1983 Fender Elite II

[78abyrne]

Just got this back from my local shop. Found it tucked away in the corner of a small town music/vinyl shop a few weeks ago. It was a little rough, the original pickguard was cracked, electronics needed some work and action was way high. However, I got it for $1,300 so I figured I had some room to invest a little into it to get it set up properly and rewired at my local shop.

Between the new pickguard, setup and wiring work I’ve got just shy of $1,500 wrapped up into this bass, and now it plays, feels, and sounds awesome! Currently set up in BEAD.

And yes, I do have the notoriously hard to find fine tuners for the bridge, I just took them off as they don’t fit right on the low B string. Only thing I’m missing that I wish I had was the original knobs… if you’ve got some hit me up!

 

[BGroovy]

The original knobs are impossible to find, but there’s a guy in CA who makes knobs with the F that look pretty close. I put them on my Elite and was happy. He also made me a few ramps for various basses.

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[78abyrne]

The original knobs are impossible to find, but there’s a guy in CA who makes knobs with the F that look pretty close. I put them on my Elite and was happy. He also made me a few ramps for various basses.

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I think I’ve come across this guys reproduction knobs before. Glad to know you like them, hard to judge the quality on the eBay photos alone. I may have to snag some!

 

[BGroovy]

I think I’ve come across this guys reproduction knobs before. Glad to know you like them, hard to judge the quality on the eBay photos alone. I may have to snag some!

They’re not cheap but they’re the best I found and definitely made my Elite feel more period correct.

 

[Mastermold]

These are really well made Fenders, mine is absurdly heavy for a Precision but the heavy ash sure sounds good so I don’t mind. Congrats on the find!

 

[SteveCS]

Just for a bit of Trivial/History interest, this is a photograph of the Elite Precision pages from the Fender catalogue from the time:

 

[TonH]

Congrats on the find!
More info on my website: www.riverband.demon.nl/elite.html

 

[2thAche]

Very cool. I've always wondered how the double P pickup sounds.

 

[alack]

I think the J bass knobs on your bass look much cooler than the stock knobs on the bass in the catalog. Perhaps a minor missed opportunity on Fender’s part.

 

[Mastermold]

Photo of my ‘83 Elite II

 

[78abyrne]

Congrats on the find!
More info on my website: www.riverband.demon.nl/elite.html

Nice! I stumbled upon your site before when I first got the bass. I used your wiring diagrams to give the luthier a guide on how to redo the wiring for me. Tons of great info you got here!

 

[78abyrne]

Anyone else with one of these struggle to get their action as low as usual? This is my first bass with a 7.25 radius, most of my others are more flat. I’ve noticed on this bass I’m able to get it to 3.3mm, 3.1mm, 2.9mm, 2.75mm (BEAD tuning) and be able to still dig in quite a bit. I usually run my action in BEAD tuning closer to 2.4mm - 2.0mm.

If I go any lower I start fretting out around 13-16 frets. Could just maybe need a fret file/level, but I just had it setup at a shop, I thought they would’ve caught something like this if it were obvious.

Thoughts?

 

[TonH]

Anyone else with one of these struggle to get their action as low as usual? This is my first bass with a 7.25 radius, most of my others are more flat. I’ve noticed on this bass I’m able to get it to 3.3mm, 3.1mm, 2.9mm, 2.75mm (BEAD tuning) and be able to still dig in quite a bit. I usually run my action in BEAD tuning closer to 2.4mm - 2.0mm.

If I go any lower I start fretting out around 13-16 frets. Could just maybe need a fret file/level, but I just had it setup at a shop, I thought they would’ve caught something like this if it were obvious.

Thoughts?

The last few days I have done a setup on all my Elite basses.
I notcied that I can set the action on the all maple necks lower then on the necks with a rosewood fretboard.
Maybe in 40 years those necks with a rosewood fretboard developed some kind of a ski jump.

More about the ski jump, read this thread on TB: Getting the Facts about Ski Jumps

 

[Mastermold]

Anyone else with one of these struggle to get their action as low as usual? This is my first bass with a 7.25 radius, most of my others are more flat. I’ve noticed on this bass I’m able to get it to 3.3mm, 3.1mm, 2.9mm, 2.75mm (BEAD tuning) and be able to still dig in quite a bit. I usually run my action in BEAD tuning closer to 2.4mm - 2.0mm.

If I go any lower I start fretting out around 13-16 frets. Could just maybe need a fret file/level, but I just had it setup at a shop, I thought they would’ve caught something like this if it were obvious.

Thoughts?

Maybe check the microtilt screw and make sure it’s not pushing the heal?