c.2012 Fat Dawg 50s P-Bass Partser

This is a buddy's '50s-style P-bass clone he picked up from Fat Dawg/Subway guitars. It's got a big honking neck with a maple board, "blackguard," and early P-bass looks. The control plate is a funky mirror reflective type and the bridge is a top-loader but, heck, the thing sounds great! FYI, Fat Dawg specializes in putting together funky partser creations for musicians of all walks of life.

It was in the shop for an attempt to solve some weird fret issues as well as get a setup. Unfortunately, tuned to pitch, this neck gets a hair of twist (who knows why these things happen -- storage, moving around with it a lot, dunno), but I toyed with the frets enough to get it playing pretty well.

I've always loved the look of this old-style "Tele" P-bass a lot more than the later, jazzy-looking variety. It's more, well, Tele-ish! The slab body also feels nice and reassuring.

I'm not so sure about the black string tree, but the enclosed tuners and big old bone nut are a plus.

The clear control bay confounds me!

So, what's going on here? I'm guessing this neck must have been off of an import to begin with as those old holes would've fit the Asian-style bass keys from the 70s/80s.

Overall, a fun bass!