SOLD - PLEASE DELETE - Fender American Special Precision fretless £750 Edinburgh

[dmckee]

Lovely American Special P bass, that was converted to fretless with a thick slab of ebony by a previous owner. Finish is the ‘hand-rubbed’ nitro satin honeyburst, that I believe there was only a short run of for Guitar Center in the US. 

 

The fretless mod was done (I think) by Brook guitars in Devon (that’s from memory - could be wrong). It was done really nicely, onto the original neck, even preserving the original nut. 

 

As well as that mod, I’ve done a bunch of upgrades, to try and get it close the Tony Franklin signature fretless. It now has a Hipshot Kickass bridge, Hipshot USA Ultralite tuners, a Jazz pickup, DiMarzio DP126 pickup set (that’s the Model P and Model J - Tony has the Model J in his original I think) and Dunlop strap locks. It has the original volume and tone (tone is Greasebucket as far as I know, which I really like), plus a 3 way switch for either pickup or both - again functionally the same as the 3 way slider on the TF. All work done by Chris McIntyre here in Edinburgh, so top quality.  

 

I don’t have the weight right now - will add later - but it’s not heavy. Around 9lbs I think.  I’m told the body is 1.8” thinner than a usual P, plus obviously I have the Ultralites on there, which also means it balances perfectly on a strap now. 

 

Good opportunity to get something very close to the Tony Franklin signature fretless P bass, for a fraction of the price, in a great finish. It has a few little marks on the body (that finish makes it a bit easier for that to happen - can do closeups for anyone interested, plus a bit of wear and 1 scratch on the scratchplate (that is what they’re for eh?) - but condition excellent other than that. Neck is immaculate. 

 

Only selling as I have a case of GAS for something else. In an ideal world I’d have both! 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by dmckee

[karlfer]

Stunning Dave, I don't play fretless but what a bass this is. That fingerboard, wow, & great mods.

Pro level instrument.

[Oldman]

Where was this when I sold my Thumb Fretless? Lovely bass……

[ead]

Beautiful bass resulting in much drooling at ead towers.  Can I ask whether the dot markers been adjusted to sit where the frets were or are they still as they would have been for the fretted bass?

[franzbassist]

On 20/09/2021 at 10:48, dmckee said:

Lovely American Special P bass, that was converted to fretless with a thick slab of ebony by a previous owner.

The fretless mod was done (I think) by Brook guitars in Devon (that’s from memory - could be wrong). It was done really nicely, onto the original neck, even preserving the original nut.

 

That was me, and yes I had the bass converted to fretless by Brook Guitars.  They did a fabulous job, and this is a very good bass.

 

23 minutes ago, ead said:

Beautiful bass resulting in much drooling at ead towers.  Can I ask whether the dot markers been adjusted to sit where the frets were or are they still as they would have been for the fretted bass?

 

The former, they are on the "fret".

 

It's a right proper slab of ebony on this bass.

 

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by franzbassist

[gareth]

“I’m told the body is 1.8” thinner than a usual P”?

[PaulThePlug]

1/8" (3mm) thinner maybe... 42mm? 

[karlfer]

It's well documented on T***bass that the American Specials had a body that was 1/8th of an inch thinner, front to back.

So most are a little lighter than the full blow US basses of the time.

 

Wish I could re-find the long thread on T***bass ☺️

[dmckee]

Thanks for chipping in everybody! It is indeed a lovely bass, but I have a GAS problem.... 🙄

[Duroc17]

Cor blimey! If Fender made this as a regular fretted P they could have my money - while typing this my brain is saying buy this and put a fretted neck back on it - whilst the wallet part of my brain is shouting no haha glwts 

[dmckee]

@Duroc17 I’ve had that thought myself! That is of course how this one started its life…..