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Would you pull the trigger on this 1959 P-Bass?

Would you pull the trigger on this 1959 P-Bass?

  • Hell yeah!

    Votes: 17 7.0%

  • Yes, but not for that price.

    Votes: 45 18.6%

  • Umm... No.

    Votes: 180 74.4%
  • Total voters
    242
#141
Mine had a date stamped on the butt end of the neck. I do not remember the exact date but it was Oct. 1959...in any event. The pocket for the neck had some markings in it too...but I can't remember just what they were ….I think it was pencil marked and probably a production number.
 
#142
Would I pull the trigger on that one? No. But, that's mainly because it's wrong handed - for me...;)
But, if I wasn't left handed? Well, maybe I would. It depends on a few things:
- What kind of pots were the originals replaced with? I could live with that, if they were "correct" CTS pots. Original pick up is a plus, as is the (I assume) original wiring.
- That refinish? Well it is kind of badly done.. I'm pretty sure "in an overspray fashion" is Awkwardese for "three tone burst". Such as it is, though, it's...OK...
- That case. I'm not an expert, but I was under the impression that old, original P-Bass cases were Tweed cases - and that ain't one of them. The interior looks wrong, too. But, it is definitely old and nasty; which counts for something, I suppose.
- That pickguard. Uh.. no. That would have to go...:rollno: In any case, whether or not I "pulled the trigger" would boil down to;
- What's the American equivalent of $6500 Canadian? If it was under $3K, I'd be slightly tempted... if I didn't have an A-necked '78 P-Bass already...:whistle:
 
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#143
Kelly said:
Mine had a date stamped on the butt end of the neck. I do not remember the exact date but it was Oct. 1959...in any event. The pocket for the neck had some markings in it too...but I can't remember just what they were ….I think it was pencil marked and probably a production number.
Click to expand...

While little was absolute with Fender then, neck date should be done in pencil at that time. The ink stamps started in March of '62. Dates were usually done in pencil except for a short gap in '59 (story being in response to a customer complaint about something "obscene" having been written or drawn there) from the very beginning up until '62. It was usually just month (as a number)/year: M/YY or MM/YY - when it went to the ink stamps there was model number (often mistaken for date), month (abbreviated), year (2 digits) and then letter code for nut width.
Body date on the basses was usually in the pickup cavity but possible it could have been in the neck pocket - as was done earlier in the 50's - generally it was in pencil though sometimes in red or blue. Body dates were dropped around 1964. Often Fender in the 1950s-60s would mark with a stamp/punch (indented into the wood - not with ink) on the back of the neck facing into the pocket and in the pocket itself when doing factory refinish jobs to be able to match the instruments back up when done.
 
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