Thanks so much guys, I was up reading some of the old posts - and stayed up maybe a bit too late doing so - last night and have found some great & interesting info on the forums, as well as some good laughs! I'm sure I will continue to and hopefully add some of my own perspective with experience as well.
@ pjmuck - thanks for reading the story of "the unicorn" - how crazy is that to think it was 10 minutes down the road all this time? Once I first picked up a bass last fall, I knew that it was the start of something great. I've always dug bass without realizing it - being drawn to songs with prominent basslines. I'm ambidextrous (write righty, bat lefty, bowl both, etc...) from breaking my right arm at the tender age of 2 and having to learn to do things (mostly drawing & grabbing stuff! lol), and grew up playing air guitar lefty. lol! After deciding to get serious with bass, being that I'm left-handed and having hands so small that I'm part of the "small hands represent" group (I kid you not), the Fender Mustang Bass seemed like the "right" choice.
I came across Saf's in my search and like I've said, drooled over it for months! Everybody's got a "dream instrument" and mine was (and is!) a 1969 Fender Mustang Bass in Competition Burgundy (later called Blue) with matching headstock & rosewood fretboard. Thus began the search, not knowing just how nearly-impossible this bass would be to find at the time! Then I was inverting it up on that 70s relic with a broken pickup from May-July & toying around with my bf's other basses upside-down before that - a P, a Rick, Viola, Thunderbird... The Viola was the only one that felt "small" enough to work with for me. Now I've seen small women like Melissa van der Auf handling P's with ease, but I also notice that most of these women are playing with the neck tilted almost vertically, like an upright, in order to make it happen. I also guarantee they've got a larger palm spread than I! Lol Tina Weymouth got it right by me! =) In my growing knowledge and appreciation of Fender and the Mustang Bass in particular, I found out it was the last model designed at Fender by Leo Fender, which made it all the greater in my mind - like a "final masterpiece" to Fender. I discovered that I might not ever see a reissue Mustang Bass left-handed, let alone a vintage lefty Mustang Bass, but I kept hope alive! I thought of picking up one of those SX SSB's in lefty since the price was right & it got decent reviews, but held off. And lookah here! I'm still amazed everyday that I have my "dream bass", and how it came to be just seems like it was destiny to me. It was bought as a b-day gift for me - the biggest gift I've ever received, and given to me, but I like to think that she found me. I even played my first gig only a month later at an after-party for the Providence International Film Fest premiere of the movie "Sleather," - (which my bf did the original score for). Check it out -
http://www.sleathermovie.comNOW... if she'd juuust stay in tune! Thanks again Bill for your help, I'm going to hold off on the cloverleafs for now if they'll require hole-drilling (which I liken to giving your son/daughter piercings) and the cleaning & lubing will commence in the next day or two, so I'll let ya know how it goes. =)
One more thing - speaking of holes... there was a tiny pin-hole on the horn opposite the one where the strap button is - could this be part of the Fender "paint" holes? Let me know what you Fender fanatics think!
The ones I found that I'm thinking of getting are from a 70s mustang bass, so they're obviously not the same - they're the cloverleaf type, but I still don't know if those are going to fit in the same holes? I wondered if anyone had changed tuners on a vintage mustang before or had knowledge on comparable tuners from other Fender models that wouldn't require drilling, or other brands that would fit in the same holes. Ideally, someone out there would come up with a way for me to use the tuners that are on there... maybe some trick to get them to turn more easily and stay in tune for more than a song or two! They seem to be at like a 7:1 ratio, vs. the 20:1 I need. This is where I'm unsure - the mechanics of things - maybe replacing the bushings can make a difference? Idk...
Needless to say that is one search I would have considered hopeless, but perseverance "perseveres". I should know, considering it only took me 20 years to find another '72 J with black block inlays, but I had to wait for the advent of something called the internet first.