Fender Experts; is this Fender Musicmaster worth it?

[BucketOfFish]

My first bass too! I paid $100 used from a music store quite some time ago. It was one of the good ones unlike some that had really $h1tt¥ hardware. Mine had the standard clover leaf tuners w/bushings which could have been an upgrade but otherwise appeared to be stock...until our bassist fell over backwards due to an excess amount of guitar fuel and snapped off the jack portion of the pickguard. I replaced the guard but it wasn't exactly identical around the neck. Long gone but missed.
p.s. same knobs as op's

 

[OldFenderPlayer]

I think we should hold off on making the judgement that the pickup is aftermarket. The best way to determine this is simple (if the shop will allow it) and is to look beneath the scratchplate. Also look at the photo I've attached to this post - it was taken in 1977 when I was in junior high school and I'm playing my school's early 1970s Fender Musicmaster Bass which may have the exact same pickup. While the trombone slide hides most of the pickup, you can see what looks like the exact same black skirt and the large screw in the lower corner of the skirt, and the position with the thumb rest looks the same.

Here is what I know about the bass in the 1977 photo:
> My first year at the school was 1975 (I was a 7th grader) and I know of two other bassists who previously used the same instrument, dating it to at least 1970 or 1971.
> I began using the bass in 1975 because the bassist who was in 9th grade had just got a Gibson Grabber bass and he was using it rather than the school's Fender.
> I've seen one other photo of the same bass from prior to 1974 (on a Facebook page .. I'll look for it) and it still had the same pickup.
> At some point in time (most likely early 1978) I was being a typical kid and messed with the pickup height adjustment screws and the pickup dropped into the body. I took it to a music store in downtown Parkersburg, West Virginia called Powell & Clark Music, where they fixed while I watched. I remember the man who fixed it telling me that the pickup was made by Ovation, but don't recall if he said it was a factory upgrade or an aftermarket. I can't see a junior high school band program having that type of an upgrade made to a new instrument, so I'm assuming it was a factory upgrade. I do recall music stores bring instruments in for the band directors and students to try out; a fellow bassist purchased a Fender Telecaster Bass that way in 1979 or 1980.

 

[Ric Vice]

Fender Mustangs and Musicmasters, we're an attempt by the company to compete with a rash of instruments coming in from overseas at the time. They were "student instruments" that cost less to make. I think of them in the same way as the G&L SB-1 and SB-2 (which I think are better basses IMHO) The Bass you show has been really messed up. Just my take.

 

[mikecd1]

Congrats on a great deal on this bass! You could easily get that second pickguard from WD and drop in a stock style pickup and have a classic Musicmaster or enjoy as-is with the Guild. See how it sounds and enjoy! $350 was a great deal and leaves you room to invest if you so choose. Enjoy and play in good health!

 

[2F/2F]

no. but you are all wrong to think so.

Yup. The amount of nonsense in this thread is staggering. Who would have known people here were so ignorant of these cool basses, yet still so willing to give their extreme opinions about their authenticity?

The one I had back in the day had regular Fender tuners, not those tiny-peg jobs.

Did you buy that bass brand new? I have been paying attention to Musicmaster Basses for a long, long time, and I have never seen one of the early models with factory Schaller-made cloverleaf tuners of the type used by Fender on their other basses. Later, yes (but even those weren't the standard Schaller type; they had a smaller mounting plate). But not on one with a finger rest (i.e. earlier than '73 or so, like the OP's). You either had a late model MMB, or something that had been modified.

There is nothing "fake" about the OP's bass. It has just been refinished and had a pickup replacement – pretty standard stuff to see on a MMB, or any '70s Fender.

I stand by my upper limit of $250, as someone who would want to restore it to recover some of its original value. However, if I was someone who just wanted to play it as it is, and didn't care about improving its value at a future date, I might go up to $400.

 

[cassanova]

My first bass too! I paid $100 used from a music store quite some time ago. It was one of the good ones unlike some that had really $h1tt¥ hardware. Mine had the standard clover leaf tuners w/bushings which could have been an upgrade but otherwise appeared to be stock...until our bassist fell over backwards due to an excess amount of guitar fuel and snapped off the jack portion of the pickguard. I replaced the guard but it wasn't exactly identical around the neck. Long gone but missed.
p.s. same knobs as op's

My first bass was a Musicmaster as well. My parents got it for me as a Christmas gift back in 1986. Was only $135 back then. Wish I still had it, because their value has definitely gone up some over the years.

 

[Tommy V]

Ended up going for it, and managed to talk him down to 350$. Got the strap too. Thanks again for your input everyone

kudos on your negotiating skills! while i picked on the paint job, that is indeed a cool instrument. just needs a little love and elbow grease, and you'll have a fine player that'll probably live longer than most of the folks commenting on it.. myself included.

 

[DavidEdenAria]

How does the bass sound? Btw, its a Fender not a cheap import

Ive owned and played many 70's MM basses and the best one, by far, was a 72 w a bad refin, all else original.....it was super light barely 6 lbs and a very resonant deep tone.

It played and sounded great.....i finally installed a Duncan Hot Rails which can be wired series for a very beefy OD sound or parallel which is more of an upright tone.

As with any wooden instrument some are better than others, as was the case of my 72 MM (which i gifted to a lovely lady who wanted a lightweight SS bass) and with the Duncan Hot Rails she has 2 distinct tone wiring options.

 

[OldFenderPlayer]

I was wrong about the possibility of the pickup in the OP's bass being a factory original.

This is to update a post I made earlier about the pickup in the Fender Musicmaster Bass possibly being an upgrade made at the factory. My opinion was based on the belief that an early 1970s Musicmaster Bass I played from 1975 to 1978 had a factory-upgraded pickup. But I was wrong and I've got a photo to prove it.

In a 1972 photo of that same bass (from a photo of the same school band but a few years before my time) you can clearly see the pickup is the original. So it was replaced with the Ovation sometime between 1972 and 1975. I've been a life-long friend of the band director, so I will reach out to her and ask if she can recall why the pickup was replaced.

Here is a close-up of the same bass and the amp (a Fender Bassman Amp with a 50-watt head and a 2x15" cabinet), which appears to be new. Its of the Edison Junior High School Stage Band in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

 

[ejaggers]

I think we should hold off on making the judgement that the pickup is aftermarket. The best way to determine this is simple (if the shop will allow it) and is to look beneath the scratchplate. Also look at the photo I've attached to this post - it was taken in 1977 when I was in junior high school and I'm playing my school's early 1970s Fender Musicmaster Bass which may have the exact same pickup. While the trombone slide hides most of the pickup, you can see what looks like the exact same black skirt and the large screw in the lower corner of the skirt, and the position with the thumb rest looks the same.

Here is what I know about the bass in the 1977 photo:
> My first year at the school was 1975 (I was a 7th grader) and I know of two other bassists who previously used the same instrument, dating it to at least 1970 or 1971.
> I began using the bass in 1975 because the bassist who was in 9th grade had just got a Gibson Grabber bass and he was using it rather than the school's Fender.
> I've seen one other photo of the same bass from prior to 1974 (on a Facebook page .. I'll look for it) and it still had the same pickup.
> At some point in time (most likely early 1978) I was being a typical kid and messed with the pickup height adjustment screws and the pickup dropped into the body. I took it to a music store in downtown Parkersburg, West Virginia called Powell & Clark Music, where they fixed while I watched. I remember the man who fixed it telling me that the pickup was made by Ovation, but don't recall if he said it was a factory upgrade or an aftermarket. I can't see a junior high school band program having that type of an upgrade made to a new instrument, so I'm assuming it was a factory upgrade. I do recall music stores bring instruments in for the band directors and students to try out; a fellow bassist purchased a Fender Telecaster Bass that way in 1979 or 1980.
View attachment 4393379

Cool story backed by a picture that adds clarity to your history.
I wish I had proof that I attended the 7th grade.

I enjoyed your presentation of the chronicle of your youth rocking this bass.
Now, let's talk about those pants!!!......057912

 

[iguana]

Congrats for the new bass @Treedsman

As a owner of several Musicmaster basses I would like to recommend you to buy a replacement pickguard and put an Aero pickup on it. Be sure to get a replacement pickguard for Fender and not a replacement for Squier Vista Series, because both are different. The Aero pickup will fit into the pickguard without any mod.