Fender pre-CBS Club: pics mandatory!

[Alexander]

63 P Bass and 64 Jazz bass View attachment 3768896 View attachment 3768897

Dang that Jazz Bass is nice!

 

[9mmMike]

Though rosewood was the standard fretboard wood used in the 60’s, a custom order could be placed for a Maple cap. Norm’s Rare Guitars had one in house a few years back. So though it’s not common, it’s not impossible.

EDIT: In fact, this is a picture that was advertised on the NRG website as a 1964 special order Maple cap precision bass which I just found in my library of bass photos.

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I have another thread going on this but I just re-watched Crossroad with Willie Weeks on bass and he had a maple-cap board on his bass. Wiki says he plays a '60 P. It was certainly pre-CBS and he was, of course, killin' it.

 

[SJLee]

Until I saw the photo on NRG's website I had no idea you could get a maple capped neck. Guess it pays to ask. So, no skunk stripe on the back of Willie's neck? I'll have to watch that movie again as it's been years.

 

[ukulelelab]

I have another thread going on this but I just re-watched Crossroad with Willie Weeks on bass and he had a maple-cap board on his bass. Wiki says he plays a '60 P. It was certainly pre-CBS and he was, of course, killin' it.

That maple cap L series from norms went to the arctic monkeys

 

[mikeswals]

So, no skunk stripe on the back of Willie's neck?

Correct if they're a maple capped, the truss still gets installed thru the front of the neck just like on a rw board, so no skunk strip.

 

[Jinobass1]

Dang that Jazz Bass is nice!

Thanx!

 

[Todd Larson]

Thanx!

Hi there, the link seems broken...^

 

[Jinobass1]

Hi there, the link seems broken...^

Sorry

 

[SJLee]

Correct if they're a maple capped, the truss still gets installed thru the front of the neck just like on a rw board, so no skunk strip.

In most cases yes, but there are examples of maple capped necks that for whatever reason, received a skunk stripe. For example this 67 Telecaster bass of a friend of mine has both a maple cap neck and skunk stripe. Not common but it did happen,... perhaps on a Monday or Friday afternoon.

 

[mikeswals]

I would imagine it was done intentionally because this was suppose to be a 'remake' of the 51-53 Slab, so it needed to really look like one.

 

[SJLee]

I would imagine it was done intentionally because this was suppose to be a 'remake' of the 51-53 Slab, so it needed to really look like one.

But not all Telecaster basses have a skunk stripe. I think this was just an inconsistency in the production as some do and some don't. There are several examples of this if you search Telecaster basses on Reverb right now.

 

[b/o 402]

I seem to recall that some early Telecaster basses were purportedly made using up NOS '50s P parts inventory? That neck in the pic above, despite the date stamp, looks like a one-piece maple neck, not a maple cap.

 

[SJLee]

I seem to recall that some early Telecaster basses were purportedly made using up NOS '50s P parts inventory? That neck in the pic above, despite the date stamp, looks like a one-piece maple neck, not a maple cap.

Yet its a maple cap as the arrow pointing to the cross grain clearly indicates.

 

[b/o 402]

Yet its a maple cap as the arrow pointing to the cross grain clearly indicates.

Ok, interesting. I seem to remember the maple cap being a slab like 1/4" thick in the center rather than a veneer. My bud back in the day had an original pink paisley Tele (guitar) with the cap and no skunk stripe. Don't remember it being the veneer.
So you're right, it could have been a QC issue (especially because CBS.)
"If it fits, it ships."

 

[SJLee]

Ok, interesting. I seem to remember the maple cap being a slab like 1/4" thick in the center rather than a veneer. My bud back in the day had an original pink paisley Tele (guitar) with the cap and no skunk stripe. Don't remember it being the veneer.
So you're right, it could have been a QC issue (especially because CBS.)
"If it fits, it ships."

I believe it's just a QC issue. I have seen them with no cap and Skunk stripes as well.

 

[mikeswals]

I seem to recall that some early Telecaster basses were purportedly made using up NOS '50s P parts inventory? .

No. the profiles and thickness of various locations on both the body and neck are different. Ferrule sizes totally different.

 

[basses55]

SorryView attachment 3799844

Perfect combo

 

[Todd Larson]

No. the profiles and thickness of various locations on both the body and neck are different. Ferrule sizes totally different.

Fender, and certainly CBS, let nothing go to waste and used up all the good parts in their inventories. I recovered a control plate and other parts from a refinished '68 Tele Bass that are indistinguishable from '51-early '57 P-bass parts.

 

[jim nolte]

Yup,and I have a ‘65 Jazz L series neck date May 65 which still has clay dots, must have been on the bottom of the bin or something.

 

[Dynacord]

In most cases yes, but there are examples of maple capped necks that for whatever reason, received a skunk stripe. For example this 67 Telecaster bass of a friend of mine has both a maple cap neck and skunk stripe. Not common but it did happen,... perhaps on a Monday or Friday afternoon.

View attachment 3800574

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Very cool bass.

My best "one that got away" story (20+ years ago) was a maple cap '64 Jazz in silver sparkle with matching headstock - complete with shipping documents from Fender to "Buck Owens Enterprises" in Bakersfield. It was high dollar at the time (a pittance today) and I had a friend talk to Doyle Holly (who played bass with Owens in that era) and he said he thought he recalled one getting stolen - and the seller slipped under the radar...