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'66 P good price?

#41
I was thinking...if you plan on refinishing it in a solid color (not sunburst then...) - would you remove the J pickup and fill the hole? Would that do even more för the resale value...?

And, with "you" I don't necessarily mean the OP, but "you" in a a general sense....dang this english stuff is hard to get right...
 
#42
I'm forcing myself to wait. It might not hurt it to open it now. But I KNOW it won't hurt the bass to leave it boxed up for a little while longer. It just hurts inside. ;)

It has been freezing here for days and, according to FedEx package tracking, the bass was sitting in a truck, here in town, since Saturday. So I know it's currently fully acclimated to freezing temps.

Besides, I don't have a good camera here anyway, so pics have to wait until I get home regardless. :D
 
#43
mikkejohansson said:
I was thinking...if you plan on refinishing it in a solid color (not sunburst then...) - would you remove the J pickup and fill the hole? Would that do even more för the resale value...?

And, with "you" I don't necessarily mean the OP, but "you" in a a general sense....dang this english stuff is hard to get right...
Click to expand...

i personally think that it would help its resale value. plus to me, it would make it a more 'valid' vintage p bass. don't get me wrong, i think it's an awesome bass the way that it is.

in order to do it with minimal wood removal/replacement, i'd get a piece of alder that matched the the original wood as close as possible, inlay the new piece, then seal just over the filled route area with poly (which has less shrinking over time), then seal the whole body with nitro sealer and shoot it a solid vintage color like sonic blue, vintage white, olympic white which would minimize the chances of seeing it in later years. with a vintage metallic color, CAR, or black it would eventually be abit more noticeable, that's why some guys veneer the face of them, or route and replace a much larger straight piece of wood to cover (or fill) it, but i always try to retain the most original wood as possible.
 
#44
Our resident vintage Fender expert and master builder has recommended to me that I remove the J pickup, fill in the hole, and then refinish it back to a period-correct color (I would go with black).

I suppose that would raise the value more than refinishing it in black but leaving the J pickup. However, I'm not really particularly concerned with trying to elevate its value. I definitely don't want to do anything to hurt the value. But, beyond that, I'm planning on keeping and playing it. So, as long as I don't hurt the value, my priorities are having it sound good, play well, and look good.

I also wonder how the value of black with J pickup removed would compare to the value of 3TSB with J pickup still installed.

I really have no evidence to back this up, but I have a perception that 3TSB is a more desireable color for this bass than black, in terms of market value. Whenever I hear the words "vintage Fender", it's always 3TSB with a rosewood board and tort p/g that pops into my head.
 
#45
I'd just leave it alone. It looks great, and unless you 'cover up' the J pickup with the purpose of trying to sell it as if there had never been one installed (which I am sure you would never do), the value should be the same (more or less).

Once it has been refinished, the value decreases, but that that's why you got it for almost nothing !!! :-)

It's a great looking bass at a super price - especially compared to the insane European vintage Fender prices :-/
 
#46
Wow...that is one beautiful fender bass. I'm a 66er myself, and have nightly dreams about pulling up to a garage sale and finding a '66 Jazz. Congrats to you for scoring!

While I'd personally keep it a PJ (because I like PJs), JohnK knows the score on old gear. If value (retention or elevation) is any consideration, his advice is pretty sound.
 
#48
Engine207 said:
While I'd personally keep it a PJ (because I like PJs), JohnK knows the score on old gear. If value (retention or elevation) is any consideration, his advice is pretty sound.
Click to expand...

Yep, JohnK rocks!

It's his recommendation that has me on the fence. My first inclination is to keep the J pickup. But, he recommends ditching it, so I'm seriously considering it. I decided to hold off on making any decisions on it until I have played it some. :D If I find that, in playing it, I end up playing it with the P soloed most or all of the time, then the J goes. If I find that I do like the sound with the J and want to use that sound (or sounds) that I can get with the J, then I'll keep it. Priority #1 is not to devalue it any further. But, adding back value is definitely a lower priority than having it play, sound, and look like I want.

Heck, at this point, I could still play it and decide I don't even like it at all! :eek: (pretty unlikely, though :D)
 
#50
StuartV said:
Yep, JohnK rocks!

It's his recommendation that has me on the fence. My first inclination is to keep the J pickup. But, he recommends ditching it, so I'm seriously considering it. ...
Click to expand...

I considered this when I snagged my 62 P/J and a few months later, my 75 P/J. I figured, heck, I'll try and restore back to original, P/J's are kinda ugly, etc.

BUT, I've found the jazz PU to be more than useful, so I just kept it as-is.

If I want to solo the Precision PU, I can do that still...and it has a genuine P sound IMO (despite what others might say), the added J PU isn't much to look at, but when you dial a bit of that in, with the Precision PU on full, I forget what the dang thing looks like, and just PLAY! P+J sounds amazing IMO. The J adds so much OHMF and clarity IMO

I'd keep it for now and play around with it until you decide you don't like it, which for me, I haven't gotten to that point yet. ;)

Pics yet!?!?
 
#51
I haven't even opened the box yet! Can you believe it?! It was stored in freezing temps for at least 2 days. And, it's getting close to quittin' time here at work, so I think I may actually manage to resist temptation and wait until I get it home before I rip into it. :hyper:
 
#52
StuartV said:
Yep, JohnK rocks!

It's his recommendation that has me on the fence. My first inclination is to keep the J pickup. But, he recommends ditching it, so I'm seriously considering it. I decided to hold off on making any decisions on it until I have played it some. :D If I find that, in playing it, I end up playing it with the P soloed most or all of the time, then the J goes. If I find that I do like the sound with the J and want to use that sound (or sounds) that I can get with the J, then I'll keep it. Priority #1 is not to devalue it any further. But, adding back value is definitely a lower priority than having it play, sound, and look like I want.

Heck, at this point, I could still play it and decide I don't even like it at all! :eek: (pretty unlikely, though :D)
Click to expand...

That's some pretty lucid thought there. 44-year old guys are really smart! :smug:
 
#53
My thought on the P/J thing is... the body has already been routed and the original paint is gone. What's done is done. If filling in the hole would restore any value it would be minimal IMO. I hear what johnk is saying and I am sort of a vintage Fender purist too. But...
I personally wouldn't pay anymore money for a routed bass that was filled back in than I would for a routed bass. So if it were mine, I would enjoy the extra tone you get from the J, and be content that it's a 100% player's bass that you can wail on, and not a museum bass. And if you want to make further mods to it down tghe road, you won't have to feel bad about it. I also wouldn't refinish it for the purposes of restoring (vintage) value, but I would refinish it simply to look better.
 
#55
Low Class said:
The main thing to consider and something you did not mention was the condition of the neck. If the truss rod screw is even or close to the butt of the neck it probably is worth it. If it looks like it has been screwed way in stay away. Also if the the J pickup is something you want take a look at where it is positioned. I see too many that are way too close to the bridge and are useless IMO.
Click to expand...

IMO Not a valid way to judge truss rod condition, I own a 66 j bass with the truss rod pretty much flush with the neck and i cant tighten it more than half a turn before maxing it.
The neck is pretty straight that way though and doesnt react to much to weather change, that plus the fact that i like a high action allows me to deal with only having a full turn of truss rod to play with going from one extreme to the over but it would be a problem for someone who likes a low action...
Looking at it it looks perfectly fine though...

A pic for your 66 GAS!

DSCN1419.jpg
 
#57
The neck feels great! Like a well-broken in pair of jeans.

It sounds great, too! Whether I solo the P, select both pickups, or solo the J. They each sound different and I like them all!

I don't really understand why it's wired the way it is. There's a 3-position switch that selects P, P+J, or J pickups. There's a normal Tone knob. And then other 2 knobs are both Vol. One for each pickup. But, the weird part is that when I select both pickups, BOTH knobs control the total volume. I.e. if I select both pickups and turn either Vol knob all the way down, I lose ALL sound, not just the sound from that one pickup. I guess they must be wired in series with each, which just seems weird. But, if I set the pickup selector switch to solo either pickup, then the Vol knob for the other pickup doesn't affect anything.

And the other switch on it is a 2-position, which I was told is a phase selector. As you would expect, it only does anything when I have the pickup selector switch set for both pickups. And then, if the phase switch is flipped the "wrong" way, it definitely turns into a thin, nasally sound that I cannot currently think of any use for.

So far, I'm totally in love! :D
 
#58
Oh, and the pickups are hot, too! I'm very surprised. I have the input gain on my SVT set at about 10:00 and the input pad is off. In other words, it's set very close to how I set it for most of my active basses.

Oh (2), my digital bathroom scale says 8.4 pounds. My second lightest bass. Only beaten by my Peavey G-Bass, which is 8.0, with it's basswood body and graphite neck.
 

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