5 String P Bass

When I made the jump to 5ers playing 4 strings was strange, so I sold one of the best sounding basses I ever owned; a mid 70s Precision with EMGs. A few years later I found myself easily moving back and forth between 4s and 5s and wished I still had the P bass.

Where am I going with this? If you really like the P bass you have then hang onto it and revisit it later. Just an opinion.

 

What do you want to spend? For under $600, you get a Yamaha BB425 or a Schecter Diamond P5. For around $1,200, you could get a Fender P5 or a Lakland 55-64, or the next level Yamaha.

 

The new Squier Vintage Modified Precision is arriving soon. Maybe check one of those out.

 

I say hang on to that p bass. I have sold a bass or too that I really liked because I did not think I was going to use it again and a little bit late remorse set in and I found myself wanting to play it again. You really wont get a tremendous amount for a MIM anyways, so if it plays good and sounds good hang onto it.

As far as P bass options the squier vintage mod coming soon is a good options
And the standard American P is really nice

 

Bingo. I have the next level Yamaha, the BB1025X, and I love it.

 

The Fender American Standard P5 is nice.

 

If you want a 5 string P bass that sounds like a P bass then they're as close as it gets. I believe in a blind audio test (specified to prevent the feel comments) most people couldn't tell which was which.

 

No they don't. They FEEL like a P-bass however. I own one. Love it. BUT I had to change the pickups to make it work right. I wonder who had the idea that a P-bass should have Jazz pickups?

Mine has the standard P-bass 5er Fender pickup for neck and a DiMarzio J pickup for the bridge. Really nice combo although doesn't quite balance full up. (best is neck 80% bridge 100%).

You really don't have a choice because Fender doesn't sell a P/J 5er. You either have to get an AM. Std. 5 string P-bass or you have to do the Squier P/J mod like I did or else get some other brand.

Oh. Also mine has series/parallel for P=bass pickup with push-pull on the neck pickup volume control for grins. But it was a waste of time since I never seem to use the thinner sounding parallel setting.

Mine:

 

Nice looking PJ5.

 

First thing to do would be to pay for a Supporting Membership before this turns into an illegal For Sale/Trade Thread

 

I still have my 4-string P after switching to an MM 5er. It's an '83 American Vintage so I expect to keep it forever.
I wouldn't mind getting a P5 but the budget won't allow right now.

 

I saw the Europe exclusive Squier Ps, which now includes a 5er. I've been hearing good things about Squier lately, and the one or two I tried are pretty nice. Dunno if that P5 will make it stateside though.

I agree with saving the bones for the MIA Fender P5. I own two, love those basses.

 

I do not like the P-5. It has all the wrong characteristics for tone and balance. It is the raison d'etre for a 4-string, but not five.

So instead of blindly picking a bass that is someone else's favorite, I will give some design criteria to look for:

1) At least a three-piece neck for stability and damping of resonances (dead notes).
2) 2 (B&E) + 3 (ADG) tuner arrangement so the B string doesn't bind over the nut or around the tuner, but has enough space for the string leader to tune the B string smoothly.
3) Lightweight Hipshot, Gotoh or Schaller tuners.
4) The "neck" pickup in proportionally the same position as the D-G segment of a Precision bass pickup to get the proper balance of fundamental and overtones on the B string.
5) Longer upper horn to balance the bass against neck dive.
6) Clean broad-band hum-cancelling electronics, whether active or passive, because Jazz growl doesn't necessarily equal clean when it gets to the B string and P thump doesn't necessarily mean solid fundamental and sustain.

There are many basses on the market that meet these criteria, from my $279 on sale Ibanez SRA305 to the multi-thousand dollar offerings of Dingwall and Little.

Shop a lot. Play a lot. If you see one you like, put it down and walk away from it and come back a couple of days later to see if you feel the same way about it then.

Notice I did not say anything about nut width, bridge spacing, scaling, neck contour or body wood. This is because these are all personal preferences and good basses are out there with all variations on these themes.

 

Why don't you check into the new Carvin's?