Here's a really solid vintage Fender Precision Bass in its original Black finish with beautiful rosewood fingerboard. This Bass Guitar was made at the original Fender factory in Fullerton California, U.S.A. in 1975. The bass is very solid and plays and sounds great.
The body has the classic P-Bass shape with front and rear contours-same as always since 1957-why mess with perfection? The Original finish is nice and deep black with a sexy vintage shine. Back in 1975, Fender was still using lacquer finishes, alongside poly. I can't tell for sure what the base color coat is but the clear coat is definitely nitrocellulose lacquer-verifiable by some transverse line checking on the backside and one or two on the front. The checking is cool looking, and only visible at certain angles. There are small pecks and typical handling wear here and there-overall the finish presents very nicely with a vintage vibe. The neck slot has some grip tape in it that can easily be removed if you choose to. The neck fitment is nice and solid with no issues.
The neck itself is smooth and straight. The neck dates to 1975 and has a Fender employe inspection stamp on the bottom. The truss rod turns smoothly. The profile is the classic vintage C-shape and the nut measures 1.65" wide. The neck depth measures .871" at the 1st fret and 1.000" at the 12th. The neck feels nice and beefy. The tuners all function and the headstock and logo display nicely. The logo is the earlier big style-first introduced in 1968. The rosewood fingerboard is clean and has a nice soft feel. The frets have been leveled, cleaned polished and crowned and have a great height-see photos. The action is set very low for an easy playing experience. It can easily be raised if you like that. Currently the string height is .010" at the 1st fret and .050" at the 12th fret. The bass plays like butter! It plays like a guitar, in fact. It has a soft touch with no buzz or other issues.
The tone is pure quintessential Precisions Bass: excellent volume and a full low end that rumbles. The pickup output measures 10.37 ohms. The original pickups are grey bobbins with a date of 1973; which matches the potentiometer date codes as well. The controls function smoothly and quietly. The pickguard is nice and flat. There is a small spot on the pickguard near the truss rod that looks like someone repaired a previous truss rod access divot-see photos. They did a good job. The bridge is fully adjustable and functional. There are two saddle adjustment screws that have been replaced-and they are the only pieces on the guitar that aren't factory original.
The bass has a great weight. It checks in at 10.01 tbs-pretty lightweight for a 70's Precision Bass for sure. It is comfortable and perfect for a variety of uses; whether in the studio, at practice or on stage.
