Up for sale, a 1953 Fender Precision Bass in excellent condition and in perfect working order, complete with a hardshell case. Leo Fender’s original Precision Bass revolutionized the music world when it was introduced in 1951, quickly becoming the first commercially successful and widely available electric bass guitar. This Precision Bass boasts a very faithful Butterscotch nitro lacquer refinish and light relic’ing by Carson Hess, retaining its original pencil dates on the neck heel and pocket.

The Precision Bass pairs an ash body with a one-piece maple neck, weighing 8lbs 11oz with both “ashtray” covers installed. Acoustically the string through body offers excellent natural resonance and low-mid authority balanced with treble clarity. Extremely soulful and present, there’s a real woody-ness to the single coil pickup, which is a custom-made replica, aged and carefully crafted with black fiber flatwork, cloth-covered leads and slightly degaussed and beveled alnico magnet poles. Strung with flatwound strings, the bass is present, thumpy and smooth in equal measure. Professionally setup here at Mike & Mike’s Guitar Bar, this Precision Bass features easy-playing action and accurate intonation.

Neck Specs:

• Wood: Maple
• Shape: Chunky soft V, measuring .950” 1st fret, 1.005” 12th fret
• Fretboard: Maple, 7 ¼” radius
• Frets: Slender, refret, pristine
• Scale Length: 34”
• Nut: 1 11/16”, bone (modern)
• Headstock: Waterslide decal (replacement)
• Tuners: Clover button, reverse-geared
• Factory Markings: Neck heel pencil dated 7-28-53, pocket dated 3-23-53 and signed by Eddie Miller

Body Specs:

• Wood: Ash
• Pickups: Black bobbin aged replica single coil (6.8k ohms)
• Controls: Volume, Tone
• Harness: Clarostat pots date to the 20th week of ‘52, paper-in-oil tone cap (replica), resistor
• Hardware: Serialized bridge base with steel barrel saddles, “ashtray” bridge and pickup covers (modern, aged by Carson Hess), original carved wood “tugbar,” dome-top knurled knobs
• Plastics: One-ply black pickguard (Carson Hess bakelite replica)
• Serialization: Four-digit stamp on bridge base

The gloss Butterscotch nitro lacquer refinish courtesy of Carson Hess is very accurate in its hue and saturation, exhibiting subtle checking and wear as part of Hess’ aging process, with gentle “tan lines” beneath the pickguard and ashtray covers. The neck has a much older finish, and while also non-original, the neck finish has decades of natural aging and ambering to look the part with a very smooth satin feel.

A hardshell case is included.