I picked up this early Stingray with plans to bring it back to normalcy. I just ordered the remaining parts I needed (thanks Scott) and it should be getting shipped off for a refinish soon (to Michael Dolan's).
Other than the obvious jazz neck pickup addition, there were a few odd things with this bass.
(1) The first thing that I noticed when I tried to swap necks with another pre-EB Stingray is that the neck heel is 1/4" more narrow than standard. Also, it has a jazz-width 1.5" at the nut.
(2) The body has contours front and back like the later model Stingrays, not a slab body like it should be. I have no way of knowing if this was done later by the same over-enthusiastic person that added the neck pickup.
(3) The jack was relocated to the side of the body. Again, I don't know when this was done. I'm going to have it filled and keep the jack on the control plate.
Underneath the flakey finish, you can see the holes that have been filled in from the original bridge (I took off the bridge and sanded it down). I obtained a '79 bridge and the string-through holes line up perfectly (the '76-'78.5 holes were more directly under the intonation screws). This is the main thing that leads me to believe it's an authentic pre-EB Stingray, and not something that was put together elsewhere.
The contours, extra pickup and side-mounted jack could all have been done at almost any time, but I can't think of a way to explain the narrow neck heel. The routing for the jazz pickup is very clean and nicely cut, not a hack job. The MM pickup route has the proper threaded inserts for the Stingray pickup.
Does anyone have any additional insight into just what I may have here? Any other ideas?
I know Dan Lakin started out as a big Stingray fan and collector, it almost looks like an early 4-94 prototype.
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