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Classic natural ash maple Precision bass

Fran Diaz

Fran Diaz

Mar 28, 2002
3,912
1,058
Santander, Spain
Disclosures
Bassist
#1
IMO one of the most classic looks for P bass is the natural ash body with black guard and maple neck and fingerboard.

I'd love to know more about it: When was it introduced?, famous (or not so famous) players that have played it, classic recordings, etc.

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#3
IMO one of the most classic looks for P bass is the natural ash body with black guard and maple neck and fingerboard
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+1

I believe Fender introduced the natural finish in 1970.

Here's mine:

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#6
I remember a Fender catalog from 1972 that had the ash maple P, but with a white gard'. The other reason I remember it was a LPB jazz bass with rosewood and pearl blocks. 1970 sounds about right. Fran, don't you have the Sadowsky version of this bass?;)
 
#8
tomshepp said:
... Fran, don't you have the Sadowsky version of this bass?;)
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You're right Tom. It was my dream bass come true. I've been playing Sadowskys for 5 years and I never asked Roger to build me a bass like this because I had never seen this combo on the In Stock page; I thought that since they usually use solid ash for natural finishes the resulting full size P would be too heavy for Roger's standards. My PJ weighs 8.4 lbs :eek:
I've had it only for 4 months but it already has a lot of sentimental value (apart from being a fantastic instrument) because I have a little story about how I won it on ebay: I placed a bid on it like ten days before the auction ended. Early in the morning of the last day my baby girl 'knocked at the door' and I had to run to the hospital with my wife so I couldn't track the end of the auction; I lost all hope of getting the bass and I had already assimilated that some Sadowsky sniper was already celebrating the 'shot'.
My beautiful Nora was born later that day and when I came home for a shower I checked my email and found out I had won the bass. :hyper: The 10th of July was my lucky day for sure.

the mandatory photo (excuse the J ;)):

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#14
frandiaz said:
You're right Tom. It was my dream bass come true. I've been playing Sadowskys for 5 years and I never asked Roger to build me a bass like this because I had never seen this combo on the In Stock page; I thought that since they usually use solid ash for natural finishes the resulting full size P would be too heavy for Roger's standards. My PJ weighs 8.4 lbs :eek:
I've had it only for 4 months but it already has a lot of sentimental value (apart from being a fantastic instrument) because I have a little story about how I won it on ebay: I placed a bid on it like ten days before the auction ended. Early in the morning of the last day my baby girl 'knocked at the door' and I had to run to the hospital with my wife so I couldn't track the end of the auction; I lost all hope of getting the bass and I had already assimilated that some Sadowsky sniper was already celebrating the 'shot'.
My beautiful Nora was born later that day and when I came home for a shower I checked my email and found out I had won the bass. :hyper: The 10th of July was my lucky day for sure.

the mandatory photo (excuse the J ;)):

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Great story! July 10, my wedding anniversary as well!:)
 
#16
Sufenta said:
Eventually might get a black guard.
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Good plan!

I much prefer the black guard on a natural ash bass. In fact, my dream bass is an ash P with no pick guard (routed from the back, obviously), all black hardware including a strat jack and black blocks in the maple fingerboard.

(sigh...)

Some day, perhaps. I'm sure I'll have to sell something significant to be able to afford that custom body, and I'll have to sell some other significant gear to be able to afford that custom neck because it's gotta be a P profile - no jazz neck on my dream bass!
 
#18
My first real bass was a gently used Precison I bought in 1976. It was natural/ash with a white guard. However, I have no regrets at all about letting it go in 1983. It weighed a ton (well, a full 13 pounds), it was all attack and sustain without any blossom, it had a wiggle in the neck around the 1st fret, and it had a big clumsy neck. We had an old 'shell guard sitting around the store I managed so I put that on it at one time. The pickguard was worth more than the bass when I sold the bass.

I like necks that are wide (my favorite neck is my '83 VS P with a full 1.75" wide neck, but it's very thin front-to-back) but this thing was just like a big baseball bat cut in half lengthwise. It's an iconic look, but like blocks 'n' binding on Jazz basses, the look only reminds me of how horribly inconsistent and generally mediocre the stuff I had to try to sell was in those days...

John
 
#19
Holy War said:
I know theyre not offered by Fender at the moment and its a crying shame
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Same with Fender Japan, new MIJ PB-70 has rosewood fretboard instead of maple. I think I got the last batch of PB-70 with maple fretboard.

Here is my S serial CIJ (late 2007 model)

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And here is the new MIJ PB-70 (2009 model)

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