No neck stamp on a 69 precision?

[The Bass Clef]

No neck stamp is no big deal. Sometimes they fade, sometimes they weren’t stamped at all. Even more common in the ‘70s, but I’ve had a couple ‘66s with no stamp either (which is even less common than late ‘60s). You can also narrow this neck down to ‘68-70 era because it still has the small pearl dot position markers along the top edge of the neck. Fender went to black dots in 1970.

 

[The Bass Clef]

And yeah, like @FranF said, that truss rod is buried! You can buy truss rod washers from Fender (or find the right size at your local hardware store) and get that thing back closer to being flush with the butt of the neck. When it’s that deep it means the wood behind the nut has compressed (a lot in your case) and at some point it will usually crack the fretboard if you go much tighter.

 

[jamro217]

The Bass Clef beat me to it with the idea of washers, but be careful if you start fooling around with a recessed nut that deep. Check to see if the neck heel has been sanded. It could have been and any markings were put on later. It looks like a '69 and a really nice bass. The only bad thing is that there is a black faced twin out there somewhere with the wrong (or no) knobs.

 

[elgranluis]

I’m thinking there’s no truss rod nut in there at all !!!

 

[mcnach]

I’m thinking there’s no truss rod nut in there at all !!!

???

 

[Peter Guthrie]

I’m thinking there’s no truss rod nut in there at all !!!

It is in there. It’s about 1/2 inch in from the end.

 

[Peter Guthrie]

And yeah, like @FranF said, that truss rod is buried! You can buy truss rod washers from Fender (or find the right size at your local hardware store) and get that thing back closer to being flush with the butt of the neck. When it’s that deep it means the wood behind the nut has compressed (a lot in your case) and at some point it will usually crack the fretboard if you go much tighter.

Thanks for the info. I’m going to order some ASAP.

I’m pretty sure the heel has not been sanded as there is finish on it.

I finally plugged it into my amp last night. And even though the action is a little high for my liking it sounds awesome. The lows are huge and the higher notes have something going on in the mids that’s very nice. My other precision has the fender CS pickup in it and it’s way dofferent

 

[mikeswals]

69 as well as 59 two common years for no stamps at all.
I once had a 69 Jazz with no stamp, and when looking at other 69s I saw many with no stamps at all.

 

[ukulelelab]

Case has a correct 60's 'no tail' logo (circa '65 to '70, brad under the 'r')

 

[Iridescentone]

My 53 Precision has a neck with no date stamp. It does have a red stamp that reads "Leo" though

In a related story....

I bought an original '55 P bass from a well renowned vintage dealer. He sold it as "having no dates" penciled anywhere. On close inspection I found lightly penciled "2-55" in the neck pocket, and on the flat side of the neck butt. He overlooked the dates because the numbers were super large, taking up the entire surface areas. Score.

 

[D.M.N.]

I'm hear to say, love the witch hat knobs, might do that to my Precision now.

 

[mikeswals]

Case has a correct 60's 'no tail' logo (circa '65 to '70, brad under the 'r')

No. To me 'no tail' would be a 72 and later case.
66-71 is a tail. 64-65 no logo at all.

 

[The Bass Clef]

No. To me 'no tail' would be a 72 and later case.
66-71 is a tail. 64-65 no logo at all.

‘64-65 no logo
‘66-69 no tail (used alongside tails) (different rivet placement than later no tails)
‘67-74 tails
‘72-77ish no tail again
‘77-early ‘80s no tail with “Made in USA” added.

Here’s the different rivet placements (right side under “r”)...
‘66-69:

‘72-77ish (right side past “r”):

 

[Peter Guthrie]

Hey guys, thanks for all your replies! I really appreciate this site, and the knowledge of the collective
I took the neck off this morning after watching stew-mac’s truss rod rescue videos. I figured I could get that but back to flush. I looked through my hardware drawer and found a couple 3/16-1/4 inch spacers, had to drill them out to fit over the rod itself but otherwise they were perfect. There was a washer in there already so the spacers wouldn’t crush the wood anymore I backed it out gently and was lucky that the threads were still good. I dabbed a little Vaseline on the spacers and threads so it wouldn’t bind up and ‘viola’ back to flush with plenty of adjustment if needed. I did have to put a very thin shim at the heel of the neck, but after all was said and done the action and intonation is excellent! Thank so again for the replies. Here are a few pics of the pocket, heel, and truss nut before and after.