1982 Fender Fretless Precision Bass - with '79 Neck

1983 Fender PBASS with a 1979 Fretless Neck - Dan Smith Era

One VOL knob.  One TONE knob.  I split pickup. Only 4 strings.  This is as "simple as it gets".  Vintage P-Bass tone, smoothed out even further by the factory rosewood fretless '79 neck.  And the most gorgeous aged creamy patina.  Yes.

I wish I could call this a "war horse", but frankly, it has not seen enough play-time to merit that... perhaps you are the new soldier to take this bass to battle?  OK, so that was lame, but, hey, I'll blame it on COVID.

This aged blonde beauty (Olympic White turned to creme brulee) is in EX condition, a few dings on bass-side ledge bottom from maybe putting in a stand roughly, and one ding on back of an otherwise-gorgeous-like-new neck.  There is a little flaking in one of the chrome knurled knobs.   Good news:  this is a relatively lightweight bass @ 8.25 lbs.  It has round-wounds on it, but flats would be awesome.  I love the aged finish and its great patina... just gorgeous color! 

Features: 1982-dated pots, a 1-ply white pickguard with 15 screws; no thumbrest, and a 3-screw bridge.  These were all the correct features for this period. It has all original wiring/capacitor and split pickup with aged white plastic covers (I've confirmed it by seeing several other similar basses).  A prior owner had installed both a bridge and a PU cover on the bass, because there are holes for them.  The PBasses of this era did not have covers.   

As for the factory fretless Fender neck:  Immaculate tuners and the 4-bolt micro-tilt neck plate are marked ’Fender’’;  Amazing condition neck, which is a factory one-piece maple (NOT a skunk-stripe)... it is dated 1979 on neck butt:  01023693.  The actual serial number on the headstock is S891589.  The neck has a a very thin-slab rosewood board and black dot markers on the side.  After long storage detuned and after putting 45/65/80/100's on it, I had to loosen the truss rod some.  It will likely need some more setup to fine tune, but plays pretty nicely for my taste.  The electronics work fine.

 Its case is a 4-latch plastic molded type, no handle and missing half of one latch  I've seen this exact type of case in the early-to-mid 80's.

I really do not know the story of the bass, so reporting the features.  It could be an '82 or '83.  I will say that I've seen '79 necks end up on quite a few early 80's basses, and it would even be more likely for that to occur with a fretless.  I've had it in my collection for 20-25 years at this point.  Overall, it is a great bass that is nicely balanced, light-weight, with a great slender neck profile and beautiful '79 neck.  The finish on the 3-piece body is nice, and you can see how it has darkened with time, quite beautiful!