92 Legacy Bass

[Ricemaxx]

Hello, I recently came across a beautiful sunbrust Legacy Bass. The neck is dated nov.19,1992 and has prototype written on it. The body is dated nov.6,1992 with no such marking. My question is, would this bass be a prototype or just the neck?

[KenC]

1992 would be at the very beginning of production, and the neck is younger than the body. It may have been a true prototype, or it could be that the neck was a prototype while the body specs had already been decided on (and the pieces assembled after production began). I'd call it a prototype if it was documented as such in the production log. In any case, it was one of the first examples of that model.

I doubt that being a prototype for the Legacy/LB-100 model would affect the value of the bass, but I'm sure it would be nice to know. The prototypes that usually attract attention are from the Leo-era; they usually have sanding sealer on the body instead of a production finish. The appeal is partly that they can show the final steps in a model's development, and partly that they were almost certainly in Leo Fender's hands.

Ken

[Ricemaxx]

Ken, thank you very much for your quick and informative response.

[Ricemaxx]

Now listed for trade or sale in marketplace.