Vintage 1988 Fender Longhorn Precision Bass Black With OHSC

Here at Truetone Music, we are fortunate to have close relationships with some of the most legendary figures in the musical instrument industry.  These are people behind the scenes that have helped make brands what they are today.  One that we go way back with is Jack Schwarz.  So much so that he gave the owner of Truetone his start in the industry!  Over decades, Jack played a pivotal role at Fender and eventually became the owner of Fano.  During his career, he amassed an impressive collection of gear.  Now, select pieces have become available for the first time, exclusively through Truetone Music.

 
One of the most interesting pieces is this Fender Longhorn Precision Bass.  It's something you've never seen, because it's the only one like it to exist.  Here's the story:

 
Fender introduced the American Standard series in 1988, but the Longhorn design began appearing in the late 1980s to early 1990s, overlapping with the early production American Standard models.  Over the years, these basses have become desirable among Fender bass aficionados.  Longhorn models are considered very rare among Fender collectors, particularly early builds from the late 1980s.   Here we have an extremely rare prototype.

 
This 1988 Fender American Standard Longhorn Precision Bass is a rare, collectible variant of the American Standard Jazz Bass.  According to Jack himself:

 
"In 1987, I was a supervisor in the original Fender Corona factory, and was asked by Dan Smith, VP of Marketing to build two prototype basses, with the new “long horn” design...one Jazz Bass and one Precision bass. George Blanda, the well-respected R&D engineer at Fender designed and made two new “American Standard” bass bridges. The bass was initially to have a P/J pickup configuration, but before the body went to paint, it was decided to have it built with only the conventional P-Bass pickup. The original Jazz Bass pickup route is faintly visible under the finish. When it was decided not to introduce the Longhorn American Standard Precision Bass, the decision was also not to use the bridges designed by George.  It was then that Dan allowed me to purchase the Precision Bass, which I've owned to this day."

 
The run ended up being only Jazz basses.  Later, the Precision Plus was released, also with the Longhorn body shape, but it was an entirely different beast - not only was it a P/J configuration, it featured different electronics.  There was never a run of regular American Standard Longhorn P basses made - resulting in this one being the only one.  Not only that, it's the only bass with this bridge out there.  

 
This Fender Longhorn Precision Bass is really something special.  We've had a lot of great basses here at Truetone, but this one has a very special backstory and history.  Perhaps most importantly, it plays great and sounds amazing!  The neck is super comfortable.  Plugged in, you get THE classic bass sound - thick, powerful and capable of laying it down in any situation. 

 

The bass is in excellent shape - while it was played over the years, it's been kept super clean and handled carefully.  So, there are slight surface scratches in the finish (can't be seen in the photos) but that's it.  The techs in our shop have setup the bass to play perfectly, and it's ready to go.  The original case is included.  

 

This is quite the find.  It's the only one to ever exist, and it's here now, but not for long.