Bass Parts

 

Fender bass parts can take up a book so i will briefly go over some important parts . If you have other questions please just e mail. These descriptions will be very brief because of the volume of information.

Fender bass serial numbers were originally stamped on the bridge. Just like fender Telecaster  by 1954-1955 they moved the serial numbers to the neckplates. The bridges had patent pending on them until around 1957 . After that there was nothing stamped on the bridges.

The pots ands harness follow the exact same rules as stated in this section under Fender pots and harnesses there was no exception

Fender bass tuners are a bit more involved. The original were the clove style and were reverse gears. They also featured a slot head screw which held back gear in place. The rivet on the tuner stem is bigger on one side . In 1955 the tuner was the same but went to a Philips screw holding the back great in place

. In 1963 the tuners were the same except for the rivet now was flat and even on both sided if the shaft. In 1966 Fender bass tuners had a rounded head known as the lolly pop tuners. these were non reverse and most were chrome.

 

 Then by 1967  they were back to original clover head gears and were non reverse and had no fender trademark sign by logo.  By the late 60’s the tuners were the same and featured the trademark logo afet the Fender name.

Fender bass screws also followed the same path as the guitars. The 1950’s screws had collars were the threads did not go all the way to the head of the screws. In 1960 they screws had threads all the way to the top.

Fender bass pickguards have several important changes over the years. The original 1950 -1951 bass guards were more like a fiber board for lack of a better word  and are slightly larger than a 1952 . The 1952-1954 pickguards are the same black but are bakelite .

 In 1955 the guards were white bakelite and a total different shape as the bass itself changed to a contour body style. In 1957 the current style bass was introduced and the guards changed again to a gold anodized metal guard which was used for 2 years.

 In 1959 the tortoise shell pickguard was introduced and would remain the same until 1964. In 1965 the green nitrocellulose tortoise pickguard was changed to a normal 3 ply plastic tortoise pickguard.

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