Dating the body could be tricky. There are no date stamps in 70's Fender bodies. It's a post-74 body for sure.
There should be an 8 digit neck code stamped at the heel. The year is the 7th digit (3=1973). It should start with 0103 (P bass, fretted maple neck), then 2 digits for the week code, next digit is the year, and the last digit is day of the week. So if it's a '73 neck, the neck stamp should be 0103XX3X.
That means the neck was made in the 13th week of 1973On a Thursday, which means the neck was finished on March 29, 1973.
I like that alot ! I have a '73-'74 black with maple. I'd just put a new guard on her and call the job done ! Cool bass ! The headstock on these have laqeuer on the face while the back of the neck is shot in poly, that is why the face of the headstock is so amber in color, it has aged over time.(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v102/godofthunder59/74pbass003.jpg)
So I've found some original P-bass pickguards. Are the the '70s pgs with the thumb rest above the E string interchangeable?IME they are. You are talking about the ones with the extra screw hole in the center, right?
Thanks!
Denis... when you gonna gig her...?
Quit the lessons, play from the heart, Denis... best tip I could give anyone in our field...
At the start of the seventies I was placed on a stool and had the neck of an acoustic placed against my left shoulder in a music lesson... first and last time... in '75 I acquired my first bass with my own wages, a Grenn semi, a copy of an EB2, and I just played along with my favourite records: Alice Cooper, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers Band, Marshall Tucker, Black Oak Arkansas, Grand Funk Railroad, Deep Purple, Free & Bad Co, Mountain, and so on... I learnt a lot that way, and from a few books, most notably a book on James Jamerson, and from just practicing what I thought sounded good... I moved onto a lot of Duane Allman's sessions, and into R&B, and played more and more...
I've been told I play pretty well, but I'm not a "shredder"; If I listed my main influences, they would have to be Dennis Dunaway, Berry Oakley, Mel Schacher and Felix... and I'm probably of the "less is more" school, with a hint of Lemmy... ;)
Quit the lessons, play from the heart...
Oh yeah, and get playing with other musos, if at all possible better than yourself; make yourself stretch... the rewards will be better...