Fender Telecaster Bass Model Solid Body Electric Bass Guitar (1970), made in Fullerton, California, serial # 283930, blonde finish, ash body, maple neck, original black tolex hard shell case.
This is a good playing example of Fender's first "reissue" instrument-the Telecaster Bass. By the late '60's interest was already running high in the previous generation of 1950's Fender instruments, especially the first maple-neck Telecasters and sort-of matching early 1950s Precision Basses. By then the Precision bass had been heavily modified from its original form, and was of course very successful. Still CBS/Fender took notice and re-created the earliest style of Fender bass, now renamed as the "Telecaster Bass".
This new/old model was (re)introduced in 1968 bass as a fairly accurate re-creation of the original Precision of 1952. The one-piece maple neck, "slab" ash body, two-saddle bridge strung thru the body and 4-pole single coil pickup are all accurate to the original. Small differences included the laminated white pickguard (in place of the original black) and two-screw fingerrest. The chrome covers over the bridge and pickup are also inherited from the earliest Precisions.
This particular bass carries a green-code 1969 neck date and a pickup coded to 1970 so is a slightly later example. The pots are dated to 1966 like virtually all late '60's Fenders. It features a single-piece maple neck with the "skunk stripe" on 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 has a slightly slimmer, flatter profile compared to actual '50s Precisions and the first Telecaster basses.
The natural neck and blonde body finish are polyester, slightly heavier than the old nitro finishes but not nearly as thick as Fender finishes from the mid-70s. The "Tele bass" is famous as a workhorse instrument; this is a very solid, great playing and powerful sounding bass putting out 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.)., 9.68 lbs.
This 55 year old bass shows some average play wear overall but no modifications; the original single-coil pickup has been rewound to the proper spec and wax potted as is common with these (this particular pickup has a higher-then-normal failure rate over the decades). The all original blonde body finish shows some light checking and numerous dings and dents, mostly along the edges as is typical for slab-sided Teles. The back has some deeper scratching but no heavy loss. The clear neck finish has small dings and dents but no major wear.
The hardware is original except for the center chrome pickup cover, which is a correct repro. There is some plating wear most heavily to the tuners, the pegs appear to have been cleaned with some metal polish. All electronics are original except as noted the pickup was correctly rewound. The frets have been recrowned just a bit and this is a fine-playing, a very good sounding bass complete in the original HSC. Overall Very Good + Condition.
