1970 Fender Precision Bass Fretless Electric Bass Guitar

Update 2022: This is back here at the shop and this time as something for sale, so I've updated the description, taken new photos, and made a new video... now back to the original description:

Update 2024 -- someone on Reverb mentioned to me that the bridge and wiring harness are unoriginal. The volume pot is likely a replacement but it is wired exactly stock otherwise and has the right age to it. The bridge is original as far as I can tell but 7 of the 8 adjusters for the saddles are replacements (with allen adjusters). That jogged my memory -- when this first came in (many years ago) and I set it up for the owner, I remember replacing them because the original slotted-screw adjusters were rusted-over and/or damaged on top and so weren't useful anymore. I'm pretty sure these adjusters were scrounged from an '80s bridge in my bins. The bridge itself has the right age and is identical to other '70 P bridges. And now back to my original description...

Whenever I see an old Fender like this, my first thought is to raise a hairy eyeball and guesstimate how much of the instrument has been replaced. The answer in this case is: very little! It's been through all sorts of bar wars, judging by its looks, but the only replacement parts are that crazy brass pickguard (and many of its mounting-screws), the strap buttons, the nut, likely the volume pot, and the two knobs from my parts-bins. The heart of the beast -- its pickups, wiring (save volume pot), and essential hardware -- are the real deal. I was relieved, to be honest.

However, all that playing-time left a bass that was simply not playing correctly. It had a great sound as-is, but it "fretted out" (hah, hah) just shy of the neck joint. A fretboard plane was in order, and that's just what it got -- followed by a good cleaning and a setup. The board now plays and feels like a brand-new fretless Fender, but the shallow, C/D neck profile (it's really fast) of the old-school neck leaves no doubts about when it was made.

Apparently, this was the first year of production for fretless Ps, and it (thankfully) has no position lines to detract from the board. I like the look of this better than the lined ones, though the lined ones are very useful for players who are just getting into fretless.

The finish has aged and yellowed like mad on this bass. The "black" bits of the original sunburst are now a dark-green-grey color and the middle of the sunburst feels like the hazy after-effects of a North Korean missile crisis. The discoloration of the pickguard looks wonderful, too.

The nut is 1 5/8" across which gives it a quick feel. And, ass you can hear in the video, the pickup sounds excellent paired with the flatwound strings. It's not "Jaco" but and definitely leans more into the "upright thump" territory.

I compensated the saddles just a bit -- enough to counteract the way my hands were sharping/flatting across the neck as I judged off of the side-dots. On a fretless, these adjustable saddles are more useful for player-preference than for real adjustment.

An original, lefty Fender hard case comes with it. It's pretty beat, however, and so it would need to have some work done to be a good gigging aid, though it's perfectly fine for storage or light use.

Repairs included: board plane, cleaning, setup -- see notes above for other details.

Body wood: alder

Bridge: original

Fretboard: rosewood

Neck wood: maple

Pickups: 1x original P-bass split-coil

Action height at 12th fret: 3/32” bass 1/16” treble (fast, spot-on)
String gauges: 100w-40w or similar (flatwounds)

Neck shape: slim-medium C

Board radius: ~9.5"

Truss rod: adjustable

Neck relief: straight

Fret style: none

Scale length: 34"

Nut width: 1 5/8"

Body width: 12 3/4"

Body depth: 1 5/8"

Weight: 8 lbs 7 oz

Condition notes: it has weather-check and crackle to the finish all over (in a beautiful way) and lots of scratches and nicks along the edges of the body. There's some major "buckle rash" below the neck plate, too, and some minor dings and scratches to the back of the neck as well. The pickguard is a replacement brass guard and has been weathered/aged/corroded like crazy (also in a beautiful way). The knobs are replacements, the volume pot is likely a replacement, and the nut is, too, but it's otherwise original throughout. Note that most of the adjuster posts on the saddles are later replacements but it still has one original in there.

It comes with: its original case, though the case is quite beat.