My dumpster save of a lifetime. 61 or 62 Fender bass w/ hardshell case, tortious shell pickguard. Had a short in the pickup. Was lending a hand cleaning up around a church and the pastor told me it didn't work so just throw it out. He says, oh you play guitars don't you? You can have it if you want it. Needless to say, I kept it. That was around 1988. I still have it, no can't you buy it
Wow, what a find! I once found a 1960 P-Bass neck (only) at the Alameda flea market. This was in the early 70's. The neck had the tiny crack that often occurs coming off one of the tuning-peg screws. I asked the seller how much he wanted and he said "a dollar". That dollar came out of my pocket at warp speed. I doweled the headstock and eventually made a pretty poorly-crafted body for it, out of maple, it weighed a ton. I scrounged the other parts here and there. But it turned into a working bass. I could barely play it, the 1960 neck was so wide and even with my big hands I could barely manage it. It was painful to play and crazy heavy.
I have a 1980 fender bronco that an elementary school band threw in the trash when the school shut down. Its pretty beat up from kids mishandling it, but it was free. Its hanging on my wall right now.
Made my living on a 1963 Precision Bass for over 25 years. I had a few others, such as various fretless and such for different gigs and recording, but now it's a 30" scale Bronco Bass for me, with a 1970's Jazz bass pickup installed. Still sounds great and is much lighter and easier for my old hands to play. I can still recall the look of relief on the faces of many engineers and soundmen when they'd see the P bass come out of its case...
Yeah, a P bass or a J bass is probably a relief for most engineers as these are the easiest to set up for them being how neutral they are. my brother has a J bass pickup with P bass combo that he uses when he needs a real bass not his semi hollow Telecaster Bass 6 made mainly of individual parts for kits panted an orange on the head and the body of the device using an actual classic tall style telecaster bridge.
A friend of mine that did a lot of recording in Nashville back in the 90s loves to tell the story of his first recording session. He pulled out his Gibson bass and they started going through the first song when the producer stopped them, came up to him and asked "do you have a P-bass?" He didn't so the producer told him there is a music store down the street, go there and don't come back without a P-bass. He did just that. Came back with MIJ Squier P Bass. Producer was happy and they did the record. Later that bass went on tour for a couple years and now I have it. Beat all to hell but still plays and sounds great. On another note, I'm a big fan of 32 inch scale basses but unfortunately, there aren't a whole lot of those.
Hard to argue, though for me I do put the Rick 4003 first, but I like a bright and unusual tone. I just bought my first P-bass (after 43 years of gigging) last winter - Mexi Player series. (I previously owned two Mexi Jazz basses. Workhorses with a generic sound.) I'm in love with my P-bass. I didn't touch my Rick for maybe 8 months after buying the P, but part of that was me wanting to learn to play it well, finding all the classic tones, and getting used to the flats it came with. I've always known the P was a monster in the studio, and I'll definitely be using it there a lot. My Rick is my baby, but it can be tricky to record with if the person I'm recording for wants a more conventional tone. I've used my Stingray a lot for recording, but it's a 5-string, and I just don't like a 5. The P-bass is perfect for that penetrating bottom. I always bust out the Barney Miller theme and play it wrong. That's what the P-bass makes me think of.
Bassist here too. I love it when he works on basses, and I get excited when I see one in his thumbnail. It was awesome to hear him put the P-Bass in a historical context. Something he didn't say was that into the 60s at least, "fender bass" was a generic term for any fretted electric bass, like we (in the US) use to word kleenex for any tissue, or in the UK, they use "hoover" to mean a vacuum cleaner, or as a verb to mean vacuuming the floor. The Fender P-bass really did change everything.
You truly are a wonderful teacher. I appreciate the way you explain in detail the steps you've literally said hundreds of times with patience and sincerity
Leo Fender made three major advancements to music. The jazz bass, precision bass, and the Stingray. All of them made a difference in the music that we listen to.
Now this is a customer that will notice a HUGE difference and will be super happy I’m sure. I love the projects like these where the end product is so much better. I did the same thing for a friend of mine’s dad. He is the pastor at their church and also the bass player. His old early 80s bullet USA bass hadn’t been touched since new apparently was in much the same shape as this one. He thanked me numerous times after my work. This is very rewarding and just makes ya feel good lol.
Heard an interview with Leo recently where he said the reason for the P bass was that doghouse bass players couldn’t step up to the mic for vocals, so he created an instrument for them! Clever.
I've learned so much by watching this channel. THANK YOU!! On a personal note, a P bass was my first "real" instrument. MAN, I wish I still had that 1965 P bass!! It was brilliant!
I know you don't do a lot of work on bass guitars, but I always love when these videos come along. Everything is so similar, but there's enough that's different that keeps you working on a bass guitar as a nice counterpoint and chance of pace from guitars. Just as when you switch between acoustic and electric guitar projects.
My first bass was a Fender. Owned many and they are great basses. I still have my first Fender bass but have upgraded to Alembic. I enjoy Your videos. Rock on!!!!!!!!
Reminds me of my favorite P-bass. It has a ‘78 neck and an unknown body that I had refinished from a horrible paint job. Had some new parts put in, and it sounds like thunder!! Love me some P-bass.
Got home from a weekend in Vegas, napped, showed, and BAM! There is not just a Ted video, but a video with a Fender Precision bass (of which I own two, one a Steve Harris signature model). This is good day.
Always nice to see you doing bass work! Although I play for a good 20+ years now, I wasn't really a fan of Fenders myself until I listened to Nomeansno and I had to get my jaw up from the floor. Sometimes you don't need something fancy or expensive to sound gooooood!
The reason rockabilly uses upright is for the slap bass thing they do with clapping the fretboard. I played drums in a rockabilly band for 15 years. It’s not pastiche. It’s tonal
There are some well respected instrument repair people who tried the large shims, and upon hearing a loss of mojo, went back to the folded business cards, when realizing its not the shim causing the rise at the body joint, but the string tension being the actual culprit.
I understand the name "Precision" referred to the frets. Before the P-bass, upright players never used frets. I think Leo made it into such a brand new instrument in so many ways - it had a whole new sound, a highly precise bridge, a truss rod - precise in so many ways. I'm not sure all those advances came in the first run of the P-bass, but y'know. And it had a penetrating bottom end that never drowned anybody out.
@@wilhelmvonn9619 Intonation on fretted instruments refers to how precise the pitch is on the frets. That's not a limitation on a fretless instrument. Guitarists dealt with intonation, and the introduction of the fretted bass meant the introduction of intonation as an issue for the first time on bass. It's not that they didn't have to worry about intonation. For the first time ever, they did. But making the bass more like a guitar meant that more guitarists could play bass. Maybe that's what you're talking about?
@@beenaplumber8379: "That's not a limitation on a fretless instrument." On a fretless instrument, the precision is in the player. On a fretted instument it is in the instrument. And, as we all know (or should), intonation on fretted instruments, is really not all that precise. 😁✌🖖
High school bass player here, i never thought about the setup on my p-bass. I just bought it from the pawn shop with the amp for $100 and went straight to the garage. I just got my 1st & second bass amp out of my mother's attic this weekend and here is the world telling me i have to get the old bass out and see what is up with it. I know when i pulled it out of the case last time about 10 years ago it felt exactly the same as it always did.
Interesting video, I’ve seen this type of neck scenario on an Epiphone Firebird guitar with the neck thru construction only not nearly as much as this bass was. I simply did the very same thing towards the bottom of the neck and took a weee bit off the frets which had plenty to work with since it was only about a year old. Love your channel, I’m a huge fan and thank you for sharing your expertise 🤙
Love it! The wisdom about neck shims was invaluable, and your calm, gentle approach is always a high point of my week. But forgive me, I'd always heard the Strat was more the child of Freddy Tavares?
My 40 year old charvel has 30 year old rotosounds on it. I just ordered a new fender jazz from Sweetwater, too. This vid just made me more excited about it.
13:40 Normally yes, but not always. These old Fender bridge screws tend to unscrew themselves when playing a lot. You will need to adjust the saddles every few months after a lot of playing. I used to avoid this with a small amount of nail polish instead of oiling them. Nevertheless top notch entertainment and education as usual. And the shim episode was very informative too. To quote another well known youtuber "And as always I hope you have learned something". Yes, we did here as well. Thanks a lot.
Thanks for explaining the 'hump' at the higher frets locations. I have/had basses that also presented the dreaded 'hump'. Now I know how to remedy the matter. BTW, the bridge looks like an Asian made piece with seven screws.
i'd say 1975 or earlier, going off the 'patent' serial numbers and white scratchplate unless the scratchplate is a replacement and also a replacement headstock decal. used to own a '77 precision the same as this but with a two ply black scratchplate with white underlay. all original. sold it about 18 years ago when times got tough...biggest regret of my life.
I used to watch that guitar repair fellow Dave who is near you but I disagreed with his shimming technique. I explained to him what you described and he didn't think it mattered. So he is off my watch list 😊
I was literally just going through a similar situation with a 1990’s MIJ ‘62 JB reissue. I wasn’t far off in my method of thinking seeing how you did things on this P bass. 🎉😂 I guess I’ve been lucky and not had to delve this deep into massive action adjustments in my bass playing career.. Warwick basses use recycled baseball bats for necks and never move 😂..
This bass, in this colour, with this pickguard, is the single most basic instrument in the world. Its a black converse shoe. It's a white toyota sedan. It's a cheeseburger with nothing.
In high school I got a '75 Precision that was next to new and almost identical save for a b/w/b pickguard. Miss playing bass in general and that instrument in particular(sold it 24 years ago).
I just got a Glarry P-bass. A friend found it in a trash can with a busted output jack. I wired one up and - shockingly - it's the best sounding cheap bass I've ever heard
I couldn't help but notice that the saddles were not parallel to the bridge plate. A common misunderstanding is that you need to tilt the saddles to match the neck radius. NO. You need to adjust the height of each saddle, so the strings follow the neck radius. But a slanted saddle robs tone and sustain, and if you are a string bender, it can even make the saddle start lifting off the bridge plate. Best vibration/energy transfer is when each grub screw supports equal weight - each saddle is flat or parallel to the bridge plate. True for bass, guitars, - everything. As far as the ramp at the high end of the neck goes, 2 things come to mind: 1) No bass play ever uses those frets and 2) maybe you could just remove those frets (i.e. have the very top range of the neck be fretless). Thoughts?
As uncle Ben says, the “P” in P-bass stands for perfect. Oh, to be a fly on the wall during Leo’s R&D, how did he get things right seemingly on the first try?!
I wonder how many people these days know what an 'automotive feeler gauge' is. There aren't so many folk checking their spark plug gaps or adjusting their tappets nowadays.
Which just means that there are lots of them out there in pawn shops and flea markets for us aspiring guitar repairers! I have two sets, one in millimetres and the other in thousandths of an inch!
Ladies and gentlemen! We are gathered tonight ringside to see Ravishing Rick of the World Bass Wrestling Federation attempt to remove his bass neck without releasing the tension. Aaaand here we go! One !two! Three screws aaaand he is launched across the ring and into the turnbuckle! Ooooooh ! Right in the breadbasket!
Admittedly, I was sort of hoping you'd break a string on that bass forcing the dirty old ones to be replaced. I wouldn't touch dirty strings with my bare hands. Recently I had to fit slices of maple into the fret slots on a jazz bass neck, two of them. How I wish I had the tools to properly do such a task, but I managed with cunning, a band saw with sand paper and razor scraping, if only my dear mother would buy me a planer for x-mas :P
I fully agree with Ted that the bass guitar was Leo Fender's biggest contribution to music. What surprises me is that no one put out a stick-upright bass at the same time for those who _were_ comfortable with the fretless, curved fingerboard, high bridge, upright bass fiddle. You'd think there would have been a good few who would have like to carry on with the same feel but without the bulk and with the benefit of amplification. But it seems like it took decades for those to appear.
Well, Gibson actually did just that in '53 with their first EB model. You could srcew a peg in place of the lower strap button, and play it in an upright position.
@@tanczene3824 I don't mean a bass guitar that you can stand on the floor - let alone upright on the strap. I mean a fretless, heavily radiused, upright electric bass with a high bridge.
@@polkusin Ah interesting. It looks like they screwed the pooch on that. I'm reading that players weren't happy with the sound, the weight, and the bulk. Hindsight is 20/20, but it does seem obvious that shedding the bulk would be a prime benefit (especially when you had to carry an amplifier too) so making as minimal a body as possible would probably have been a good idea. And, of course, it needs to sound good.
For those who don't want to or can't make a full neck pocket shim, Stew Mac makes really nice ones. I bought one of them after making one for another bass I own. Making it was a real pain. Please don't put a piece of a pick etc. at the end of the neck pocket. That's probably what happened to this bass. A poor neck to body connection can also hinder sustain.
This bass player says: solution for a P-bass that's fretting out above the 15th fret is not to play above the 15th fret! We all know there's no money up there anyway. If I wanted to shred up high on a bass, I wouldn't be using a P bass. :)
Hey Ted. I usually don't ask much but I've got a question. Is Titebond Hide glue OK to use to repair a crack in a Les Paul neck? It has the same holding power as standard Titebond but it's reversible if I screw up or want to have it fixed professionally later where regular Titebond isn't. Logic tells me that I should use the hide glue. Especially since the crack is forced closed under string tension. It fell face forward and hit the nut so there's a 1 inch crack extending from the corner of the nut. The strings going over the nut and into the tuners means it really does force the crack closed under tension. So I can't find any reason not to use the hide glue. Am I missing anything? Is there a reason I shouldn't use it? Thanks for your time, Ted. It is greatly, *greatly* appreciated, sir. 🙏
One of those channels where you just click the like button before you even start watching.
Always
Yup!
100% ditto
Facts 👍
Indeed!
My dumpster save of a lifetime.
61 or 62 Fender bass w/ hardshell case, tortious shell pickguard. Had a short in the pickup. Was lending a hand cleaning up around a church and the pastor told me it didn't work so just throw it out. He says, oh you play guitars don't you? You can have it if you want it. Needless to say, I kept it. That was around 1988. I still have it, no can't you buy it
Holy bass, Batman!
Nice score!
Ive seen countless videos of boutique bass guitars , but none of them have that P bass sound
Wow, what a find! I once found a 1960 P-Bass neck (only) at the Alameda flea market. This was in the early 70's. The neck had the tiny crack that often occurs coming off one of the tuning-peg screws. I asked the seller how much he wanted and he said "a dollar". That dollar came out of my pocket at warp speed. I doweled the headstock and eventually made a pretty poorly-crafted body for it, out of maple, it weighed a ton. I scrounged the other parts here and there. But it turned into a working bass. I could barely play it, the 1960 neck was so wide and even with my big hands I could barely manage it. It was painful to play and crazy heavy.
I have a 1980 fender bronco that an elementary school band threw in the trash when the school shut down. Its pretty beat up from kids mishandling it, but it was free. Its hanging on my wall right now.
A real classic! Simple, durable and wonderful. Thank you Leo Fender!
Made my living on a 1963 Precision Bass for over 25 years. I had a few others, such as various fretless and such for different gigs and recording, but now it's a 30" scale Bronco Bass for me, with a 1970's Jazz bass pickup installed. Still sounds great and is much lighter and easier for my old hands to play.
I can still recall the look of relief on the faces of many engineers and soundmen when they'd see the P bass come out of its case...
Yeah, a P bass or a J bass is probably a relief for most engineers as these are the easiest to set up for them being how neutral they are. my brother has a J bass pickup with P bass combo that he uses when he needs a real bass not his semi hollow Telecaster Bass 6 made mainly of individual parts for kits panted an orange on the head and the body of the device using an actual classic tall style telecaster bridge.
A friend of mine that did a lot of recording in Nashville back in the 90s loves to tell the story of his first recording session. He pulled out his Gibson bass and they started going through the first song when the producer stopped them, came up to him and asked "do you have a P-bass?" He didn't so the producer told him there is a music store down the street, go there and don't come back without a P-bass. He did just that. Came back with MIJ Squier P Bass. Producer was happy and they did the record. Later that bass went on tour for a couple years and now I have it. Beat all to hell but still plays and sounds great.
On another note, I'm a big fan of 32 inch scale basses but unfortunately, there aren't a whole lot of those.
@@wingracer1614 there are if you count Bass 6 guitars.
@@wingracer1614 That's such a loser mentality to have. I can't believe those producers kept their jobs
Hands down the best bass ever made. Simple and elegant.
Hard to argue, though for me I do put the Rick 4003 first, but I like a bright and unusual tone. I just bought my first P-bass (after 43 years of gigging) last winter - Mexi Player series. (I previously owned two Mexi Jazz basses. Workhorses with a generic sound.) I'm in love with my P-bass. I didn't touch my Rick for maybe 8 months after buying the P, but part of that was me wanting to learn to play it well, finding all the classic tones, and getting used to the flats it came with. I've always known the P was a monster in the studio, and I'll definitely be using it there a lot. My Rick is my baby, but it can be tricky to record with if the person I'm recording for wants a more conventional tone. I've used my Stingray a lot for recording, but it's a 5-string, and I just don't like a 5. The P-bass is perfect for that penetrating bottom. I always bust out the Barney Miller theme and play it wrong. That's what the P-bass makes me think of.
Bass player here... this channel is the best. this video was posted 28 seconds b4 I watched it. I feel privileged
Too much time to waste ?
I'm also a bass player, hi. Nice to see one on Ted's bench...
Aw, someone's hard up for a thumbs up...
Bassist here too. I love it when he works on basses, and I get excited when I see one in his thumbnail. It was awesome to hear him put the P-Bass in a historical context. Something he didn't say was that into the 60s at least, "fender bass" was a generic term for any fretted electric bass, like we (in the US) use to word kleenex for any tissue, or in the UK, they use "hoover" to mean a vacuum cleaner, or as a verb to mean vacuuming the floor. The Fender P-bass really did change everything.
Bass player here (and guitar), the Precision bass is the best (imho). I love them. Thanks for saving one 😎
You truly are a wonderful teacher. I appreciate the way you explain in detail the steps you've literally said hundreds of times with patience and sincerity
Always cool that you tell some history about every instrument, thx!
Leo Fender made three major advancements to music. The jazz bass, precision bass, and the Stingray. All of them made a difference in the music that we listen to.
Wait what day is it? Twoodfrd just extended my weekend with a late video upload. What a cunning plan!
Now this is a customer that will notice a HUGE difference and will be super happy I’m sure. I love the projects like these where the end product is so much better. I did the same thing for a friend of mine’s dad. He is the pastor at their church and also the bass player. His old early 80s bullet USA bass hadn’t been touched since new apparently was in much the same shape as this one. He thanked me numerous times after my work. This is very rewarding and just makes ya feel good lol.
Its just the best damn bass ever - period
For he shall be saved! Nice tip on sanding towards the bridge end.
Just beautiful work on that fretboard fix, Ted. When you panned the camera down the neck, it was as if it had never been there.
Your love of your art shows through so wonderfully in every one of your videos.
Heard an interview with Leo recently where he said the reason for the P bass was that doghouse bass players couldn’t step up to the mic for vocals, so he created an instrument for them! Clever.
15:24 I bowed my head to genius... Love this channel.
P-bass was my very first bass, in 1967
you wrong for that bumpkin impression "HOO WEEEE"!😂
This is exactly what I picture when I think of a Fender Precision bass - tri-burst and a rosewood fretboard!
Absolutely perfect setup..
Thanks for the instructions. I need to make a shim for my jazzmaster this weekend. Your are an amazing guru. Stay safe on your mountain top.
I've learned so much by watching this channel. THANK YOU!! On a personal note, a P bass was my first "real" instrument. MAN, I wish I still had that 1965 P bass!! It was brilliant!
I know you don't do a lot of work on bass guitars, but I always love when these videos come along. Everything is so similar, but there's enough that's different that keeps you working on a bass guitar as a nice counterpoint and chance of pace from guitars. Just as when you switch between acoustic and electric guitar projects.
My first bass was a Fender. Owned many and they are great basses. I still have my first Fender bass but have upgraded to Alembic. I enjoy Your videos. Rock on!!!!!!!!
Yay! I thought it was going to be a week of sadness. But Ted has posted a new video, so all is right with the world again.
Wow. Fairly in depth tutorial this time. Very much appreciated.
Love getting my weekly dose of "polishing, polishing, polishing." My week is off to a great start!
precison work for the precision bass! excellent sire
"raised incorruptible". Amen. Good work.
I have an old Kay bass with 60 year old strings on it. Was my dad's. They look brand new.
Thanks for posting Ted
Every step, oretty much perfect. You got yourself a new subscriber 😎
Reminds me of my favorite P-bass. It has a ‘78 neck and an unknown body that I had refinished from a horrible paint job. Had some new parts put in, and it sounds like thunder!! Love me some P-bass.
Got home from a weekend in Vegas, napped, showed, and BAM! There is not just a Ted video, but a video with a Fender Precision bass (of which I own two, one a Steve Harris signature model).
This is good day.
Thank You Ted 👍👍👍🎸❤🔥
Always exciting to watch your videos, this one more than usual.
I always learn something neat from watching your videos. Thanks again!
Always nice to see you doing bass work! Although I play for a good 20+ years now, I wasn't really a fan of Fenders myself until I listened to Nomeansno and I had to get my jaw up from the floor. Sometimes you don't need something fancy or expensive to sound gooooood!
Great job there Ted! Love your work. Monday mornings would be the same without one of your videos! 😊
The reason rockabilly uses upright is for the slap bass thing they do with clapping the fretboard. I played drums in a rockabilly band for 15 years. It’s not pastiche. It’s tonal
There are some well respected instrument repair people who tried the large shims, and upon hearing a loss of mojo, went back to the folded business cards, when realizing its not the shim causing the rise at the body joint, but the string tension being the actual culprit.
I understand the name "Precision" referred to the frets. Before the P-bass, upright players never used frets. I think Leo made it into such a brand new instrument in so many ways - it had a whole new sound, a highly precise bridge, a truss rod - precise in so many ways. I'm not sure all those advances came in the first run of the P-bass, but y'know. And it had a penetrating bottom end that never drowned anybody out.
I think the idea was to promote it to guitarists, who wouldn't have to worry about intonation on a fretless instrument.
@@wilhelmvonn9619 Intonation on fretted instruments refers to how precise the pitch is on the frets. That's not a limitation on a fretless instrument. Guitarists dealt with intonation, and the introduction of the fretted bass meant the introduction of intonation as an issue for the first time on bass. It's not that they didn't have to worry about intonation. For the first time ever, they did. But making the bass more like a guitar meant that more guitarists could play bass. Maybe that's what you're talking about?
@@beenaplumber8379: "That's not a limitation on a fretless instrument."
On a fretless instrument, the precision is in the player.
On a fretted instument it is in the instrument.
And, as we all know (or should), intonation on fretted instruments, is
really not all that precise. 😁✌🖖
@@zapa1pnt Yeah, that's kinda what I said. Players tend not to be very precise either.
High school bass player here, i never thought about the setup on my p-bass. I just bought it from the pawn shop with the amp for $100 and went straight to the garage. I just got my 1st & second bass amp out of my mother's attic this weekend and here is the world telling me i have to get the old bass out and see what is up with it. I know when i pulled it out of the case last time about 10 years ago it felt exactly the same as it always did.
Interesting video, I’ve seen this type of neck scenario on an Epiphone Firebird guitar with the neck thru construction only not nearly as much as this bass was. I simply did the very same thing towards the bottom of the neck and took a weee bit off the frets which had plenty to work with since it was only about a year old.
Love your channel, I’m a huge fan and thank you for sharing your expertise 🤙
Agree with your P-Bass statement. Its like the Tele, Leo got it right the first time TWICE.
You can say whatever about Mark Hoppus… but, his signature basses nail the correct p-bass pick-up configuration.
I have two! They are the best bases ever. The pickguard is the 2nd best part.
I have a 1970 fretless P bass. I call it my Fender Oxymoron.
Thanks for the bass love. My bass has the same issue. Now I know what to ask for to get it fixed if I’m going to play above the 13th fret
Love it! The wisdom about neck shims was invaluable, and your calm, gentle approach is always a high point of my week. But forgive me, I'd always heard the Strat was more the child of Freddy Tavares?
Relaxing. thank you
A decent shot of acetone seems to do a good job of releasing that green 3M tape on a delicate piece.
I agree, Ted. The Precision bass: Industry standard since day 1
facts. willing to bet that the P-bass has featured on more recordings than the Strat or the Tele
and I'm about ready to hear anything else. Seriously, I get happy when I can tell a bass tone on an album is obviously not a fender
My 40 year old charvel has 30 year old rotosounds on it.
I just ordered a new fender jazz from Sweetwater, too. This vid just made me more excited about it.
13:40 Normally yes, but not always. These old Fender bridge screws tend to unscrew themselves when playing a lot. You will need to adjust the saddles every few months after a lot of playing. I used to avoid this with a small amount of nail polish instead of oiling them. Nevertheless top notch entertainment and education as usual. And the shim episode was very informative too. To quote another well known youtuber "And as always I hope you have learned something". Yes, we did here as well. Thanks a lot.
I think I agree with you Ted that the P Bass was Leo's most influential invention.
Thanks for explaining the 'hump' at the higher frets locations. I have/had basses that also presented the dreaded 'hump'. Now I know how to remedy the matter. BTW, the bridge looks like an Asian made piece with seven screws.
Thank you.
"... before the fear set it..." Been there!
I really feel like seeing metal bass players using Fender basses is a testament to their ability to make the big low sound
Not to mention the Bass VI, the Mustang, the Jazz Bass, and over at Music Man, the Stingray.
Leo Fender was a genius.
i'd say 1975 or earlier, going off the 'patent' serial numbers and white scratchplate unless the scratchplate is a replacement and also a replacement headstock decal.
used to own a '77 precision the same as this but with a two ply black scratchplate with white underlay. all original. sold it about 18 years ago when times got tough...biggest regret of my life.
I need to make some corrections on my P Bass, this came along at the right time! Thanks, Tom!!
Just an FYI. It's Ted. 😁✌🖖
Always beautiful work 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🇬🇧
Good enough for Jamerson, good enough for me.
12:14 "In the coarse of sanding" ...I see what you did there!!!
Leo’s legacy is likely the Precision bass, followed by several incredible amplifiers, and then the Tele and Strat. Nothing controversial about that.
Ah, thanks for a break from the world at large. Time to get back to the Bass-ics. 😎👍🏼
I used to watch that guitar repair fellow Dave who is near you but I disagreed with his shimming technique. I explained to him what you described and he didn't think it mattered. So he is off my watch list 😊
polishing polishing polishing is my business, and business is good good good
5:50 "0uch!" 🪛 🔨
I was literally just going through a similar situation with a 1990’s MIJ ‘62 JB reissue. I wasn’t far off in my method of thinking seeing how you did things on this P bass. 🎉😂 I guess I’ve been lucky and not had to delve this deep into massive action adjustments in my bass playing career.. Warwick basses use recycled baseball bats for necks and never move 😂..
This bass, in this colour, with this pickguard, is the single most basic instrument in the world. Its a black converse shoe. It's a white toyota sedan. It's a cheeseburger with nothing.
Such an excellent workhorse
I mean it has cheese
In high school I got a '75 Precision that was next to new and almost identical save for a b/w/b pickguard. Miss playing bass in general and that instrument in particular(sold it 24 years ago).
And play and sounds well.
Thanks! I've got a Telecaster with a third party neck that displays all these same symptoms.
DWOFS approves!
The Fender Precision Bass is pretty much the Workhorse of the industry. In the 70s you could pick them up for $175 bucks. Now they'll sell for $6,500
I just got a Glarry P-bass. A friend found it in a trash can with a busted output jack. I wired one up and - shockingly - it's the best sounding cheap bass I've ever heard
I bought a cheap Ibanez p-bass 20 years ago. I use it all the time and it’s great. Apparently it’s a wonderful design for a bass
I couldn't help but notice that the saddles were not parallel to the bridge plate. A common misunderstanding is that you need to tilt the saddles to match the neck radius. NO. You need to adjust the height of each saddle, so the strings follow the neck radius. But a slanted saddle robs tone and sustain, and if you are a string bender, it can even make the saddle start lifting off the bridge plate. Best vibration/energy transfer is when each grub screw supports equal weight - each saddle is flat or parallel to the bridge plate. True for bass, guitars, - everything. As far as the ramp at the high end of the neck goes, 2 things come to mind: 1) No bass play ever uses those frets and 2) maybe you could just remove those frets (i.e. have the very top range of the neck be fretless). Thoughts?
Good job,
13:42 For just a moment I thought that was super glue, I think I actually audibly gasped lol
The master at work!!!
The body was likely determined to be Japanese because of the 7 screw bridge (as opposed to the American style 5 screw).
As uncle Ben says, the “P” in P-bass stands for perfect. Oh, to be a fly on the wall during Leo’s R&D, how did he get things right seemingly on the first try?!
What do you throw to a drowning bass player?
His amp!
... and a quote from the bass solo from Handel's Messiah....
I wonder how many people these days know what an 'automotive feeler gauge' is. There aren't so many folk checking their spark plug gaps or adjusting their tappets nowadays.
Which just means that there are lots of them out there in pawn shops and flea markets for us aspiring guitar repairers! I have two sets, one in millimetres and the other in thousandths of an inch!
Ladies and gentlemen! We are gathered tonight ringside to see Ravishing Rick of the World Bass Wrestling Federation attempt to remove his bass neck without releasing the tension. Aaaand here we go! One !two! Three screws aaaand he is launched across the ring and into the turnbuckle! Ooooooh ! Right in the breadbasket!
Admittedly, I was sort of hoping you'd break a string on that bass forcing the dirty old ones to be replaced. I wouldn't touch dirty strings with my bare hands. Recently I had to fit slices of maple into the fret slots on a jazz bass neck, two of them. How I wish I had the tools to properly do such a task, but I managed with cunning, a band saw with sand paper and razor scraping, if only my dear mother would buy me a planer for x-mas :P
Raised incorruptible! Good boy! 😇
Beautiful instrument and job. I still regret selling my 1963 P- Bass in the late 80s. What the hell was I thinking?
No doubt, you were thinking you needed the money more.
Been through that a few times. Sucks! 😁✌🖖
I fully agree with Ted that the bass guitar was Leo Fender's biggest contribution to music. What surprises me is that no one put out a stick-upright bass at the same time for those who _were_ comfortable with the fretless, curved fingerboard, high bridge, upright bass fiddle. You'd think there would have been a good few who would have like to carry on with the same feel but without the bulk and with the benefit of amplification. But it seems like it took decades for those to appear.
The Ampeg Baby Bass was a thing
Well, Gibson actually did just that in '53 with their first EB model. You could srcew a peg in place of the lower strap button, and play it in an upright position.
@@tanczene3824 I don't mean a bass guitar that you can stand on the floor - let alone upright on the strap. I mean a fretless, heavily radiused, upright electric bass with a high bridge.
@@polkusin Ah interesting. It looks like they screwed the pooch on that. I'm reading that players weren't happy with the sound, the weight, and the bulk. Hindsight is 20/20, but it does seem obvious that shedding the bulk would be a prime benefit (especially when you had to carry an amplifier too) so making as minimal a body as possible would probably have been a good idea. And, of course, it needs to sound good.
Gotta love it when guitar players play a bass! 😎🙃
For those who don't want to or can't make a full neck pocket shim, Stew Mac makes really nice ones. I bought one of them after making one for another bass I own. Making it was a real pain. Please don't put a piece of a pick etc. at the end of the neck pocket. That's probably what happened to this bass. A poor neck to body connection can also hinder sustain.
This bass player says: solution for a P-bass that's fretting out above the 15th fret is not to play above the 15th fret! We all know there's no money up there anyway. If I wanted to shred up high on a bass, I wouldn't be using a P bass. :)
The earlier amps could not support the electric bass as well. The P bass set was what made it viable.
Me likes you. You talks good Anglish, unlike thems other fellers & yer knowledge runs much deeper 'n thems YT fix it folks. I Thank You, Good Sir....
Nice twang with that "hey there gangg"
I was anxiously waiting for the opening licks of the back in the day sitcom Barney Miller
Hey Ted. I usually don't ask much but I've got a question. Is Titebond Hide glue OK to use to repair a crack in a Les Paul neck?
It has the same holding power as standard Titebond but it's reversible if I screw up or want to have it fixed professionally later where regular Titebond isn't. Logic tells me that I should use the hide glue. Especially since the crack is forced closed under string tension. It fell face forward and hit the nut so there's a 1 inch crack extending from the corner of the nut.
The strings going over the nut and into the tuners means it really does force the crack closed under tension. So I can't find any reason not to use the hide glue. Am I missing anything? Is there a reason I shouldn't use it?
Thanks for your time, Ted. It is greatly, *greatly* appreciated, sir. 🙏
I thought at first that you had a new tattoo on the back of your hand. Upon reflection I guess it's probably sound hole rash😊