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FDP Forum / Fender Bass Guitars and Bass Amps / Auction for 1961 P, allegedly owned by Jamerson

liverbird
Contributing Member
*******

UK

Searching for L40278.
May 17th, 2017 05:34 PM Edit Profile Print Topic Search Topic
Heritage Auctions have a 1961 Precision on their site which the seller claims was given to him by James Jamerson in 1967 or 1968.

No button (or hole) on the back of the headstock, no DES or PAT numbers in the decal which you would expect on a 1961. Would love to see the date on this neck!

Thoughts?
Jamerson's?

digiboy

New York City

May 18th, 2017 02:53 PM Edit Profile Print Topic Search Topic
Buzz word I learned from watching the Antique Road Show.

"Provenance."

Not very solid IMO. Unless someone has more info on who Sherman Hayes is. Otherwise it's just a statement from a guy claiming Jamerson gave him the bass.

The bass has significant value if it's proven to be a 61/62 but the connection to Jamerson seems weak.

If you had a closeup picture of Jamerson holding the bass with enough resolution, you could check the wear pattern, wood grain, and other details. That's what was done with the Bob Dylan Strat that surfaced a few years ago. That sort of thing can be faked too, unless you know for sure the photos have not been messed with.

Curious to see some of the resident experts weigh in.

edmonstg

Newberg, Oregon

Fender...never say never.
May 19th, 2017 02:54 PM Edit Profile Print Topic Search Topic
I share digi's thoughts/concerns. That famous picture most of us have seen of Jamerson holding a sunburst P-bass is not the bass under discussion here. The one Jamerson is holding has a "transition" logo, which the company began applying to Precision headstocks beginning in 1964 and which they kept in service through the next few years up to early 1968.

This bass, looking at the appointments shown in the photos, is almost for sure an early 60s Precision. It's a slab board and the decal is absent the patent numbers which begin to appear on Spaghetti decals sometime later in 1962. So, based on the decal alone, if original, means the neck is an earlier 62 or even a late 1961. I do love the look of the wear on this bass. The electronics? Who knows?

Jamerson is so famous he has "lived" under a microscope for all of us for a long time. So why is this so-called JJ-owned bass just now coming to light?

George
(This message was last edited by edmonstg at 04:57 PM, May 19th, 2017)

liverbird
Contributing Member
*******

UK

Searching for L40278.
May 19th, 2017 05:42 PM Edit Profile Print Topic Search Topic
George, I think the numbers on the decal started appearing a little earlier, some time during 1960, at least if my photo archive is anything to go by... One DES and one PAT number at first, then later in 1961 changing to one DES and three PAT numbers. Correct me if I'm wrong!

Their absence on this bass, combined with the absence of the strap button, would suggest the neck is earlier than 1961 perhaps.

edmonstg

Newberg, Oregon

Fender...never say never.
May 20th, 2017 06:58 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search Topic
Bird...(now that I think about it) Seems your recollections about the Spaghetti logos of the early 1960s are more correct than mine.

As we both know, dates for when appointments changed at the Fender factory are liquid, however, seems like I've got things happening with the decals later than they did.

The headstock strap button is a case in point. The absence of the button on a necks with those delicious early Brazilian slabs has always been associated with the year 1959. By late 59, early 60, the buttons are there. And yet, I have seen a rare few early 1960 P-basses without the buttons.

I WANT THAT NECK!

George
(This message was last edited by edmonstg at 04:10 PM, May 20th, 2017)

Bubbalou

USA

THE LOW END OF UPPER TEJAS
May 20th, 2017 11:26 PM Edit Profile Print Topic Search Topic
I saw this post concerning this exact bass so I thought I would re-post the comment here:

---"From Facebook...Anthony McKnight (bass player and James younger cousin on his mother's side) called Annie Jamerson (late wife) about the bass for sale.

Annie Jamerson said that James Jamerson definitely played the bass, but that bass has never belonged to James Jamerson period.

...end of Facebook summary.

If Jamerson acquired the used bass for his friend back in the 60s, it did not come from his home."

dg27

Long Island City, NY

May 25th, 2017 10:06 AM Edit Profile Print Topic Search Topic
I really do not understand the obsession with owning an instrument that someone famous once owned and paying mightily for it.

FDP Forum / Fender Bass Guitars and Bass Amps / Auction for 1961 P, allegedly owned by Jamerson

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