So a couple weeks ago I found a '61 P-bass on my local classifieds, went to look at it fell in love with it but we didn't agree on a price. The guy selling it was the second owner, he had it since 1964 and bought it from his friend. On my way out, him and his wife insisted I stay and have a cup of coffee, so I sat in his kitchen for an hour listening to amazing musician stories from the 60's and 70's. Fasts forward to last night, I received an email last night, basically saying come pick it up for the price I offered! As for the bass, previous owner claims it's early 61, I haven't had it apart but there is no patent numbers under the logo so assuming the neck is a 60, and the previous owner said the pots were changed in the late 70's. The neck plate checks out to be 61 as well. It was poorly refinished in the late 60's by his drummer. Story goes that the drummer had a black kit and wanted the bass to match, so one night he took the bass, stripped it, and painted it. Which is a shame because the amount of mojo on the neck and knobs is amazing. I have the original pickup cover but not ashtray cover. It plays fantastically and sounds equally incredible! Anyways, without further ado, I bring to you, my pre-CBS
Heck with the refin. That bass looks freaking great. If it plays great, sounds great and came with a great story (bonus) then rock that puppy. Congrats!
Very cool. My 1st bass was a '62 that had been played hard and long by the original owner. It was like putting on old slippers--SO comfy and natural.
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The decal is a (very poor) replacement, installed at the wrong location on top of that. Could be a '60, could be a '62, could be an early '62. Only way to know is to remove the neck, and see if there is something written there (or not).
Probably replaced the decal when it was refinished or sometime afterwards. Still looks great! That's one dark Brazilian fingerboard.
Update: I took it apart the other day, the neck is 12/61 and body appears to be 1/62. Like I said the pots were changed multiple times, which I'm not surprised, the one of the knobs has been used so much that there is a deep groove in it. The pickups have the black bobbin, I didn't get a great picture of it though. The original paint can still be seen too!The previous owner hasn't sent me any copies of the photos he has yet but sent me a link to photo with him and the bass in it, there is a description with the pic on the site, but want to keep his name private.