An Exceptionally Fine See-Through Blond Fretless Bass

This rare 13-inch-wide "See-Through Blond" fretless bass guitar weighs 10.50 lbs. and has a nice, comfortable nut width of just over 1 5/8 inches and a full bass scale length of 34 inches. Solid ash body, contoured on back and lower bass bout, and one-piece maple neck with small black dot markers on the bass side. Single circular string tree. Fender cloverleaf tuners. Headstock decal with Fender logo in black with gold trim, followed by "Precision Bass" in black, and four patent numbers below that. Four-bolt "F" neck plate with serial number ("704536") between the top two screws. One split black eight-polepiece pickup with an output of 10.53k. Single-layer 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. The potentiometers are stamped "137 7607" (CTS February 1976). Combined four-saddle bridge/tailpiece. This bass is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition, with just a very small amount of wear from the player's arm on the bass edge and a few small and insignificant surface marks. The grain of the ash body shows beautifully through the rare See-Through Blond finish. Housed in the original Fender black hardshell case with dark blue plush lining (9.00). This spectacular sounding bass is the first See-Through Blond "fretless" that we have ever seen!

The fretless option became available in 1970. "It took Fender until the early 1970s to produce a fretless version of their industry-standard Precision model, despite a growing interest among players in the unique sound offered by fretless basses. Although it is possible to approximate the sound of a double-bass with a fretless instrument, it does have a beautiul voice of its own, quite distinct from the fretted bass" (Tony Bacon, The Bass Book, p.36).

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 and it was in 1959 that a slab-board rosewood fretboard was introduced. Many players missed the comfort of the maple fretboard, so from around 1967 to 1969, a one-piece maple neck was offered as an option.

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.