Telecaster Bass (?)

[Taa]

Hello folks

I bumped into this bass, i am not sure if it's a fake one or not, i have seen Telecaster Basses around but never seen one with this kind of decal

Anyone knows about these?

I have been told that it's from 1967 - 68 

Thanks for the help

[wateroftyne]

I've never seen that decal before, and the whole thing looks a little shonky to me.

[Taa]

[Taa]

1 minute ago, wateroftyne said:

I've never seen that decal before, and the whole thing looks a little shonky to me.

I feel the same!

 

[Muzz]

Wow, look at that string spacing at the nut...I doubt even in Fender's darkest days of QC that'd have left the factory like that...I agree with the Shonky diagnosis above...

[Chiliwailer]

Its a fake, a real one would have the truss rod section filled in behind the nut.

Oh gosh, and that logo... 🤣

[Beedster]

At least the relicing is genuine

[Taa]

1 minute ago, Chiliwailer said:

Its a fake, a real one would have the truss rod section filled in behind the nut.

Oh gosh, and that logo... 🤣

😁

[Chiliwailer]

5 minutes ago, Chiliwailer said:

Its a fake, a real one would have the truss rod section filled in behind the nut.

Oh gosh, and that logo... 🤣

Actually - to be fair I've just seen that a few of the very early ones seem to not have the rod access...

But like I said.... that logo! (translates to beware).

[hooky_lowdown]

Logo on headstock is totally wrong, the logo is 70s style and the font for the words Telecaster Bass is wrong also, it's called Sans Serif and would never have been used in 50s or 60s.

[yorks5stringer]

It's got an interesting bridge: not sure if its the Wilkinson one you could buy a few years ago where the twin saddles pivoted on the central screws so you could get some semblance of adjustment across the adjoining strings?

Headstock has been redone, as it's a different colour to the neck.

[Taa]

Thank you all for your help !

[wateroftyne]

17 hours ago, yorks5stringer said:

Headstock has been redone, as it's a different colour to the neck.

Possibly, or - being devil's advocate - the headstock face could be nitro while the neck is poly.

[Grahambythesea]

Didn’t all the basses designated “Telecaster” have the big mud ucker type pickup at the neck end back in those days?

[wateroftyne]

1 minute ago, Grahambythesea said:

Didn’t all the basses designated “Telecaster” have the big mud ucker type pickup at the neck end back in those days?

That was the Mk2. When it was first re-issued in '68, it had the old single coil for a few years.

Edited February 8, 2019 by wateroftyne

[Grahambythesea]

I don’t remember the Mk 1 then, just that the slab body weighed a ton and was rather uncomfortable.

[wateroftyne]

 

6 minutes ago, Grahambythesea said:

I don’t remember the Mk 1 then, just that the slab body weighed a ton and was rather uncomfortable.

Here's one.

I had a '72, with the humbucker.

Unusually, it was a featherweight and played beautifully, but I couldn't get a single usable tone out of it.