NBD! '74 Precision, super clean black & maple!

[bassfiddlesteve]

New Bass Day! A friend told me there was something special at the local Sam Ash, and he wasn't kidding! This '75 Precision is in great shape with clean & bright maple neck and a nary a scratch on the black finish. Only the oxidation on the frets and tuners bely it's age. Three of the strings look like factory Fender flatwounds and the foam mute is still intact under the bridge cover! Even with this setup, it sounds great and it weighs a comfy 8.75 lbs. When they brought the case I was glad to see that it was original. In the accessory compartment was the chrome pickup cover, inspection tag, case keys (attached to a shower curtain hook), a pitch pipe, a well-worn felt pick, a screwdriver, and a homemade cable made with telephone plugs. It was obvious that this bass saw relatively little action and hadn't been played in years. That's about to change!

- Steve

 

[Immigrant]

 

[bassfiddlesteve]

I found a great reason to bump my own thread: based on the date codes found on the neck, inspection tag, and potentiometers it looks like this bass is actually a '74

- Steve

 

[hypercarrots]

how did you change the thread title?

 

[bassfiddlesteve]

how did you change the thread title?

There's a button at the top labelled "Thread Tools" and "Edit Title" is one of the options.

Now...don't you want to talk about my new bass?

- Steve

 

[bobba66]

Very nice.

 

[hypercarrots]

it's a very nice find!
tell us how it sounds.

 

[Shawn Luckman]

Absolutely stunning bass .

 

[alack]

Awesome!

 

[Marc DLarosa]

And... for less than the price of a new Schecter... RIGHT? (go ahead, break my heart)

There is always something "going on" in Florida.

 

[jamro217]

Wow!!! Yay!!! The neck is still light. It is so clean that it looks fake.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

The original Case Queen, they do exist! Im not a P guy, but thats a nice score.

 

[bhoff5150]

That bass may be a 77 if that potentiometer is original. According to Gruhn's book, the first 3 digits of the pot code are the manufacturer (137 = CTS on your pot), then the 3 numbers after the dash are the YWW, noting the year, and the week of that year that the pot was manufactured. In your case this pot was manufactured the 40th week of 1977 which means the bass would have been assembled some time after that.

If I'm reading it right 137-740 is a CTS pot made the 40th week of 1977 - if it's original of course....

 

[UNICORN BASS]

WOWSER!

 

[JRA]

don't you want to talk about my new bass?

i do!

sounds like you got a great ax --- it sure looks great! it's cool that all the parts were intact/present. congratulations on your new instrument!

 

[LUCE]

That bass may be a 77 if that potentiometer is original. According to Gruhn's book, the first 3 digits of the pot code are the manufacturer (137 = CTS on your pot), then the 3 numbers after the dash are the YWW, noting the year, and the week of that year that the pot was manufactured. In your case this pot was manufactured the 40th week of 1977 which means the bass would have been assembled some time after that.

If I'm reading it right 137-740 is a CTS pot made the 40th week of 1977 - if it's original of course....

'77 would have the S/N on the headstock.

 

[wagdog]

That’s the spitting image of my very first new bass. I bought it in December of 73 but it had the 74 E string thumbrest location like yours. Paid $300 for it which back then was a lot of money. Come to think of it I used felt picks for some numbers too. Hmmmm.

 

[murphy]

How much how much how much



I know....You don't want to tell us...But Congratulations on an Epic bass

Now put on a Black Pick guard and Play all the Stranglers hits!!

 

[TinIndian]

Now that is a heck of a score! Nice bass!

 

[col426]

It`s a 1975 according to serial # on the plate