An Exceptionally Fine 1971 One Owner Lake Placid Blue Precision Bass With An 'A' Neck.

1971 Fender Precision Bass.

This thirteen inch-wide lightweight Lake Placid Blue bass guitar weighs just 8.70 lbs. Solid alder body, contoured on back and lower bass bout. One-piece maple neck with a narrow 'A' nut width of just over 1 1/2 inches, a wonderful thick profile and a full bass scale length of 34 inches. Veneer rosewood fretboard with 20 original medium-jumbo frets and pearl dot position markers. Headstock decal with "Fender" in black with gold trim, "Precision Bass" in black beside it, and four patent numbers beneath. Single circular string tree. Individual Fender cloverleaf bass tuners. Four-bolt neck plate with serial number "313891" between the top two screws. One split black eight-polepiece pickup with a strong output of 10.63k. Three-layer 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 single-groove bridge/tailpiece with long "G" intonation screw. 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 end of the neck has "5 - A" written in black marker and on the underside "Special" is stamped in red and "A" written in black marker. The potentiometers are stamped "304 7116" (Stackpole April 1971). At one time the previous owner moved the chrome bridge cover back by 3/16 inch, which has resulted in two additional small screw holes just behind the originals. These two holes are not visible when the bridge cover is on the guitar. There are a few very small and totally insignificant indentations/surface marks on the edges of the body and a couple of small and again insignificant black marks on the back. With all that said this one owner bass is still in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition - the Lake Placid Blue color being fresh and completely without fade. This one owner guitar comes complete with the original receipt. Housed in its original Fender three-latch black rectangular hardshell case with black leather ends and reddish orange plush lining (9.00).

Precision basses from this era normally come with either a 'B' neck (1 5/8 inches) or a 'C' neck (1 1/2 inches) - this example is rather unusual in that it was a special order with a narrow 'A' neck - very similar to a Jazz Bass.

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.