So a guy lists a cab on craigslist yesterday and he says you can have this Fender bass if you buy it. Not needing the cab I asked can I just buy the bass? The terrible photos made me think its a beat up Japan model. He urges me that the bass is a total piece of crap, he says its missing the knobs, its dirty, lots of finish wear, the pots are broken as the shafts have been broke off, there is gaffers tape on it, some stickers, 3 rusty strings, a case missing a latch and labeled Yamaha. I still was thinking okay its a Japanese Fender, the body is still worth it to me as is the hardware. He says there is no markings on the Neck so I thought maybe a parts bass. I drove 30 miles to his house and looked at it. Very light and frankly I have saved worse. I noticed a V serial neckplate and having owned '57 Reissues from the 90s and 2000's I thought this could be a maybe last 15-20 years reissue. Whatever the case I bought it. The guy even urged me not to, saying he had some peaveys and other stuff.
I drove home and as soon as I took the guard off and saw there wasnt routing between the pickup and control cavity I was stoked knowing this is a '57 reissue of either American or Japan Origin. I then pulled the neck, it was easy to read 4-25-XX. I had to take a exacto knife and slowly remove the rest of the black Finish to see a 84, so 4-25-1984. I said no way could this be a "fullerton reissue". I then looked at the paint ink date, super hard to see. I had to wet it down to see what clearly looks to be 1983, Its very hard to see I need a magnify glass as I guess my eyes arent that great but it looks like Aug 6 1983 and the 8 is very definite. I started getting pretty stoked that I may have what looks to be a fullerton. At this point I 100% knew this was a Fender '57 Reissue USA P bass, it has all the features, gold guard, threaded bridge, reverse tuners, a hole for a hootenanny button, 1 3/4 neck, pencil dated neck, vintage frets, truss rod heel adjustedment, the no channel routing, the V serial, the router hump, 10 pickguard holes under guard, pickup, bridge covers etc. It was definitive at that point I had some Fender USA '57 Reissue.
I then took to looking up the serial number V011X, that put it in Fullerton range. All these things stated I think without a doubt this is a mid 1984 Fullerton P bass. I am unsure when they stopped making Fullertons so this could maybe be one of the last Fullerton reissues? I have looked at many, many photos and I cant find any with a neck date this late, there all penciled 1982 and 1983 from what I found and only found 1 other one in black which was a custom color?
My only doubts stem from its logo and string tree, either its logo is in a different position then the majority of Fullertons or the string tree is. Take a look. Additionally my neck has no inspection type stamps or ink stamps but it does appear to say TORRES in cursive in pencil it has some signature. Also remember the pots I said were broken? I removed them, they had a blue cap but cloth wiring and CTS, the pickups though have no marks, black bobbins and plastic wiring.
I took the bass apart, did all this documentation. Cleaned it for hours on end, making sure that the tape I removed didnt remove finish. After all that I took a wiring harness out of a 80's Japan Fender I am parting out and I wired it to the basses pickups. All worked. I then put it all back together and used the 2 knobs from that same Japan Fender which is also a 1984, the knobs may actually be what Fullertons used as well, they have bubbling to the chrome and weigh 16 grams, a newer American standard knob weighs 36 grams. They look great and match the rest of the bass perfect. To finish it off I put pyramid flats on it and I barely gave the neck a turn of the truss.
Hands down, best Precision I have ever played. A smooth broke in neck thats super thin, I couldnt believe how great the bass played. It must be dried out or what because it is so resonant its crazy. I do believe its all Fullerton but the pots, knobs and the pickup may or may not be.
What say you? is this indeed a fullerton? The logo or string tree position is what makes me hesitant to hands down say I own a fullerton. Does anyone have a later date on a neck then 4-25-1984? If so do you have black bobbin pickups? I am guess the pickups cant be original.
Sorry for grammar errors I am on the train-
