I was checking this nice P bass on Ebay starting at 1 cent with no reserve. Check out the 4 piece body! I had one several years back (same year) that was a 2 piece body. This one appears to be the original natural finish. Seems like this one should have been used for a solid finish. I did have a 1983 Sunburst Fullerton reissue P bass that had a 4 piece body, but at least they were evenly cut.
(http://i34.tinypic.com/xbfkav.jpg)
How could they let one out like that! ???
If that was stripped and refinned natural, it must have been done back then.
:o Horrible!
I've seen worse and it doesn't bother me much. These are not $15K Alembics with bookmatched cocobolo tops. I have a '75 P that is one piece - rare but they do exist - and another 75 that is a 3-piece body and sounds way better. What I have learned from Musicmasters (5 piece bodies, basically leftover wood strips hidden under the paint) is that glue can be the secret ingredient to good tone.
By the way, looking at the pic, the pickup cover is a reissue. I like the flatter original covers but I understand why they are now making them curved like this.
Doesn't offend me. The wood looks decent on top, and no one stares at the butt end of a bass.
It could be a great player, I have no reason to think it sounds bad just because it looks bad. That doesn't change my opinion that it's ugly and should have been a paint-grade body.
Quote from: Dave W on August 25, 2010, 11:02:51 AM
It could be a great player, I have no reason to think it sounds bad just because it looks bad. That doesn't change my opinion that it's ugly and should have been a paint-grade body.
Agreed..normally that would have been a solid color or burst.
Quote from: ilan on August 25, 2010, 07:32:46 AM
By the way, looking at the pic, the pickup cover is a reissue. I like the flatter original covers but I understand why they are now making them curved like this.
My old black '77 had the same curved pickup cover. I was mad because I'd wanted one of the flatter ones. I'm sure it is a great sounding bass. I was just puzzled that one would go out natural with the uneven pieces. Here is a photo of my old natural '77 with the 2 piece body. You can barely see the center seam at the butt end.
(http://i34.tinypic.com/30kvo85.jpg)
My old 4 piece Fullerton reissue was a great sounding bass too. You can't really see the 4th piece in the photo, but it is a very small section at the bottom by the control knobs.
(http://i38.tinypic.com/24wgjnm.jpg)
There was a homebuilt Tele I saw on Reranch that had been crafted from an Ikea cutting board made from square blocks - looked quite interesting...
Quote from: Kenny's 51st State on August 26, 2010, 11:01:14 AM
There was a homebuilt Tele I saw on Reranch that had been crafted from an Ikea cutting board made from square blocks - looked quite interesting...
I believe a link to that Tele was posted here in the guitar section a while back. Pretty cool idea, really.
Gotta admit I was rather drawn to the idea...
(http://www.zacharyguitars.com/070209_60.JPG)
That's the onion... er... the one... :mrgreen:
Its one of "bigmouth" Zachary creations I believe.
a non issue in my opinion.
Maybe an offtopic here but the question gives me no rest for quite some time:
When did they actually move the thumbrest from treble to bass side?
This product page tells that 70s Fender used it on the bass side:
http://basspartsresource.com/bpickguard_pre70.htm
But I've seen a lot of 70s P-s with it on the treble side.
I believe the rest was moved to the bass side about 1975.
Thank you! That explains much.
And what about the mentioned pickguards? Will they fit... say... a 1973 Precision (omitting the thumbrest issue)?
Actually it was moved in 1974.
Quote from: vates on November 26, 2010, 12:46:18 AM
Thank you! That explains much.
And what about the mentioned pickguards? Will they fit... say... a 1973 Precision (omitting the thumbrest issue)?
I put a '78 pg on my '74 and the screw mounting holes fit perfectly! The only holes off were the two for the pickup cover, but that's a non-issue to me, really.
Quote from: ilan on November 26, 2010, 06:44:12 AM
Actually it was moved in 1974.
That's what helped me determine my '73 was really a '74.
Thanks, ilan.
Serge, the pickguards you linked to should fit any Precision made in the 70s. In practice, I've found that when you fit the guard over the pickup, the holes don't always line up exactly, and even if they do, you sometimes have to trim around the neck pocket to get that to fit right. This is just because of manufacturing variances back in the days before CNC machining.
Dave, Denis, Ilan - thank you :)