I decided to restore my late 75/early 76 Precision bass. I had bought it in a pawn shop awhile ago for $700 Canadian (at the time that was about $450 US dollars), and it was a bit of a basket case, the bridge was wrecked, the OG pickup and electronics long gone and replaced with a weird cream coloured pickup that sounded like a fart, and a shattered non-original "tortoise shell" pickguard that was so crappy looking, it made Squier tort look like the finest vintage guards that money can buy. Light as a feather and comfortable to play, I bought it and got rid of my ultra cheap and crappy Harmony P bass copy.
I had fixed it up with a fancy Schaller roller bridge, an active EMG pickup, and a really nice nitro tort guard. It stayed that way for a decade and served me well, but I got sick of changing batteries and decided I wanted to revert to a passive pickup. So I decided to try and return the bass to what it was like when it was all original.
I nearly shat myself when I saw what vintage parts were selling for on ebay ($50 for a potentiometer!?) so I decided to use reissue parts from Fender. The pickguard is a WD one, since Fender doesn't sell any with the 70's screw hole pattern. The electronics are not Fender branded, but they're CTS/Switchcraft, so same thing. I couldn't find a vintage looking cap, so I just used a modern Sprague Orange Drop. The bridge is the same one Fender uses on the AVRI '75 Jazz Bass RI, looks identical to the original. I had planned to put in the "'62 Vintage" p bass pickup from Fender, but since nobody on earth seems to have it in stock, I instead put in a new Fender pickup as used on the American Deluxe Precision bass. This ended up being for the best, since it has plastic coated wires and non-staggered pole pieces, therefore looking a lot more like the OG '70s pickup than the '62 pickup would have. I even nerded out and put in a brass shielding plate underneath the pickup. I didn't buy the ashtray covers, since they just get in the way while playing.
I was originally restoring it to sell it but now I'm not sure... plus I have no idea what it's worth. Yesterday I checked Ebay's completed listings, but p-basses in similar condition from the mid seventies have sold at prices ranging from $600 to $2100. Anyone have any ideas what the market rate would be for this one? I love this bass but I'm so happy with my Mustang bass that this one doesn't get as much play time anymore, so I don't think I can justify keeping it.
I forgot to take a "before" pic, so here is an "after" pic:
I had fixed it up with a fancy Schaller roller bridge, an active EMG pickup, and a really nice nitro tort guard. It stayed that way for a decade and served me well, but I got sick of changing batteries and decided I wanted to revert to a passive pickup. So I decided to try and return the bass to what it was like when it was all original.
I nearly shat myself when I saw what vintage parts were selling for on ebay ($50 for a potentiometer!?) so I decided to use reissue parts from Fender. The pickguard is a WD one, since Fender doesn't sell any with the 70's screw hole pattern. The electronics are not Fender branded, but they're CTS/Switchcraft, so same thing. I couldn't find a vintage looking cap, so I just used a modern Sprague Orange Drop. The bridge is the same one Fender uses on the AVRI '75 Jazz Bass RI, looks identical to the original. I had planned to put in the "'62 Vintage" p bass pickup from Fender, but since nobody on earth seems to have it in stock, I instead put in a new Fender pickup as used on the American Deluxe Precision bass. This ended up being for the best, since it has plastic coated wires and non-staggered pole pieces, therefore looking a lot more like the OG '70s pickup than the '62 pickup would have. I even nerded out and put in a brass shielding plate underneath the pickup. I didn't buy the ashtray covers, since they just get in the way while playing.
I was originally restoring it to sell it but now I'm not sure... plus I have no idea what it's worth. Yesterday I checked Ebay's completed listings, but p-basses in similar condition from the mid seventies have sold at prices ranging from $600 to $2100. Anyone have any ideas what the market rate would be for this one? I love this bass but I'm so happy with my Mustang bass that this one doesn't get as much play time anymore, so I don't think I can justify keeping it.
I forgot to take a "before" pic, so here is an "after" pic:
