavy brass bridge, string tree, thumb rest, and nut, plus gold plated tuning machines.

I was a Fender at the time, but my main bass was a StingRay. Our sales rep kept telling me the 13 dB cut/boost made it better than "brand M". The EQ points didn't sound good to me. All the ones we had in our stor were very heavy too. MSRP when first introduced at the summer NAMM was 999.95.

John
 
#26
JTE said:
First to reiterate the error corrections...

It as a P bass body and neck, one splt-coil P pickup with different specs than a regular P from then. The PUP was passive, not active. It had an active EQ preamp that could be bypassed to fully passive. Big heavy brass bridge, string tree, thumb rest, and nut, plus gold plated tuning machines.

I was a Fender at the time, but my main bass was a StingRay. Our sales rep kept telling me the 13 dB cut/boost made it better than "brand M". The EQ points didn't sound good to me. All the ones we had in our stor were very heavy too. MSRP when first introduced at the summer NAMM was 999.95.

John
Click to expand...

The nut on mine isn't brass. Also, mine didn't come with the thumbrest though I've seen models out there with them installed. It must have been an optional piece to be installed by the owner?

Yeah, the treble EQ point doesn't sound right. I like the low EQ but it gets to be overwhelming when boosted too much. Any idea what the exact EQ frequencies are?

Any idea how many of the Walnut models Fender produced in 1982? I've received different reports on exact numbers. Some people say only around 200 while others have told me around 1500 were produced.
 
#27
PolkaHero said:
Any idea how many of the Walnut models Fender produced in 1982? I've received different reports on exact numbers. Some people say only around 200 while others have told me around 1500 were produced.
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I don't have any inside info but when I researched this topic a few years back, the general consensus was between 100 and 200. Which makes me happy, since I have one.
 
#28
I have a 1982. I got it with a broken neck. So unfortunately, the matching head stock was gone, but overall, it is a pretty good sounding P-Bass! Lots of balls. The downside...HEAVY! I installed a 69' P bass neck and played it for a while, but this thing is north of 11lbs.
 
#29
One of my favorite bands/bassists - Zach Carothers from Portugal The Man used to rock this 81 P Special until it was stolen here in Chicago after Lollapalooza in 2010. Looks like it had some kind of blade pickups in there. He got GREAT tone out of this thing (along with a variety of pedals/tube amps)

This might be one of the last photos of it - that thing went from real clean when they first started touring, to a trashed road warrior by the time it was stolen.

Portugal%20the%20Man_20101010__15-L.jpg
 
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#30
I misspoke regarding the nut, they were the same Micarta nut as regular instruments were at the time. It was the same time Fender brought out their brass accessories for guitars and basses. The Precision Special and The Strat (that's the name of the model, "The Strat") had a lot of brass, but not nuts.

BTW, the Elites came latet, after the P Bass Special, 1982 I believe. The Elites first appeared in the '82 catalog along with the first appearance of the expanded Vintage Series line. The original VS was only the '52 Telecaster guitar ca 1980 or '81. It was successful enough for them to go with the '57 Stratocaster and Precision and the '62 Strat, Precision, and Jazz bass.

John
 
#32
TonH said:
More information about the special and elite on my webpages:

http://www.riverband.demon.nl/special.html

http://www.riverband.demon.nl/elite.html
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Nice information and pictures on those pages! I'm still not buying that only 200 of the Walnut Specials were produced, though. One just recently sold on Ebay and I've seen several here already on TB. Maybe someone should start up a Club on here and see how many people join? Here's some info I think a fellow TB'er sent me several years ago about my Walnut Special model concerning the production numbers:

"The figure of 3400 is on the high side, but 200 is much too few. The CB prefix was used starting July,11981 for the Walnut Precisions through June 30 of 1983. HOWEVER starting July 1 of 1982 the CB prefix decals were also used on the GOLD JAZZ BASS through June 30 of 1984. That was two full years of shared serials. The truth probably lies between the two figures and more like 1,500 to 2,000 of each. So far as I know the CB prefix was only used on the walnut P-basses and Gold Jazzes between 81 and 84."
 
#34
IMG_20190206_233055440.jpg
Hi - for those of you that had the magnificent USA made Fender American Precision Special - I have one as well. Was thinking of taking the neck off the Special and putting it on my MIJ 1986 Fender P Bass. Has anyone done that?
 
#35
m-j said:
View attachment 3344444 Hi - for those of you that had the magnificent USA made Fender American Precision Special - I have one as well. Was thinking of taking the neck off the Special and putting it on my MIJ 1986 Fender P Bass. Has anyone done that?
Click to expand...

Rule #1 - never disassemble collectable guitars and swap the parts around. You'll damage or lose the collectable parts and end up turning a $1,500 bass into a $500 bass.
 

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