Newbie edmonstg saying hello

[edmonstg]

Joined last night, thanks to Dave W. Looking forward to chatting with everyone about Fender basses and glad to be here.

George

[Dave W]

Welcome aboard, George. Bring on the Fenders.

[Chris P.]

Yes, welcome! And show us your basses!

[eb2]

Welcome.  Tell all your friends.  Yes, we need some counter-balance to our Gibsonian warped view of the bass world. 

A Coronado or two is fun though.

[edmonstg]

Thanks for the nice greeting and I'm looking forward to contributing here.

I've always been a Fender guy, caring little for other makers, although there are a lot of great ones out there.

Number of strings isn't nearly as important as tone.

I've owned 33 Fender basses over the years, mostly Precisions but a few Jazz. Got rid of them for one reason or another but it was generally because I got tired of them or needed the money.

I currently own three Fenders and generally work with one.

Number one call: 1959 P-bass, all original, maple board, burst, the best Fender bass I've ever had in my hands.

1952 P-bass, serial number 0064, Tadeo Gomez 1/28/52 neck date, body refin in 1964 to factory specs, fiber pickguard custom made by Clive Brown of the UK, the person many consider to be the world's best early Fender restoration artist and the guy who helped restore several early 50s planks in John Entwistle's collection, harness original, pickup original, phenolic saddles original, knobs original.

MIM Classic 50s P-bass in Fiesta. Equipped with 1961 black bottoms, Fullerton-era tuners, pre-CBS bridge, gold guard sandpapered to look old and worn, great neck on this bass and it sounds terrific. My backup at most high-profile gigs.

GK-400RB, Ampeg cabs, and Ampeg B-100R practice amp.

George

[Chris P.]

Cool collection!!

I have a Fiesta MIM 50s P too. Tell me about the 1961 black bottoms, please.

[edmonstg]

I played the bass for about a month or so with the factory pickups and, although I liked them, I felt I could do better.

After another couple of months swaping out some Fender things I bought off ebay, a good friend I met on another forum offered to send me a set of black bottoms he had hanging around his house (he's a J guy) and I put them in and immediately it was, "Honey, I'm home." These old pickups sound terrific in this bass, a nice old school Fender tone just perfect for the blues and old soul music I like to play.

Of all the other pickups I tried, there was this set of gray bottoms from the mid-70s that were real close to the 61s.

Anyone with a Classic 50s MIM P wanting to try some other pickups should look into finding a set of 70s gray bottoms as an alternative to the factory-issued. These basses are very replacement friendly.

George

[drbassman]

Cool, welcome George, this is a great place to hang out!  Of course I'm biased!   

[chromium]

Welcome, George!

I still remember my teacher's '64 Precision.  I used to mostly play my fretless Stingray, and swapping between that and the Pbass was night-and-day.  It was so lively, resonant, and acoustically loud - and it just sounded incredible thru the amp.  Being a teenager, I couldn't afford one then (this would have been mid-80s) - and I sure can't justify one now, being a hobbyist!  It sure would be nice to experience that again, though.

That is a wonderful collection you have!

[rockinrayduke]

Hey George!! Welcome bro-

[Pilgrim]

George, glad to see you!  Long time no chat.

I always enjoy your posts and your depth of knowledge about Fenders. Bill just steered me here, and it's a pleasure to run into you again.  I look forward to reading your contributions! 

[JTE]

George!

Cool to see you here too!   A great resource for data 'bout old Fenders!

jte

[Dave W]

Hi John, good to see you here.

George has little or no internet access until he gets home in mid August.