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80's Fender Jap Basses


Legion
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Hi guys,

Have located a fairly nice 1984 Japanese Precision bass for £300 but have no experience of them myself - I realise that all basses are not created equal but any experiences of whether or not it could be worth pursuing would be really helpful. It looks great but is a fair old distance if I want to try before I buy.

Was this a good era for Jap P basses or a low point? just that sort of advice really...

Thanks

Jas

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Is this a Squier model? I'd expect to see it with a SQ or E serial number, maybe a JV number.

Whether it says Fender or Squier on the headstock it makes no difference - Fender Japan was knocking out good quality instruments at this time. Whether it's worth £300 (just in terms of typical cost) rather depends on what model it is though. Have you got a photo or decent description of it?

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If its the one in Bristol thats been posted here, it has a big nick in the back of the neck right where its annoying, and I don't think the scratchplate is an original, its 1 ply and has holes in the don't correspond to the ones in the bass if it wasn't for those I'd have offered the guy £250 for it having played it.This was an E one.

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[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='108242' date='Dec 22 2007, 05:33 PM']If its the one in Bristol thats been posted here, it has a big nick in the back of the neck right where its annoying, and I don't think the scratchplate is an original, its 1 ply and has holes in the don't correspond to the ones in the bass if it wasn't for those I'd have offered the guy £250 for it having played it.This was an E one.[/quote]

Thats the one, didnt realise it had been posted up here ( and I do watch for precisions quite sharply ). I got him to send me a closeup of the neck and its a brutal looking ding, but ultimately repairable I imagine. An all original '77 P has come up near me now anyway so I think I might be going to take a look at that first...

Thanks for the comments guys :)

J

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I bought this bass and took delivery on christmas eve. I don't usually buy unseen so took a bit of a chance. I read this thread about 5 hours after the money had changed hands and started to worry - particularly about the comment regarding the scratchplate holes!!

Anyhow, it was pretty much as described in the ad, although it did have some fairly serious fret wear, which wasn't described.

The scratchplate - I think - maybe is the original one, but had been painted over, making it look like bakelite. By pure coincidence, my son bought me a mirror scratchplate for christmas, so that went straight on! I think the comment about the holes not matching up relates to the pickup cover holes - they were in the correct place - just that the holes hadn't been drilled into the body!

Anyway, I got her back from Andy Viccars (luthier) today. He's dressed the frets and filled the hole in the back of the neck. She's definately a keeper - vintagey mojo'd looks - reasonable weight. The action is fairly low for a precision - got it down to about 2.2mm on the E at the top fret. Absolutely no dead spots - and it sustains forever.

She came with a good quality lead and gig bag and a Boss CS 3 - so I don't think it was too bad a deal - I'm quite pleased!

Edited by King Tut
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OK - as promised here's some pics. I've decided to go for a tort scratchplate, which I've just ordered, so I'll put the mirror plate on my black 86 Jap Precision.

I gigged her on new Year's Eve and I'm very pleased - a very solid sound, very deep - with the treble rolled off she'd make a lovely reggae bass - nice for the Police numbers we do!

here goes.......

Front -



Back -



Front Closeup -



Headstock -



And here's the repair on the neck - it was a double groove - very deep - about 1 -1.5 mm at the deepest. It looks just like a fag burn now, and very smooth - you can hardly feel it -



Enjoy - if anyone wants any close ups of anything just shout!

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