I have a quick question on how to distinguish what year a fender precision bass is from. I have an opportunity to get a 1968 fender precision (or so I am told), but when I went to see it; it really doesn't look like a 1968 fender precision to me - - not that I am an expert. It's got active pickups and looks way too "new" to be almost 40 years old. Is there a way to tell from the serial number what year it was manufactured? Thanks.
Here ya go.. http://www.mrgearhead.com/faq/gui****ater.html They have a pretty wide range of numbers for each year. I once owned a '68 Precision, and the serial # began with 272, if that's any help.
I saw an ad from a reputable store here in town for a '62 P bass. The price looked too good but I went to look at it. It was a '62 reissue P. I found this link useful: http://www.rexc.com/services/datingfender.htm
Take off the neck. The date should be stamped on the end of the neck. I'm not sure if they still do that, but mine is stamped Dec. 5, 1963 and they were probably still doing it in 1968. Our guitar player used to have a '57 strat - back then they were still writing the date in pencil.
