Fender Experts; is this Fender Musicmaster worth it?

[Treedsman]

I've always wanted a Fender bass, but I don't know very much about this model. Are there any Fender experts who know more that could fill me in? Pawn shop wants 600$ for it, should I go for it?
Here are some pictures of it. Thank you

 

[Tanner5382]

Obviously that's not the original pickup, but it's actually pretty cool. I would talk them down on the price though, personally.

 

[dalkowski]

I could be wrong but my spidey-sense is tingling in response to:

• Headstock shape - looks bulbous esp. around the G tuner
• Nut appears to be listing to starboard (camera angle?)
• Neck plate is crooked
• Finish looks like bedliner

Pickup is definitely an upgrade from the anemic stock component. Not $600 or even in that time zone, IMHO. Responsible opposing viewpoints are welcome.

Paging @WI Short Scaler!

 

[micguy]

I have no idea where that pickup came from - I certainly wouldn't assume it's an "upgrade".

 

[JW56789]

$250 all day long, unless you can beat 'em down to $200. For gosh sakes, look online or in regular stores for what 600 bucks will get you, WAY past that thing. BTW, what the hell kind of keys are those ?

Been a long time since Musicmasters were re-issued, but you can buy brand new Squier Mustangs for less than $500 bucks, and Fender's excellent Mustang with real P/J pickups in the $700 range, both brand new, used for less.

 

[Treedsman]

Thanks for the replies so far everyone, really appreciate the info. Anything else I should note about that might help me talk the price down?

 

[Grapevine921]

Check what good condition musicmasters are selling for on reverb- this one should be worth half that with the bad refinish and the pickup replacement. Pickup looks like it's out of an old Guild. I think it's got a lot of mojo! If it plays nice and you dig it then you can find out if the price is worth it for you.

 

[AlexanderB]

Seems like a parts bass, at best.
HOWEVER, look at the grain on the backside of the neck! Very tight, slow grown, old wood. I would GUESS the neck could be from an older japanese bass. If so, I would expect it to have fully settled, being resonant, stiff and generally good.

Many new basses, especially Fenders, use wood of much lower quality.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

I have little to add other that hasn't been said.

-the original pickup was a pretty anemic stock 6 pole guitar, so this may/may not be a better one. Only way to know that is plug it in
-finish is either a poorly done refin with a ton of orange peel or something else, like bedliner as was said.
-knobs look like they came off a Mustang, so what about the pots under them?
-just enough things that invite more questions
-Musicmasters in great shape, far better than this, go for $600 and up

If you're serious about a musicmaster there's a nice Squier version for sale here, @dalkowski has it listed for less than this one here in the classifieds and it is far better shape and has the original Vista Tone pickup, also black if color is important. If you need info on the Squier MM just search around the net. They were a brief reissue and had some nice improvements over the original Fender version.

I'm not an expert but I own both a Fender and Squier MM so just throwing out what I know.

 

[dalkowski]

I have no idea where that pickup came from - I certainly wouldn't assume it's an "upgrade".

Fair point, well taken. Still I'd wager its provenance is House of Guild. I'll stand by "upgrade" b/c the stock pup on these was a geetar pup (as my esteemed Wisconsonian brotherman hath noted above).

 

[WillyW]

That's some kinda Tiesco or other Japanese import pickup, could be heavenly, could be garbage...

$150-200 bass, but only if the strap is included. and I'll buy the strap from you.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

You could try to talk them down a bit, but I'd pay $600 and be perfectly happy if it played well.

 

[Pings Bass]

I'm biased because those were the dominant "beginner bass" when I was starting, but it's unreal to me how much musicmasters are going for these days, even those that have been hacked mercilessly like this one.

If you want a short scale FSO i think you can do better with a MiM or Squier mustang. Or even a bronco or mini P.

 

[dalkowski]

it's unreal to me how much musicmasters are going for these days

Fleebin' hipsters....

 

[gln1955]

Some old Musicmasters are going for vintagy prices, but they are in great original shape. This obviously isn't. $600 is way out of line.

 

[Pings Bass]

Fleebin' hipsters....

Ha ha! I mean they're actually a nicely styled instrument if you don't have the automatic "beginner instrument" correlation hard-wired in your brain. I knew two guys in junior high who had rental musicmaster guitars when they started out, and the school music dept had a matching bass and guitar set. You could do a lot worse! But the guys I knew couldn't wait to upgrade to strats and Les Pauls or even those new peavey T-40s and T-60s, which were like intermediate models then.

 

[dalkowski]

Ha ha! I mean they're actually a nicely styled instrument if you don't have the automatic "beginner instrument" correlation hard-wired in your brain. I knew two guys in junior high who had rental musicmaster guitars when they started out, and the school music dept had a matching bass and guitar set. You could do a lot worse! But the guys I knew couldn't wait to upgrade to strats and Les Pauls or even those new peavey T-40s and T-60s, which were like intermediate models then.

Oh I SO wanted one when I started. Ended up with a Guild B301 (thanks Dad).

MMs were good enough for Tina Weymouth, 'nuff said.

 

[_One//Man//Mutiny_]

Realistically, I'm betting you could get it for $400-$500 they probably got it for $150-$250

 

[220_Hz]

I agree about the unreal price hike. My first bass was a music master purchased on CL for $400, which was regrettably traded for a Gibson

I wanted to get another & ended up paying twice that

 

[Tim Skaggs]

If $600 is within your budget, you can get a much nicer bass than this "Musicmaster" if it actually is a real Musicmaster. If it's real, it has a couple problems and isn't original which I think puts it well below $600 value even for its age which is around '72 per the serial number. If it was all original and in good shape, it would likely bring $600, but to play & achieve good tone, I'd put the $600 toward something else.