Fender Telecaster Bass Model Solid Body Electric Bass Guitar (1968), made in Fullerton, California, blonde finish, ash body, maple neck, original black hard shell case.
This is a lovely and quite early example of Fender's first "reissue" instrument-the Telecaster Bass of 1968. By the late '60's interest was already running high in the previous generation of 1950's instruments-by then the Precision bass had been heavily modified from its original form. CBS/Fender took notice of this, and the now-renamed "Telecaster" bass was the result. This 1968 bass is a fairly accurate re-creation of the original Precision of 1952; the maple neck, "slab" ash body, two-saddle bridge and string-wrapped single coil pickup are all accurate to the original. Small differences included the white pickguard (in place of the original black) and the newer style tuners with "egg" shaped buttons.
This particular bass carries a neckdate of May 68, with pots dated to 1966 like virtually all late '60's Fenders. It features a single-piece maple neck with the "skunk stripe" om the back where the trussrod is laid in-the very first Telecaster basses had a maple cap fingerboard, changed almost immediately to this style. The neck still carries the older style nitrocellulose finish, whild the body finish is the blonde, slightly heavier nitro introduced in '68. This is a very solid, great playing and powerful sounding bass with an upfront tone with plenty of muscle.
Overall length is 46 in. (116.8 cm.), 12 7/8 in. (32.7 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 34 in. (864 mm.). Width of nut is 1 13/16 in. (46 mm.). Beautiful rather clean and unfaded original blonde finish with some light checking, one spot of armwear on the top rim, some finger wear behind the pickup and several small burn marks inside the lower cutaway from an old-style curly cord left there too long. The pickards on these earliest Telecaster Basses were an unusual single-layer white nitrocellulose that has prover very unstable over time; few if any have survived intact. This bass has a perfect reproduction of this guard-the stains from the outgassing original can be seen around the lower end of the fingerboard. The frets, finish and all electronics are original (these early Tele bass pickups have often been replaced) and this is a very good sounding bass. Includes the original HSC in rather battered condition. Generally Excellent Condition.
