Date of this Telecaster Bas????

The neck is a legit 68 with lollipop tuners. The bridge cover isn't a Fender part. A real 68 would have a white pg and a single coil pickup. I am thinking the body is a replacement because of the split pickup.

 

The more I look at it the pg shape is wrong I would bet it covers the route for the single coil. Looks like a modded, refinished 68.

 

The neck and tuners look pretty straight forward for the year. The value of the body has been harmed by the split coil routing. The neck plate looks too new.

 

Definitely all the mods listed above.

 

Whose siggy? Chris Squire's, perhaps?

 

Hmmm, if true with the pickup & routing, I'd put it back to a stock pg with a hum cancelling single coil form factor pickup.

 

Need to be a supporting member. ;-)

 

Not a vintage Tele body either. Should be slab-bodied.

 

Rules/FAQ section.

 

Lord... the seller told you that, did he? I hope you didn't pay too much for that bass!

 

The neck appears to be an authentic 68 neck, but the rest of the bass was modified significantly. This early Fender ad is what an original 68 looked like.

 

Hold on, did OP actually buy the bass or is he thinking about it?

If you are thinking about buying the bass we can provide price quotes. We just cannot provide quotes for gear you own as it reads like a for sale thread. In that case, you'd need to be a supporting member.

 

My '68 tele has the date of manufacture imprinted on the butt of the neck. Gotta pull it to see it, but that's the only way I know to be sure (about the neck). The body doesn't matter since it has obviously been heavily modded. I'm no expert but I've never seen a black pickguard on one. But many of the early '68 pickguards fell apart and stained the wood, so no big surprise there.

 

Pickguard is wrong for sure, as is the bridge cover. I can't really tell from the pictures if the body is contoured or not. If it is, then it's wrong. Also, not sure about the color - the only ones I've seen have been a cream color, not the natural like this one. I could very well be mistaken on that one, so don't kill me if I am. Also, the angle of the decal on the headstock looks funny to me. My guess is the neck is legit and may have been refinished and re-decaled.

 

The value of something like this, a modded, moderately popular bass varies wildly based on the coolness of the mods and the gonads of the seller. Here are a few listings of similar basses to give you an idea. Me? I would probably be inclined to estimate this one on the low end of the scale but as you can see from the listings I posted...folks will ask what they think they can get.

SOLD - 68 or 69 Fender Telecaster bass- real relic player

SOLD - 68/69 Fender Telecaster Bass- players bass

For Sale - 1968 Fender Telecaster Bass

SOLD - 1968 Fender Telecaster - HotRodded

FS/FT: 1969 Fender Telecaster Bass

 

It looks like it is a slab body...