Fender Precision 63 enigma

[Dick Levens]

Purchased in 1972, this bass is a mystery. To all intents and purposes a cut down Precision ( the neck is stamped as a July 63 “C” neck “5” width) along with an “L” designation on the neck plate. One of the original pots dates to 63. So the top horn has a some time been neatly sliced off along its length and a smaller piece attached and blended in the original. There are two small areas of filler, at the join, which has been applied over the original pink finish. This seems to be the same material as used in the spray “nail” holes, and used to fill the tailpiece cover, pickup rest and finger rest screw holes. It also resembles the paste dots. There is no evidence of a Fender logo being in place and the front of the headstock seems untouched. The body was painted in gloss black, then stripped back to bare wood. There is maroon paint still in the cavities, over the presumably original Candy Red finish. One suggestion was it was a left hand conversion, but to make things slightly more puzzling, the only recognition it ever got in the years of live shows was Lemmy ( Hawkwind/ Motorhead) who was certainly excited to see it in 75. He seemed to know what it was, but I was so shocked to see this wild figure lungeing at me swearing like a trooper, that the finer points of the discussion were lost somewhat. He seemed to know it was an “L” model…..The other suggestion was it could be a Fender mock up/prototype for an Epiphone Newport style bass, which had just been released in 63. Anyone got any ideas?

 

[Ghastly]

Huh. Weird. But interesting. Do you have this? I wouldn't mind seeing a few more images of it.

 

[roycroft_88]

I'd guess your bass is the result of the previous owner simply reshaping the body to customize it. It was just a popular pastime to do that kind of thing back then to everthing. Not unlike adding flares,mags and scoops to your early Corvette. The filler is probably just Durhams wood filler which can look very similar to the dot material. Lemmy could have known it was an L series just by the neck. Non-slab fingerboard,"clay" dots, and kluson tuners. The idea it was a prototype is always possible but I would think that Fender, having an entire factory filled with wood, could cut new prototype designs from fresh body blanks.

Anyways, you have a super cool old bass.
Would love to see it repainted and put back together.

 

[GretschWretch]

When I saw the pics, even before reading the text, first thing I thought was "Epiphone knock-off."

 

[elgranluis]

Judging from the single picture , I don’t believe that the bass has any historical significance.

If you are interested about the bass’ value , it’s better if you sell the parts: at least the neck is dated.