Very strange Precision and Jazz Bass headless conversions listed on eBay

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here are an odd pair of basses I saw listed in separate auctions from the same seller on eBay. As you can clearly see they are strangely tweaked Fender designs, namely a Jazz Bass and a P-Bass, both bizarrely converted to headless instruments. Well I say headless, but each has a mini-headstock which acts as a string anchor. The mini-headstock in itself is not inelegant; however at the other end of each instrument is a strange protuberance (a butt-stock, perhaps?) carrying the tuners. Surely there could have been a neater way of doing this, e.g using a Steinberger-style bridge with integral tuners. Also note that it would be impossible to stand up either of these basses while not being used without the right kind of guitar stand. As for getting a case to fit...

I'm guessing that these are one-off custom jobs. Judging by the photographs the conversion and finish on each has been carried out very competently. My only questions are Why? and Who will these appeal to?

EBay UK links for these  two:

• Headless Jazz Bass
• Headless P-Bass

Both are listed with starting prices of £199 (UKP).

More photos of each:

G L Wilson

© 2019, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Batman "Ker Pow" knock-off Precision Bass

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This Bat bass features quite a neatly executed home-made finish, with a decoupage of Batman comic strips on the body itself. It's a bit of a pity about the counterfeit decal applied to the headstock when the bass isn't actually a Fender but consists of a Squier body married to a no-name copy neck. Yes, I appreciate the details are fun what with the wholly appropriate serial number and the "Made in Gotham City" legend, it's just a pity that the Fender logo was used. The etching (if that's what it is) of the Batman logo on the pickguard is a nice touch though.

Currently being auctioned on eBay UK with a low starting price.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Ampeg Big Stud - a 1970s Japanese take on the Precision/Telecaster Bass

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We recently looked at an early 1970s Fender Telecaster Bass which itself was a reissue, or rather, a reinterpretation of the original pre-redesign Fender Precision Bass. Here we see another 1970s interpretation of the same design by the Japanese, marketed under the Ampeg brandname. This particular model was named the Ampeg Big Stud; there was also a Little Stud model fashioned more in keeping with the traditional Precision bass.

When I first saw this bass I did wonder momentarily if it was a short or medium-scale bass, but it does indeed have the full 34" long scale length. I think it must be an optical illusion created by Ampeg's choice of a smaller 2+2 headstock.

Notable users include bassist Senon Williams of Cambodian pop/psychedelic band Dengue Fever.

Currently listed on eBay UK with a Buy It Now price of £375.00.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Fender Telecaster Bass from the CBS era, circa 1972/73

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The Fender Telecaster Bass was a product of the CBS-owned Fender company of the 1970s. It was a quick and easy way of dreaming up a "new" model without having to try too hard. But it's a bit of a curiousity being based loosely on the original design for the Precision Bass (before it was given a Strat-inspired make-over). Unlike the original P-bass which was equipped with a single centrally-mounted singlecoil pickup, the Telecaster Bass has a huge Fender humbucker placed right up at the top of the neck, so tonally it must have been a departure for Fender having a more Gibson-like EB-0/EB-3 sound.

It's hard to imagine these days who it would appeal to other than those actively seeking dub reggae bass stylings. The slab-body is remarkably Tele-like (hence its name) and, yes, of course it an upper horn so that it balances nicely on a strap (unlike the recent Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Bass which copy the Tele guitar shape far too literally).

I'm actually undecided whether I like it or not. I admit I'm not the greatest fan of Fender basses in the first place, but in a way have an almost grudging respect for an oddity like this that most bassists wouldn't look twice at. Bidding on this eBay item is currently at US $1,016 with the reserve still not met. Which seems very high for an instrument produced during the period within which quality control at Fender was known to be at an all time low. Even the seller admits that this particular Tele Bass has issues:

Bass output but its uneven. "G" is hotter than other strings [...]

I would rate this item between a 70-60% (VG-G)

Make of that what you will, but to me it doesn't sound deserving of whatever the auction reserve is.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Fender Custom Shop Telecaster Bass gets the Deluxe treatment

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This Dennis Galuszka masterbuilt Fender Custom Shop re-interpretation of the Fender Telecaster Bass (a model itself derived from the original slab-bodied Precision Bass) is quite interesting. The pickguard and control layout has quite obviously been based on that of the Fender Telecaster Custom and Deluxe guitars; I guess because the bass sports a pair of humbuckers then technically it should be a Telecaster Bass Deluxe rather than a Custom, although if the Custom Shop had wanted to take the analogy further they should have given in a larger Precision-style headstock so as to mirror the Tele Deluxe guitar's CBS-era Strat-like head.

Currently listed on eBay Germany with a Buy It Now price of €3,990.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Squier steps up their game with cool new additions to the Vintage Modified series

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Squier Vintage Modified Cabronita Telecaster

Squier Vintage Modified Cabronita Telecaster with Bigsby

Squier Vintage Modified Cabronita Precision Bass

Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar Bass V

Squier Vintage Modified Bass VI

It looks like this is a long-overdue bid for Squier to be taken seriously with these latest guitar and bass offerings, and showing that they are not just about entry-level instruments.

Me, I'm a little peeved that they brought out this new version of the Bass VI which is far more faithful to the original than the Fender Pawn Shop Bass VI released earlier this year. The Squier also retails for under half of what I paid for the Pawn Shop version here in the UK.

I'm also very interested in the Cabronita Tele with Bigsby - at last an affordable Tele... WITH a Bigsby. How cool is that?

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Jim Rodford's doubleneck behemoth comprising Fender P-Bass and Strat

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I was looking on YouTube for some footage of Argent's Russ Ballard playing his customised Holy Stratocaster (which also featured a cut-down body so that the top horn echoed size and shape of the lower horn), and found an interesting clip of Argent playing "Hold Your Head Up" on The Midnight Special TV Show in 1973 with an introduction from none other than John Denver (see below).

Sure, there was Russ playing his Holy Strat, but I was also intrigued to see bassist Jim Rodford thumping away on an enormous doubleneck seemingly composed of a Fender Precision Bass and a Strat. Alas I've not been able to turn up any better quality close-up photos of the instrument itself and so I though I'd have a little shout out to the faithful Guitarz readership to see if anyone has any more information about this remarkable instrument or knows where we might find some better photographs.

A Google search reveals various guitar and bass forum discussions in which this instrument is mentioned. Apparently the P-Bass making up one half of this doubleneck behemoth previously belonged to Chris White of The Zombies (keyboardist Rod Argent's previous band).

There are other clips of Rodford playing the bass as a single necked instrument (e.g. another performance of "Hold Your Head Up", this time from 1972) where the bass is clearly shown to have an enlarged or secondary pickguard on the upper portion of the body. One forum mentioned something about the doubleneck being convertible into two separate instruments, so possibly this upper pickguard was there to hide the join in the body with the upper horn section of the bass.

This is all conjecture on my part. I just think it's an interesting instrument worthy of further investigation.


G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

1963 Fender Precision Bass with rare original factory red sparkle finish

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No it's not Candy Apple Red, this 1963 Fender Precision Bass features a very rare red sparkle factory finish. The bass is all original and comes complete with the chromed pickup and bridge covers that most players used to unscrew and lose, plus the original Tolex hard case.

Fender sparkle finishes are considered very rare, with a few appearing in the early 1960s. We have previously looked at a Duo Sonic and a Music Master (supposedly from 1959) with similar finishes. However, this silver-sparkle 1963 Jaguar was of course a re-finish.

As I already mentioned, the original Fender sparkle finishes are very rare, so you may not be surprised to learn that this red sparkle 1963 Fender Precision Bass is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $15,000.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Vintage & Rare Guitar of (last) Week: Finnish Guitar Works acrylic-bodied Precision Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

I should really have posted this Vintage & Rare Guitar of the Week a couple of days ago, but as ever, other things came up and before I knew it, it was next week already!

Anyway, here we have an acrylic-bodied Precision-style bass from Finnish Guitar Works (FGW). I don't think we've had the occasion to feature a Finnish-made instrument on the blog before. The slab-bodied Precision design with its single pickup and simple contol layout makes for an ideal instrument to receive the see-through perspex body treatment, as there is not a lot of internal routing to be seen.

This bass is currently being offered for sale via Vintage & Rare, priced at €890.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Thomas shows us his Fender Precision twin humbucker "TomBass"

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Bonjour M. Wilson;

I'm a long time reader of your blog ... Thanks a lot for this daily "Guitarz minute"!! Here is my bass (and its story):

It started as a US Fender PBass of 1989 bougth in 2000 with Seymour Duncan active pickups (PJ configuration) and with a 22 frets neck.

Over the year, the neck started to bend and "twist" up to the point it was unplayable. So I decided to customize it - or to be honest (and wise) to ask a luthier to customize it, M. Leray in Nantes, France - and here is the result:

• neck has been changed for a Mexican Fender PBass "road worn" 50s 2011 with 20 frets
• 2 pickups Rio Grande Pitbull Humbucking (nickel cover) with selector and Push/Pull tone pots
• Bad Ass II bridge

The design is very much inspired from a 2009 Fender Telecaster Bass from the Custom Shop.

Unfortunately, I don't have any record to send you, but trust me, it sounds great!

Musically yours

Thomas

PS: note the "Competition stripes" (which appear on some Mustang Bass) has been replaced by a "Cool Stripe" (better karma)

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Southpaw Fender Precision Bass in Antigua finish

guitarz.blogspot.com:

What's rarer than a late 1970s Fender Precision Bass in Antigua finish? Well, how about a left-handed late 1970s Fender Precision Bass in Antigua finish? The seller actually claims that this example is from 1980 despite the headstock displaying a 1970s serial number (S followed by 6 digits), but it is perfectly possible that this was assembled in 1980 by Fender from parts already in stock from a year or two previously.

This bass is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $2,790.

If any of our regular readers are indeed southpaws and would like to join the Guitarz team with a view to writing pieces on the most interesting lefty guitars and basses on eBay and elsewhere, then please do get in touch!

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Duff McKagan Fender P-bass / snowboard hybrid!

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's an email from JPM:

Longtime Guitarz reader, it's an amazing blog.

Anyways, I don't know if you're aware of this or not but I just saw on YouTube a snowboard company that build a snowboard out of a Duff McKagan Fender P-bass that is both playable and rideable - its pretty crazy. They even have footage of it being ridden accompanied with a sound from the pickups that they hooked up to a wireless rig.

Check it out, I figured you'd appreciate something like this.

Hey, thanks for that JPM. We've seen a few guitars already made out of pieces of sporting equipment (cricket bat guitar, tennis racquet guitar, even a guitar made from a boat oar) so I guess it figured sooner or later we were going to get a guitar convered into a piece of sporting equipment instead!

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Paul's eBay fretless Precision Deluxe bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here is my finished eBay Fretless Precision Deluxe that I thought would be a way to make a versatile fretless bass when the Fretless Epiphone Zenith bass was found to be impossible to get hold of.

I 'won' the Mexican Precision Deluxe from an eBay auction and replaced the fretted neck with a Mighty Mite ebonal fretless neck, which is plenty hard enough for round wound strings. (I re-auctioned the old fretted neck). I then replaced the bridge with a more substantial gold coloured bridge and fitted the Graph Tech Ghost saddle pickup system to the bridge to give me an 'acoustic' pickup along side the Jazz and Precision pickups. I replaced the mid boost knob (which didn't do much) with a Graph Tech volume knob with Dark/Mid push/pull switch.

All parts were purchased off of eBay so I'm calling it the eBay Precision Deluxe and it certainly does give me quite a wide variety of sounds between the three pickups. Adding the Graph Tech pickup was a lot easier than anticipated and certainly worth the effort. Attached is a closeup of the bridge where you should be able to see the modifications.

Paul

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Vintage & Rare guitar(s) of the week: 1968 Fender Telecaster paisley pair

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here we have a pair of original 1968 Fender Paisleys - a Telecaster (as used by Elvis guitarist James Burton) and Telecaster Bass - both in remarkable condition for their age. The paisley design was effectively wallpaper applied to the guitar before being sealed beneath a clear finish with a pink "burst" around the perimeter to hide the edges of the paper. Often with these original paisleys, the finish has cracked badly through to the paper, and the pink finish usually fades to a not unpleasant gold. You'll see in the photo above that the Telecaster guitar suffers from a crack where the right forearm would rest, and the pink burst has begun to turn gold. But look at those necks - hardly a mark on them; they could almost be new. Both guitar and bass are complete with the pickup/bridge covers that players usually remove and use as ashtrays or whatever; their presence here would probably appeal to the collector more than the player.

The pair are currently being sold via Vintage & Rare for $37,000 for the both of them, or $19,500 for the Telecaster guitar and $18,500 for the Telecaster Bass. At those prices we're talking collectors really. For the rest of us who just happen like the look of them, there have been various Japanese re-issues since the late 1980s which you could turn up for a fraction of the price.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Fender PBAC-100 Made In Japan Thinline Acoustic/Electric Fretless Precision Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Ah, you don't see these too often. It's a relation of the Fender FMT Bass we looked at in January although, obviously, fretless, with a natural finish and a classic Fender P-Bass style headstock. (In fact, this is the bass, I was referring to in the write-up of the HMT bass.) It's a Fender PBAC-100 fretless bass, Made In Japan 1990, and is clearly based on the Precision Bass but given the Thinline treatment. The bridge is an acoustic-styled unit and features an under-saddle piezo pickup, which used in conjunction with the P-Bass pickup allows for a mix of acoustic and electric tones.

I briefly tried one of these years ago and quite liked it. Looking at these photos now I still think it's a nice bass, but those horrible tone-killing black strings would have to go.

Currently being offered for sale with a Buy It Now price of $1,299.99.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Stars and Stripes MIM Fender Precision Bass with more than a nod to the MC5

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's another one from Mark Rubel of Pogo Studio. Mark, who also plays with Captain Rat and the Blind Rivets, tells us that it's a:

Mexican P-Bass that I purchased with the specific intention of painting like Wayne Kramer’s Strat®, just in time for our 4th of July gig.

Keep those photos of your guitars and basses coming in, folks! We've already got some particularly nice photos lined up for the Guitarz 2012 calendar, but could do with a few more!

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Custom-built plexiglass-bodied Precision Bass with Fender and Squier parts

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here's one for the bass player who prefers a traditionally-styled bass but at the same time wants something a little more individual. Here's what the seller has to say about it:

One of several Fender precision bass replicas made for me from parts (some original Fender/Squier) by Bailey Bros. of Bristol. Used extensively as a back-up touring instrument with Who's Next - a tribute to The Who.

Here is an ultra rare plexiglass Precision Bass. The body is made of lucite acrylic. See-through plexiglass. The neck is a 1997 Fender USA Precision Bass Classic series bass which features a slim Jazz Bass profile maple neck with a rosewood board. The original Fender tuning pegs are present. The pickup is a white capped EMG AXL passive Precision Bass Unit. The bass is finished with an amber-sparkle coloured pickguard.

Apparently John Entwistle himself had one like this in his enormous collection, and it is also similar to the bass used by Charlie Jones who has played for Robert Plant, Goldfrapp and Siouxsie Sioux.

Currently being auctioned on eBay UK with a starting bid of £250. A word of warning: it's going to be very heavy which is most likely the reason that this was the seller's back-up bass and not his main instrument.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Fender HMT Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Guitarz reader Ryan Coons saw this on Craigslist and commented, "I've seen my share of Fender basses, but nothing quite like this one."

It's a Made in Japan Fender HMT Bass circa 1989/90, has an F-hole in a Thinline-inspired P-Bass body, an active TBX tone control and a piezo pickup in the fixed acoustic-style bridge. Very unusually for a Fender, it doesn't sport their trademark headstock shape or familiar logo. The name "HMT" and the headstock shape would imply "Heavy Metal", but the f-fole and acoustic pickup/bridge do not quite fit in with this image.

I remember around this period at a music show in London seeing a similar Fender bass, but fretless and with the more usual P-Bass headstock and in natural finish. I guess that was a Japanese-built sibling of the bass we see here. That one I could understand. This one seems to have identity issues.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Jim Hevesy's Hembry "Hevy" doubleneck

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Guitarz reader and guitar enthusiast Jim Hevesy tells us about his Hembry doubleneck:

The double neck was built by Scott Hembry in Washington state. I live in Maryland near Washington DC and I found Scott through another guy on E-bay. I sent Scott what I was looking for and he built it for me. When I would play at church, I never knew what other players I might have so I wanted a 4x6. I was on a Telecaster kick so I wanted to see if he could incorporate a ‘fat’ Tele and a Fender P. I used to have a 1968 Plymouth Barracuda muscle car when I was growing up and I always like the plumb crazy color they had. After talking with Scott we decided on "flip/flop" paint that changes from green to purple depending on the light. He also painted a racing stripe on it for me changing the original "Hemi" to "Hevy" which is what most people call me. I sold a bunch of old stuff I had on e-bay and had this made. It is the fattest Tele I have ever heard (add all that wood and metal and what do you expect?) and plays like a dream. Here are some pics of it. One cool one you will see is the back with a reflection of a giant pine tree from the pacific northwest where it was built.

Thanks for sharing this with us, Jim.

We've previously looked at another Hembry doubleneck, this one a double fretted/fretless Jazz Bass style. For more Hembry guitars see www.hembryguitars.com.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Fender Precision Bass with fretless maple neck from 1978

guitarz.blogspot.com:
This fretless Fender Precision Bass from 1978 is a thing of beauty, and I'm saying that even as a non-fan of sunburst finishes. However, I always do a double take when I see a fretless bass with a maple fingerboard instead of the more usual rosewood or preferably ebony. It looks totally weird to my eyes, which isn't to say that it's unattractive.

I think I'd upset a few Fender collectors if I ever got my paws on a bass such as this because the very first thing I'd do would be to rip off the dreadful flatwound strings that people insist on putting on fretless basses and replace them with proper roundwounds.

I know WHY fretless basses got saddled with flatwounds - it's so as not to mark the fingerboard. However, they totally kill the tone. Put roundwounds on and the bass will sing and sound glorious. I'd rather have a bit of fingerboard wear rather than a bass that sounds dead.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!