My Fenders

[Muzikman7]

I'm primarily a Fender bass player though I have a Thunderbird A '76 Explorer & a '79 Firebird. I thought I show some of my Fenders.  My '68

[Barklessdog]

Wow, nice bass. I always liked the early preciisions

[drbassman]

Well, I probably won't have a chance to visit here much, but I do have one Fender that I restored a year or so ago.............

It's a neat old bass that was abused and had a p-bass pup installed be a previous butcher.  It's back to normal now and sounds pretty darn good.

[godofthunder]

 Would you belive I had a factory CAR one ? I paid like 125  for it. Wish I still had it. As always Bill thats a beauty.

[gweimer]

I've rejoined, sort of, the Fender world with my latest project bass.
Mahogany body
Lollar pickup
Hipshot tuners
Novax fanfret neck
...and Bettie Page

[drbassman]

Would you belive I had a factory CAR one ? I paid like for it. Wish I still had it. As always Bill thats a beauty.

A factory CAR?  That must have looked really cool.  I've thought about selling mine, but on to buy a vintage Gibson!!!  If the right TB comes along, you never know...........

[Muzikman7]

Here's my '71 with an A neck my first new out of the box Fender, paid $189.

[SKATE RAT]

nice P's there,here's mine 1975 Fender Precision...her name is Dolores and i've had her since 1993.

[eb2]

By an odd and unfortunate twist of fate, I have more Fenders than Gibsons.  In fact, I had zero Gibsons until recently, with all my favorites having been swiped.  I had my Fenders with me, and I am now up to 6 or more, depending on what pieces I have lying around.  At any rate, I love my 69 Tele bass most of all, and for old school rock and roll charm you can't beat it.  Plus I like the beefy neck.  I have kept it for going on 30 years now.  Ain't it funny how time slips away?

I am terrible at pic taking, just never do it for whatever reason.  I have had dozens of beast over the years that I have no pics of.  Here is one that I did take, although it is an ancient beat up polaroid.  You get the idea.  My very early production 62 Fender Bass VI.  It was a hum-dinger.

[SKATE RAT]

dude,did someone break into your house? how did your basses get swiped? this terrifies me.

[eb2]

It is a long story that I went into on one of my pit posts in the past.  The short version is I was working out of the country, so I left them with a relative in a place that I thought was safe and I got hit.  I had taken my Fenders with me, as they tend to be things you can always get parts and strings for where ever you are.  So as luck would have it, they are still with me.

But you should not really be terrified of it.  That is something I did figure out and adjust to.  Sh!t happens.  When you buy vintage stuff, and build an either extensive or modest collection, enjoy it.  None of us can keep everything forever, and in a way yapping about them on line is healthier in the long run.  That is my 2 cents worth of bass philosophy for the day.

[Dave W]

Well said. It's great having stuff and enjoying it (and yapping about it online) and you wouldn't want to lose your possessions, but there's more to life than that.

[Muzikman7]

I've played in the area a number of years and a lot of people know my basses, so I'm not too concerned about theft. I've taken pictures of everything and on the back I have serial numbers and a brief description of each bass.

[eb2]

a lot of people know my basses, so I'm not too concerned about theft. I've taken pictures of everything and on the back I have serial numbers and a brief description of each bass

Not being terrified is good, but I think that is a stretch of faith.  Doing all that AND insuring them will cover your loss, if that ever happens.  I appreciate that a walk-in vintage instrument will probably get the radar going off if you are well-known in your area.  But I strongly advise insurance.  It is the only way to get some compensation if something happens, especially theft.  In every shady part of the world there are guys who let it be known that they buy guitars - that is reality today.  They love vintage Fenders, and they know how to swap parts, especially neck plates, and make things disappear from a police report perspective.  And there are lots of well-heeled buyers who are happy to not ask questions.  So chances are that if your instrument gets snagged it probably will not go to a used/vintage dealer, but it may be getting dragged to pawn shops in your area, and an honest pawnbroker (think about that) will call a cop.  Or they will go hang somewhere and ask who buys music stuff, and get an answer.  But the reality is it will be several states or countries away from you within days, and probably transformed.

I first heard of pulling Fender neck plates and pots from Jaguars/Coronados/Duosonics/etc, and fixing Strats, Teles, Jazzes with them, about 20 years ago from a pawnbroker.  Food for thought, but again I talk too much on the down side.  More pics! 

[uwe]

You'll treat this posting discreetly, right?