Help with Fender Contempo..!

[aki]

Hey everyone,

I got a Fender Contempo, and it's got strange knobs on top. Check out my post and pics here (In the photos section) for more info:

combonation.proboards89.com/index.cgi?board=photos&action=display&thread=288

I'm looking for someone who owns one of these or knows about them. There's virtually no info on these on the net. I'm not sure if I have some sort of "unknown/transitional model" or someone just put them in. It could be possible that someone did, but in my opinion if someone were to, it would be more simple. It doesn't really look like a job someone would "just do".

I noticed that my organ doesn't have a knob on the right like this one:

bp0.blogger.com/_vvbvqpwVBz8/R-YLOMp0-SI/AAAAAAAAAHM/iyqwx5T48D4/s1600-h/contempo2.jpg

So that leads me to think that I do have somewhat of a different model.

What do you think?

[settembrini17]

The Contempo in your link has also, almost certainly, been modified. Mine simply has a cheekblock/endblock in that location - no knob. I also have PDFs of the original Fender catalogues from 1968 & 1969, which show the Contempo without any of these controls. (Going to try to upload one pic to the images section.)

Lots of "as-found" combos will have mods like this - note for example the vibrato speed control mod for Connies:

homepage.mac.com/sonicvi/voxvib.html

I guess it may have something to do with the fact that anyone with the technical skill to maintain and repair these devices is likely to be an experimentative type -- not afraid to tinker around in there and "improve" the design. So I think you definitely have a modded Contempo, not a transitional model. But who knows: maybe your mod actually IS an improvement!

[aki]

Thanks for replying,
Hopefully since this is a modification the value of it will not go down?? I think I got it for a good price, $500, and it came with the pedal, original legs and an amp. My next step is to take the lid off, and it will not budge. The knobs are all fairly easy to remove except the black ones. Do any of the screws underneath loosen the lid? I should probably ask before I unscrew something bad haha.

I guess the next step is to take the lid off and take a look at the innards.. I'll post pics when I get there