Fender Pot Dating

[Matt Zory]

I have my high school P bass. I bought it new probably in ‘69 or ‘70. I’ve never really loved on it and recently I cleaned and polished it up, took the neck off to see the manufacture date for the neck and took the pick guard off to look at the pots. The pots have a code that don’t seem to coincide with anything I’ve seen here or on the web. When I plug in the info in AI, it says there were a couple years where some of the date markings were not dates but more like manufacturing codes. Below is a photo. Any thoughts or knowledge about this?

 

[mikeswals]

The clear visible volume pot manufacture code is 1378334
137 is the CTS company
83 is 1983
34 is the 34th week of the year

The tone pot code says 13782xx. So 1982.

Whoever replaced your pots painted the control cavity with shielding paint.

The neck is dated 11th week of 1969.
The first 5 means Precision Bass.
The B at the end is the nut width: 1-5/8"

 

[Matt Zory]

The clear visible volume pot manufacture code is 1378334
137 is the CTS company
83 is 1983
34 is the 34th week of the year

The tone pot code says 13782xx. So 1982.

Whoever replaced your pots painted the control cavity with shielding paint.

The neck is dated 11th week of 1969.
The first 5 means Precision Bass.
The B at the end is the nut width: 1-5/8"

Wow…now the ‘80s were some foggy years for me but I have no idea how, why and by whom those were replaced! Yikes. Also, I’d never heard of shielding paint (which should surprise no one). That’s not original either? Man, wish I knew what happened to the originals! Would the OE have provided a different sound? I’ve seen discussions about pots but it’s always been over my head. Thanks!

 

[mikeswals]

No difference in sound, the originals were also usually still made by CTS (and sometimes by Stackpole).
In 1966 Fender bought a huge pot order from CTS that lasted into the first few weeks of 1970, so your 69 P would most likely have had the 66 pots. But again, there's no sound differrnce.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

From a "collectors " angle the replaced pots matter, at least to the value of the bass.
From a players perspective it not only dosent matter, it probably constitutes an upgrade since whoever changed them had cause to do so.
100 percent original or not...A 69 Pbass is a treasure.

 

[jthisdell]

I’ve never understood the “collectors” obsessions with original pots. If you play a bass a lot they are going to wear out and need replacing. I think I have replaced the pots on my 71 P at least four times. Having played all four pots I have never noticed any different, other than they all eventually got scratchy.

 

[fu22ba55]

Wow…now the ‘80s were some foggy years for me but I have no idea how, why and by whom those were replaced! Yikes.

Must have been a helluva party.

Did you ever bring the bass in for a setup or to repair a short in the output jack? Maybe an overzealous repair person took it upon themselves to replace your harness? (seems crazy to me).

Ever loan it to a roommate for a few years, or leave it in a pawn shop?

Someone's been under the hood.

 

[elgranluis]

I have my high school P bass. I bought it new probably in ‘69 or ‘70. I’ve never really loved on it and recently I cleaned and polished it up, took the neck off to see the manufacture date for the neck and took the pick guard off to look at the pots. The pots have a code that don’t seem to coincide with anything I’ve seen here or on the web. When I plug in the info in AI, it says there were a couple years where some of the date markings were not dates but more like manufacturing codes. Below is a photo. Any thoughts or knowledge about this?View attachment 7530206View attachment 7530207View attachment 7530208View attachment 7530209View attachment 7530210

I don’t want to sound rude , but this Is 100% not the bass that you bought in 1969.

Dont get me wrong , I’ve owned quite a few from a variety of years. Sometimes you thibk this is X bass and it’s an entirely different one.

 

[Ricky Rioli]

How was a repair person, working on a 15 year old bass with pots that wanted replacing, to know that in 40 years time, people would rather have ancient and underperforming parts than a fully functional instrument? Clearly from our perspective, this reckless commitment to repair has been deeply unfortunate, but the poor sinner was not brought up to know any better.

 

[Matt Zory]

Must have been a helluva party.

Did you ever bring the bass in for a setup or to repair a short in the output jack? Maybe an overzealous repair person took it upon themselves to replace your harness? (seems crazy to me).

Ever loan it to a roommate for a few years, or leave it in a pawn shop?

Someone's been under the hood.

Well…unfortunately, the party lasted the decade of the 80’s in nyc and yes—it was in a pawn shop for a brief time! Probably the mid to late 80s, so the timing works. That I got it back out of the pawn shop and we both survived is perhaps a minor miracle. Thanks for that insight. Clearly, as everyone has said, they aren’t original to the bass. Too bad, I’ve actually still got the receipt from the purchase!

 

[jthisdell]

How was a repair person, working on a 15 year old bass with pots that wanted replacing, to know that in 40 years time, people would rather have ancient and underperforming parts than a fully functional instrument? Clearly from our perspective, this reckless commitment to repair has been deeply unfortunate, but the poor sinner was not brought up to know any better.

Back in the 80’s it was very very common to mod post CBS basses, nobody thought anything of it. I put in a brass nut, SDQP pickup and BadassII bridge, these were all very common mods back then, partly it was a reaction to more modern instruments that were becoming available. Personally I still like these mods although I am glad that somehow I managed to keep the original pu and bridge. But aside form the pots, other parts have been replaced multiple times, mainly the pick guard and jack. The P design has a very weak area on the pickguard around the jack so eventually one or the other or both are going to fail.

 

[fu22ba55]

Well…unfortunately, the party lasted the decade of the 80’s in nyc and yes—it was in a pawn shop for a brief time!

Wow, I'm sorry that I guessed that, but I understand. Glad you both made it home safe.

Depending upon how savvy the pawn shop owner was, there's a possibility they took your old pots in an effort to make another bass appear older.

Doesn't seem likely in 84-ish to make a bass appear to be from '69, but anything's possible.

 

[mikeswals]

Depending upon how savvy the pawn shop owner was, there's a possibility they took your old pots in an effort to make another bass appear older.

Doesn't seem likely in 84-ish to make a bass appear to be from '69, but anything's possible.

As odd but not impossible sounding...
The original pots Installed on this '69 were 99.9% 1966 dated pots.

So if that shop owner was into older Fenders, then yeah, 66 pots would be of interest.

 

[timmus]

Wow…now the ‘80s were some foggy years for me but I have no idea how, why and by whom those were replaced! Yikes. Also, I’d never heard of shielding paint (which should surprise no one). That’s not original either? Man, wish I knew what happened to the originals! Would the OE have provided a different sound? I’ve seen discussions about pots but it’s always been over my head. Thanks!

I'm of the mind that if you remember the 70's (or in your case, the 80s), you probably weren't there ...yes, I am a child of the 70s and I really don't remember that much about that part of my life.

 

[Matt Zory]

I'm of the mind that if you remember the 70's (or in your case, the 80s), you probably weren't there ...yes, I am a child of the 70s and I really don't remember that much about that part of my life.

Oh thank you brother timmus! Haha! The 70s are pretty foggy too…but less dangerous for me.

 

[elgranluis]

I’ve never understood the “collectors” obsessions with original pots.

It’s not the pots by themselves but rather the sum of the parts. A bass with original pots and solder joints you can safely asume that the body belongs to the bass and the finish is original. If pots have been removed then it starts raising questions.

 

[Matt Zory]

It’s not the pots by themselves but rather the sum of the parts. A bass with original pots and solder joints you can safely asume that the body belongs to the bass and the finish is original. If pots have been removed then it starts raising questions.

Ah! Makes sense. I have the original chrome bridge and pu covers but those are probably a dime a dozen. I may have the bill of sale too. $165 if I remember correctly. But you know, I’m not selling it, I’m playing it. And at 5,6 or 7K—that’s not a life changing amount even if I were. Thanks.