60th Anniversary P bass owner... times two

drummer5359 · December 16, 2013, 11:26:02 PM

I stumbled upon this forum when a I did a search regarding 60th Anniversary P basses. I own two of them, so I thought that I would join in. I noticed the thread was elderly, so I decided to start a new one.

I love Precisions. I love how they feel, how they sound, etc... The look of a common P-bass has never stirred me because it's so... common. When the 60th Anniversary P came out it caught my eye. It is essentially an American Standard P, a bass that I love to play. But, they dressed it up with a 50's-ish guard and control plate and gave it a retro vibe.

The look is polarizing. Everyone I know either thinks Oooo, cool, or Ewww, um... not so cool.

I bought the sunburst one (of which they only made 125 of) in early 2012. It didn't take long for it to become my favorite bass. I sold my Am Std P as it was redundant and my Am std Jazz as it wasn't EVER getting played. Recently I stumbled upon a used blonde 60th and just had to buy it. The good news for my bank account is that they only came in two finishes.

The original thread didn't have any photos of one, so here is a photo of both of mine next to my 72 Tele bass and in front of my 1964 Leedy drum kit.

Chris P. · December 17, 2013, 02:05:33 AM

Cool! Didn't knew they made a batch of bursts!

patman · December 17, 2013, 06:37:17 AM

At last, another Precision bass kind of person...

There is one of the blonde ones in my local store...been there forever...it's beautiful, and I bet it sounds great...would love to have it, but my trusty old beat mexi precision with EMG select pup works just fine-if it ain't broke don't fix it-it's paid for, and makes me a good amount of money gigging every year....

Dave W · December 17, 2013, 08:33:40 AM

Very nice. The blond one reminds me of my former custom shop bass from the 90s, it was called the Vintage Precision Bass Custom. '51-era styling but with a P/J setup and concentric pots. Sold it because after a couple of years I decided the neck was just too big for me.

drummer5359 · December 17, 2013, 08:55:14 AM

Quote from: Dave W on December 17, 2013, 08:33:40 AM
Very nice. The blond one reminds me of my former custom shop bass from the 90s, it was called the Vintage Precision Bass Custom. '51-era styling but with a P/J setup and concentric pots. Sold it because after a couple of years I decided the neck was just too big for me.

That sounds like a great bass. I've yet to see anything like that out of the Fender Custom shop. If I can ever afford it, I'd love to try a Lakland USA 44/51M.

Dave W · December 17, 2013, 09:01:45 AM

Here's an old pic. At the time, Fender Custom Shop really wasn't pushing basses at all, and they discontinued it when the whole relic and closet classic thing took off.

drummer5359 · December 17, 2013, 10:31:27 PM

Quote from: Dave W on December 17, 2013, 09:01:45 AM
Here's an old pic. At the time, Fender Custom Shop really wasn't pushing basses at all, and they discontinued it when the whole relic and closet classic thing took off.

Wow! That pushes all of my buttons, I've never seen one before.

4stringer77 · December 18, 2013, 11:22:50 AM

That's a nice mellow blond finish on the 90's fender. Not nearly as yellow as the blackguard blond on the 60th anni. Looking forward to posting pics of my custom Stambaugh with a limed mahogany (basically blond over hog) finish to compare. Hopefully just a few more months to go.

hieronymous · December 18, 2013, 01:55:48 PM

I think I saw you post that pic at TB in the Tele Bass thread - glad you made it over here! I almost went for one of those anniversary basses but ended up with the MIJ '70s P with maple neck & black blocks. I do have a mid-'70s Tele Bass though! Can you tell us more about your Tele?

drummer5359 · December 18, 2013, 02:35:25 PM

Quote from: hieronymous on December 18, 2013, 01:55:48 PM
I think I saw you post that pic at TB in the Tele Bass thread - glad you made it over here! I almost went for one of those anniversary basses but ended up with the MIJ '70s P with maple neck & black blocks. I do have a mid-'70s Tele Bass though! Can you tell us more about your Tele?

Sure, the Tele is a 1972. A bassist that I played with for over thirty years bought it from the original owner in about 1975. He gigged it non-stop until the late 1990s, but took great care of it. In about 1997-1998 he bought an American Jazz bass and pretty much retired the Tele from regular service.

I ran into him about a year and a half ago, he mentioned that as he wasn't gigging regularly anymore and wanted to sell off some of his gear. I told him that if the Tele goes up for sale, I'd like first crack at it.

A couple of weeks later he called me and I became the third owner. I just got it back from having Pittsburgh Guitars do a setup on it and installing some Fender flats. I could not be happier with the results, it plays like a dream.

I have the bridge cover and original white pick guard. I like it with the black guard which he installed before I bought it.

bobyoung · January 08, 2014, 08:08:18 PM

I had a blonde 71 Tele bass years ago, never liked the mudbucker in it.

drummer5359 · January 11, 2014, 07:00:22 AM

I think that the mudbucker is a bit of an acquired taste. I played drums next to this bass for a lot of years back when it belonged to the second owner, it sounds just right to me.

I've been playing the Tele a bit more than usual the last two weeks. It's a sweet old girl.

godofthunder · February 02, 2014, 07:53:21 AM

Welcome! Those are some beautiful bases. My love of Gibson basses is well know

but I do appreciate a nice P bass, I have at least four early/mid 70's Precisions and a '79 Tele