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Fender pre-CBS Club: pics mandatory!

#1,141
Alexander said:
It is a January 1958 build that was on consignment through Gruhn Guitars in Nashville. Interestingly, about a week after I got it, the President of Gruhn emailed me and said the previous owner offered to talk with me about it's history. I, of course picked up the phone and a 72 year old man named Tommie picked up the phone - we chatted for about an hour. He told me the original owner bought it new at a mom & pop guitar store in a small town in South Carolina, in 1959. He was a country-western bassist, who kept it until 1969. He took it into a local pawn shop to trade it for something else and Tommie just happened to be there. They did a deal for it right there on the spot (which apparently ticked off the pawn shop owner!). He's kept it ever since and told me it had been his "friend for fifty years". Though in more-or-less perfect functional condition, the bass has some battle scars. Tommie was very clear that most of the wear occurred under the previous owner's watch and that he's taken good care of it. Apparently, it hasn't had much playing time recently (i.e. last twenty years or so) as Tommie switched over the keyboards. He told me how he's played with the same band every weekend for over 40 years. I hope I'm still going when I hit his age!

This is the exact bass I've always wanted - they only made the two-tone burst with maple neck for a very short time (mid 57 through May 58, from what I understand). I'd always gone into Gruhn when I was in Nashville, but never bought anything but picks and a t-shirt. I've been in Seattle now since 2000 and occasionally will take a look at their website to drool over all the cool stuff they get in that place. I saw this bass at a price I could (for really the first time in my life) pay for without regrets. I did some checking and found that it was a really good price too. The other 4-5 57/58s I saw for sale at the time went for $2500-5000 more. I felt it was a great deal on an all-original, never repaired vintage Precision.

Mike Lull did the setup work and man, did he do an amazing job. The neck is straight and has a really low action on it - between that and the small frets, it plays incredibly well. And the tone is truly unbelievable. Perfect string-string balance, very fat tone that sits in the mix just right and an amazing blend of being very warm sounding, yet bright and present at the same time. I've has Precision basses off and on throughout my life, but this one is way ahead of any other I've tried in sheer tone. Very happy camper here!
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Isn't it great when a bass comes with a detailed story? It really puts perspective into the journey it's made ultimately landing in your hands. Now you have the opportunity to continue that story.
 
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#1,142
Okay, here we go. My 1952 (12/9/52).
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#1,152
shadven said:
Okay, here we go. My 1953 (12/9/52).
I have been playing this bass for a week now and it is the greatest playing bass I have ever picked up. And it sounds incredible. The neck is fairly beefy, but not huge, very thin frets, it looks less rough than the pictures look, it plays great, the action lower than I usually play, but it feels perfect, the intonation is dead on. This bass is all I hoped for and my number one.
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#1,155
Arild said:
1950s Fender Vintage Guitar Craftsmen Tadeo Gomez
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Great info, thanks!

Here's my '52 made by Tadeo Gomez that I owned 25 years ago. It had an early 2 tone sunburst and aluminum pg. Neither option was offered at the time, wonder if this was one Tadeo brought home. The neck date: TG 7-21-52, body date: 9-2-52 Tadeo, serial # 0427. Sure wish I still had it.
52%20P%20bass_zpscjybjebg.jpg
 
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#1,156
Arild said:
AWESOME!!!!

Tadeo Gomez did the work on that neck.

View attachment 1079627
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2saddleslab said:
Great info, thanks!

Here's my '52 made by Tadeo Gomez that I owned 25 years ago. It had an early 2 tone sunburst and aluminum pg. Neither option was offered at the time, wonder if this was one Tadeo brought home. The neck date: TG 7-21-52, body date: 9-2-52 Tadeo, serial # 0427. Sure wish I still had it.
52%20P%20bass_zpscjybjebg.jpg
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The fact that we can trace all this back never ceases to amaze me.
 
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