GuyR

I had the privilege of seeing Dill Katz play on numerous occasions in the 80s and 90s. In particular with his “Mr Gone” ensemble featuring Ted McKenna, Tommy Eyre and John Etheridge. He was a masterful player, with a very distinctive style and sound, with his fat sounding Ned Callan modified Jazz Bass, the unlined fretless fingerboard extended to the pickup. His soloing was captivating and expressive, unafraid to push the boundaries. A great shame to hear of his passing.

You can certainly get excellent value at GH, with very little risk. Even more so if you attend and bid in person. Congratulations on a very good buy.

Apart from the neck plate, mix&match screws, strap buttons, it looks right, as far as I can tell without looking up the correct decal type. Lovely looking bass!! That level of wear suggests it plays as well as it looks.

You certainly avoid a misdescription that way

Clay dots and LPB is a combination you don’t see very often. The neck pocket with the original unfaded colour shows how vivid the original finishes were. Very lovely. Seems all the money, will be interesting to see how quickly it sells.

That’s a great score. If it plays as good as it looks, it’s a winner. Very good pictures too!

I have a couple of guitars with quite fragile nitro finishes. I only use the moisture in my breath and clean off with a soft cotton cloth. Anything wetter than that leaves the surface cloudy, having absorbed the water, for months afterwards. I tried saliva on one of my basses and the finish came straight off, down to the yellow undercoat. I always proceed with the utmost caution these days.

I was in Martin Petersen’s workshop looking at this in the auction catalogue online. When he built it to special order, he had to have bespoke strings manufactured. He thought he might have some still tucked away, so probably worth getting in touch. He commented that it was a little unfair of GH to not have mentioned the scale in the catalogue. Cool bass though, hope you can adjust to it.

1966 slab precision for sale at GH auction in march. An interesting lot, number 394, with a good provenance. Cant seem to post a link.

I think some people heat the head of the screw with a soldering iron to expand it and break the grip of the thread as it cools. I’m sure there are other techniques.

That is an authentic looking bass. I would be inclined to give it to a professional to get the bridge off. luckily, period replacement parts for mid 70s Fenders shouldn’t be too prohibitive if required, but I think the bridge plate could be made to look ok if cleaned up. Congratulations on a handsome purchase.

https://www.guitar-auctions.co.uk/sale/234/147/1971-Fender-Competition-Mustang-Bass-guitar-made-in-USA what a shame - a really good looking mustang. Why would you do that to the scratchplate? it’s been made “player grade”

Couldn’t agree more. I’m referring to buying instruments already fitted with replacement parts.

Agreed. To me, players grade means something irreversible has been done to the instrument, fundamentally and permanently reducing the desirability as an original example. A refinish or body route alone would render an instrument “player grade” for me. A combination of “lesser sins” such as changed tuners (worse if extra holes), changed electric components, might attract the description player grade, but if so, there is hardly a vintage Fender ( I’m concentrating on 60s here) that is fully original, without some minor component, or frets replaced. It is a simple matter to substitute components like-for-like with period replacements and it isn’t too great a concern for me as a buyer. If a seller volunteers such information at the point of purchase, my confidence in the integrity of the instrument is enhanced. I’m still taking it apart, of course..