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'51 Through '54 Let's See Some Photos

#21
dmrogers said:
Man, those are some wonderful guitars!
Is that the same guitar as the one in the photo of you playing?
How many of these do you still own?
And if you don't mind me asking, how would you compare these necks with a modern (~2012-2020) Precision neck?
Thanks for posting, it gives me something to lust after! :)
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Thank you, sir! :thumbsup:

The photo of me, taken when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, is the 1952 P bass [body & neck by Tadeo Gomez]. Same bass in the pic above & below it.

I still own the 51/55 & the AVII54.

The 1955 neck on the '51 body is a baseball bat, the biggest Fender neck I've played. The [2023] AVII54 is ever so slightly thinner at the nut [1.70" vs 1.75"] and front to back, compared to the '55 neck. But they feel pretty close. I've also owned a '56 P bass w/ a 1.75" nut and V contour that I really liked.
P1230806.jpg

thumb_Philco Predicat- Elvis - Version 2_1024.jpg
 
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#23
2saddleslab said:
Thank you, sir! :thumbsup:

The photo of me, taken when dinosaurs still roamed the earth, is the 1952 P bass [body & neck by Tadeo Gomez]. Same bass in the pic above & below it.

I still own the 51/55 & the AVII54.

The 1955 neck on the '51 body is a baseball bat, the biggest Fender neck I've played. The [2023] AVII54 is ever so slightly thinner at the nut [1.70" vs 1.75"] and front to back, compared to the '55 neck. But they feel pretty close. I've also owned a '56 P bass w/ a 1.75" nut and V contour that I really liked.
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That is just amazing. Hang on to them! Maybe this year I'll be able to post a photo of mine.
Thanks for sharing!
 
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#24
Pep said:
Here are a couple of links that may help you. The Harley Benton PB50 might be your best bet. You’ll need to pay duties but since they show it at $115 (which is about what I paid for mine), the duties shouldn’t be much. My Harley Benton was near perfect and plays great.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...-guitar-butterscotch-blonde?serial=2N25280097

www.thomannmusic.com

Harley Benton PB-50 SB Vintage Series

Electric Bass Vintage Series, Body: Basswood, Bolt-on neck: Canadian maple, Fingerboard: Maple, Neck profile: C, Fingerboard inlays: Dot, 20 Frets, Scale: 864 mm, Nut width: 42 mm, Dual action truss rod, Pickup: 1 Roswell VTN4 Vista Alnico-5...
www.thomannmusic.com www.thomannmusic.com
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The Harley Benton looks nice and I have looked at the Sire.
Actually a Squier Classic Vibe '50s is a possibility. Although I like the sunburst and that isn't a current option. Oh well, I've got time, I'll find the right one.
 
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#26
Here's a true personal treasure. It's the 1970 neck from my very first real instrument, bought new out of a box on my new Fende Tele bass. I proceeded to wear out the original body and mounted the neck on a Jazz. Fast forward into the 90's I decided I need my Tele back.
Found the complete Warmoth Swamp Ash body fully loaded on ebay. Just add neck!
So as it stands it has a Duncan Tele reissue pickup and a threaded saddle bent plate.
Complete neck, covers and neck plate are from my original. 8.7#
I still can't put it down for long.
 

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#27
bassclef112 said:
Here's a true personal treasure. It's the 1970 neck from my very first real instrument, bought new out of a box on my new Fende Tele bass. I proceeded to wear out the original body and mounted the neck on a Jazz. Fast forward into the 90's I decided I need my Tele back.
Found the complete Warmoth Swamp Ash body fully loaded on ebay. Just add neck!
So as it stands it has a Duncan Tele reissue pickup and a threaded saddle bent plate.
Complete neck, covers and neck plate are from my original. 8.7#
I still can't put it down for long.
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That is a cool story! It's great that you were able to put this together.
So, was the neck a good fit? Did you have to do any adjusting to the neck or body?
 
#29
After wanting a SCPB for maybe a decade, I finally pulled the trigger on one I found on FB marketplace locally. It's a parts bass, "1954" style. Has covers but I removed them. Love this bass, looks & sounds awesome, and I always get comments on it. Thanks to another thread I have some period correct bridge saddles coming, and will be adding a proper tug bar as well. Couple of action shots, from this summer, and a couple weeks ago.

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#30
JMacBass65 said:
After wanting a SCPB for maybe a decade, I finally pulled the trigger on one I found on FB marketplace locally. It's a parts bass, "1954" style. Has covers but I removed them. Love this bass, looks & sounds awesome, and I always get comments on it. Thanks to another thread I have some period correct bridge saddles coming, and will be adding a proper tug bar as well. Couple of action shots, from this summer, and a couple weeks ago.

View attachment 7437066View attachment 7437067
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I should be so lucky. That is a real looker!
If I could find one on marketplace, I would be all over it!
Thanks for sharing.
 
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#31
Lex P. said:
My vision of a ‘54. 54 Warmoth body and roasted jazz width neck. 8.5 lbs. Seymour Duncan custom shop split coil. Nordstrand 51P4S hum-cancelling is on the way so SD may be replaced.
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Wow, thanks for sharing! The more I look around, the more I think about putting one together like you did.
The body looks amazing.
Did you put any kind of finish on the body?
Can you tell me more about the neck?
Where did you source your hardware?
Finally, did you run into any issues with the build?
Sorry for so many questions, but your build looks a lot like what I envision.
Thanks in advance.
 
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#33
dmrogers said:
Wow, thanks for sharing! The more I look around, the more I think about putting one together like you did.
The body looks amazing.
Did you put any kind of finish on the body?
Can you tell me more about the neck?
Where did you source your hardware?
Finally, did you run into any issues with the build?
Sorry for so many questions, but your build looks a lot like what I envision.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Thanks, The only job I had was assembly and shielding.

The finish is gloss. Both neck and body finished by Warmoth.

Roasted maple Warmoth neck, Rosewood fretboard, with steel rods, 1 1/2” nut width, 5150 frets, Hipshot tuners. Neck has a little bit of flame to it, looks real nice in the right light. Very stable! The Warmoth neck is not as baseball batty feeling as the reissue 51 Fender necks. IMHO. For me nut width is more important for feel than neck thickness..

Stewmac was my source for CTS 250k pots, rounded knobs, cloth wire and orange drop capacitor.

The control plate was through Amazon. The Fender control plate available all over the internet is not compatible with the full size CTS pots. So beware. I used the Create Idea control plate. Excellent quality!

Issues? What I found through trial and error is the roasted maple is easier to strip out than unroasted maple. Easily fixed with toothpicks and wood glue! I did have a professional luthier file the nut down, it was a bit high when it arrived.
 
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#34
dmrogers said:
I should be so lucky. That is a real looker!
If I could find one on marketplace, I would be all over it!
Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...
Thanks, it was luck, timing, and patience. Dude originally listed it for $900. I pinged him and we never managed to sync up (he was an hour away from me), and I kinda forgot about it. Then he re-listed it, again at $900, and this time I decided that was too much. A few months later, he listed it for $600......so I pounced. :thumbsup:
 
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#35
JMacBass65 said:
Thanks, it was luck, timing, and patience. Dude originally listed it for $900. I pinged him and we never managed to sync up (he was an hour away from me), and I kinda forgot about it. Then he re-listed it, again at $900, and this time I decided that was too much. A few months later, he listed it for $600......so I pounced. :thumbsup:
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Wow, $600!
If it plays and sounds as good as it looks, you got a bargain!
I've been keeping my eyes on marketplace, but so far nothing is coming up. I live out in the middle of nowhere. Anything even remotely interesting is around 3 hours away. A Sting bass showed up in Jacksonville, too far really.
I'll just take my time.
 
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#38
dmrogers said:
Nice!
What's the story on this one?
I've seen one similar once that Lee Sklar was playing.
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It's a Tribe Shob signature bass and it's great it came with an OPB1 preamp, but I put in an East JTone which is nicer. Put it in passive mode and does the 54 p bass stuff, but it can also get Jazz type tones. The 2 pickups together actually sound better than my Jazz bass. The bridge pickup is further away from the bridge than on a Jazz so it can't do the Jazz bridge thing, but it sounds good as well.
 
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#39
This is a bass I had built by my good friend and bass guru @jedibass of Mad Man Music.
It started as a 54 with a Nordstrand stacked pickup.
Didn't care for that pickup. We then installed a T V Jones pickup.
Didn't care for that pickup either. It was a great bass. And beautiful

249724321_602745494258928_4136751377778338263_n.jpg 54 CAT TV 2.jpg
 
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#40

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