NBD (it's a blue Bravewood)

[peteb]

That looks really nice. Great colour - is that a mint scratchplate? 

[LukeFRC]

Just now, peteb said:

That looks really nice. Great colour - is that a mint scratchplate? 

Yep. It looks lovely. When he was building it John kept stressing it would have a mint guard… almost as if most people would want tortoise or something. 

[peteb]

10 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Yep. It looks lovely. When he was building it John kept stressing it would have a mint guard… almost as if most people would want tortoise or something. 

 

Much as I like a tort scratchplate, the mint looks just right with that shade of slightly darker LPB. 

Edited October 26, 2021 by peteb

[Geek99]

8 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

Yep. It looks lovely. When he was building it John kept stressing it would have a mint guard… almost as if most people would want tortoise or something. 

They would, because most people have awesomely good taste 

 

v nice btw 

[LukeFRC]

9 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

They would, because most people have awesomely good taste 

 

v nice btw 

Yeah but fender in 1961 wouldn’t have done a custom colour with a tort guard, it would have been mint.

 

I’ve a feeling that John keeps fairly close to vintage accurate. (Hence why @owen isn’t showing off his 5 string Bravewood) - the main difference in what John made me was that the neck is about 41mm at the nut rather than the vintage accurate 44-45mm … cos my hands aren’t that big! 

[peteb]

Anyone know when did they changed from 44mm to 41mm? 

 

I actually prefer the later (41mm) P bass neck to jazz necks, but I had a 57RI P bass with the wider neck that was a bit too much for me. 

[Owen]

8 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

(Hence why @owen isn’t showing off his 5 string Bravewood) 

I cannot deny, this makes me sad. 

[Reggaebass]

9 hours ago, peteb said:

Anyone know when did they changed from 44mm to 41mm? 

 

I actually prefer the later (41mm) P bass neck to jazz necks, but I had a 57RI P bass with the wider neck that was a bit too much for me. 

I’ve been reading up a bit lately about precision’s as I don’t like the bigger necks, and I think they changed from C width to B width in mid 68, but with fender their parts can overlap, it’s quite a minefield, but most 70’s ones I’ve seen have the B neck 

[4000]

18 hours ago, LukeFRC said:

 

it’s lake placid blue that came out a bit darker I think. 🤣 it’s not got any/much yellowed top coat making it green.

That said there seem to be some more faded LPB, and some of the fender custom shop early 60s ri are similar to this… I don’t know 🤷 what blue is the blue fender would have been using in 1960 - I like this though! 

I figured it was probably LPB but - at least in the first photos - it does look really dark for LPB. I love it though, I’d want it like that. 

[castlemaine22]

Congrats Luke, that looks like a stunner! Looks like it was worth the wait

[Sibob]

Ooooo, it came!
That was a quick turnaround from the last convo!!
 

Very cool! That’s it now, P-bass itch sorted….right!? 🤭
 

Si

[LukeFRC]

1 hour ago, Sibob said:

Ooooo, it came!
That was a quick turnaround from the last convo!!
 

Very cool! That’s it now, P-bass itch sorted….right!? 🤭
 

Si

Yeah I think so! 

[markoire]

That is absolutely sensational Luke. I hope you have many happy hours playing. I’d love a brave wood p 

[Kazan]

On 27/10/2021 at 00:29, LukeFRC said:

Yeah but fender in 1961 wouldn’t have done a custom colour with a tort guard, it would have been mint.

 

I’ve a feeling that John keeps fairly close to vintage accurate.

 

Lovely bass and colour combo. Always impressed with John's work and he's way more vintage accurate than Fender is...

 

Just for the record on tort vs green guards, it's actually the other way around. Green guards becoming standard on custom color basses (except white and blonde) in mid '62 (there were some outliers earlier - I had an original black '61 with green guard and Geddy Lee has a '60 P and '61 J, also both black - but they are exceptions). Custom colors from mid '59 through mid '62 almost always had tort guards stock.  In any case, I think the combo on your bass looks terrific! A friend had a '63 very much like that - LPB/green guard - and traded it for a new Guild Pilot bass in the late '80s... D'oh!

[LukeFRC]

25 minutes ago, Kazan said:

 

Lovely bass and colour combo. Always impressed with John's work and he's way more vintage accurate than Fender is...

 

Just for the record on tort vs green guards, it's actually the other way around. Green guards becoming standard on custom color basses (except white and blonde) in mid '62 (there were some outliers earlier - I had an original black '61 with green guard and Geddy Lee has a '60 P and '61 J, also both black - but they are exceptions). Custom colors from mid '59 through mid '62 almost always had tort guards stock.  In any case, I think the combo on your bass looks terrific! A friend had a '63 very much like that - LPB/green guard - and traded it for a new Guild Pilot bass in the late '80s... D'oh!

I did not know that - this is why I try and keep my mouth shut when I don't really know what I'm on about!  
I like the mint guard. A lot of tort looks wrong compared to the original stuff. 

[Kazan]

5 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

I did not know that - this is why I try and keep my mouth shut when I don't really know what I'm on about!  
I like the mint guard. A lot of tort looks wrong compared to the original stuff. 

 

There's always more to learn

 

None of the modern tort (including the Spitfire ones) really comes close to the look of the stuff from the 60's. The mint green ones are much easier to make convincing copies of (and the ones John makes look great - and the tort ones he does are about the best of the modern made ones out there).

[peteb]

1 hour ago, Kazan said:

A friend had a '63 very much like that - LPB/green guard - and traded it for a new Guild Pilot bass in the late '80s... D'oh!

 

Yea, I sold my 78 P bass to buy a Guild Pilot in the mid 80s. Not the best move I ever made, although I did recently buy my old P bass back (for 5x what I sold it for)!