A Near Mint 1978 Precision Bass in Antigua - One of Fender's Most Elusive Finishes…

1978 Fender Precision Bass.

This lightweight bass weighs just 8.60 lbs. and has a nut width of just under 1 5/8 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 comfortable medium-to-thick profile, maple fretboard with 20 original jumbo frets and black dot position markers. Headstock decal with "Fender®" logo in black with gold trim, with serial number "S 867926" in black below it and "Precision Bass" in black beside it, and with "Made in U.S.A." in black beneath. Single circular string tree. Individual Fender bass tuners (German-made Schaller tuners with "Fender" on plate) with cloverleaf-shaped metal buttons. Four-bolt neck plate with large Fender backward "F" logo in the center. One split black eight-polepiece pickup with a great, fat pickup output of 10.33k. Four-layer (antigua over white & black) plastic pickguard with thirteen screws. Thumbrest on the bass side of the pickguard. Two controls (one volume, one tone) and jack socket, all on pickguard. Chrome knobs with flat tops and knurled sides. Four-saddle bridge/tailpiece. The neck is stamped: "0102X4384" The potentiometers are stamped "R137 7836"  This rare custom color Precision Bass is in near mint (9.25) condition with just a few very samll and insignificant surfce marks on the edges and a small scratch on the pickguard just by the jack socket. Housed in the original Fender three-latch black hardshell case with black leather ends and red plush lining (9.25)

Antigua - One of Fender's most elusive finishes with only a small number of Antigua Precision Basses produced between 1977 and 1979.

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.