1975 Fender Telecaster Bass, Sunburst

By Fender
£2,250.00

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Great looking custom colour Sunburst Fender Telecaster Bass from 1975 in great players condition with original Fender case.

Initially released in 1968, the Fender Telecaster Bass could arguably be Fender’s first attempt at a reissue model. The Telecaster Bass owed its existence to the fact that its direct ancestor, the Precision Bass, was redesigned not once but twice within several years of its 1951 debut. So significant were the changes, that the Precision Bass of 1957 onward bore little resemblance to its 1951 predecessor. It was Leo Fender's original 1951 design that became Fender’s newest model in 1968. During the 1970’s Fender were looking to bring the model in line with its other updated and newly released instruments and in 1972 the Telecaster Bass went through its biggest change losing its centre-spaced single coil pickup and gaining a new more powerful Seth Lover-designed ‘Wide Range’ Humbucking pickup.

This great looking example from 1975 is in it's original Custom Colour Sunburst finish. The Three-Tone Sunburst has aged gracefully over the years with a retreat of the red, much like the Fender Sunburst finishes of the ’60s. This with the white pickguard and Maple ‘board make for a great looking example in a finish not often seen. Despite being a standard finish on other instruments in the Fender range Sunburst was a custom option for the Telecaster Bass throughout the ’70s; the standard finish being Blonde. The bass was previously a working bass and like many player instruments has picked up wear and knocks from years of honest use. There are additional holes added to allow the finger rest to be mounted above the strings. Overall the finish is still bright with a good lustre.

Like the body, the neck shows signs of honest use, the nut and frets had been replaced prior to coming to us and there is an additional hole in the headstock face possibly from a second string tree being added. The neck heel has two additional holes either side of the micro-tilt adjuster, potentially from having been fitted to a different (four-bolt) instrument at a previous point. There are no additional holes in the body neck pocket. The green neck code stamp dates the neck to the 30th week of 1975 matching the serial number, pickup and pot codes. The pickup measures a healthy 23K, the solder on the pickup cover is a little scruffier than usual possibly indicating it has been removed at some point during it's life.

The Bass sounds great with all the authoritative thump Type II Telecaster basses are known for, the neck is a comfortable handful and plays well too. The Bass comes with its original Fender hard case.