franzbassist Posted November 9, 2011 Posted November 9, 2011 (edited) So, after Clarky spotted this bass on eBay I spoke with the shop selling the bass and bought it direct, as the opportunity to get a first production year fretless P was just too good to pass up. I received the bass yesterday, and I spent last night dismantling it, giving it a good clean, fitting an East P-Retro circuit, some aged Fender pickup screws (the orginal pots and screws were long gone, so I had no qualms doing this) and a set of medium D'Addario Chromes to replace the black nylons that had been on there since 1985! A quick set up later and we were in business. The bass was dirty, and I mean [i]very[/i] dirty, with lots of grime and oxidisation. A naphtha bath for almost all the metalwork cleaned things up no end, and although I got patches of the body to clean and gloss back up, a lot of it has resisted and stayed quite grimy. It's almost as if the muck has penetrated the finish and, in a couple of places, there are even fingerprints visible! I'll keep going at it to see if I can improve it, but at least most of this is confined to the back. There's quite a lot of checking in the finish too. The bass has a December 1970 neck with a lovely rosewood fingerboard. The neck is in great shape. The oval tuners and threaded saddles look original to the bass, even though they had been officially phased out by 1970 - perhaps it was an older body from around 1968 but finished with a new neck? The bass balances very well and weighs a shade under 9lbs. It plays beautifully and I have a nice low action with minimal curve to the neck. The sound? Deliciously woody and smoky in passive mode, which is I am sure how I will use it most of the time, but the P Retro in active mode may well come in useful for subtle changes of eq when I need to cut through. Overall though, a lovely bass. Some pictures for your pleasure.... 9/2012 Update: I removed the new pots and jack and replaced them with a genuine harness from 1968. Also now sports La Bella medium flats. Edited October 27, 2012 by walbassist Quote
wateroftyne Posted November 9, 2011 Posted November 9, 2011 Lovely! I didn't think I'd ever see one older than mine (Feb '71), but I've been beaten by a couple of months! Incidentally, we share a neck-pocket stamp... Incidentally, I put a Raven Labs PBR-1 active pre in mine. It's nice, but I'm not sure I need it. Happy mwaaahing! Quote
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