I got an email from fender advertising among other things their new 63 precision bass. It stated that the 63 model was the first bass to have a laminated rosewood fretboard, how do i know this is not accurate? Because i have an old 62 precision and it has a laminated rosewood board on it, dont these people know about their own history?
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Inaccurate fender.
- Thread starter lineboss58
- Start date
maybe they started toying with this idea already during 62 and also sold a few samples on that year. The official big numbers sales probably started in 63...
I've been watching Fender Marketing copywriters totally blow their own history since the last century. It's freaking amazing.
It's just meaningless hype. If FMIC doesn't pay any attention, why should you?
It's just meaningless hype. If FMIC doesn't pay any attention, why should you?
Do they possibly mean the difference between slab board and veneer style fingerboards?
I do know that the stack knob bass J-bass re-issue was attributed to an incorrect year, so it is not unheard of for Fender to be a little off.
I do know that the stack knob bass J-bass re-issue was attributed to an incorrect year, so it is not unheard of for Fender to be a little off.
Go down a few posts in this thread.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/just-when-i-thought-i-out-woods-971898/
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/just-when-i-thought-i-out-woods-971898/
Fender rosewood fingerboards first appeared in 1959 (slab) Around the end of 1962 the radius was cut in the rosewood. (veneer)
Everyone calls the first contoured body Precision a '55, including Fender Custom Shop, but the first ones were produced in late '54 and into '57 when the split pup model was introduced. An official launch is just that. It's when they put it into full production. It's possible you got a pre-launch one.
Maybe the end of 62' means 63' to the marketing department, just like laminated might mean veneer?
Part of the problem knowing Fender history from the Leo days is everything was a little loose and often on-the-fly. I think Fender historians often find many examples of dates that don't even match up with what Fender themselves were publishing at the time. You need to recall that R&D, manufacturing, and sales were all run differently by the different henchman. It seems sometimes Don Randall and the sales and marketing guys would not exactly know what Leo and Freddy Tavares were changing, and other times they (sales) would ask for changes before the manufacturing side could deliver.
I also remember the story as to how the '57 and '62 Reissue Strats came to be. The fewtures were not exclusive or even 100% correct to those two years, but in the American mind those two years were better than the years around them due to a combination of more positive memories and fewer negative memories. Marketing before accuracy, but still good and successful product.
Like said before, the veneered rosewood was introduced in the 2nd half of 1962, so technically speaking 1963 is the first "real year" that there were veneered fretboards*
*(and that's not completely true, the very first mustangs (guitar) from 1965 had a slab rosewood fretboard, and those were no leftovers from Jaguar necks, since they had the pearloid dots, while slabboard jags had clay dots)
*(and that's not completely true, the very first mustangs (guitar) from 1965 had a slab rosewood fretboard, and those were no leftovers from Jaguar necks, since they had the pearloid dots, while slabboard jags had clay dots)
The NAMM show was in the summer, the winter show wasn't the main show even in the late '80s. So in '62 they showed new products and it would be for the '63 model year, like cars.
Jobn
Jobn
Not to mention all that stuff about beating up perfect new bodies to make them look old back there in Mexico... The only explanation possible is that Fender is managed by the devil!
Don't really get why people get so bothered by such small things
August 62 they changed to veneer.
So if you go by a year then 63 is indeed the first full year of veneer rosewood board.
Fender are therefore correct.
Davo
So if you go by a year then 63 is indeed the first full year of veneer rosewood board.
Fender are therefore correct.
Davo
This is what I believe is accurate and I do not at all blame marketing copy for stating that laminate boards started in '63 - we are not talking about entries in the Fender encyclopedia of basses and their various quirks. How do we think marketing communications should handle the neck-width options that were offered at various junctures? I understand how this practice - mass communications - may offend those who are more clued in, but decisions have to be made, and we can content ourselves with knowing better.
