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This absolutely mint (and lightweight) Fender Japan '68 reissue Blue Floral bass guitar weighs just 7.80 lbs. and has a 13 inch wide solid basswood 'contoured' body. One-piece maple neck with a nut width of just under 1 11/16 inches and a very comfortable medium profile. Full bass scale length of 34 inches with 20 frets and black dot position markers. Single circular string tree. Individual Gotoh cloverleaf tuners. Small headstock with Fender 'Spaghetti' logo in silver with black trim and "Precision Bass" in black beneath it. Four-bolt neckplate. One black staggered-pole single coil pickup with an output of 7.55k. Clear 'plexiglass' pickguard with seven screws. Two controls (one volume and one tone) on lower treble bout. Domed-top knurled sided chrome control knobs. Combined two-saddle bridge/tailpiece. Small transparent label on underside of neck with "Crafted in Japan / Serial number "P 098184". This guitar is in absolutely mint (9.50) condition and is housed in the original Fender reissue 'Tweed' case with orange plush lining (9.50). Complete with the two chrome bridge and pickup covers (which have never been affixed to the guitar) and two original hang-tags, one dated "2-25-03".

This fine Japanese reissue of the second generation Precision bass (1954-1957) combines the great qualities of the (second generation) 1954 Precison Bass with Fender's famous late sixties 'Blue Flower' finish.

The 1968 Telecaster Bass also bore the unusual distinction of being briefly issued with Fender’s infamous pink paisley and blue floral finishes. These were achieved by applying paisley and floral wallpaper to the top and back, with the sides shaded using a sunburst technique to match the paper and a thick clear coat covering the entire instrument. The Blue Floral and Pink Paisley finishes were only available from 1968-1969.

The original Telecaster Bass model lasted from 1968 until 1972, at which point substantial modifications were introduced. These resulted in what was essentially a new version of the instrument. Differences in the new Telecaster Bass model of 1972 were readily apparent. Chief among them was the replacement of the small single-coil pickup with a large and powerful humbucking pickup. Staunchly single-coil Fender got serious about humbucking pickups in the late 1960s, hiring the inventor of the design, Seth Lover, away from Gibson in 1967. Lover designed new humbucking pickups for Fender that were introduced on the Telecaster Thinline (1971 version), Telecaster Custom (1972) and Telecaster Deluxe (1973) guitars. The modified 1972 Telecaster Bass also benefitted from Lover’s efforts, with a look and sound substantially altered by the change in pickup type. Other changes included eliminating the chrome control plate in favor of a larger pickguard that extended down over the lower bout, a three-bolt neck plate with tilt adjustment, a bullet truss rod with headstock-end adjustment and a different headstock decal, changed from silver to gold with black outlining. This second version of the Telecaster Bass remained available throughout the rest of the decade until the instrument was discontinued in 1979 - the Blue Floral and Pink Paisley versions were only available from 1968-1969.

The design of the first version didn’t appear again until 1994, when Fender Japan introduced the reissue ’51 Precision Bass, which may also be seen as a reissue of the 1968-1971 version of the Telecaster Bass. This instrument used the larger, more period-correct string ferrules of the kind used on early-’50s Precision basses. This instrument remains available today and was subsequently joined by slightly revised counterparts in the forms of the Mike Dirnt and Sting Precision Bass models.