A Very Special Pre-CBS Custom-Color Precision Bass

This 13-inch-wide special custom color bass guitar weighs 8.90 lbs. and has a nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches and a full bass scale length of 34 inches. Solid alder body, contoured on back and lower bass bout, one-piece maple neck with a medium profile, and veneer rosewood fretboard with 20 frets and clay dot position markers. Headstock decal with Fender "spaghetti" logo in silver with black trim, "Precision Bass" in black below it, and four patent numbers beneath the logo. Single circular string tree. Fender cloverleaf tuners. Four-bolt neck plate (mounted upside-down) with serial number ("L20766") between the top two screws. One split black eight-polepiece pickup with a great, fat output of 21.70k. Three-layer 'green tinted' (white/black/white) plastic pickguard with thirteen screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) on the lower treble bout. Chrome knobs with knurled sides and flat tops. Combined four-saddle bridge/tailpiece. Complete with both the original bridge and pickup covers, the original thumbrest on the treble side of the pickguard, and the metal shield under the pickguard. The neck is stamped "5 NOV 63C" and the pots are stamped "304 6350" (Stackpole December 1963). Housed in its original Fender cream hardshell case with black leather ends and reddish orange plush lining (8.50).

The Precision Bass, with its revolutionary new shape, was launched in 1951, and originally had a slab body. It was not until 1954, with the introduction of the Stratocaster, that Fender contoured the body. All early Precision Basses had one-piece maple necks, but in 1959, a slab-board rosewood fretboard was introduced, and then finally in 1962 the "veneer" rosewood fretboard was introduced.

Until the Precision, the bass was an upright acoustic instrument that was difficult to hear and cumbersome to transport. Leo Fender's invention allowed musicians to hold their instrument like a guitar, opening the bass world to curious guitar players, and allowing bass players a level of freedom they had not yet encountered. Due to the bass's solid body construction, it could be amplified to any level, giving it new found aural presence. In its first fifteen years of development, the Precision Bass changed as much as the music it influenced and the musicians it inspired, having been played by everyone from The Shadows to Led Zeppelin.