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Fender Precision '55 relic project SOLD!!
£1000

lawriemacmillan

By lawriemacmillan,
in Basses For Sale

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lawriemacmillan Rising Star

lawriemacmillan

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This fantastic bass was assembled and re-imagined by the talented Rick Moore (basschat'r Rick's Fine '52) and I've used it on the road as my main bass for a couple of years. I've had it home since the touring show required me to favour a 5 string Precision.
I believe Rick based the project on a duplication of his original vintage 50s bass.

Here is some interesting and vital info described by the man himself:

"[i]Started life as two reissue basses, a Sting reissue, for the 2-tone contour body, and a '51 reissue, for the correct neck, without that ghastly Sting inlay at the 12th fret.

The necks were swapped, and the Sting neck on a solid 2-tone body was swiftly sold. The body was then routed to receive the period correct large string ferrules on the rear of the body (These are very hard to source). The bass then received a full relic treatment, including the neck fully stripped, amber nitro tint, fingerboard edges rolled, new correct decal applied on top of the lacquer.

The body was aged with weather checking throughout, and some very good, sympathetic ageing (No belt sander jobs here!).

The metal parts were also aged.

All parts are period correct; reverse kluson tuners, 2-saddle bridge, single ply white aged guard, chrome covers, a replica maple thumbrest was made using my original as a template, and then painted black, and aged.

[color=red][size=4]Fender[/size][/color] Custom Shop tweed case completes the look.

All genuine [color=red][size=4]Fender[/size][/color] parts, hours and hours of time and love have gone into this, and a genuine CS tweed case thrown in[/i]"

Since owning the bass, I had my tech Doc Dave Grant add a brass plate under the bridge and flush with the body surface, effectively creating a discreet high-mass bridge. This has added sustain and definition to notes, as well as balancing out the weight of the neck.
Overall, it's a very lightweight bass which I initially found to be a little neck heavy due to the lack of weight in the body. The brass plate seems to have rectified that very comfortably.

Weight: 4.5 kg / 10 lb

Dave also modified the saddles to make a more accurate intonation possible.

I also replaced the 'Sting' pickup with a Nordstrand '51 pickup. Awesome! It increased the depth of the lows and sweetened the midrange, and tamed the top end nicely.
The bass has a very woody P-Bass tone. Not quite Motown - but lending itself to that big 1970s tone which is great with a pick.

Chrome Dunlop Straplocks were added.

We opened for Sting in Poland last summer and even his crew had to look twice as it appeared I had grabbed one of his basses!

[b]£900[/b] - including UK delivery. Bank transfer preferred. No trades please. I'm in Fife, Scotland and the bass is here to demo if anyone can get here to try it.

Photobucket link (including a few of Rick's photos and some live shots with myself performing with it):

[url="http://s1342.photobucket.com/user/lawriemacmillan/library/Fender%2055%20Relic?sort=6&page=1"]http://s1342.photobu...c?sort=6&page=1[/url]

Edited by lawriemacmillan
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lawriemacmillan Rising Star

lawriemacmillan

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[quote name='haimesy' timestamp='1400691125' post='2456174']
Deal with confidence all Lawries basses are of the highest quality , He really knows his stuff.. I am always picking his brains on one bass gear issue or another..j
[/quote] Cheers John - feel free to continue 'picking' away! Just try to leave some behind...:-)

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gillento Community Regular

gillento

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[quote name='haimesy' timestamp='1400691125' post='2456174']
Deal with confidence all Lawries basses are of the highest quality , He really knows his stuff.. I am always picking his brains on one bass gear issue or another..j
[/quote]

yes!

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  • 1 month later...
Beedster Grand Master

Beedster

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[quote name='lawriemacmillan' timestamp='1404113868' post='2489286']
Bass now available again
[/quote]

Which is my fault :unsure:

I've been wanting this bass from way back before it was in Lawrie's possession and had a few things worked out a little better recently it would now be happily lining itself up for a C&W band I'm going to be working with, a band for which neither my Ric or my Yamaha feel especially right. Anyway, long story short, a few things haven't gone strictly according to plan over the last couple of weeks, and whilst a couple of these were relatively minor bass/music things, unfortunately my car has packed up at the same time as we're applying for a new mortgage (which is not a nice straight forward process like it used to be). So bass stuff is currently having to exit as opposed to enter my place (the music room is looking rather empty, My Yamaha SLB-100 upright, my Phil Jones rig, my Markbass combo, my Yammie 2024x and probably BB1200, the list goes on).

Anyway, Lawrie has been a real gent about it, because not only have I backed out of an agreed deal, but because I pestered him with questions before deciding to go for it, to which he patiently responded, and because he also very kindly had the bass professionally setup ahead of packing and sending. Needless to say I'm feeling a bit guilty.

Still, my loss, your gain folks, this bass sounds amazing live and recorded, is probably the only relic bass I've seen that looks like a legitimately worn in instrument, and has sufficient provenance to allay the worries of the most cautious of potential buyers.

And if I win the lottery this week (I've never done it before but I may start), I'll be back on the phone Lawrie

Chris

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