Found what appears to be a P bass circa 72 - 77 only problem I see is no holes for pickup covers. Any thoughts on that. Thanks for any help.
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70's P Bass
- Thread starter pedullaone
- Start date
It should have those holes. That's quite strange. I've never seen a 70s-era P without them. Get the serial # off of the neck plate and plug it into the computer. See what year first and move from there.
Every P up until around '80-81 will have holes predrilled for both covers (pickup and bridge) and the thumb rest
Sorry to slightly correct you in front of everyone, Fran, but I once owned a 79 Precision that didn't have the holes drilled. So while you were quite close, it was actually 79 that they stopped drilling for covers.
Oh I hear ya! Gray area too though. I ordered new P's back to back in April '78 and January '80, both came drilled and mounted.
THAT'S IT
I AM MORE CONVINCED THAT ALL FENDER JAZZ & P BASSES WERE MADE ( or put together ) ON MONDAYS & FRIDAYS. 
There are huge differences between a 72 and a 77 P bass. So if you have one with no cover holes, you most likely have a 79-81 P bass that's wearing a leftover late 70's serial decal.
Yes it has the older style decal, no serial number on headstock front, no holes for covers or thumbrest and no serial number on the neckplate just the Fender F logo. Odd thing is everything else appears correct. Thanks for your help.
It has the 70's P Bass decal no serial number on the headstock and the F logo on the neckplate no serial number. Thanks.
Drilled on Mondays, undrilled on Fridays?THAT'S IT
Might have a non-stock pickguard. If you're looking at buying it, ask the seller if you can look under it to see if there's holes for pup covers / thumb rest
Ser. # on Neckplate = 1950s-1976
Ser. # on the headstock = 1976-1980s
No ser.# on either = not a Fender, or a "mutt" bass (as Caca said).
Ser. # on the headstock = 1976-1980s
No ser.# on either = not a Fender, or a "mutt" bass (as Caca said).
My guess is, yours was probably an early '80s bass with a "S9" ser. # (which was very common to see S8s and S9s even into 1982 or so). My understanding is Fender stopped drilling the holes for the covers when they started making the "E series" in the early '80s. I know during that time, they were still using up a stockpile of late '70s necks. So there was some overlap, and a lot of people who think they have '78s and '79s are surprised when they open it up and see the early '80s codes on the pots and/or pickups. IME, a true 1979 model with no parts in it dating later than 1979 in it should still have covers and all the late '70s appointments.
Time to pop the neck and guard and see what is under the hood! Record any potentiometer and pickup info, finishing fixture marks, QC notations, and anything else you can find to help solve the mystery. There are a lot of resources here on TB, and pics would definitely help.
cricman
cricman
