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NBD - Fender Custom Shop

#21
andare said:
Looks great! Enjoy.

What is the significance of those years?
What makes it a 69? Is it the particular shades in the sunburst?
Did they change the P pickups in 62?
Is 75 the year they introduced 70s spacing in Jazz basses?

I've always been curious about specific Fender vintages. I know about some of them (1959 is when they switched to rosewood, 1963 is when slab boards became veneer boards, etc.) but not these.
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Different years it eras have certain features or characteristics they are known for. For the ‘69, that grew out of my desire to have the ‘70s TV logo which didn’t work out for me.

For the pickups, my guess is they are wound with specifications known in those eras. But the Custom Shop Hand Wound pickups are a big step up from what you’d usually get. I’ve had the ‘62 HW previously so I got it again. For the Jazz, oddly all the HW pickups were 70’s spec. I hope that answers your question.
 
#22
Acoop said:
Bullet truss-rod? ... Did you ask for that? ... I don't think I've seen a Maple neck, Bullet truss-rod P-bass with a Spaghetti Logo. Interesting to look at.
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So it was supposed to be a ‘69 style so bullet truss rod and TV logo. But the decal got lost in translation and I ended up with the spaghetti logo. Discussing with the shop, decided on the bullet opposed to the butt of the neck for easier adjustment. And it’s already paying dividends.
 
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#23
The Bullet Truss Rod Nut... when you know the issue it can cause, you would probably want to avoid it. Fender is jokingly still making basses with it. Personally, the best trussrods I've EVER adjusted... Not on a US, not on a Mexican, not on a Japanese, not on a Indonesian... Yes, on Chinese Squiers. The trussrod nuts are always smooth to turn on these Classic Vibe Squiers, and they STAY IN PLACE. It's on the headstock. 5mm Allen wrech. Quick setup, hidden, beautiful walnut piece for the entrance of the wrench. But these Bullet trussrod nuts? Nope thanks! Hopefully, this thing won't be an issue on your lovely bass.
 
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#24
kbakerde said:
Different years it eras have certain features or characteristics they are known for. For the ‘69, that grew out of my desire to have the ‘70s TV logo which didn’t work out for me.

For the pickups, my guess is they are wound with specifications known in those eras. But the Custom Shop Hand Wound pickups are a big step up from what you’d usually get. I’ve had the ‘62 HW previously so I got it again. For the Jazz, oddly all the HW pickups were 70’s spec. I hope that answers your question.
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Thanks
 
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#26
kbakerde said:
Finally came in, ordered this last year, placing my deposit with Make 'N Music on Apr 30, 2022. I had no idea how long it would take. 12 months, 15, 24, would they forget about it! But sure enough, I got the email and photos that the bass arrived earlier this month. There was a bit of a snafu, one thing that I was looking for that didn't get ordered correctly. I asked for a 70's TV logo, but instead got the '59 style logo. But Fender and the shop gave me a nice discount for my trouble, so I will not complain.

Bass is a beautiful 3-Tone burst with a black guard and an all Maple neck. The neck is a '60's Jazz neck and feels excellent. One of my choices was to get a satin finish on the neck which is nice and smooth. The relic job is very light, and can be tough to even see. All means it looks like a loved and worn in bass. I have to get the pickups set where I like them, but so far so good. This is the best PJ I've played to date. I have had the bass for a total of 1 hour, but so far I am enjoying my time with it. Details:

  • Fender Custom Shop 1969 Precision Bass
  • 3 Tone Burst nitro finish
  • Maple neck with Maple Fretboard, nitro finish with a satin neck finish
  • Jazz neck profile
  • Black pickguard
  • FCS '62 HW Precision Bass Pickup
  • FCS '75 HW Jazz Bridge Pickup
  • 60's Jazz Concentric Wiring
The Pics:

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Congrats. PJs are awesome. Enjoy.
 
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#31
InstantEctobass said:
The Bullet Truss Rod Nut... when you know the issue it can cause, you would probably want to avoid it. Fender is jokingly still making basses with it. Personally, the best trussrods I've EVER adjusted... Not on a US, not on a Mexican, not on a Japanese, not on a Indonesian... Yes, on Chinese Squiers. The trussrod nuts are always smooth to turn on these Classic Vibe Squiers, and they STAY IN PLACE. It's on the headstock. 5mm Allen wrech. Quick setup, hidden, beautiful walnut piece for the entrance of the wrench. But these Bullet trussrod nuts? Nope thanks! Hopefully, this thing won't be an issue on your lovely bass.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your concern. Someone else posted some advice on it, and pretty much it seems to boil down to don't overtighten it. Hopefully I have this bass for a long time and treat it well, so bottoming out the truss rod doesn't happen but it's good advice to have. I have only had it a day, but my band plays in D Std so an adjustment was already necessary and was very easy to do. So for the day I've had it, Bullet Truss Rod for the win!
 
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#34
roller said:
Fender Custom-But-We're-Gonna-Do-What-We-Want Shop
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Guessing we’re talking about the logo issue. Yeah that was lost in translation I think. You don’t go to the Custom Shop directly, you go through a shop who helps you spec the guitar and puts the order in with Fender. Fender apparently in their system starts all P-Basses off as a ‘59 base style and makes adjustments off that. The build sheet (which I scrutinized several times) cites Vintage P Bass, which I didn’t know was not what I wanted. So I didn’t know to look for it and the shop just missed it.

So according to the build sheet, everything came out great. There was just a discrepancy. A failure of communication of sorts. If anyone decides to spec out a Custom Shop. I’d highly recommend getting the initial build sheet and go through it with your sales rep at the shop line for line. So you know exactly what each option means and what you’re getting. I did not, that was my mistake. The shop knew what I wanted and made an oversight. Fender, did what the build sheet said.

If the error was more substantial , I’d have sent the bass back. As it stands I got a price reduction and I am happy.
 
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#40
Given the mistakes FCS sometimes makes with the spec of one-off basses, I wonder if there is an opportunity here for Fender to make an online 'visualiser' account available to dealers, expanding on the Mod Shop platform? Perhaps the visualiser could feature the most popular custom options for colour/bridge/logo/neck options, so that a customer places a deposit with the full knowledge of what their chosen bass looks like. Relic visualisations would of course be for guidance only.

In this case @kbakerde was understanding about the incorrect logo, but I'd be pretty annoyed to put down several thousand dollars on an instrument and it turn up with different specs - no matter how minor. Fender can and should do better here, especially when other builders offer such visualisers for custom orders.
 
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