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Just 1954 1955 1956 Precision Thread

#2
No '57s?

The contoured bodied versions of the single coil Precision Bass (SCPB) were made at least into April of '57. Sting's personal instrument is dated to that time.

Heres one if my DIY versions:

Link Removed

I also have a recent Blue Flower RI and Sting but no pix of those.
 
#4
Yup, the contours actually started in 1954. Sting's old P-Bass is a '56 (the one which he now plays without the scratchplate). He did have another '57 one, but auctioned that off a couple of years ago for the Hurricane Katrina benefit. Sunburst finishes were introduced in late 1954.

In '57 there was an overlap with the single coil and the new split coil models, so you can get both versions from that year.

Anthow, here's my '56 with an alder body. the neck is big and chunky, and the sound is just wonderful!

DSC00004-1.jpg
 
#9
kevin_lindsay said:
Yup, the contours actually started in 1954. Sting's old P-Bass is a '56 (the one which he now plays without the scratchplate). He did have another '57 one, but auctioned that off a couple of years ago for the Hurricane Katrina benefit.
Click to expand...

Cool. I'd like to follow up on that, can you cite a source? Maybe the auction news item? I searched Google and no luck.

According to Mark Kendrick at Fender, the Custom Shop modded Sting's '57 P for a custom SD stacked humbucking pickup. The one without the 'guard was that '57 and they also made a Custom Shop duplicate. Not to say that Sting couldn't easily have removed the 'guard from another bass.
 
#11
Yup, the contours actually started in 1954. Sting's old P-Bass is a '56 (the one which he now plays without the scratchplate).
Click to expand...

I've always thought his bass was a '54, but read a few years ago that it may be a '56 or '57.
The following is from MF's site selling the STING model.
Makes no sense to me!

"A bass made to Police specifications.
It's a faithful limited edition reproduction of Sting's trusty 1953 Precision Bass with his signature in a block inlay at the 12th fret"

I've always been told the contours (as mentioned earlier), started in '54.
 
#12
I also found this:

"According to Danny Quatrochi (sp?), both of Sting's '57 & '55 p-basses are equipped with the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Stack Single Coil Basslines pickup. It's a stack, which eliminates the annoying hum associated with all single coil pickups, while supposedly retains the single coil sound quality. I've been eyeing this same pick-up for my bass, but I believe it will require a route of the pickup cavity to accommodate the taller pickup.

Here's the lowdown on Sting's Fender Custom Shop clone from one of Fender's MasterBuilders, Mark Kendrick":

"Sting's P-bass is unique in that both neck and body are dated 4/57. Between '54 and '56 the wood of choice for 'P' was generally Ash. Sting's 'P' is Alder. The neck profile is a heavy 'V', just as you would find on a Strat from the same era. It measures .930 at the first fret and .960 at the twelth. I've only seen one other 'P' like it. It belongs to Nashville session ace, Michael Rhodes. The transition to the "familiar" '57 'P' was completed in June '57. Sting's 'P' is modified. The pup cavity was deepened by .290ths to allow for the additional height of a Seymour Duncan stack. It is wired in parallel and reads at 14K ohms.""

NICE photos BTW! :cool:
 
#13
bass-flyer said:
...both of Sting's '57 & '55 p-basses are equipped with the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Stack Single Coil Basslines pickup. It's a stack, which eliminates the annoying hum associated with all single coil pickups, while supposedly retains the single coil sound quality...

...The pup cavity was deepened by .290ths to allow for the additional height of a Seymour Duncan stack. It is wired in parallel and reads at 14K ohms"...
Click to expand...


I wonder about this "retains single coil quality" claim for a vertical stacK wired in parallel. Doesn't having a hum canceling effect depend on summing the outputs of the parallel reversed signals (like a Jazz bass)? So presumably this assures both upper and lower coils are in the circuit. While it may be a great sounding pickup, is it not subject to the same artifacts of hum bucking that all such pickups have, i.e., loss of highs and lows, yet quieter?

Obviously "retains single coil quality" is a vague claim, and is being made about a pop star's instrument, but am I reading too much into this or missing something? Is it just SD hype?
 

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