1966 Fender Mustang Bass in Dakota Red Finish with OHSC – From the first year of production

The M Series handmade bass guitars are where it all started for Stonefield® and they are now our highest spec’d instruments. Handcrafted in our New Zealand workshop, an M Series build begins by incorporating marine and aircraft grade laminates into a remarkably light weight yet very strong through-body core with a 34-inch scale length. From that point on, the array of woods and custom options are vast for M Series basses. Three-piece wooden bindings grace all M Series fingerboards, the bodies are created from a core of Fijian salusalu and an amazing array of topwood choices and a hand rubbed oil finish turns these boutique bass guitars into works of art. State of the art passive electronics with High, Mid and PRESENCE controls (all that control, no batteries required), floating wooden bridges and the remarkable Tomm Stanley™ Tuning System are all standard features on and M Series bass.

One of the nicest example from the first generation of the Fender Precision Bass. With a graciously aged butterscotch finish, it’s just perfection and plays beautifully as you would expect from one of these 51-54 Pbasses. Detlef Schmidt is the author of what’s considered the most accurate book about the first generation of the Precision Bass, he collected as many serial numbers as he could and this one is featured on his list. The neck has a great patina with the classic finish wear at the back, which is common to these early 40s and 50s Fender instruments. Flat head screw on tuners, neckplate and pick guard as supposed for these. Original covers still there and came with a tweed case that looks like may have been externally modified but looks all original inside, although is hard to confirm. Bass is completely original, with pots perfectly working as well as the black bobbin pickup and the original paper capacitor. It came in with a reissue pickup but the original 1954 black bobbin (which sounds amazing) was inside the tweed case and is now back with the bass and rest of the wiring is untouched. The finish has a gorgeous checking and looks like they patched a couple of extra screws holes (possibly a thumb rest) but they are barely noticeable. Bass is very light and resonant with an incredible sustain due to the string through the body. The pencil dates are unfortunately not legible anymore but the serial of this bass is present on the bridge and can be found on Detlef Schmidt’s book. These early models are becoming incredibly hard to come by and this one is a great example.