Finally found a used Fender Steve Harris PBass with the blue sparkle finish. Bought it online from a Guitar Center in NJ. It's in excellent condition with no issues that I could detect. When I opened the case, I found a Reverb listing that had an interesting story.
The seller claimed to have been a long-time Fender employee and the original owner of the bass. He claims that the bass was manufactured at the end of the 2014 production run when Fender was moving production of these basses from Japan to Mexico. Up to that point, all of the Fender Steve Harris blue sparkle basses were made in Japan, but he claims that this bass was the first/prototype, and only Steve Harris signature model with the blue sparkle finish, built at the Ensenada factory.
The bass does indeed look to be an authentic Steve Harris PBass. But the story gets a little funky because the serial number on the back of the headstock starts with "MX1231..." which according to the Fender serial number decoder would make the manufacture date 2012, not a 2014. But maybe the signature basses don't follow the same serial number scheme???
Well, who knows? It's in great shape and plays and sounds great. I'm glad to own it.
--jack
The seller claimed to have been a long-time Fender employee and the original owner of the bass. He claims that the bass was manufactured at the end of the 2014 production run when Fender was moving production of these basses from Japan to Mexico. Up to that point, all of the Fender Steve Harris blue sparkle basses were made in Japan, but he claims that this bass was the first/prototype, and only Steve Harris signature model with the blue sparkle finish, built at the Ensenada factory.
The bass does indeed look to be an authentic Steve Harris PBass. But the story gets a little funky because the serial number on the back of the headstock starts with "MX1231..." which according to the Fender serial number decoder would make the manufacture date 2012, not a 2014. But maybe the signature basses don't follow the same serial number scheme???
Well, who knows? It's in great shape and plays and sounds great. I'm glad to own it.
--jack
