LeftyBassist.com

i believe this is a refin thats been on new york craigslist for a while now?maybe im wrong but im pretty sure its the one,the lack of info on the ebay listing is definitly weird.

I worked as a repair tech for Sam Ash Music in Brooklyn. N.Y., from 1979-1982. I saw a LOT of Fender basses like this in that time, but not very many left handed ones....I would've probably tried to buy 'em!
The serial number puts it at 1978. The color appears to be factory "Mocha Brown" which was a fairly common color in that era, second only to sunburst, white, and black, and the rare sienna sunburst, and the even rarer antigua finished basses. I saw a lefty antigua on Ebay a few years ago... can't remember if it was a p-bass or a jazz bass.

yes,sorry ,that was my bad,eyesight not what it used to be,i was seeing a red bass.

lately there's a §hitload of lefty 78 P Basses all over the world but it seems they quickly pass from an owner to another.

You can find S8-serial numbers way up to 1982. That's why 1978 lefty Fenders appear to be so common. Fender must have made a shitload of lefty necks back in '78 . If you're trying to date a late '70s / early '80s Fender and want to be sure, the best thing to do is to remove the neck and check the date stamps on the neck heel and body.

Mocha brown? I had a '78 Jazz that was the same color as that P-bass, and it sure looked red to me.

Were you at the store on Kings Highway or had it moved to Flatbush Ave yet (across from Kings Plaza)? Did you know/work with Jimmy Agnello? I was a regular at both shops.

The bass in question is definitely red, and the seller's in the next town over from me. Fender did offer red Ps and Js in '78.

even dee dee ramone has been quoted saying this it was in a interveiw for a basss magizine cant remember wich one right now and he said when the ramones were recording too tough to die , animal boy and halfway to sanity he bought a couble of p-basses that he thoght were 1978's p-basses turns out 2 were 1982's and the other was a 1983 and he said fender's qaulity got even worse in the 80's and thats why he'd always try to get 70's p-basses and late 60's if he was lucky enough to.

HI! Yes, Dave Edwards here, I worked at the Kings Highway and Coney Island ave. store, and moved with the staff to Forest hills, Queens when it closed. Bummer for me, I lived in Woodside, a 10 minute bus ride from the store in FH. I moved to Gravesend in 1980, so I didn't have to ride an hour and a half on TWO subway lines to get to and from the store on Kings Hwy., to Woodside, Queens. Then, they moved to Queens! Then, I bought a car.
The small Ash store on east 13th. was right up the block from my apartment, on e. 13th.,between Kings and R. Jimmy Agnello is a longtime friend, and a great guy! He called out my name when I walked into the new Sam Ash store in Huntington beach, CA. about 9 yrs. ago. I was out there with my girlfriend, and he was the Sam Ash regional manager for Socal! Wow, it sure was great to see him. I don't think he works for Ash any longer.

The lighting in that pic is pretty bad, but it sure looks like Mocha. Paul Jackson, from the Headhunters, had a mocha P-bass with a maple neck...and is pictured with it - I saw him play that bass.
I want to tell you guys something you apparently don't know, from your comments here... it was COMMON, for Howie, the manager of the electric guitar and amp dept. at Ash...to have me swap necks to fill orders! That means, I'd remove a maple neck from a sunburst body, and put it on a white body, if it meant making a sale! I did this a lot. There's NO way to know how many mismatched basses there are. There are a lot more guitars than basses like this. The era we speak of basses had a unique to the period serial number system. There were plain white address type labels with the same serial numbers as the neck, inside the cavities, and one on the underside of the pickguard. The necks, on the headstock face, DID use the first digit as the last digit of the year, that is absolutely official. How necks from '78 ended up on later bodies is very simple...bass players have been swapping necks on Fender basses for as long as I have been repairing them, and way before that, too.
Of course, there are factory overlaps, but that is not the norm. I've seen pickups and pots that were from '65, in 66 basses...but not much more stock overlap than that.
Now think about this: if I was required by management in ONE store in Brooklyn, to swap necks and bodies to fulfill a customer's order, then how many other swaps were done around the country? I'd say quite a few. Fender was known to pull basses off the line and spray the customer's color request, OVER the finished bass body to fill orders.
Just my experience...hope this proves at least a little interesting! Happy Holidays, everyone!

P.S. TOMMY RAMONE was the drum sales counter guy in 1982, worked right above the shop in the basement! He's a nice guy, and a great drummer.

LHBASSIST thats awsome that tommy ramone worked there

Wow! What an amazing piece of historical info. I'm amazed this has never made it into any Fender history books. Like you say, it must have been going on all over too. I love learning facts like this!!

uhhhhmmm, this practice wasn't limited to the USA. I know firsthand it was also done by one store who shall remain nameless on St. Antoine Street in Montreal. the practice stopped in the very early 80's if I recall correctly.

You mean Craig St. at the time? I guess I know the name of that store, it is the first name of my favorite drummer of all time

Hi! Yes, a LOT of well known players, and soon to be well known players worked, and still work in music stores. Tommy's last name was Erdyle or something spelled similar. A very nice guy. I was playing bass with Joy Ryder and Avis Davis in the late 70's, and we opened for the Ramones at Toad's Place in New Haven, Conn. I remember that I really liked Tommy's time and feel, a lot. Got to tell him so, when we worked together...but we didn't really hang at the store, my time there was nearly done in 1982. They closed the Forest Hills amp and guitar repair shop, and fired me right before Christmas '82, and moved all repairs to Hempstead. Merry Christmas that was, huh?
I'm glad, though...my real repair enlightenment came later on, as a result of being free of the Nazi like small minded management and stupid treatment of techs there. An hourly shit wage is no incentive to do quality work, and when you do, it doesn't matter to them. If you really want to get some repair chops fast, work in a music store. If you hate being told what to do by someone that doesn't have a clue as to what you do, forget it.

As far as the neck-body swapping- I really didn't care much for doing that, but when your boss tells you you have to do it, you need the job, and it's 1981...Well, the unknown future value of what we thought were not so great- boat anchor Fender basses was one reason why there's so many modded Precisions, and some jazz basses as well. The majority of them were pretty heavy northern ash, and just not so great in the fit and finish department. Some were very nice, but life as a tech in a major music store, underpaid by the hour is pretty much a blur.
Many vintage guitar historians have explained in detail, through numerous sources, like former and current Fender employees, that the practice of spraying a different color over a perfectly good completed bass or guitar body to satisfy a jobber, or stores' order, was common. You can see this where the topcoat finish is worn through on original Fender guitars and basses...many are pictured as evidence to this in vintage guitar magazines, and coffee table books.

MERRY CHRISTMAS !

My thoughts exactly. I don't think merchants (let alone players) had the knowledge or understanding of a potential vintage market and an instrument's future value back in those days. Certainly Pre-CBS instruments were revered, but the vintage market just wasn't what it is today, and I agree, nobody really considered that the CBS/70's stuff would be valuable. I can use my '72 Jazz as proof of that. I bought it for $575 back in '85 and for years it didn't seem to appreciate at all. It wasn't until the late 90's that it started escalating, and of course about 4 years ago the 70's stuff really got astronomical.

As for painting over pre-existing finishes, yep Fender did that often as well. My '75 black Tele bass was vintage white originally, and can be seen under the black in certain worn areas.

When I worked at Sam Ash, when I did a refret on a 62 Strat, it WAS a '62 Strat! There weren't any re-issues until the Fullerton made ones, starting late in my tenure there, circa 1982. The first bass I saw was a '58 Precision, and all I could say was hooray! Fender FINALLY woke up from their stupid disco leisure suit mentality, and began to realize that we wanted the OLD fender guitars. No, they weren't perfect, but they were an amazing improvement over the stuff they were making. They STILL didn't make them lefty, still don't. It's custom shop for us, unless we are willing to play a sunburst or black American Standard, or Mexican made bass. Or, we have to pay a new- much higher price for the great Japanese made lefty Fender basses bought through a jobber on Ebay.

The custom shop stuff is very nice, but THREE grand? Man, that just seems out of line to me, remember..I'm 58, and my first Black, maple neck, p-bass with a lefty case, factory stock, in 1973, was $321.00 out the door!

Comparatively, at $1249, the price for a new P-bass is pretty much the same nowadays - possibly less. The Honda 600 was selling for around $1,400 in the early 70's. Today a small car goes for about 10-13K. But I guess we were not all deeply in debt then.

Hi Sly!
You hit the nail on the head my friend. And I've been gone so long, I had totally for gotten the name used to be Craig St.

Joieux Noel!

The P-bass I bought at Sam Ash Music on W.48th. st. in 1973, had -GET THIS, FOUR 10% upcharges! Lefty, custom color, maple neck, lefty case! A sunburst righty was about $185.00 back then! Funny, 6 years later I'd end up being the guitar and bass tech for Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island- and most of the metro N.Y. area for Sam Ash Music, on Kings Highway in Brooklyn.
There is much truth in the price-adjusted-for-inflation comparison. The basses of the early 70's were NOWHERE near as consistently well made as they are now. In addition, the vintage reissues, although not perfect, are of themselves also more consistent- as a model line- than the original guitars they were modeled on!
Fender STILL does not offer us lefty's custom color options, or any vintage re-issue basses.
I believe, as I have stated, that over 3 thousand dollars for a Fender custom color custom shop bass is out of line, and NOT of Leo Fender's original concept of making AFFORDABLE, readily available instruments for working musicians. I just do not understand why a small section of their cnc operations could not be setup to build a number of left handed, say- 1956 P-basses in lefty. These are seemingly made out of unobtanium. There's one from the custom shop on E-bay right now- or just was, in gold, with a stupid huge, ugly scratch on the face- for $3,299.00 Man, I paid that for my Nissan Pathfinder! Search the Fender forums..I've bitched to them about this, and guess what? I felt the wind go by me as they blew me off.

So, here we are...still unable to get the same basses as our righty brothers and sisters. The stupidity and discriminatory nature of this can be seen in the following example- from my experience....

The Guitar Center's bass department in Las Vegas- I went there in 2004, just before traveling to another gig...there was ONE lefty, black, Mexican made jazz bass. Sorry, not interested. There were likely fifty to a hundred basses in there. I was let down, dissapointed, and slightly angry. It's a feeling I know well when I see the junk, and beginner level basses we're offered.
Guess who's picture was right above the entrance to that room?

Yup. Paul McCartney.