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Fender Precision - Unique Vintage Parts, Darkstar Pickup - PRICE DROP
£900

tanuki

By tanuki,
in Basses For Sale

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tanuki Contributor

tanuki

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[b]FENDER DARK STARRED PRECISION, Vintage parts. None more black.[/b]

[url="http://s40.photobucket.com/user/eatupyourgreens/media/87f10fc8.jpg.html"][/url]

[url="http://s40.photobucket.com/user/eatupyourgreens/media/2029c456.jpg.html"][/url]

[url="http://s40.photobucket.com/user/eatupyourgreens/media/14c686de.jpg.html"][/url]

More Photos Here - [url="http://s40.photobucket.com/user/eatupyourgreens/slideshow/Fender%20Darkstar%20Black"]http://s40.photobuck...arkstar%20Black[/url]

This is a unique bass.. Fender Precision with the rare Darkstar pickup.. Fred stopped making these a few years back and they are now changing hands for ridiculous money, they are based on an old 60s Hagstrom design, Lakland used them as the inspiration for their ChiSonic pickups.. The spec is as follows:

- Fender 1975 Precision Neck, Rosewood board.
- Fender Precision Body, refinished in black. Its difficult to tell but this is thought to be late 60's. It’s a nice light body, very comfortable when compared with my ’77 Fender.
- Dark Star Pickup.
- Gotoh Hardware

I got this bass about 10 years ago, it was originally a fretless Frankenstein bass with a 1971 jazz neck and some very weird electronics.. I stripped out the bad mods and had the Dark Star fitted, a few years back i sold the jazz neck and recently installed the 1975 precision neck and had the bass set up at Waghorns in Bristol. The original modification and refinish of the bass could be accurately dated to 1972 due to some of the electronics and a date on the original scratch-plate, hence the estimate on the age of the body. The neck was bought locally and originally installed on my main P Bass, its in great condition, nice rosewood slab and clean frets. There is a scratch on the back (see photos) this is just in the finish and doesn't effect playability in any way. The hardware is all new and made by Gotoh, really great and reliable stuff.

The only stupid thing that i did to this bass was briefly experiment with MIDI pickups, these have been long removed, there are a couple of tiny screw holes from where the GK pickup was mounted and a hole on the scratch-plate where the output was, if this bothers you then a new scratch-plate is cheep, just remember to get one with no hole cut as the Darkstar is not quite as wide as the original P pickup..

The reason i am selling this is that i am moving away from Precision necks, i could just get a jazz neck for it but to be honest this bass sounds so great at the moment that i'm thinking that it should go to someone else or i am just going to keep mucking around with it! I also have another Warmoth jazz bass with Dark Stars in it so i am going to hold on to that one.

Sound wise the Dark Star gives it a really fat "p bass on steroids" sound, tone up full its punchy as hell and cuts through anything but there really is a great range of tones down to that motown thump, the great thing about these pickups is that they are really responsive to dynamics, if you play soft you get a really warm and fat sound, the harder you dig in the more aggressive it gets, if you play really really hard you get this really sweet natural distortion (more Stranglers) The dynamic range makes this a really satisfying bass to play. You can get a lot of different tones by messing about with volume levels also. Its really far more versatile than my others.

One thing i've realised recently with this bass and my Dark Star jazz is that they give me hands down the best recording tone i have ever achieved. Really lively and rich.


[b]Price [color=#ff0000][size=6]£800[/size][/color] plus shipping in gig bag, can arrange hard case it you want.
(price based on a conservative estimate of the value of the parts)[/b]

[b]Trades - I have addressed my need for a Jazz Bass so now am looking primarily for a cash sale.[/b]

Edited by tanuki
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tanuki Contributor

tanuki

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It is a great precision, id love to keep it but i have been catching the jazz bass bug after borrowing a '62 Jazz since joining The Flies and now have the bug... Its actually better than my '77 precision but that is my reluctant love/hate long term partner so i am unable to ever sell it!

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tanuki Contributor

tanuki

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He he, thats good, see you there! im having to get the jazz bass repaired in time as theres a loose wire somewhere, yeah these darkstars are the bomb, i have a jazz bass with two in it and that is the best sounding bass i have ever had, especially for recording!

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tanuki Contributor

tanuki

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[quote name='Minty' timestamp='1419689157' post='2641914']
Should a '75 precision neck with a rosewood board have truss rod access at the nut? Shouldn't it be at the heel instead?
[/quote]

the truss rod does adjust at the heel

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Minty Apprentice

Minty

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[quote name='tanuki' timestamp='1419692242' post='2641938']
the truss rod does adjust at the heel
[/quote]

Yeah but there shouldn't be the mark on the headstock where the truss access would be, right? I've only this on necks from this era with maple fretboards... Not to be a naysayer or anything....I'm just a bit confused by it.

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