maple board Precisions

[Chris P.]

I guess I'll do that!

[ilan]

Great deal, Robert!

Here's my maple board '72 P:



Light weight with a great baseball bat B-width neck.

[SKATE RAT]

hey that looks just like mine! '75 with an earlier pg (i have the original black one with the thumb rest on the otherside)

[doombass]

For many years I was big on 70's maple board P's, but now I prefer rosewood boards for the tone. I still like the feel of the lacquered fretboard, but with the rosewood board I can get the sound I hear in my head when I think classic Fender P.

What ilan said goes for me also.

[Freuds_Cat]

Heres my 72 Jazz bass



I dont mind either way but I do agree with the "Maple Spike" theory. With this bass I can get almost a Ric sound whereas basses I have with the rosewood board and the same pickups/body wood dont get anywhere near it.

[ilan]

Nice bass but shouldn't a '72 have black blocks?

[godofthunder]

A few years ago I bought a 73-74 maple board P from a fellow "pitter"(The Dude Pit, a older in the past much visited bass forum) One of the nicest playing 70's Fenders I have ever played. Most Ps I can't stand the feel of the necks on the lower register but this one is very easy to play. I'm a Gibson guy so I don't know if it is a A, B,C neck. The bass is light, very resonant I am pretty sure the body is alder, less snap than a ash body and that works nicely with the maple/maple neck. Lots of resonance and sustain from the body combined with the brightness of the maple neck make for a very well balanced sounding bass.   Btw I only bought this because I was listening to The Who Live at Leeds and said to myself man I got to get a maple board P ! Yeah I know its not a 60's slab but it's as close as I could afford.

[Freuds_Cat]

Nice bass but shouldn't a '72 have black blocks?

I've had a few people ask me that before. The only thing I can work out is that people are so used to hearing about Geddy Lee's bass that the pearloid block ones  have been less noticed.  I have seen/played a couple of other early 70's Jazz basses with pearl blocks and the guy I bought this one off back in 1979 was the original owner. I'm still in contact with him and  he said he bought it here in Australia new in 1973.

Over the years I have contacted Fender asking questions and the most common response has been that in that era a lot of the parts (Necks/Back Plates, etc) were kept in drums or bins and sometimes the dates on different parts where quite different.

[ilan]

I've had a few people ask me that before. The only thing I can work out is that people are so used to hearing about Geddy Lee's bass that the pearloid block ones  have been less noticed.  I have seen/played a couple of other early 70's Jazz basses with pearl blocks and the guy I bought this one off back in 1979 was the original owner. I'm still in contact with him and  he said he bought it here in Australia new in 1973.

Over the years I have contacted Fender asking questions and the most common response has been that in that era a lot of the parts (Necks/Back Plates, etc) were kept in drums or bins and sometimes the dates on different parts where quite different.

The serial number should give you a definite answer. What kind of headstock logo does it have? The TV type ot block font? Also, if Fender were using old parts, then a late black block neck in the pearl block era is possible, but not vice versa, because the black blocks predated the pearl inlays in maple neck J's. But as we all know, with Fender, never say never!

I'm a Gibson guy so I don't know if it is a A, B,C neck

Measure the nut width: A = 1 1/2", B = 1 5/8", C = 1 3/4". No C necks in the 70's so this is either the standard (for a P) B neck or the more rare A width.

[Freuds_Cat]

1 1/2" Nut so I guess that means an A neck.  Serial number from the back plate comes back as 1974 when punched into guitar dater project. But the following message also comes up.

FENDER SERIAL NUMBER
By ROBERT BURKE
Posted: November 14, 2007, 06:40:26 PM
I checked the serial # on my fender jazzmaster and got a return answer that it was made in 1960 or 61 and I know I purchased it in 1959. Is there another source that I can get a month and year from?

[ilan]

Yep, MOP inlays are correct for a '74 maple neck J. MOP/white binding replaced black blocks/binding on maple neck J's some time in mid '73. So that conforms with your serial number.

The headstock decal is the pre-76 "TV logo".

You can also check the neck stamp. This is from the reliable Vintage Guitar Info website:

1972 to 1980 Neck Stamps Explained.
This information was provided by Greg Gagliano. The 1972-1980 eight digit code is similar to the previous 1969-1971 system. Example, Music Master (s/n 595121) with code 49002153. The first 6 digits are paired off and the last two digits are taken singly. So that gives us 49 00 215 3 where:

49 = model code (Musicmaster, Mustang, Bronco)
00 = neck code (rosewood fingerboard)
21 = week code (week 21)
5 = year code (1975)
3 = day of the week code (Wednesday)

Model Codes Used from 1972 to 1980.
Model codes (first pair of digits):
01 = Precision Bass
02 = Jazz Bass
04 = Mustang Bass
08 = Telecaster Deluxe
09 = Stratocaster
13 = Telecaster, Telecaster Custom, Telecaster Thinline
49 = Musicmaster, Mustang, Bronco
Neck Codes Used from 1972 to 1980.
Neck codes (second pair of digits):

00 = rosewood fingerboard
01 = rosewood fingerboard
03 = fretted maple neck OR skunk stripe neck with rosewood board
10 = fretless maple neck

Now try and decode a Precision Bass (s/n 647149) with code 01031051. You should get:
01 = Precision Bass
03 = fretted maple neck
10 = Week 10
5 = 1975
1 = Monday
Here's a Telecaster (s/n S725092) with rosewood fingerboard and code 1303167?.

13 = Telecaster
03 = rosewood fingerboard on skunk stripe neck
16 = Week 16
7 = 1977
? = day unknown as digit was illegible

BTW, all J's are A-necks. P's you can find in all 3 widths.

[Freuds_Cat]

Cheers ilan 

[OldManC]

This was my third maple necked P and my first with an A neck. I've had it since 1986 and it's going nowhere! It's fairly heavy but the bottom end makes it worth it. It's cut through the mix in every situation I've ever played it in, and has been the favorite (out of many other basses) of everyone I've ever played it with.

[Bass VI]

Wow George, it's a lot like mine...............................



This is my '74, my first real bass, purchased new when I was much younger!
Of course like everyone else, when it was a few years old I put DiMarzios in it and some other improvements, ( hey I was young! ) and then around '81-'82 it was stolen from a friends' garage, flash way forward to '02 and a friend who was familiar with the bass, called and told me he thought it was at a local music store ( known to sell gear of questionable origin ) a little fussing with the owner and I had my old bass back. Of course the goon that had "borrowed" it for the last twenty years had managed to break the headstock off ( on a P-bass!?! ) and a few other mods, luckily for me I'd saved the original pickups and electronics, found a Japanese reissue neck ( so it's not quite as chunky as the original B neck yet not as this as an A, must be a A+ or B- ) I refinished in Blonde, as the original natural ash was pretty ragged. Of course by the time I got it back I had gone full circle from Fender basses to the Thunderbird, so it spends most of it's time guarding the other basses from the criminal element. It is a great player, I've got it strung with flats ( like it had when I took it home back in '74 ) and it definately holds a most special place in my heart ( insert crying smiley here )..................................

Cheers to all owners of maple board Precisions,

S.

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Over the 40 years I've been working with Fender basses, I've had on the gig more than 30 of these instruments, mostly rosewood, but in the last five years my No. 1 call has been a maple board 1/59 gold guard, which is hands down, the best Fender P I have ever played. Extraordinary tone, huge punchy bottom-end, sweet mids, with plenty of growl and crispy highs that cut through just the way I like 'um. This bass is so percussive it's like a kick drum with notes.

George

Mmmmmm Bein' primarily a drummer, I love your description.

I've got a '78 Maple Blank Plank Black on Black Lefty Precision.
It's Modded with a Jazz pickup added.
Haven't played her much...but hope to sound like Tony Franklin someday....
His Sig basses are maple with ebony fret(less)boards.