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Draggin' Guitars

1952 Fender Precision Bass Blonde

1952 Fender Precision Bass Blonde

Regular price $9,750.00 USD
Regular price Sale price $9,750.00 USD
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Here is a very early production vintage Fender Precision Bass.  The bass has several well-known Fender Employee name's included.  The Body has been refinished at some time long ago-it is an original style nitrocellulose lacquer finish in the correct 'blonde' hue.  The bass plays great and sounds great.  The serial number is 0347!

The original body is ash and it is a 'slab' shape.  The finish appears to have been done long ago and there is some very minor handling evidence here and there.  The Ash grain looks very nicely defined on the front side and looks spectacular on the backside-see photos.  There is a cosmetic stress line on the treble side of the neck slot-it is stable and appears to be below the clear coat-see photos.  The original bakelite pickguard is in good condition, with no cracks.   It has the factory chatter marks still visible on the inside edges and there is normal playing wear all over the factory-applied coating.  The neck slot has some employee writing visible along with the famous "D" imprinted-stamp.  The writing appears to be:  E 07 #6 (batch number) and the date: 6-9-52 is clearly visible.  The inside of the control cavity retains the factory inspection tape with the hand-written name "Mary" and date of 5-3-52 see photos.  The neck joint is solid and it has an excellent neck angle.  

The neck is super smooth and feels pretty amazing-as you would expect.  It is straight and the truss rod functions.  The profile is a nice soft-V shape and the nut width is 1.69" wide (1 11/16").   The neck depth is .875" deep at the 1st fret and 1.015" at the 12th fret-an outstanding example of an early P-bass neck.  The hand-written initials of famous Fender employee "Tadeo Gomez" reside on the end, along with the date: 6-12-52.   A real Tadeo Gomez neck makes this bass very special-but you probably already know that.  The corresponding "D" stamp impression is also present. There is playing wear and line checking up and down the neck-see photos.  There is a stress line creeping out of the low E-tuner.  It has been repaired long ago, and it is stable.  It is a common issue with these early Fender Basses-after a few years the wood dries out and can develop splits in the grain near tuner post grommets.  There is possibly some overspray on the front and bass-side of the headstock-or it may be some other airborne material that has just sat on top of the finish, like hairspray.  Under a black-light the entire finish on the neck and body glows green as if it were original, so if there is overspray, it is not detectable with a black-light and was applied so long ago that it has melted into the original clear lacquer.  More on that in a minute...The original tuners all function smoothly and the bass stays in tune. The headstock and logo both display great with qualified patina.   It looks like a perfect vintage Fender from the 50's should.  The decal looks good and the clear coat glows green over the top of it.  The fingerboard is clean and shows minor playing wear.  The frets are very good with  a few flat spots but no divots.  The action is nice and low for an easy playing experience.  The bass has flat wound strings on it and it plays smoothly with an easy touch.  There are no dead spots anywhere on the fingerboard.  

According to the previous owner, this bass was purchased second hand in 1957 and played through the next 12 years until the original pickup stopped working.  It was then taken to a Fender dealership and possible sent back to Fender for repair.  A replacement pickup with grey bobbin and vinyl leads bearing a 1969 ink stamp date code was chosen to replace the original.  It looks just like an original should-exposed pole pieces and coil rope.  It is unclear if this is when the body was refinished, I do know that Fender offered that service and it was very reasonable and good value.  The pickup has an excellent signal and measures 7.47 ohms.  It has a full tone and sounds thick with a nice punch.   The potentiometers and rest of wiring harness is all original, with the phone book capacitor intact.  The original Clarostat potentiometers date to the 20th week (May) of 1952.  The Bridge is nice and clean with the serial number stamping easily readable.  The original Bakelite saddles are included, but one is slightly bowed, so the bass has a vintage reissue set of stainless saddles on it currently.  

The bass weighs in right at 10.01 lbs.  It is lots of fun to play.  

An aftermarket hardcase is included.  

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