For most players, the Fender Vintage Custom 1951 Precision Bass is about as close to an actual original instrument as one can get. This example, dated to early 2019 was refinished, aged and set up by Mike Palermo at Palermo Guitars in mid 2021. It now looks like a well-used 1951 model.
Fender
Here we’re looking at a Fender American Standard Telecaster with an opaque Blonde finish, dating to 1995 in Corona, California, using three North American woods. The neck is Maple with Walnut covering the rear-mounted truss rod channel, and at this time the body was Alder. Fender also uses various types of Ash as a body wood. The fretwire is a medium-jumbo type, larger than ‘vintage’ styles and with the slightly ‘rolled’ 22-fret fingerboard edges provides a very comfortable, positive feel with plenty of traction for bending.
This Fender Precision Bass illustrates an interesting aspect of Fender production with a Sunburst over Olympic White finish. It is in very good playing condition, with light fret and fingerboard wear suggesting flat-wound strings. Visually, this is a real-life ‘relic’.
From 2006 at the Custom Shop, this Fender Custom American Telecaster sports a sunburst finish and a Glendale bridge plate and saddle set. The Fender Custom American Telecaster starts with a rather full, large ‘C’ profile, AAA grade birdseye Maple neck with an Indian Rosewood fingerboard, paired with a lightweight Ash body.
The Fender Telecaster Bass launched in the surprisingly late year of 1968, though its appearance is very much like the original, revolutionary 1951 Precision Bass. From a modern perspective, there isn’t a lot to the Fender Telecaster Bass. It is basically an ash or alder slab body with a one-piece maple neck bolted to it, a bridge, and from 1968 to 1972 a single coil pickup with volume and tone controls.
This instrument has sold
MORE →Introduced in 1951 and still in production with relatively minor changes, the Fender Precision Bass is an example of a designer getting almost everything right. Immediately, it almost completely displacing the upright bass it was intended to challenge, and it has become one of the most-used and most-recorded instruments in history.