A few months ago I found a '52ish P bass and I was lucky enough to get some help from the general TB community when considering the guitar and then privately got a ton of help from the user "bflat" who lent his considerable expertise in investigating and authenticating the guitar.
Anyways, clearly this bass had quite a life. You can tell just looking at the fretboard, it's seen a lot of stages. On top of that, it's been refinished seemingly twice in its life, during one of which the sharp edges were lost one the body and contoured a bit in places. At some point in the '70s the original pick up was thrown out, some heavy handed routing was done and a humbucker was tossed in.
Somewhere further down the line, the owner I bought the guitar from tried to bring it back to original with a repop pickup, and a pickguard that covered the routing. That's how I received it. As a little aside, the guy I bought the bass from had bought it from a friend who had bought it from another one of their friends years earlier. Interestingly though, the first of those friends was a bassist named Albert Blaine who played in a band called Jenson Interceptor that had a couple Canadian hits in the late '70s and early '80s. Unfortunately he's passed away now, so I can't reach out to find out more of this instrument's story and if it was used on any of those songs, etc.. But it's still pretty nice to know some of the history as it is.
Probably worth talking dating for a minute too, because it's not absolutely clear on this bass. The neck is signed TG 9-52. Any markings on the body are lost to time, but there were a few tell tale signs that support its date and authenticity. First, it had the original one hole for the tugbar. The jackcup is the slightly later style that corresponds to late '52. The ferrules on the back are the large kind that were only around for the early 50s basses. The decal is the early style. Interstingly, one of the pots was dated '56 - likely an early repair - and the other was from the '70s, likely when all the modifications were done.
Fast forward to today: I finally got the bass back from my luthier. I spent a couple months sourcing parts. Unfortunately they're all reproductions - I think the hunt for originals will likely be a lifelong pursuit. Fender refused to sell me any of the parts they use on their Custom Shop '51, which was incredibly annoying. Instead I amassed a hodgepodge from people and companies around the world: a relic'd one-screw tugbar and ashtrays from Holland, a repop pickguard modelled after a '52 from the US, Bakelite (!!) saddles from a dude who makes them by hand, and an Antquity 1 from Seymour Duncan.
From there, my luthier started bringing the bass back to its former glory. We filled the routing around the pickup with a piece of wood with almost perfectly matching grain. That was the big task. From there we could easily add all the original-spec parts, including replacement pots and new cloth wiring (kept the ones that came with it, of course), a new bone nut (the original nut and frets had been replaced ages ago). He then set it up - and it plays better than I could've ever expected. I had been worried about that ancient trussrod and neck, but it really came out great.
And that's it! Just wanted to take a moment and share the story and an update for anyone that may have read that original threat.
Now for the pics:
Spoiler alert: this is the final result of my honest "revival" of the bass:
How I found it:
The sins of the '70s:
Tadeo! Also, the bridge and neck pocket:
Filling the route (maybe one day I'll refinish it and match the patch, but for now I'm happy for this bass to wear its history honestly):
Bakelite saddles:
New bone nut and GHS Precision Flats:
Cheers!
Anyways, clearly this bass had quite a life. You can tell just looking at the fretboard, it's seen a lot of stages. On top of that, it's been refinished seemingly twice in its life, during one of which the sharp edges were lost one the body and contoured a bit in places. At some point in the '70s the original pick up was thrown out, some heavy handed routing was done and a humbucker was tossed in.
Somewhere further down the line, the owner I bought the guitar from tried to bring it back to original with a repop pickup, and a pickguard that covered the routing. That's how I received it. As a little aside, the guy I bought the bass from had bought it from a friend who had bought it from another one of their friends years earlier. Interestingly though, the first of those friends was a bassist named Albert Blaine who played in a band called Jenson Interceptor that had a couple Canadian hits in the late '70s and early '80s. Unfortunately he's passed away now, so I can't reach out to find out more of this instrument's story and if it was used on any of those songs, etc.. But it's still pretty nice to know some of the history as it is.
Probably worth talking dating for a minute too, because it's not absolutely clear on this bass. The neck is signed TG 9-52. Any markings on the body are lost to time, but there were a few tell tale signs that support its date and authenticity. First, it had the original one hole for the tugbar. The jackcup is the slightly later style that corresponds to late '52. The ferrules on the back are the large kind that were only around for the early 50s basses. The decal is the early style. Interstingly, one of the pots was dated '56 - likely an early repair - and the other was from the '70s, likely when all the modifications were done.
Fast forward to today: I finally got the bass back from my luthier. I spent a couple months sourcing parts. Unfortunately they're all reproductions - I think the hunt for originals will likely be a lifelong pursuit. Fender refused to sell me any of the parts they use on their Custom Shop '51, which was incredibly annoying. Instead I amassed a hodgepodge from people and companies around the world: a relic'd one-screw tugbar and ashtrays from Holland, a repop pickguard modelled after a '52 from the US, Bakelite (!!) saddles from a dude who makes them by hand, and an Antquity 1 from Seymour Duncan.
From there, my luthier started bringing the bass back to its former glory. We filled the routing around the pickup with a piece of wood with almost perfectly matching grain. That was the big task. From there we could easily add all the original-spec parts, including replacement pots and new cloth wiring (kept the ones that came with it, of course), a new bone nut (the original nut and frets had been replaced ages ago). He then set it up - and it plays better than I could've ever expected. I had been worried about that ancient trussrod and neck, but it really came out great.
And that's it! Just wanted to take a moment and share the story and an update for anyone that may have read that original threat.
Now for the pics:
Spoiler alert: this is the final result of my honest "revival" of the bass:
How I found it:
The sins of the '70s:
Tadeo! Also, the bridge and neck pocket:
Filling the route (maybe one day I'll refinish it and match the patch, but for now I'm happy for this bass to wear its history honestly):
Bakelite saddles:
New bone nut and GHS Precision Flats:
Cheers!
