Fender Custom Shop Introduces Limited Relic 1955 Precision Bass

The Fender Custom Shop has rolled out its Spring 2013 offerings, including the Limited Relic 1955 Precision Bass. Mimicking the look of an aged bass, the new model is the Custom Shop’s first to feature a special Black over Three-color Sunburst nitrocellulose lacquer finish.

Fender Custom Shop Limited Series 1955 Reverse Precision Bass

The bass is created by Fender’s master builders with a lightweight ash body and a quartersawn hard-rock maple neck sporting a “soft V” profile. Its maple fingerboard has a 7.25? radius and 20 vintage-style frets. Other features include a custom-wound “stacked” ’51 Precision Bass pickup, a single-ply parchment pickguard, and chrome bridge and pickup covers.

The Fender Custom Shop Limited Relic 1955 Precision Bass carries an MSRP of $5,800. For more info, check out the Fender website.

Fender Custom Shop Limited Relic 1955 Precision Bass Specs:

  • Color: Black Over 3-Color Sunburst
  • Body Material: Select Lightweight Ash
  • Body Finish: Nitrocellulose Lacquer
  • Neck Material: Quartersawn Maple
  • Neck Finish: Nitrocellulose Lacquer
  • Neck Shape: 1955 Soft “V”
  • Scale Length: 34? (864 mm)
  • Fingerboard Radius: 7.25? (184.1 mm)
  • Number of Frets: 20
  • Fret Size: Vintage-Style
  • Nut Width: 1.7? (43.2 mm)
  • Position Inlays: Black Dot
  • Middle Pickup: Custom Shop Stacked ’51 Precision Bass
  • Controls: Master Volume, Master Tone
  • Hardware Finish: Chrome
  • Bridge: 2-Saddle ’50s Vintage-Style with Steel Barrel-Style Saddles
  • Tuning Machines: American Vintage Reverse Open-Gear Bass
  • Pickguard: 1-Ply Parchment
  • Included Accessories: Limited Edition Case, Strap, Cable, Custom Shop Picks, Limited Edition Certificate of Authenticity, Polishing Cloth

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Leave a Reply to Timothy J Clifford Cancel reply

  1. Beautiful, but no doubt costing an arm and a ‘professionally aged’ leg…..

  2. enough! DO A FUCKING NEW DESIGN!

  3. Are they going crazy now with prices? where are 5.800 US$ on this bass? A body, neck, pu, tuners, strings, pots, all stock, some work on spraying and damaging. Seems like Fender starts fooling his customers.

  4. Your avin a giraffe aren’t ya?

  5. For that much money I would rather wear it out myself!

  6. As a bassist who is also a “limited relic” –this is way too much money for a tribute bass. I’ll stick with my trusty 1977 P-bass which I’ve customized, and which has served me well over two marriages, a ton of gigs and sessions, and….

    • I still don’t understand why anyone would buy the Relic series. Why not buy a quality instrument and make those marks yourself? It’s like asking a car manufacturer to beat up a new car before you’ll buy it. I’ll “relic-ize” my own instruments.

    • Does it have an L serial number? (For Loser…)

    • Please post pix of your favorite rig, including any recent refinishes or stuff I haven’t seen yet.

  7. In my opinion, more than 2000$ for a bass is insane.

  8. As a proud owner and player of an original 1955 Precision, the black over sunburst misses the mark to say the very least.

  9. beautiful but definetly foolish pricing….Fender lost their jacks, marbles and pick-up-stix on this one….

  10. I find it funny how so many of you are so fast to criticize this bass because of its price. If you do not or have never owned a Custom Shop Guitar/Bass you would never understand why they are so great, and its not something you can simple get a feel for in a store. My dad has a Custom Shop ’56 1 of 100 Strat. He also had an all original 57 Strat. Mind you he sold his 1957 Original Strat because his Custom Shop was just as good if not better than the ’57. (Also my dad has been playing for over 50 years, so he didn’t make a ” Rookie Mistake”) Unless you Own or have played for a long period of time a custom shop guitar/bass then you have no right to say that it is or is not worth the price. I can tell you right now that this bass would be more than worth the price. You guys are expecting a $5000 bass out outperform a $1000 by 500%, but that’s not how it works. As the price becomes steeper the amount of % better becomes less and less. That’s just the nature of Guitars and Basses. Now I do understand that the Finish may be really bad, but each and every bass is different from custom shop and that’s what makes them so amazing, so while this bass may have a bad finish the others may have perfect finishes. So please unless you have first hand knowledge or have actually played the bass, don’t go bashing it on its price. While some of you don’t understand why someone would pay $5k for this, you have never understood the Artistic and Beauty of a Custom Shop bass and I don’t think you ever would if you have the “Oh its too expensive” attitude. Always take everything you read with a grain of salt and play the bass yourself and form your own opinion. You can’t feel the magic of a Custom shop through your TV screens now can you? ;)

    • I think you are wrong. Each guitar is unique and it all depends on how the different parts work together or not. If you would have a little more insider knowledge about Fender production you would laugh your ass off.
      They just used whatever they got in the shelf regardless of production year and wood sources.
      That’s why a ’57 Strat does not need to be better than an actual one.
      Custom shop instruments are made from high quality and workmanship, but if you believe that they use special woods or whatever special (except the pu’s and may be the neck), then you do not know all.
      Of course they are a little different to the factory guitars, but still they are not unique.
      I tried a lot of them and also own some basses from this company.
      I talked to former Fender guys and they could write a book…..same with Gibson.
      You are right if someone likes to spend 5k for this bass and is happy with it, I am happy for him.
      But still my opinion…Custom Shop is totally overrated.
      There are some really good luthiers around who will make you a much higher quality guitar for the same price or even less.
      And then you will have a real custom guitar and not a “1 of 100”.

    • “Each guitar is unique” Of course they are. Just like snow flakes and humans. There are no carbon copies and there never could be.
      “If you would have a little more insider knowledge about Fender production you would laugh your ass off.” I’ve been on multiple factory tours (live by the Corona Factory) and while the craftsmanship of there standard Guitars have gone down, the Custom Shops are still just as good as they were 10 years ago.
      ” but if you believe that they use special woods or whatever special (except the pu’s and may be the neck), then you do not know all. ” When did I ever say this? I never did, not once. However they DO craft the guitars by hand to a SPECIFIC measurements of REAL replica that they are making.
      “a little different to the factory guitars” HAHAHA. No, they are a completely different animal. Not just a little different/ Like I said before, if you haven’t owned one then you have no opinion on them because you don’t notice the small little details that make these such great guitars until you have owned them for years.
      “but still they are not unique” yes they are. ALL of them are crafted by hand. Each and every single one of them is going to be different at some point or another on the guitar/bass. It would be Physically impossible to make a direct carbon copy of another guitar made by hand. In fact the 1 of 100 strat my dad looked at 5 different ones until he found the one he thought felt best. So please tell me more about how they are not unique ;)
      “I talked to former Fender guys and they could write a book…..same with Gibson.”
      Alright? Is that supposed to mean something? I have connections to get a tour of the Rickenbacker factory (Which is impossible for the average player to do) I have friends who have been certified Fender Techs for 30+ years, and even know a couple of the master builders. Hell I even got to watch one of them make some of one of the custom shop guitars. What is that supposed to prove? I don’t get why we are sharing this info.
      “But still my opinion…Custom Shop is totally overrated.”
      Once again, if you have yet to own your own customshop or get to play one for a few months (everyday) then you would never be able to appreciate the guitar for what it is. That would be like me saying Oh Ampeg? Those amps are shit. Yet never have played one or owned one. You can’t form an opinion based on what other people use/play. You can only form your opinion on what YOU play.
      “There are some really good luthiers around who will make you a much higher quality guitar for the same price or even less.” Thats true, and you are right. BUT, how many of them will take the time to measure out the guitar/bass they are replicating? How many of them would make the measurements correct to the hundredth millimeter? How many of them have an actual ’56 strat that they can replicate. Or a ’55 P bass. You see what I’m saying? Plus “Much higher quality” is very debatable. VERY.
      “and then you will have a real custom guitar and not a “1 of 100″.” Like I said before, the 1 of 100’s were all VERY VERY VERY VERY different. Dad wen’t through 5 of them (maybe more, I would have to ask him) but it took him forever to find the perfect one. If that isn’t uniqueness, then neither are snowflakes.

      So in conclusion, you can’t form an opinion on a very high quality instrument unless you have extensively played the said instrument. And I’m not saying this bass is going to be amazing. I’m saying that Custom Shop guitars are ALMOST ALWAYS worth their value and more. But in reality I wouldn’t know how good/bad this bass is unless I also played it for an extensive amount of time. But the main point is everyone is bashing the bass before they even played the damned thing and how fair is that? You can’t say how good or bad something is based on price.

  11. Fender relic guitars are just priced too high, they look nice…but way too expensive..I’ll play my.
    old relic Peavey Foundation, was way cheaper and has held up like a champ.

  12. $5,800? Fender and Gibson sure know how to sell to the working musician.

  13. these fenders are highly overrated. I’ve tried more basses form fender, but those over 1500€ don’t have better sound, just cosmetical upgrades, which are for me less important. I own a fender japan ’51 prec bass, but after comparing mine to a relic prec bass it didn’t have better sound at all.

    • James Wood

      I own both a Fender Japan 51, an original Fender 63 P & a Fender CS 64 Jazz, the Japan 51 comes no where close to either of the later two in terms of sound &/or feel/playability. Like Landon Matthew Osborne above stated you need to own and play these instruments over a long period to really appreciate the difference as I have done.