Vintage Fender GAS

[Metal-Mariachi]

I have a ’70 Jazz, ash sunburst with maple fret board. Love it to death.
It’s a tad heavy, which I never really noticed until I got my ’51 P reissue.
I love the feel and sound, but use it only in the studio now.

The issues with the mid to late‘70s Fenders was mainly the quality control, gaps in neck pockets, miss aligned bridges etc.
The 3 bolt neck and weight didn’t help any.

I do laugh when I see the prices they bring now.

MM

[gary mac]

UPDATE

Fender GAS on hold due to a run of expensive bad luck:

Had to have half the lounge floor pulled up to fix a central heating problem. Now waiting for a two day plumbing bill.

My trusty old car has died.

Had to order a new front door today.

Wife loses her job in two weeks time.






Spose it could be worse.

[rapscallion]

Gary I've been meaning to ask you what your candy apple red bass as your profile pic is, it looks like a stunner

[gary mac]

Hi matey.

It's a USA precision deluxe, purchased new from the Bass Centre when they were in Wapping.


It was a strange purchase for me at the time, as I just didn't want a Fender. I had actually purchased an Alembic from them, after gassing for one for years. Got it home and fairly quickly realised it wasn't for me. Kept it for a few weeks and got all depressed about it, thinking I had wasted a whole load of dosh. Anyway explained my predicament to the chaps at BC and they kindly offered to take it back. Saw the the Fender and fell in love

It is an awesome bass, gigged with it last weekend and it sounded huge.

The only thing I'm not too sure about is the pickguard, a bit too Shadows maybe.

[Porkpie]

Hi gary mac,

I too had vintage Fender gas a couple of years back, and after getting thoroughly confused by what was original, what decreased the resale value( wanted a player, but one with some value I could leave to the kids!) etc etc, and the minefield of both decent and unscrupulous dealers, I finally arrived at a nice '77 P bass in natural with a maple board. Played lovely, was a really good wieght, light for late 70's, and I thought, yes, this is the one. This process had taken about 8 months.

Anyway, I went to pick it up from the dealer and he also had an early 2000's and a 50th anniversary P, both immaculate, and both about half the price of the '77. I thought I ought to try them just to make a comparison, and they were both far superior in every possible way to any of the vintage basses I had tried.

So I now have a fantastic 50th anniversary P bass which is an absolute joy to play and has that classic sound that I was after. Yeah its a 'limited edition' but then half the stuff Fender put out is an anniversary of one sort or another, so I'm under no illusions on that front.

Whats the point of this rambling post, well I suppose I'm trying to say that, imho, if you're buying to use, gig etc, dont be blinkered by 'vintage', there are some great modern Fenders out there that you won't have to remortgage to afford.

By the way, I hope your luck changes, sounds like you're having a bad run at the mo.

[gary mac]

Thanks Pork Pie.

Yes like I said it's all on hold now.


Luck not good at the mo, but such is life.



On the plus side, at least it's sunny here today and I've been able to do a bit in the garden. Always helps blow the cobwebs away and clear the glum head.

[Stag]

I tried a 78's (or was it 76'?) P on Denmark St at the weekend (for a not-stupid price either, for that place... you all know the decent dealers down there and this is one of them) and it weighed about as much as a small aircraft carrier. Never thought id hold a bass heavier than my LP - this was truly HEAVY. As I said on a previous thread, ive had a bit of Fender GAS (for a P only, for some reason dont like Jazz's) and was looking around for one being my 30th birthday, and some very nice people on this forum had mentioned the incredible differences in weight between so many Fenders. This bass highlighted it very well as it was so damn heavy I couldnt consider buying it. Monstrous tone, but monstrous fees to physiotherapist in a few years. Yet my singer's 75' P is extremely light and still sounds MASSIVE.

So I suppose this post is to entirely back up Porkpie's post that they are all a bit different... in quality, weight etc... so im pretty happy to consider something a bit "newer". As long as it doesnt weigh more than my house.

[Stag]

PS. in a "totally unrelated to Fenders" post I nearly had a sex wee in my pants when i saw the 5 string Ricky 4003 in Wunjo's. Unnnghh.... yummmmm

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='Stag' post='643266' date='Nov 2 2009, 11:39 AM']I tried a 78's (or was it 76'?) P on Denmark St at the weekend (for a not-stupid price either, for that place... you all know the decent dealers down there and this is one of them) and it weighed about as much as a small aircraft carrier. Never thought id hold a bass heavier than my LP - this was truly HEAVY. As I said on a previous thread, ive had a bit of Fender GAS (for a P only, for some reason dont like Jazz's) and was looking around for one being my 30th birthday, and some very nice people on this forum had mentioned the incredible differences in weight between so many Fenders. This bass highlighted it very well as it was so damn heavy I couldnt consider buying it. Monstrous tone, but monstrous fees to physiotherapist in a few years. Yet my singer's 75' P is extremely light and still sounds MASSIVE.

So I suppose this post is to entirely back up Porkpie's post that they are all a bit different... in quality, weight etc... so im pretty happy to consider something a bit "newer". As long as it doesnt weigh more than my house.[/quote]

Assuming that you were in Vintage & Rare, consider yourself lucky that you didn't try the 70's Jazz in a sort of Cherryburst finish. It's quite simply the heaviest bass I've ever picked up. It's in absolutely mint condition but I'm not surprised - no one in their right mind is going to sling something that heavy around their neck. Well, more than once, anyway.

[Davo-London]

Yeah, I'm firmly from "if it ain't 60's I ain't interested" school.

Right now you can get fantastic CIJ Fenders in a whole range of colours and 62RI or 64RI etc and these represent great basses.

I would much, much rather collect/buy early 80's MIJ Fenders than 70's or later MIA Fenders.

Davo

[Sandmann]

gary, i know exactly how you´re feeling but don´t sell the yamaha or the wal for a gas attack. you´ll probably regret it one day.

if you don´ want to spend so much money on a vintage fender than you should consider looking for a jv or sq squier. i own 4 old fenders (´74 p, ´75 p and ´76 p and a ´75 j) and 2 squiers (´82 p and a ´84 j). i love them all. most of the gigs are done with the squiers. the are as good and as beautiful as the fenders. they also have nice mojo and are a little bit lighter than my fenders. they just have that sound that we all know and sound just right in the band.

regards,

sandmann

Edited November 2, 2009 by Sandmann

[OldGit]

[quote name='Sandmann' post='643442' date='Nov 2 2009, 02:44 PM']gary, i know exactly how you´re feeling but don´t sell the yamaha or the wal for a gas attack. you´ll probably regret it one day.

if you don´ want to spend so much money on a vintage fender than you should consider looking for a jv or sq squier. i own 4 old fenders (´74 p, ´75 p and ´76 p and a ´75 j) and 2 squiers (´82 p and a ´84 j). i love them all. most of the gigs are done with the squiers. the are as good and as beautiful as the fenders. they also have nice mojo and are a little bit lighter than my fenders. they just have that sound that we all know and sound just right in the band.

regards,

sandmann[/quote]


His circumstances have changed ... but I still offered my Fender JV P bass
Light and fab it is for sure ..

[Stag]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='643381' date='Nov 2 2009, 01:29 PM']Assuming that you were in Vintage & Rare, consider yourself lucky that you didn't try the 70's Jazz in a sort of Cherryburst finish. It's quite simply the heaviest bass I've ever picked up. It's in absolutely mint condition but I'm not surprised - no one in their right mind is going to sling something that heavy around their neck. Well, more than once, anyway.[/quote]

Actually it wasnt one of the P's in V&R, they only had one in there I think and that had just been sold. I did however go in there to have a look and DID try the Jazz (With the rather amazing price tag on it), which wasnt as heavy as this P-Bass in another shop. It was in lovely nick though - playing such a good example reinfoced my feeling that i dont "dig" Jazz basses.

[gary mac]

More bmloody misery.


Took my wifes car for it's MOT.


It's going to be over five hundred quid to sort it.


Gas deffo on hold, may be forced to sell some of my basses now.





My daughter was unfortunate to be on the same stretch of road as a pair of pikeys yesterday. They crashed in to her, laughed and drove off. She got the number plate and contacted the police, guess what? Number not traceable.

I'm LIVID.




We are not having a good year.