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Fender Precision from 60s and 70s: years to avoid?
- Thread starter pfonck334
- Start date
thanks a lot again from all your comments. for sure I will try before buying. It is a long process as such basses for sale are very rare where I am living. You are very Lucky to live in the states! It took me almsot two years to find a 1990 Stingray with the specific criteria I was looking for, and now, I think it will take even longer now that I am looking for a vintage PB!
Like several others have said, look at the individual instrument, not the year it was produced. I was around, buying and playing Fender basses in the late 60s and throughout the 70s, and my experience was that very few decent Fender basses were produced in the 70s. However, they are out there. You just have to look.
I have had 2 76's that were just badass basses, but I had a '74 that was terrible. My opinion is after the late 60s the next best time for Fender was around '81, when they were retooling there line, the '82, '83 standard USA P's are just awesome. I have had a ton and I have a '82 right now. They are the E series and some of the last ones made in Fullerton, I dont now why they go for like 1k when a '79 is going to fetch $1400, that whole divide of one being 70s and one 80s I guess.
I have a '78 for sale I would ship anywhere on earth but I think as you stated its best you try them out.
I have a '78 for sale I would ship anywhere on earth but I think as you stated its best you try them out.
In 1976 I traded my Ibanez P-Bass copy on the real thing. Big mistake! I don't know if the wood had not been sufficiently aged, but every time the weather changed or I played in an air conditioned venue I had to adjust the truss rod. Not just a little bit - the strings were either resting on the frets or way too high to be playable. Having said that; after 38 years the neck may have aged nicely
. Try before you buy!
. Try before you buy!
Any particular reason why you want a p bass from that specific era?
As others have said, this is the low point in Fender's quality, so finding a great instrument from that period can take some time, especially when looking at samples from the mid or late 70s.
There are modern recreations of 70s p basses as all sorts of price points. What they all have in common are the cool aspects of the 70s fender basses with a modern build quality. They don't come with mojo pre-installed, but they do come with a warranty.
As others have said, this is the low point in Fender's quality, so finding a great instrument from that period can take some time, especially when looking at samples from the mid or late 70s.
There are modern recreations of 70s p basses as all sorts of price points. What they all have in common are the cool aspects of the 70s fender basses with a modern build quality. They don't come with mojo pre-installed, but they do come with a warranty.
No particular reason except the fact that I would love to find one from my birth year (1969). I prefer vintage basses than new ones. I have a 90s stingray.
I don't know why but I prefer basses that have an history. My 91 stingray is full of dings and playwears but it is just my bass that I bought a long long time ago and followed me through all my gigs, my life.
I don't know why but I prefer basses that have an history. My 91 stingray is full of dings and playwears but it is just my bass that I bought a long long time ago and followed me through all my gigs, my life.
'69 is certainly not the worst year of Fender production... but you really should play before you buy (but I know that you won't - everything being on-line now). Aside from how bad it *might* be, it has been declared "vintage" - as have all CBS Fenders - a fact that simply boggles the mind - so it will cost you serious change. The kind of money you'll spend on any 1969 Fender would get you a Fodera or NYC Sadowsky - new.
In fact I really want to try before buying so I won't order that 69 bass I saw. I will wait till I have a trip to this place (London)
I agree with you also with the points that you are mentionning. it is a lot of money in comparison with the brands you named
I agree with you also with the points that you are mentionning. it is a lot of money in comparison with the brands you named
Good man. Gotta play before you pay. If you pick it up and dig it, then - you dig it. You pay $3000+ and it is shipped to you and plays like firewood... massive bummage ensuses. No fun.
It boggles my mind that no matter how many years pass, some guys will never consider the late '60s and '70s to be "vintage". It's been 45 years since 1969.. just how old does it have to get for you to not consider it "modern" anymore, lol?
Think about it.. when Fender started the American Vintage Series in 1982, they reissued the '62 Jazz and P Basses.. They were only 20 years old when Fender considered the originals to be "vintage" already. And nobody batted an eye at calling them that back then. I think there are just a lot of bassists on here that just have a hard time accepting the idea that the 1970s was a long time ago now!
On the subject of "try before you buy".. if you buy from a seller with good feedback and a reputation for knowing and selling good quality vintage gear, with good descriptions and detailed hi-res pics, then it isn't so risky at all. I buy online all the time, but I ask questions and minimize the risk as much as possible. And likewise, when I sell, I guarantee my items and I offer an approval period or your money back. And if that's not enough, you still have Paypal Buyer Protection (and Ebay protection if you buy on there) if you just can't reason with a seller.
I ended up getting rid of my 69 precision, it was a dog now that I look back on that bass.... I sure loved it when I first got it but I'm smarter now and a lot more picky. I've played a number of basses from the 1965 - 1980 period and they all have varied. My favorite has been my 1965 jazz, followed by a 1980 precision special, but they were both radically different basses... Passive/active, nitro/poly, light/heavy but both basses were loud and say in the mix.
My favorites overall have been the nitro finish basses, I find when they switched to poly they started feeling clunkier and sounding less fat and more modern, hope this helps!
My favorites overall have been the nitro finish basses, I find when they switched to poly they started feeling clunkier and sounding less fat and more modern, hope this helps!
You, like so many folks, confuse "old" with "good". Just because something is old does not mean that it's good. I could tell women that I'm "Vintage" and I assure you, they'll chuckle and think "Who IS this old guy???"
From the time I started playing in '76 until... well, until someone on-line decided otherwise, it was well known by every player, guitar and bass, that CBS Fenders were not nearly as good as "Pre-CBS". Fenders stated to improve significantly in the late '80s and have been consistently good instruments ever since - but during that CBS period, they were just bad. Sure, some came off of the line that were better than others - and there was this odd "not quite CBS" period in the late '60s / early '70s when all of the cost-control measures CBS wanted hadn't been fully imposed - but Fenders of the '70s, for the most part, are inferior no matter how much you want to believe otherwise. HOWEVER, the TB Hive has declared them "Vintage" and so I guess they are. I wouldn't own one unless I played it and knew it was one of the exceptional examples. And NO, I'm not trying to insult anyone's bass - if you have a '76 J bass and love it - good for you. I just hope you didn't pay too much.
As for "play before you pay" - I buy stuff on line too - but on something like this I'd be very hesitant, since these are such particular instruments, made so wildly inconsistently. But hey - do what you want to do with your money. Me, I'll avoid CBS fenders - period. And yes, I've owned a few and they were, to my mind, terrible.
Avoid all of them.
Try more recent used basses, and maybe even other brands of P style basses...save yourself some money.
Try more recent used basses, and maybe even other brands of P style basses...save yourself some money.
How would you know "I" confuse old with good? You don't know me personally, and I said nothing of the sort. I've actually posted countless times on here that there are tons of vintage basses that were built badly, abused, neglected throughout the years that don't play well. I have many years of experience with vintage basses. I've owned over 200 '50s, '60s and '70s Fender basses, so I know all about the dogs out there too.
But why do you seem to have this belief that vintage fans all just mindlessly think vintage = good and that's that? Of course a lot can happen to a bass in 40 or 50 years. Some make it and some don't. That goes without saying. It's borderline insulting to read that you just assume that we hear the word "vintage", close our eyes, cover our ears, and just say "No it has to be good cuz it's old.. lalalala I can't hear you!". Contrary to what you may think, I make a partial living (along with performing) weeding through all the vintage crap out there and finding and selling only the best stuff I can get my hands on! I provide a service by finding the good ones, taking the risk on the bad ones, and selling stuff with a guarantee. When I see people post "try before you buy" it's not bad advice.. but I have a right to point out that there are other perfectly safe options out there too.. and honest guys on here like me with 100% + feedback and over 100 transactions who guarantee their stuff. Believe me, if I just thought vintage = good, I would not be able to do what I do and I would have lost a ton of $$. But I ask lots of questions and do my due diligence to avoid getting ripped off. And when it has come to it, I've had to file a couple ebay cases against bad sellers for vintage basses over the years. So my point is, just know who you're buying from.. lots of sellers and stores offer guarantees.
The part about the cost-control measures with CBS I agree with. I even stated almost the same exact thing in this thread a page or 2 back. There were good ones and bad in the CBS era (as well as the pre-CBS era), but I wasn't talking about that in my previous post on this page of the thread.. I was asking you what constitutes something as "vintage" in your mind? 45 years old sure isn't modern. Vintage doesn't have to do with functionality, it has to do solely with age. It really isn't some "hive" that deems it that on talkbass. Just look at cars, wine, guns, furniture.. all types of collectibles, and regardless of condition. If it's more than about 20-25 years old, the world calls it "vintage". Right now it's the '80s. In another couple years it'll be early '90s. You have any idea how expensive "vintage" 1980s toys are now? That would really boggle your mind! But there's a whole generation younger than you, now starting to develop nostalgia for their own childhood. And while that may just seem like yesterday to some, it's other people's entire lives. The word "vintage" will continue to get redefined as time goes by, as it should. To stop on a certain year or era and hold it there as if time has stopped, and then to go a step further and try to convince others that your definition (which goes against the majority) is right and the definition of "vintage" as an amount of time is wrong, is silly to me.
Such intelligent advice.
Just "avoid all of them". Because they all suck, just like all modern basses are better. The 1000s of pros must be wrong, this guy on talkbass warned you.
