1956 Fender Precision Bass

The 1956 Precision Bass features the original 'slab body' design with a single Telecaster-style single-coil pickup — fundamentally different from the later split-coil P-Bass. The body has no comfort contours (the contoured body was introduced in 1957). One-piece maple neck with the spaghetti logo headstock. Blonde finish is standard. Serial numbers on the neck plate (four or five digits, no letter prefix). For 1956, numbers should fall within documented Fender serial ranges. However, neck plates were not assigned sequentially to bodies, so neck date stamps (pencil or ink on the neck heel) and body cavity dates are more reliable. Look for a hand-written date on the butt end of the neck heel and in the neck pocket or under the pickguard on the body. The single-coil pickup should be Telecaster-style (not the split-coil introduced in 1957). This is the most critical identification point. Bridge should have four individual saddles. Kluson Deluxe bass tuners. Pot codes should correspond to 1956 from Stackpole (304) or CTS (140). Serial number on bridge plate. Cloth wiring throughout. The body should NOT have comfort contours. The finish should be nitrocellulose lacquer. Nitro finishes check (develop fine cracks) and wear naturally over decades, showing wood underneath at contact points. The aging pattern should be consistent — even checking across the body, not localized. Refinished guitars often have a 'too perfect' look or inconsistent wear. Under UV/blacklight, original nitro fluoresces differently than modern polyester or polyurethane. Original custom color finishes are verified by examining the color in the pickup cavities and under the pickguard where it has been protected from light. The single-coil vs split-coil distinction is paramount — a slab-body P-Bass should always have the single Telecaster-style pickup. If a split-coil pickup is present on a claimed slab-body bass, either the pickup or the body identification is wrong. Check for body modifications — some slab-body P-Basses have been routed for the split-coil pickup, dramatically reducing value. Verify the lack of body contours. The 1956 P-Bass shares the slab-body, single-coil design with all 1951-1956 models. The 1957 redesign (contoured body + split-coil pickup) is the single most important change in P-Bass history. Production gradually increased from ~195 in 1951 to ~1200 annually by the mid-1950s.