[Gefail]

Hello all,
Just wondered if you could help me out. I've been looking for a fretless Bass & recently been offered this Fender Precision Hybrid.






The Neck (according to the serial number) is a 1978 Fender Precision with an original unlined fretless maple fingerboard.
The Body is 2 piece made from Ash by Kent Armstong apparently
Pickups EMG 18 volt active
Bridge Wilkinson
Not sure about the tuners, pickup guard etc. probably not Fender.
All work professionally carried out at Mansons of Exeter

Any idea of a guide price?

Thanks,
Gefail...

[Repairman77]

Strangely enough I have a Fender Fretless Jazz Bass of 1976 and estimate guitars of this vintage to fetch at least £1000, up to £2000 dependant of condition.

You could check ebay to see if any have been sold recently. Fretted or fretless shouldn't make that much difference to the price but a modified one like the one pictured may be a little less than a totally original bass.

Beware though; some of these basses from that era can be extremely heavy; mine is; and you certainly wouldn't want it hanging round your neck for an hour or two on stage!

Hope this helps a little.

Mike.

[jules]

It is really only the neck that people will want. I'd expect that to go for mid £xxx on it's own. The rest will unlikely fetch much, or add much value if sold together, unless you can be more certain about it's age etc. They will just become a used bridge, or scratchplate, each fetching £xx

If some of the parts are from the same p-bass, on the other hand, they will be worth more.

Personally, i'd watch ebay for a late seventies Fender body (they come up) and have an amazing p-bass project. It might take a couple years to find all the parts at a reasonable price, but you'll have a great collectable bass by the end.

Thanks for sharing.

[Gefail]

Thanks for your thoughts, I can only imagine the donor bass got a fretted neck fitted to it. Ebay prices vary from around £580 (1978 body 1980 neck
newish other parts), £1000 (paint refinish but otherwise original) £1350 (nearly all original) to £3000 (all original 1974) I agree that the neck is the money item and the other parts don't account towards much of the total Value.
Thanks again,
Gefail

[Dave W]

Be aware that S8 serial numbers were used well past 78, you will find them through 81.

Around here an original fretted 78-79 would sell for about $1500 US, fretless would usually be a little less. But if the neck is the only genuine Fender part, it's hard too put a value on it.

[eb2]

I figure you check out what a used fretless neck goes for on ebay ( 1978-82 would be around $400?) and then a couple of bonus bucks for non-Fender gig-able body and parts. So I would say $500-700 tops. You could say more or less, but you just have a neck in search of a Fender body and Fender parts - sometimes you end up paying a bit less than buying it all together. Sometimes a bit more if you go the parts gathering route. I am always unsure of how that converts to farthings and shillings these days.

[Dave W]

Farthings and shillings? You're older than I thought.