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I'm a guitarist, don't shoot me...
See video of Alan Spenner playing bass for Joe Cocker at Woodstock, 2.04 gives a good shot of his bass.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POaaw_x7gvQ
Looks like a fretless Precision (and sounds like one). Can't find anything on when Fender first made fretless Precisions. Was this a 'homer' or were Fender making fretless Precisions then?
Thanks,
Ddig
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At 3:37 in the Joe Cocker video, the white lines across the fingerboard at the fret positions are too wide to be just filled tang gaps. They also appear to have height along the edge of the neck.
At approximately 6:00, in the edge on shot of the bass, you should see that the fingertips land between the fret lines and stay there. A fretless bassist would not finger the notes this way.
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Great fellas, thanks for the insight.
I'll stick with a fretted short scale for the moment, think I might try some flat wounds.
Ddig
Funkfingers, had a look back at the video, I can see what you are saying there.
Had some time to kill, so did some digging…
Grease Band, Chris Stainton, 1968 playing a de-fretted precision – same one as in the Marquee club film you mentioned
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=grease+band+videos+french+night+club&&view=detail&mid=26F847B0190F1B461B2A26F847B0190F1B461B2A&FORM=VRDGAR
Some one handed playing at 3:56 and de-fretted at 6:23
Grease Band, Alan Spenner, July 1969 stripped back precision
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=grease+band+videos&&view=detail&mid=D433C509EE7F4E3ABFA3D433C509EE7F4E3ABFA3&FORM=VRDGAR
Grease Band, Alan Spenner, October 1969, black precision bass as used at Woodstock
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=grease+band+videos+tom+jones&&view=detail&mid=8939906FD739DA42B7EE8939906FD739DA42B7EE&FORM=VRDGAR
Along the way managed to buy a copy of Joe Cocker and the Grease Band – On Air (BBC sessions 1968-69) that didn’t cost £60-80 and came across some more music I liked, but had never heard before.
Ddig
In the Paris club footage, it is possible to tell by the way that Spenner "finds" the notes that he is playing a defretted bass guitar. The glissandi at approximately 2:20 confirm this. He uses the tang lines as a visual clue. In other words, he is cheating.
By the Seventies, sound fashions were changing. Bass guitars with active electronics were appearing. By comparison, a defretted Precision would have sounded humdrum. Not enough high frequency detail.
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
You made a very good point there.