The Last Bass Outpost

Gear Discussion Forums => Fender Basses => Topic started by: audiorep2 on February 21, 2009, 05:44:49 AM

Title: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: audiorep2 on February 21, 2009, 05:44:49 AM
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v507/audiorep2/?action=view&current=80sPBassSpecial.jpg

Family shot.
Title: Re: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: godofthunder on February 21, 2009, 08:08:11 AM
Nice basses ! there is a red one for sale localy, they want 800 for it seems like a deal to me
Title: Re: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: audiorep2 on February 21, 2009, 10:05:43 AM
$ 800.00 for a US made P bass, and a fancy one is a very good price.
Title: Re: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: Bart! on February 21, 2009, 10:31:18 AM
Nice bass family!
Are these all the colors that were produced?
Title: Re: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: OldManC on February 21, 2009, 12:33:39 PM
My first good bass was a brand new red '80 Precision Special. I put in on layaway and paid it off $20 at a time in tenth grade. It was a great bass, though it suffered the same finish issues I've seen in most other red specials (the red would flake off in spots, exposing the gold underlayer).

A few months after I finally got the bass, I made the mistake of reading a Gene Simmons interview in (I think) Guitar Player magazine. In it, he expressed his disdain for all things P Bass, and it ended up bothering me so much that I sold the bass later that year. Sounds lame now, but I was an impressionable young KISS nerd. The seller's remorse I felt as my basses new owner drove away is soomething I can still feel when I think about it today! I ended up buying a used '77 BC Rich Eagle with the money I got, and I added a black '76 Thunderbird not long after that, so my GAS exploits started at a young age!

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47/gcarlston/players/74_10_21_east_lansing_mi_the_brewer.jpg)
Bastard!
Title: Re: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: godofthunder on February 21, 2009, 12:41:13 PM
LMAO Damn you Gene !
Title: Re: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: eb2 on February 21, 2009, 12:45:15 PM
I remember when they were new, and I thought they looked pretty cool.  A lot cooler than the Lead guitars at about the same time.  But I preferred the rosewood board with the painted headstock, and I never saw one with rosewood until years later. 

I could only afford an amp then.  And Kiss Alive II.
Title: Re: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: Blazer on February 21, 2009, 06:25:35 PM
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47/gcarlston/players/74_10_21_east_lansing_mi_the_brewer.jpg)
Bastard!
It was his back up bass. But to his credit though he sold it to buy the Spector Custom bass he played for YEARS.

(http://www.spectorbass.com/images/artists/GeneSimmonsBlue_lrg.jpg)
Title: Re: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: Lightyear on February 21, 2009, 08:54:00 PM
 :) Once I proved to my folks that I was going to stick with it, over a year I believe, I dumped my little 5th hand Tiesco and I got new Ripper for Christmas - only because of Mr. Simons - I didn't know crap about basses ;D
Title: Re: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: ilan on February 22, 2009, 03:01:17 AM
Nice bass family!
Are these all the colors that were produced?

There was a Walnut P Special. Walnut body, neck and fretboard, b/w/b pickguard and no thumb-rest.

There were some one-offs, I've seen pics of P Specials in Sienna burst and one in Charcoal metallic. But standard colors were CAR, LPB, Arctic White, and Walnut. Most had maple boards but some had rosewood. I owned for a brief period a LPB/rosewood, but sold it back to the original owner because it was too heavy. In '81 high mass was in vogue.

I still have a new old stock P Special PC board and wiring harness, one day I will install it in a light weight P.
Title: Re: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: OldManC on February 22, 2009, 05:18:57 PM
I still have a new old stock P Special PC board and wiring harness, one day I will install it in a light weight P.

I have one and plan on doing the same thing!
Title: Re: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: Hutton on March 05, 2009, 01:18:45 PM
I don't think that my 83 is a 'special' edition but it's a great bass all the same.
(http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c322/Williamwood/Precision.jpg)
Title: Re: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: doombass on March 06, 2009, 02:54:31 PM
My second bass wass a Precision Special. Nice bass and quite heavy. I'm not too fond of active electronics but that preamp did well. However I sold it about 4 years ago. An old pic of me playing that bass with a broken wrist. Had to learn playing fingerstyle on short notice because of the injury:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v136/doombass/Egobas/gips.jpg)
Title: Re: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: audiorep2 on June 24, 2009, 09:12:06 AM
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v507/audiorep2/?action=view&current=b.jpg

Along with a 69 tele, 67 Pre, and 69 Jazz
Title: Re: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: OldManC on June 24, 2009, 04:02:30 PM
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/audiorep2/b.jpg)

NICE!

Title: Re: Early 80s Precision Specials
Post by: eb2 on June 25, 2009, 12:25:16 PM
The vast majority of the P specials had maple boards with their painted headstocks, which I confess to never liking. I have since their heyday seen several rosewood board variants.  Those are nifty.  I have seen a very few with the Fender Brass-Mass Claw bridge, which is something else entirely.  The all Walnut is really nice.

One fun aspect of them is that you can spot a legit 80s regular P bass by the extra P-Bass Special routing off the control routing that they pretty much all had in that period.