The Last Of The Original P. Basses…

This 13-inch-wide 'second generation' Precision Bass weighs 9.40 lbs. and has a full bass scale length of 34 inches and a nut width of just over 1 11/16 inches. Solid ash body contoured on back and lower bass bout, one-piece maple neck with a wonderful typical '56 fat "C" profile and 20 frets with black dot position markers. Single circular string tree. Fender cloverleaf tuners with slot-head screws. Headstock decal with Fender 'Spaghetti' logo in silver with black trim and "Precision Bass" in black below. Four bolt neckplate with serial number "09211" between the top two screws. One black staggered pole single coil pickup with an output of 6.30k. Single-ply white ABS plastic pickguard with seven screws. Wooden (painted black) thumb-rest with single screw mounted on pickguard. Two controls (one volume and one tone). Knurled chrome knobs with domed tops. Combined nickel-plated bridge/tailpiece with two steel saddles with no serial number. The neck is marked in pencil "XA-4-56" and the pickup cavity is also marked in pencil "4-56". The potentiometers are dated "304 541" (Stackpole, October 1955). This superb and very rare bass has been minimally played and certainly very well cared for -- with just a few very small and insignificant surface marks and scratches on the edges of the body and of course there is some fine finish checking. There is absolutely NO belt buckle wear or scarring on the back. There are a few tiny surface marks on the back of the neck, but the fretboard and the original frets show almost no sign of wear. Overall this guitar is in 9.25 near mint condition and is complete with its original bridge and pickup covers. This is one of the earliest contour body Precision Basses we have ever seen and certainly the cleanest… if you want the best example ever - this is it!!! Housed in the original Fender reddish brown gig-bag with green padded lining which in turn is enclosed in a later (mid-sixties) Fender black hardshell case with red plush lining (9.00). The original guitar cord is in the gig-bag.

The Precision Bass, with its revolutionary new shape, was launched in 1951, and originally had a slab body.
"In 1954 when the famous Stratocaster appeared with all its refinements, the Precision Bass began to undergo some "intermediate" modifications such as a contoured body, a two section nickel plated bridge, a white single layer pickguard and the switch from slotted head screws to Philips head screw. The body was still in ashwood in addition to the blond finish (which tended to fade more and more to Butterscotch with age) we now found the P.Bass in a 2 tone sunburst finish, and then beginning in 1957 optional Duco Custom Colors were offered… The finishing was done with the help of various types of organic cellulosic lacquers which, other than its peculiar look, had a terrible (or wonderful, according to your point of view) tendency to turn yellow with time. These characteristics became the trade mark of all Fender models constructed before the advent of polyurethane (or even epoxy) type chemical varnish. The pickup remained the same as it was at conception; however the configuration of the Telecaster type flat pole pieces became staggered pole pieces. This version of the P.Bass, even though important for many reasons, and signifying the rapid changes in the Fender catalog, is however considered an intermediate or or incomplete version. The changes it underwent were more or less a simple patch-up job. Even if I don't totally agree with this opinion, it is certain that the 54-57 P.Bass is quite rare and can in no way be considered a reference, the preceding and following versions being, without question, more representative. Which they are, on the one hand, by the invention of the concept itself and on the other, by the fact that the P. Bass was THE electric bass in the world for thirty five years. Counting of course the innumerable versions and copies made by innumerable makers, the concept created by Leo Fender has been applied with varying degrees of success and originality." (Klaus Blasquiz. The Fender Bass, p. 10).

"As a bass-player for nearly fifty years I have to say that this '56 has all the wonderful tonal qualities of the original 1951 P.Bass - but with the comfort of a contoured body - it's just xxxxing amazing…" (DB)