Fender Precision Bass 1972 Factory Fretless- Original

This is a very original 1972 Fender Precision Bass that I bought off the 2nd original owner. What makes this bass special is its a factory unlined fretless.

The neckplate serial number dates it to 1972. The pots date to September of 1972. Another way to date it would be the neck date stamp which is 5JUN72B. That’s June of 1972 and the B is the nut width which Fender states is 1.65 inches for a B neck but my digital micrometer says the nut is 1.63 inches. I bought this bass from the 2nd owner. The bass as far as I can tell is completely original but I’ll document it best I can so you can see for yourself.

Here is a summary of the parts to show originality

Pickups- Grey bottom, period correct with stamp 15382 on the treble side pickup half, the bass side is harder to decipher as the pickup metal plugs pass through the stamping, I believe it’s 13382, but unsure. Period pickups, I have no reason to doubt them not to be original.

Pots/Jack/cap-Volume pot reads (032367-250k-340XX?), the rest is unreadable due to soder covering the digits -but the tone pot has the same first sequence of numbers (032367-250k- 3047239). Those last digits (3047239) date to September of 1972. Apparently the brand of pots is stockpole electronics, which is stated to have done business with Fender until 1964 after which Fender used CTS. Why this brand of pot is in a 1972 bass is interesting but I combed through various reverb ads for 1972 Fender P basses and almost all them had these pots and not CTS brand ones and being that they date to the same year as the neckplate and neck stamp I assume them to be original. The Jack is a switchcraft of the period, so original. The cap is labeled .05M 100V.

Bridge-Original bridge, you’ll notice the G saddle to have a longer intonation screw compared to the other 3. This was stock for this year of Fender. That along with the slot headed height adjustment screws makes it a period correct bridge.

Knobs-Very light weight as these original knobs are made out of a lighter material then today's, Both adjustment screws turn well.

PickGuard- While the later 70s guards had serial number stickers on the rear of them these earlier 70s do not. The only identifiable marking is a stamp of C. Acevedo, presumably an employee. This looks completely period correct , both in coloring of the tortoise shell which Fender never recaptured in the modern age and also in comparison to other early 70s Pickguards I’ve seen. Once again I looked through other 1972 Fender listings and found a few where the Pickguards looked identical including how it aged and yellowed on the rear of it. Impressively this guard has no cracks in it ! Very lovely looking with just some minor where from someone adjusting the truss rod and digging into it.

Body-Original sunburst, has proper routes for the pickup and controls, I see no indication of any additional routing ever occurring, or additional screw holes. The finish is definitely original showing no signs of respray and that lovely 3 color burst that I’ve never seen Fender replicate as vibrant as these old Fenders did it.

Neck-Original finish. The rear of the neck has very slight wear in one spot the size of a pencil eraser head-photographed , but otherwise nearly immaculate. The headstock logo is vibrant and only some minor checking has occurred over the years. The previous owner told me in the 90s when he purchased the bass it had some hump in the upper register and to address this the fingerboard was planned down in that area. Looking at the side profile of the board it appears this starts around what would be fret 16 (if it was fretted). The rosewood from the nut to about the 16th fret looks uniform in thickness. You’ll see at the point of fret 16 to 20 the board gets increasingly thinner to the point it’s very thin at the end to where you see some maple peeking through at the very edge. I assume strings rubbing over the years exposed the underlying maple at the very end of the fingerboard heel. I’ve tried to take a few photos of this to show the side profile of board .

Tuners-Correct Nickel platted tuners of a early 70s Fender. One does seem to have been bent slightly at one point and the E takes a little effort to turn , I assume they would benefit from some grease but I’ve left them alone as they function and keep the bass in tune appropriately.

String tree- This is nickel not chrome, which is correct.

Case-Unoriginal SKB Freedom Plastic Case, all latches work. Little wear to it but overall a solid case.

Weight? 8 pounds 3 ounces , light ! My 1978 fretless I had previously was 11.5 pounds.

Condition- I’ve mostly described condition through my individual descriptions of the components but overall it’s in good shape for a 50 year old bass. As I described the neck has had some of the rosewood in upper register fingerboard planned down a few decades ago. The body has no additional routing or alterations to it. The original finish is bright and vibrant. There are various scratches and dings. On the front of the body above the pickup and pickguard there are many dings scattered in the same spot , where maybe someone’s watch was hitting into it ? Not sure but I photographed this. There is a smaller chip on the edge I’ve also shown. Some belt worming , some finish loss around the neckplate but for it’s age I think the finish looks good. All hardware is generally clean. The pickguard is free of cracks or warping. The electronics all work perfectly. When I purchased the bass their was some scratching sound when the knobs turned but a service with electronic cleaner cleared that up just fine - no other issues to report with them. Right now the bass is wearing flats of unknown brand/age they were on it when I got it and it plays well and sounds great so they’ve been left. As I’ve shown to the best of my ability I believe the bass to be completely original in components, if I missed something please ask.

[Orders are shipped out ASAP -within under 24 hours with Insured Shipping. Packaged professionally with brand new packaging supplies and a new box. I only use FedEx or UPS and I will NOT ship to PO Boxes. Signature required for all shipments. ]