57 P bass build from parts or buy

At one time, Gruhn Guitars was selling some of his basses, not sure if any are left. Probably out of your price range, but if you are going to do a tribute band, best to do it right!!

But seriously, I would get a Fender Roadworn in the burst finish, problem solved.

 

This.

Fender Road Worn '50s Precision Bass - 2-Color Sunburst

 

Buy something that is built, affordable, and that plays well for you
Too many crap shoots with parts basses IMO
If factories with CNC machines and good QC can't always get them right, I say mixing a bunch of different brand parts is going to lead to big sloppy tolerances

 

To be honest..... i can't recall ever playing a bad bass that was made in Japan from the 80's or later.

 

I pieced together a 62/70 from mostly Fender Japan parts thru places like Stratosphere. Lollar pickups. Some parts from eBay. That’s the way I’d go.

 

Support the great MIM classics line and get a new one, they’re fantastic instruments

 

For 99.9999932% of the people who are watching you, as long as you get a sunburst precision with a maple neck and a correct color pickguard, no one will know (or care). MIM is fine.

 

There' a 50s classic mim for $550 in the classifieds. Ticks all the boxes

 

Used MIM roadworn Fender

 

You could just get yourself a used 3 color sunburst w/maple neck American Standard P and replace the pickguard with a gold anodized aluminum one and be done with it. It probably wouldn't cost any more than amassing parts from the Stratosphere, would have a better resale value and would be a lot less trouble all the way around. I see basses like the above for sale on TalkBass, Craigslist, Reverb and eBay all the time.

BTW ... INXS tribute band ... very cool. Love those guys.

 

That’s a good idea, some like the 1.65” nut better than 1.75 too. I’m trying to figure out about these though, I’ve heard recently the newer pickups are ceramic instead of alnico

 

It is hidden in a multi bass for sale thread.

Buy it so my gas subsides ha.

For Sale/Trade - Bass PURGE Fender Warwick Ibanez Squier

 

Sweet, best of luck!

 

Good luck finding a 13 hole gold anodized guard.

 

If I wanted to get parts that fit together well, the name that comes to mind isn't Fender. Especially body/neck joints. Warmoth does that well day in day out.