[Zig]

Partly because I've moved from a recording to a live environment...and partly because I seem to be infatuated with a Parker Fly...I'm "rationalising" my guitar stock.
I've assembled a gallery of 4 superior instruments here at my PBase galleries. These will be of interest to anyone with a degree of guitar/bass mania, particularly so any UK colleagues who have searched long for tonal excellence....any of you can also see several examples of how not to take guitar photos, I admit.

[Toad]

Very nice. That reminds me - I have to rationalize my camera stock one of these days...

[Zig]

Ta mate. Have had several hot sniffs around the bass and the Gibson already...oddly none about the Fender Japan, which I thought folks would be snarling for. Encouraging...but show not over till fat lady sing, and all that. Mind you, it's only Day One.
And my, yes, isn't the thought of camera consolidation depressing...?...if I condensed all my hard-fought and hard-earned kit, I'd still not have enough for a new pro body let alone a lens. Think of it, an entire Pentax 67 oufit, with AE prism + 45/2.8 + 90mm + 300mm f4....and still would be hundreds shorty of even, say, a Fuji X-100...not that I'm wanting the latter, just illustrating. Pah.

[Toad]

...and then there all the opportunity costs of having my closet full of camera equipment that I'm not using.

[NT73]

I was looking for the fender site, and it seems to have been bought out by old workers.
It most probably means I wont now be able to get genuine spares for my 73 Precision before it goes on sale. I was going to get new pots and machine heads. I can get the chrome bits rechromed locally but I am not sure wether they will strip down.

It seems as you get older you accumulate lots of stuff you don't use or need, wether it be guitars, amps, computers (Atari 800XL anyone) jigsaws, wives, et al.

[Zig]

My heart bleeds to see the lumbering and leviathanic(sorry mate, I just love the sounds of the words here) thrashings of these once-great guitar companies, and I can't help thinking of death-throes. Despite all the "economic restraints", etc., both Fender and Gibson could have done so much more to maintain cred, quality and self-respect over recent years.
I wonder, NT, if a total resistance to any modding of a 73 Precision might be better here? I'm half-thinking that perhaps the sellability might remain better if all original parts are retained in situ on the bass? Any replacement of any electrical bits, even something as seemingly nondescript as pots, will have some effect on overall capacitance and sound of the whole thang(aplogies if I'm teaching one to suck eggs here).
That said, "new old stock" bits will certainly be far easier to source for mid-70s Fenders than earlier. I'd strongly recommend a lurk or even a join of Basschat(if you're not a BCer already, that is): there are, among the all the normal tedious stuff, a great many wise heads and Fender bassophiles are to be found. I'd reckon that sourcing the parts might be easier than one would have thought.

By the way, my "Jaco" fretless sold yesterday(weehee! ), the Les Paul looks set to go...just the PRS and the strat to go now.

[NT73]

I agree with keeping the original, but in my case the volume/or tone pot is decidedly dodgy. I can't remember which one now. It was 20 year back so I assume it will still be the same now (or worse) The chrome looks flat and tired looking, and the knocks/bumps on the case look just the same.
Still, as I have not yet had a valuation, I may leave it as is until such time. There is a local (ish) shop that has a few guitars of similar age at a very un-similar price to the amount I paid many years back.
I shelled out £60 for a second hand (but in pristine condition) Gibson EB0 (around 1963). Unfortunately at that time I had to sell my 63 pale blue precision ( first in the UK) due to insufficient spondulicks.
I'm pleased some of yours have sold.

[Zig]

I'm sure you've done this anyway but just in case: I'd always try a squirt of Servisol(not WD40) in the back of the pots.
Ahyes indeed: the regretted selling of guitars...the regret that cuts in increasingly 20+ years after, when we ascertain how much they've accrued!

I was speaking with a friend only last night about shared stories of the same: in his case a particularly tasty Gibson SG of a certain year that he flogged at knockdown, only to find many years later that prices since soared for that model.
My own sad tales were(are) passing over a 70s Ibanez Artist some years ago though it wasa mere £40 or so. I also bought in 1986 a Japanese Squier strat(they went Korean the year after), flogging it dirt cheap in the mid-90s. With angst I realised a couple of years ago how sought-after these have beome.
However, the upside is the joy we had of owning/playing them when we did...and if we buy/sell with wisdom we get both a good instrument and an investment that doesn't depreciate. Usually.

Ah..delightedly I've now sold the Les Paul and the Japanese strat, both I and the buyer happy bunnies! I'm so pleased, as I'm not a wheeler-dealer by nature and selling guitars is something that doesn't come easily.

[NT73]

I have used a different brand of electronic cleaner (probably Rocol - non oily type) in the past, but not 100% effectively.
I may just take the guitar in, as it is, and let the new owners sort it out. :/

I had just started to use 'the Chain ' as a tuning up exercise as well. (None of this g,a,b,d, stuff for me)