Totally GASing for a Pink Paisley P-Bass.
 

I've always been a fan of the Pink Paisley Tele, but until a couple of days ago I had no idea this even existed:



When I learned of its existence, I just about had a heart attack. This thing's got *the* look. And for a while now I've preferred the sound of a "Telecaster" bass over the standard Precision ever since I heard Sting playing one. There's something very gnarly about the sound, and I dig the hell out of it.

Why, oh why, must the Pink Paisley P-bass be so uncommon? :bawl:

I dunno good question! Nice bass though, I've never played a tele bass in my life or even heard one!:hyper:

A video of one of the original Pink Paisley P-basses. ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeWhN52RlRs

Well, it's not a "Tele" bass even though it looks like it would be. This is the original design of the Precision. The Precision design we all know and love came later. This one is a reissue but I can't remember why they did the pink paisley thing...some sort of commemorative thing. Its totally badass...

It's a Fender Japan copy of a short run of Paisley Tele basses from the late '60s, and there is a similar Blue Floral version.

IIRC they called it a '54 Precision, while the original paisleys were called Telecaster basses, even though they were very similar to the original single coil Ps.

Don't know what your budget is but I saw this one yesterday.

Ken

Whew. $2599? That's waaaaay too rich for my blood.

I know it's not technically a "Tele" bass, but it seems that enough people refer to '51 P-basses by the name that it's pretty much stuck. Beats me why. It's probably the guitarists that do it.

People refer to the late '60s Telecaster basses as Tele basses and the early Precisions as SCPBs or single coil P basses, misinformed guitarists notwithstanding.

The Tele bass changed in '72 as well, to a neck position humbucker.

I owned two of the paisley reissues at different times, they were really nice and looked so cool. I sold them both, one because I was offered stupid money for it, the next because I just can't get SCPBs to work for me, I focus of the split coil pickups. They were inexpensive when new, now they are creeping up in value due to rarity.

An original Paisley Tele bass will cost a small fortune, even in this slow vintage market.

Well, I'm by no means a rich man, so an original Paisley bass is out of the question. Which is okay, because I think the aged look of the old Paisley instruments looks pretty crummy these days.

Heck, I'd be happy just to acquire a Paisley body and find the neck and pickup elsewhere.

http://tinyurl.com/amfjetu

is where to get the best repro and/or extrapolation on the originals. I love his stuff...good prices too. AFA the pickup- a seymour duncan vertically stacked sc with a coil tap will give you the two sounds you want, a single coil or a humbucker. While a lindy fralin sounds really good, it will limit you to a humbucker, and if you have that you might as well buy a regular pbass. Another thing I've found since I have been back in tele land the last year or so is that contrary to TB advice, I feel the original two saddle steel barrel bridge works the best, especially if you use rw's and like more of a Dusty Hill sound. I tried the Fender deluxe but preferred the original. And..a tip if you go down this road..it's not all that hard to fall back into the habit of using the pickup as a thumb rest..however if you do this you run the risk of pulling the top plate off the pickup and you will be calling MJ in Santa Barbara for another one. been there.. Leo had a good idea about that pickup cover. Also, shield the cavity..and run a ground wire to the pu cover for extra ground-ation. My bass is REAL quite, even in stump pulling SC mode. Cheers!

I think the paisley pattern is totally awesome. I hope you get to have one. :)

How much does a Crook run? I thought they were somewhere in the vicinity of 2-3k.

Found a price. $3200. Still waaaay too rich for my blood. My budget's less than $1000.

You can land a reissue pink paisley fender bass for under 1K.

It's a shame you only recently discovered these. DrumCity/GuitarLand, a dealer near me, had 4 each of the paisley and blue flower print MIJ reissue basses a few years back, and ended up blowing out the last few at $600 each.
I was close to grabbing the last paisley, but never did. I wish I would have snagged it - they were light weight, solid, well balanced & good sounding basses.

I saw one today in the used rack but I can't recall the price.
http://avenue-guitars.com/

bass club chicago has a beautiful Nash (serial #1). i played it, and it is awesome.

Aw man, just rub it in! :p I'm at the point where I'd give up my Am Deluxe P for one of these.

This.

Been almost a week. Still looking for the ever-elusive MIJ Pink Paisley.