Drool :P~

Pretty sweet but I prefer maple fretboards.

 

I love maple too, but I could make an exception in this case! Wish it was a little cheaper, like by half.

 

But it is a custom shop. And it is seriously gorgeous! Funny they call it a 2 tone sunburst. I clearly see 3 colors there, the base yellow color, a reddish edging and them the brown edge. Looks more than overlapping brown on yellow. But beautiful.

 

Did Fender offer a rosewood fingerboard on sunburst P-basses in 1957? I have it in my head that rosewood wasn't an option until 1959, but maybe I'm way wrong on that?

 

You're not wrong.

I've played a fair amount of '57/58 P-Basses before the insanity started and have never come across a single one with a rosewood fingerboard. Does that mean that there's not a custom-ordered-outlier somewhere in the wild ? No. But it certainly was not a factory-offered-option for mere mortals back then.

 

Right, rosewood was not an option, Fender just switched to rosewood mid-stream in '59. They did keep using the gold ano guards on the new rosewood basses for a while, though. The rosewood/ano 59's are considered the rarest of the '59 P basses. I disagree with that. When Fender went from gold ano to tort in '59 there was a brief period when the "new" tort guards had 10 mounting screws, just like the gold ano guards had.

Realizing the folly of this, Fender went to 13 mounting screws to add support to the flexible tort guards. They must have done it pretty quick too, I've never seen a 10 hole torted '59 P bass in the wild, nor even a pic of one.

 

That rarity made this one happen... it's my "Willie Weeks tribute model".

 

I wonder if the other neck dimensions are jazz bass like or if despite the 1.5 nut with it has more of a p bass feel.

 

I like old P basses, but dislike the cost and upkeep, and prefer RW to maple and I like ash. Then I saw Willie Weeks' bass, and this had to happen.
This is an 83 MIJ Squier SQ, modded with threaded saddle bridge, alnico PUs, a detuner and the anodized guard. My number one.