LeftyBassist.com

Elderly Music strikes again!
http://elderly.com//vintage/items/56U-178.htm

That is bad ass

I'd LOVE to own that!

Does Elderly is known to be a trusted company as far as vintage gear? Just asking......


Sly

Oh yeah, very trusted. They've been around a long time. I used to hang with them about 15 years ago when they would show up at guitar shows in Chicago. One of their vintage equipment managers is a lefty, which is why they always stock decent lefty pieces when they can get them. Their pricing is very competitive too, as far as I can tell. I'd have no problem buying something from them.

Ok, Thanks.
After going on their site I can tell they carry a lot of Vintage gear. And lefty as well.......hummmm

skybass,
I wouldn't hesitate too long if I were you. That's a pretty rare piece and won't hang around too long even in these hard economic times.

Any Vintage Fender experts in here?
The bass looks very interesting but I suspect that it is not an original neck because of the logo. It looks more like a reissue to me. Any body can comment on this ?

Sly

There are definitely some inconsistencies going on here.

They claim the neck heel is stamped, "5 May 69 B", but to best of my knowledge (and according to the Fender Bass book), B necks were not offered on P basses until '72. There's also no such thing as a 1 11/16" nut width. B necks are 1 5/8". If it were a '69, it would be a 1 3/4" C neck. It's possible they measured wrong, but the most obvious discrepancy is the spaghetti logo. Fender phased the spaghetti logo out in '64 and went with the block transition logo soon after. They also started adding patent numbers under the logo as early as '61. I've seen a few vintage lefty Fenders (pre '72, including the few I own), and they can differ from the righties, especially with regard to the model name whereby lefties often just have the Fender logo and leave the model name off ("precision" or "jazz" bass), but I have NEVER seen a vintage lefty without patent numbers. So maybe it's a real '69 neck (The "B" neck size argument aside) but was sanded and refinished. But at the very least, the logo is definitely not original.

Hey Thanks for those useful infos. I'm a bit suspicious about the neck for the logo but may be it is an old one that they had in the overstock. I didn't know about the letters that refer to the shape of the neck and the time they were made,

Sly

I took a chance and bought the bass even if I'm not sure about the neck. They have a 48 hours policy if i'm not satified. I'll let you know

Sly

BTW AzWhoFan,

Thank you, for putting this link on line here.
I would never found that bass other wise.


I might receive the bass wenesday or thursday and I'll let you know what the deal is with been real or a fake.
I'm confused with all the infos I found here and in the Fender book. But may be Fender basses from that era are kind of differents and are made a bit differently. I'll have the bass check by 2 Vintage specialists here in Montreal. So may be I'll have some answers but the main thing I want the bass to have a "Sound" and a "Vibe",

Sly

Sly,
such a small world! I'm from Montreal originally. Who are you taking it to to get appraised?

You might even consider going to Steve's Music and ask for Sheldon. He's seen a lot of guitars over the years. Last time I looked, which was a couple of years ago, he was still one of the managers.

Yeah like you say.......small world .

I'll take the bass to Pierre Laporte whose building great instruments. Actually I've been playing his basses for 20 years already.
Then there is Michel Meilleur at Archambault. He is really good too. Both are certified Fender tech.

I know very well Sheldon and Dave at Steve's, they are great guys,and I've shopping there since 1978.

BTW the bass is on its way ,it is at the airport,I might get it this afternoon

Sly

Ok I got the bass yesterday..................................WOW.

Yes finally the neck has been refinished as well,but the job was really well done and they used a vintage Logo that give the bass a little something.

As far as the stamped date it is real and "B" were available as a custom order on the instrument. It became a Standard in 1972 but there was some before that.
Arni from Germany confirmed that he has a 1971 with the "B" neck.

BTW this neck is unbelievable ,it is perfect:not too big, not too small. Actually,one of the easiest and fast neck I've ever played.

And the sound: WOW it ring, it is deep and with brand new strings it sparkles. Now I hesitate to put flats because it sounds good like that.

I'm on my way to a rehearsal for a TV gig this week-end so this will be my main bass I think.

A dream came true,

Thanks AzWhoFan for posting it here,

Sly

Congrats and you will of course have to post vids of the tv thing. What sort of rig will you be rocking?

The TV show is "live" so I don't get tapes. May be on YT try "star academie 2009".
Here are some pics I took this week-end of my set-up.
I'll be using finally not the P-Bass but my "custom" 5 strings and My Rob Allen MB-2 5 strings fretless.
This week I'm going throu a Radial Tonebone for 2 levels and eq's between the 2 basses then in my Avalon U-5 for "TV,House and monitoring" then for stage purposes in a Demeter Tube pre-amp to a Crest Audio pwer=amp that feed a Berg 4x10. I use a Strobe peterson tuner in the path as well.

Hopefully the P-bass will see some action next week for the final !


Sly

You're very welcome! And very lucky too!! If I hadn't just bought a Rob Allen, I probably would have bought it for myself.

And as far as the neck width being a B, I can confirm that a buddy of mine who now lives in Toronto has a 3TS sunburst 1970 lefty Precision with a B neck stamp. He bought it new from Steve's music in 1970, it arrived early 71, he still has it today. Of course like all lefties at that time it was a special order. But he does not remember specifying a particular neck width. We used to loan each other our basses. I'd get the P-bass, he's get my Ric or '63 Thunderbird ( both righties ). I really liked the sound of it, but used to moan at how heavy it was.

Congrtats again!

Thanks,
This 69 P_bass is really light, less then 8 pounds.


Sly

Hey Slybass, how is that Rob Allen MB-2 fretless... Lots of growl? What about acoustically? Your 69 P kicks booty, man. Good catch!