Question for Fender experts

[bassfiddlesteve]

To the best of my knowledge, 1974 was the year that Fender starting introducing black pickguards and positioning the tug bar above the E string. Do the following statements sound correct?

1. There were no basses made in the 70's with black pickguards and the tug bar mounted below the G string.

2. Basses with tortoise shell pickguards and the tug bar positioned above the E string only appeared in 1974 (and possibly 1975), black pickguards having replaced tortoise shell by 1976.

- Steve

 

[Mr. Sound]

I'd put the word "probably" in those sentences...Fender had some weird anachronisms!

 

[The Bass Clef]

You're correct except that black guards (with a thumbrest above the strings) first made their debut in the 2nd half of '73. Tort guards with a thumbrest above the strings were available in '75 too, but you're correct that they were phased out by '76 when Fender went to all black guards. In the mid/late '70s Fender also made 4-ply black (BWBW) guards along side the 3-plys.. not sure why but they did.

Also, it doesn't mean that you couldn't have a '76 with a tort guard, because it's common to have a bass with some parts from a year earlier. And Fender always seemed to use up old stock of just about everything.

 

[bassfiddlesteve]

Thanks for the info. I know that some of these features overlapped and it's hard to get an exact date from this period as they stopped putting the date stamp on the neck butt around this time. I was just curious as I recently obtained a sunburst Precision Bass with the seemingly rare combination of a tort guard and a tug bar above the E string. In searching for other examples from this year I find some basses that look like mine while others have the tug bar below the G string with either tort or black pickguards. My bass has a the original tone pot with a 1974 date code and that, along with other features, makes me pretty certain that it's a '74.

- Steve

 

[The Bass Clef]

It most likely is a '74 or '75. The last of the tort guards (circa '74/75) were printed-on tort and have a dot matrix digital look to them. Here's an example of one of mine (which I'm actually getting ready to post up for sale in the classifieds)... Is yours like this one?

 

[Humbled]

Fender "Binned" their assembly parts and often piled the "new" on top of the "old" in the bins, and assemblers just pulled them out for construction as they came to the top.

That's the reason for all the "anachronisms" or parts out-of-character for the vintage.

 

[jaybones]

Of course someone could have always swapped the pickguard and/or moved the thumb rest.

 

[bassfiddlesteve]

It most likely is a '74 or '75. The last of the tort guards (circa '74/75) were printed-on tort and have a dot matrix digital look to them. Here's an example of one of mine (which I'm actually getting ready to post up for sale in the classifieds)... Is yours like this one?

Yes, mine looks exactly like this one, including the missing piece. I just added some pictures to my earlier post.

- Steve

 

[bassfiddlesteve]

Of course someone could have always swapped the pickguard and/or moved the thumb rest.

True, but the holes for the thumb rest's original location would be visible under the pickguard. Mine appears to be original.

- Steve

 

[nerkoids]

It most likely is a '74 or '75. The last of the tort guards (circa '74/75) were printed-on tort and have a dot matrix digital look to them. Here's an example of one of mine (which I'm actually getting ready to post up for sale in the classifieds)... Is yours like this one?

View attachment 699725
View attachment 699726

Ugh. No offence, but that really looks cheap, and surprising coming from Fender themselves.

 

[The Bass Clef]

Ugh. No offence, but that really looks cheap, and surprising coming from Fender themselves.

I'm not offended, I didn't make it, haha. It looks good from a couple feet away and the color is nice, but yeah, this is what CBS did to Fender. Shoulda stuck to making TV shows.

 

[awilkie84]

Ugh. No offence, but that really looks cheap, and surprising coming from Fender themselves.

You haven't seen the "tort" on the Squiers, have you?

 

[SirMjac28]

Thanks for the info. I know that some of these features overlapped and it's hard to get an exact date from this period as they stopped putting the date stamp on the neck butt around this time. I was just curious as I recently obtained a sunburst Precision Bass with the seemingly rare combination of a tort guard and a tug bar above the E string. In searching for other examples from this year I find some basses that look like mine while others have the tug bar below the G string with either tort or black pickguards. My bass has a the original tone pot with a 1974 date code and that, along with other features, makes me pretty sure it's a '74.

http://[URL=http://s833.photobucket.com/user/bassfiddlesteve/media/Fender%20Precision%20Bass/FullSizeRender_zpsbmypoclx.jpg.html][ATTACH=full]2433846[/ATTACH][B]Invalid Link Removed[/B]

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- Steve[/QUOTE]

Gorgeous bass I love that color combo I have a 78' P and what I did was replace my original pickguard with a new one [url="http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2047675.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS5&_nkw=Pickguard+For+%2770s+Fender+American+Precision+Bass&_sacat=0"]Pickguard For '70s Fender American Precision Bass | eBay[/url] I put the old one up so it wouldn't get damaged.

 

[nerkoids]

You haven't seen the "tort" on the Squiers, have you?

Sure I have. I have a Squier Antique burst Standard strat, and I also have a spare tortie lefty Jazz pickguard from a sunburst VM - both the same pattern, probably from the same batch material. It's certainly not as pretty as most new tortie coming out of China right now (or from some of our TB artisans, for that matter) but at least it's real swirl tortie, and not a print. And it looks better than that guard.

That reminds me, amazon.ca sent me by mistake a 'tortie' tele guitar guard instead of the aged pearloid guard I paid for, and the pattern looked exactly like the p-bass one above.

 

[awilkie84]

Sure I have. I have a Squier Antique burst Standard strat, and I also have a spare tortie lefty Jazz pickguard from a sunburst VM - both the same pattern, probably from the same batch material. It's certainly not as pretty as most new tortie coming out of China right now (or from some of our TB artisans, for that matter) but at least it's real swirl tortie, and not a print. And it looks better than that guard.

That reminds me, amazon.ca sent me by mistake a 'tortie' tele guitar guard instead of the aged pearloid guard I paid for, and the pattern looked exactly like the p-bass one above.

?? The ones I've seen are all print, and noticeably so. 2 Classic Vibe Jazz sitting side-by-side at my local L&M...IDENTICAL pickguards with hideous red/yellow contrast.

 

[One Drop]

Ugh. No offence, but that really looks cheap, and surprising coming from Fender themselves.

Pretty typical for the middle of the '70s, when decisions were seemingly all driven by cost cutting by the then Fender management.

 

[mikeswals]

It seems the pickgaurd/finger rest change started happening to Precisions well before happening on Jazzes. But the same tort with E-side mounted rest can also be found on some 74 Jazzes

 

[nerkoids]

?? The ones I've seen are all print, and noticeably so. 2 Classic Vibe Jazz sitting side-by-side at my local L&M...IDENTICAL pickguards with hideous red/yellow contrast.

If you're talking about the 60s Classic Vibe guards, that's not a print, though. It's solid opaque swirl. And I agree, it's hideous. I've got the same material on a baritone strat I put together with a pickguard from tnt custom or whatever it's called now. Some are red and yellow, and others are brown and yellow. Looks more like marble poop (deliberate use of poop, BTW). To me, it's incomprehensible why they used that stuff, when this stuff...

is readily available.

But on the VM instruments, it's swirl, but it's a very tight pattern. You have to look real closely to see it.

 

[Malak the Mad]

It most likely is a '74 or '75. The last of the tort guards (circa '74/75) were printed-on tort and have a dot matrix digital look to them. Here's an example of one of mine (which I'm actually getting ready to post up for sale in the classifieds)... Is yours like this one?

View attachment 699725
View attachment 699726

Ugh. No offence, but that really looks cheap, and surprising coming from Fender themselves.

<sigh> Must I be the ad hoc historian who inflicts a little bit of historical perspective?

It's not surprising at all. It's a normal part of the CMYK printing process using, rather ironically called halftones. It may look cheap by today's standards of photographic resolution and reproduction, but this was the norm for over a century after it was perfected in the late-1800's.

Sorry if it offends your 21st Century sensibilities (semi-joking), but there weren't a lot of 4800 DPI printers just lying around most people's houses, standing-in for a coffee table while not in use, back in the 1970's. This was the State of the Art at the time.

 

[awilkie84]

If you're talking about the 60s Classic Vibe guards, that's not a print, though. It's solid opaque swirl. And I agree, it's hideous. I've got the same material on a baritone strat I put together with a pickguard from tnt custom or whatever it's called now. Some are red and yellow, and others are brown and yellow. Looks more like marble poop (deliberate use of poop, BTW). To me, it's incomprehensible why they used that stuff, when this stuff...

is readily available.

But on the VM instruments, it's swirl, but it's a very tight pattern. You have to look real closely to see it.

Nono, I'm talking this hideous thing on the Classic Vibe.

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