Refinished?You tell me!

[TomB]

IMO, it's an obvious refin. if you look at the edges of the body, you can see that they are rounded over. from '51-'54, the slab bodied p basses had an almost sharp edge and the sides were pretty flat.

here's a pic to show what i mean:

Link Removed

Yep, I'd bet that's what it used to look like! It might be a nice instrument nonetheless, but at that price?? ...I dunno...

 

[millsbass5]

IMO, it's an obvious refin. if you look at the edges of the body, you can see that they are rounded over. from '51-'54, the slab bodied p basses had an almost sharp edge and the sides were pretty flat.

here's a pic to show what i mean: This don't sound good. But,

Unmolested Body:

Link Removed

Molested Body:

1953 Fender Precision Bass Guitar, Jazz, 8.5 lbs! | eBay

I'm gonna go with the majority decision,here. The radius on the bass in question is just too "soft",when compared to the top photo,IMHO. Thanks ,guys.

 

[Bongolation]

Tobacco sunbursts were around as early as at least '54

Late '54 and they weren't slabs.

 

[TomB]

Late '54 and they weren't slabs.

Agreed. They had the "new" body style, as I mentioned.

 

[Thumpin_P]

I'm curious as to why the pickup lead is exposed in that one picture....I could say grounding, but, to the pickup shield???? I agree with previous posts ... completely! 1954 was the big change. Han Solo put it best "I've got a bad feeling about this".
Just my .02 worth....
Thumpin_P

 

[johnk_10]

IIRC, it was late '54 when they rounded and contoured the body on the p bass.

 

[One Drop]

I'm curious as to why the pickup lead is exposed in that one picture....I could say grounding, but, to the pickup shield???? I agree with previous posts ... completely! 1954 was the big change. Han Solo put it best "I've got a bad feeling about this".
Just my .02 worth....
Thumpin_P

The early SCPBs had the PUP grounded to the cover.

 

[Thumpin_P]

The early SCPBs had the PUP grounded to the cover.

Not arguing, it just seems odd to ground it to the shield.

 

[One Drop]

Not arguing, it just seems odd to ground it to the shield.

Yeah, it's a bit of a puzzler why this was done, there is some some speculation about the original thinking behind it.

 

[Thumpin_P]

Yeah, it's a bit of a puzzler why this was done, there is some some speculation about the original thinking behind it.

Oh well, you learn something everyday!

 

[darkstorm]

Its a refinish and rounding off of the edges. The refinish rather makes me think of some of the fenders I saw and couple times helped with back in the 70's. Some of us kids would decide we wanted our bass a diff color. Darkening light colored nat finish was most common. We'd sand down the finish so could use fast drying easy wipe on finish/tint/sealer. Like used for outdoor wood decks. Ive done the same to a few other guitars and basses over the yrs. The kid who did the refinish on that one forgot to blend in the darker outer edge. Put a few more coats on the edges causeing darker color. But as you can see in the pics, when he wiped the extra coats on he forgot to blend them some toward middle of bodys top and bottom. Thus instead creating the silly to me, abrupt line around outer top and back. Anyway. I wouldnt be surprised if the refinish was done in the 70's. Careful person would use ultrafine sandpaper at the end to make surfaces all nice and smooth pro like as best they could. The body edge dulling would have been done as he sanded down the factorys thin finish. So as to apply recolor. I may be wrong about how refinish was done. But sure looks like that type to me.

Looks like a kewl 70's bass, personallized by owner for color and rounded edges comfys. Lol.