NDB: 1961 Fender Precision

[DavidBassista]

It's subjective but I think the heavily yellowed ones look much better than the whiter ones - particularly in combination with the tort guards.

I envy you on that blonde stack! Had the chance at one in '85 but it was insanely expensive at over $3K at that time (I bought a Fiesta Red '60 stack for $900 around that time and other original custom color 3-knobs could still be found even from dealers in that range at that time). I was offered another fairly recently at $50K.... (I've never played the vintage game on that level).

Enjoying reading all of the vintage bass stories people are posting. Yesterday I ordered an early 60s set of original reverse Kluson tuners to replace the reproduction ones. I feel like it was worth the additional investment in the bass.

 

[FranF]

Thank you for posting these FranF. The bass looks amazing. That is a really nice pickguard too. Can you see the wood grain better in person? Also, is that a one-piece ash body or like mine does it have a smaller section glued on?

Grain is more visible in person. I'm assuming it's more than one piece. Just not sure!

 

[Dynacord]

Enjoying reading all of the vintage bass stories people are posting. Yesterday I ordered an early 60s set of original reverse Kluson tuners to replace the reproduction ones. I feel like it was worth the additional investment in the bass.

Good move on finding those tuners!

Grain is more visible in person. I'm assuming it's more than one piece. Just not sure!

One piece bodies are super rare - especially on the basses - and once into the 60's. Some people get fooled as they were often very good at matching pieces up. Easiest to tell from the end grain which is probably why they deliberately obscured the edges.

 

[DavidBassista]

This is a photo from Fender's 1961 catalog! Check out the blonde Precision bass. It looks like you can kind of even make out the grain of the ash in the photo. I'm guessing those were the only three bass options at the time? 3TSB Precision, Blonde Precision and 3TSB Jazz?

I pulled this photo from this great article on the history of the electric bass on Reverb. Did Leo Fender Really Invent the Electric Bass?

 

[Dynacord]

View attachment 4078437
I'm guessing those were the only three bass options at the time? 3TSB Precision, Blonde Precision and 3TSB Jazz?

No! There was the whole range of custom colors which could be ordered at an upcharge (as was blonde - they were special order). Stock finish was sunburst (which is what the great majority of them were).

 

[Dynacord]

Here's the color chart for 1961-63:

Note that is says "These 14 colors, plus blond, Available at 5% Additional cost. Sunburst Finish Standard at no Extra cost"

These color charts changed and were updated periodically.

 

[Luckydog]

The first-gen tort guards did have thicknesses that were all over the place, and there is shrinkage over the years as well, complicating things. There were also weird situations sometimes, like only w/b layers under the tort. Variation was the norm. But in '64, when they switched to laminating the tort over more stable w/b/w layers, the middle layer was far more consistently thin. Therefore first gen guards are generally thought of as having a thicker black layer (though not necessarily "thick"), while second-gen ones are generally thought of as having a very thin black layer.

It would only be something that would blip on ones radar until the pots and/or body date were checked out. Those things being in order would put one more at ease. As would seeing the guard in person, which would make the material used for the white and black layers plain as day (hard to show in photos).

To me, that darkness around the edge looks more like the artifacts of an amateur refin than the original finish. Plus it makes no sense that everything on the bass would have been taken down to the point at which the original sealer was chemically stripped (evident by the wood grains being clear of sealer). Perhaps I am reading the photos wrong (it's hard to tell from pix), but it looks like that dark stuff is directly over the ash grain, sinking quite a bit into it in places. The pre-Fullerplast finishes were exceptionally easy to chemically remove all the way down to the wood. There's no reason someone would do so on 98 percent of the body only. The ash grain was stripped of its filler, which you don't do by shallowly sanding, only with chemicals. Personally, without having the bass in hand, my gut says it was stripped twice, then clear coated like it is now.

Is the dark area dark brown, or black?

havent read the whole thread, but it seems to me the evidence pics point to a chemical strip of the whole body, then at some point, the body was perhaps painted again with a dark paint...then after some period, another, less complete strip or perhaps just an incomplete sanding job was done after the second paint job, which left the dark paint residue on the body edges.

 

[2F/2F]

havent read the whole thread, but it seems to me the evidence pics point to a chemical strip of the whole body, then at some point, the body was perhaps painted again with a dark paint...then after some period, another, less complete strip or perhaps just an incomplete sanding job was done after the second paint job, which left the dark paint residue on the body edges.

That's exactly what I was sayin'.

 

[mtdkingstonheir]

DavidB - glad you found a great old bass. Love the patina, vibe.

 

[JMacBass65]

I remember Southworth from a few guitar shows in the Chicago area back in the day. IICR, he had a slight southern accent, a real good "gift of gab", and was from maybe Virginia or Carolina area? I never did any deals with him, but a guitarist buddy did some trade deals with him.

Haven't heard that name in a long time. Not sure where he was from or lived but his shop, Southworth Guitars, was in Bethesda, Maryland, which is just minutes outside of Washington, DC. I used to pop in there on occasion with a buddy of mine in the late 80s. Never could afford anything at the time, but in retrospect I probably should have tried harder.

 

[DavidBassista]

So, I ordered a set of original early 60s tuners for this bass and they arrived this week. I was rather annoyed that the seller didn't include the bushings with the tuners, which I just assumed would be included, but I guess I'm partly to blame for not inquiring about this. I would return them but there aren't a lot of other options on the market for a non-absurd price so I might just have to get some repro bushings or keep an eye out for original vintage ones.

I attempted to put the new tuners on the bass and started uncovering some issues that will be need to be resolved by a luthier.

Here is the neck date on the heel. As you can see there is a shim on the back bottom part of the neck. I should have taken a better picture of the shim. I left it in, though I'm not sure if the neck really needs it. I checked the truss rod to make sure it still turned and wasn't seized up. It seemed fine.

Here is the neck pocket. Does that look like remnants of an ash paint job?

While I had the repro tuner off I weighed it and the original tuner. The repro is just slightly lighter than the original tuners.

So here is what I encountered behind the tuners. I could strangle the person who designed the repro tuner for not putting the screw hole placement in line with where the original ones are!! As you can see someone had to dowel the original holes in order for the repro tuners holes to be drilled about a half millimeter off. You can also see the evidence of other types of tuners that have been on this bass. Looks like someone did a really poor job of creating the pockets for the other tuners to anchor themselves. I'll need to have someone fill in all the holes and re-drill them for the original tuners to be mounted again. I don't have the tools or confidence to do this, so I will have to keep the repro tuners on for now. I'm leaning more towards the idea of having the bass re-finished in transparent blonde and will see about getting the headstock repaired and the original tuners mounted when this is done.

 

[DavidBassista]

One more thing. I put some new chrome covers on the bass. I know most people take these off, but I've grown accustomed to using the PU cover as a thumb rest that it was annoying me not having them on. Plus I think they look cool. Also the bass looks great as wall art!

I have been playing this bass A LOT the past couple weeks. I put Rotosound 66 40-100 strings on it a couple days ago. It's got a different sound from my 63. A little more low end and more focused on the fundamental note. The 63 has a more harmonic overtones apparent in the notes. Both sound really good each having a unique sound but still very "P Bass".

 

[Mastermold]

All good for a player. As long as you're happy that's all that matters.

 

[DavidBassista]

All good for a player. As long as you're happy that's all that matters.

Thanks man. Yeah, I love it. I'm not too worried about behind the headstock issues and I think they can all be worked out. Nothing catastrophic to the functionality or longevity of the bass.

 

[Jwood]

Very cool and a beautiful duo you have.

 

[DavidBassista]

Some of you had been asking to hear how the bass sounded. A few weeks ago when I had access to my B-15 and some space I did a bunch of recordings of myself playing various compositions of mine. It's difficult to really capture the sound of everything with microphones. I did add a slight amount of slap back delay in Final cut just for fun.