bbl wrote:
Anyone know why some 70's headstocks say "Precision Bass" but some don't? Just curious.
From 1969-1976, Fender was using a larger "TV Logo" on their headstocks for Precision and Jazz basses, which did not lend itself well to a lefty configuration, since types read left to right on a righty headstock with Fender first, followed by the model name. (see link:
http://www.elderly.com/vintage/items/im ... -front.jpg).
On a lefty headstock, there's no space to run a TV logo to read left to right unless you were to place the Fender name AFTER the model name, so Fender opted to leave the model name off and just keep the Fender logo. In late 1976, they switched to the smaller model logo typeface, and this is when you begin to see the model names listed on lefty basses again.
Fender experimented with logo placement throughout the 70's on both righties and lefties, and their treatment could get "creative" to say the least. But in all my years of researching, I have NEVER seen an original lefty Fender bass from the TV logo era that included a TV logo. (I have seen homemade lefties with TV logos that were added on later that actually looked pretty sharp, however, begging the question why Fender couldn't visualize it).
