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The Story of My 1962 Bass Guitar

My Most Treasured Possession

In 2010, I went on a school trip from Norway to Los Angeles. I wanted a new bass, so I took a chance, and sold both basses I had at the time, to have funds to spend in L.A.

Brown (Autumnglo) Rickenbacker 4001, with a sunburst jazz bass in the background.
Image of the whole bass.
The backside, showing a bit of wear.
Closeup of the headstock.
I sold this 1979 Rickenbacker 4001, in my favourite finish: Autumnglo. I also sold the bass in the background, a 1982 Squire JV Jazz bass.

I was looking for a P-bass

But after not finding anything interesting in Guitar Center and other “regular” music stores, I searched online. There I found a store called Norman’s Rare Guitars. I didn’t know it at the time, but it’s one of the world’s most highly rated vintage shops – and they had a real bargain. You see, Fender instruments from the early 60s are expensive – especially the “Pre-CBS” ones.1 To put things into perspective: Norman’s have one currently, in great condition, which they want $10,900 for!

A sunburst P-bass, with a thumb rest and pickup cover.
Mine looked like this when it was new. But not any more!

The one I ended up buying was even older, from 1962, but “only” $3,000. Not only that, the currency rate was much more favourable, from Norwegian Kroner, at the time. I paid what today would be $1,700.

Why it was so much cheaper

The guys as Norman’s said that the bass spent most of its life in the possession of a man they know who was. However, he wasn’t a stranger to experimenting with chemistry and his own blood – and the bass bears witness to this.

Here’s what I know about originality

I know that the volume pot is new (as I’ve swapped it myself) – and I don’t think the knobs are original.2 The rear strap button has been moved (to accommodate the heavy tuners). The headstock strap button is missing, alongside the pickup and bridge covers. However, as far as I know, the rest is original: Neck (more on this later), thumb rest, bridge tuners, pickup, and electronics.

As mentioned, my bass used to look like the one in the image above here – same finish and all.3 But now, and when I bought it, it looks like this:

The tortoise pickguard is matte, and the bass itself has lots of patina and a dark purple colour. I won't go into detail on all the images, as I'll explain everything about it in writing below.
The tortoise pick guard has been sanded down, or something, to appear matte. The sunburst finish has been removed, and then he's applied a gold finish before adding a dark purple. The pickup also got a bit of the dark purple colour. He's also made notches on each side of the neck, for some reason. And even weirder, is that he's made tiny holes in the clay dot inlays, and filled them with a bit of lime green paint.
The backside, with a lighter purple colour and lots of wear.

I think he was a bit lazy, or something, with the backside. It’s a much lighter shade of purple, so I think he only bothered with one layer. More notches, above the neck plate. It’s a bit hard to tell here, but you can see that when the purple wears away it shows gold first, then wood.

The headstock. It has notches all around it.
He also made notches around most of the headstock. I think the decal is newer (late 60s). It might've been from the time he did this weird notch job? Because they've actually been lacquered over properly! A bit of lime green here as well. 👍🏻
The backside of the neck.
Quite a bit of wear on the neck.
Closeup of the top of the pickguard and top of the neck.
The pick guard is quite wobbly – which I like, as it gives a nice spot for my pick. Here you can also see that he filled the inlays on the side of the neck with green as well. (But, funnily enough, not the one furthest in. I guess it was too much of a faff.)
A bad Photoshop shop of Jon Snow giving Arya Stark my P-bass.

"All the best swords instruments have names"

I’ve named the bass Hufsa, which is the Norwegian name for The Groke. Not only does my bass and her share colour and general shape – I also like the idea of both being a bit off-putting, while only looking for friendship.

The Groke, from the Moomin stories.

The neck

I love, love, love the neck of this P-bass – precisely because it’s not a P-bass neck. I don’t have the largest hands, so I love that, according to Norman’s, the original owner asked the Fender factory (which was local to him) to deliver it with a jazz bass/A neck.

The inside of the neck shows a slab board and the date September 1961.
It has a little tortoise shim beneath.

The bass serial number indicates that it was delivered in early 1962, and the neck is dated September 1961 – so the story is very plausible, as Fender would make bodies and necks separate, and match them up later.

Re-fret and more

Currently, the bass is “in the shop”.4 It’ll get new frets, new clay dot inlays, and a bit more – but I won’t be going for a refinish or other restoration efforts. I want to keep the mojo!

The neck without strings, showing the extensive fret-wear.

I’m glad it has the story it has

Now, if the bass was closer to mint, it would obviously be worth way more than it is today. But then I would never, ever been able to afford it! And it’s a remarkable player, that keeps its tuning forever and sounds terrific. And I will never get rid of it. The only bad thing, is that it’s completely removed my GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) for new basses…

Sound examples

Here’s a song from my band Klondike:

Feet in the Water

And another one:

Healing

  1. In 1965, Fender got bought by CBS. And the quality dropped a bit after this. ↩︎

  2. But they are old and heavy. ↩︎

  3. The sunburst is barely visible in the electronics pocket. ↩︎

  4. Will report back when it’s done! ↩︎