Need help with 1966 P-Bass

[Gervais Cote]

If I had a 1966 p bass, I'd want people to know it so vintage tortoise pickguard.

OTHO, if you want a more rock look, black pickguard. Might look like a 70' though…..

And for the finish, I would leave it as is. To me, it’s not A bass, it’s a piece of history with a story.

Well worth the long drive IMO. Nice catch !

60's look :




70's look :

 

[SoulReflection]

If the original was sunburst, then the PG would have been tort. So, either the PG is original and the color was something other than SB, or the PG is not original…like the finish.
Natural didn’t happen for about 4 or 5 years later.

I have a 65’ Jazz that I refer to as a “no-fin” instead of a re-fin. Not only do I love the look, but I love the fact that it’s pretty beat and doesn’t much matter if it gets even more beat.

View attachment 5370660

It's not a beater bass...it's a bass that keeps on beating .

 

[MattZilla]

Mint, worn, period modified and worn, recent modified, restored, I like them all.

That’s a P bass with a worn neck- it’ll look great no matter what you choose to do with it. Well, I mean, it won’t be that cool looking if you go and Geddy off the horns…

Congrats!

 

[Bill Whitehurst]

When I got my 66 it was natural and cheap single ply white PG.
When I looked under the shield under the the PG I found specs of Lake Placed Blue.
That tells me that someone in the 70s took the time to sand off about 4K of collector value.
It worked out for me.
I got a grate 66 that I never would have been able to buy if it were all original.
Oh, the natural finish goes well with a repo gold guard.
It's already not original so why not make it look vintage/cool?

 

[ElliottStrong]

Looks like it was refinished black then stripped to natural, I've done the exact same thing to a 70s Fender. The problem with old Fenders is that you constantly questioning whether it's original or not

 

[Auer]

I'd leave it as is, Looks very cool in it's current state and tons of mojo.

Tort? pfft, everyone has tort..

 

[Bass Motifs]

Looks great with the natural finish and play wear. I'd just pop a nicer pickguard on it. White seems a funny choice for natural finish. Lucky you!

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Dude... Clean it , play it , love it.
Thats a very cool bass....

 

[Grinderman]

All things considered, if it were me and mine, I'd ditch that pickguard (that white one is heinous to me--no offense intended), replace it with a black anodized aluminum 10-hole, do whatever fretwork and electronic work it needs to play and sound great then call it done. Concerns about standards and conventions of period-correct finish and pickguard materiality be damned.

 

[Clark W]

I just scored a 1966 p-bass its a little rough but.... does anyone know what colors were put on the basses that year , mine seems to be a natural finish and a white pickguard.View attachment 5370593

I wouldn't worry about the pickguard. If it plays and sounds good, rock it out. The pickguard, although probably not original to that bass, has the same used look as the bass. If you buy a new pickguard it's going to look, well, new. And all of these saying go tort, nah.

 

[blacktocomm]

I like the white guard on it. I would clean it up and rock it just as it is. Cool P for sure.

 

[micguy]

You're not very in-touch with the last 20-40 years of indie music, are you?

I can like the music and still think that tort is visually very tired.

 

[KellyC]

You may want to replace the pickguard, just because it is broken, and not original anyway. IMO a vintage tort would look killer on this body.

Absolutely. I would splurge for the Custom Shop or one of the fancy boutique reproductions.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

so theres no way to find out the original color

Remove the neck and look for traces of the original paint inside the neck pocket if any ..

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Standard colours:

OW, 3TS + …. ?

1966 custom colours:

CAR, IBM (ice blue metallic) + … ?

 

[Grinderman]

Remove the neck and look for traces of the original paint inside the neck pocket if any ..

It's been through some changes.

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/need-help-with-1966-p-bass.1642460/#post-28246569

 

[buteo]

May I ask two ridiculous questions: How it sounds? How it feels?

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

It's been through some changes.

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/need-help-with-1966-p-bass.1642460/#post-28246569

Ah then .. no way

 

[Grinderman]

Ah then .. no way

Somebody really really did not like the original color. They murder it.

 

[blr2]

When I got my 66 it was natural and cheap single ply white PG.
When I looked under the shield under the the PG I found specs of Lake Placed Blue.
That tells me that someone in the 70s took the time to sand off about 4K of collector value.

Natural was fashionable in the 70's. Fender made a lot of P's with that finish back then, mostly heavy ash bodies. In the 70's, these 60's basses were not considered collectable, just some years old. Even the pre-CBS was not a big thing, although many people realized that the quality was better, and the instruments were lighter. So, many people sanded off their original finish just to make their basses look more contemporary and newer. Playing a beat up instrument wasn't considered coll back then.