70's (?) Memphis Precision bass: revisited.

[JoshuaTSP]

I just wanted to revisit this bass.....as I've had it a while now.

It's a 70's Memphis P clone/copy. I bought it off eBay blindly for less than $200. Very little information on them here or google.

After months of playing it.....with the same crappy silk destroyed Chromes tuned to C standard.
If you look really close, the highest string is physically tied to the tuning post.....since it wasn't long enough to wrap around sufficiently.
It didn't come loose or break this whole time, so I left it. ghetto....I know, but whatever works.

Anyway, I've gigged it a few times, took it on our short tour, and was playing it last night......I realized that I still really liked it.....flats and all. (not a big fan of flats) The tone is good, so I'm not taking them off. A bit plunky/thuddy for my style of music, but it seems to work. I'd like to try some rounds on it.

The action and playability is better than any fender I've tried so far. That's what's so great about it.
Nice low action, minimal buzz, and great tone.

The neck profile is fairly different too.....slightly more boxy towards the heel. Not as C shaped and smooth as it's fender counterpart.

Mine has the "made in japan" on the neck plate.....which....from what I can tell....are the "good ones".

So if you can find one......give it a fair shot.....some of those old clones are spectacular.

All that said, I'm not taking the Fender logo off the headstock either.

 

[bassteban]

IIRC, Mmephis was not too shabby in the 70s. What's the nut width? Looks fairly tight/Jazz-like.

 

[msb]

I was thinking the maple necks had a skunk stripe in those days .

 

[Spinal Tapper]

Really cool bass, man! That sure would fetch more than $200

 

[JoshuaTSP]

IIRC, Mmephis was not too shabby in the 70s. What's the nut width? Looks fairly tight/Jazz-like.

It looks like 1.5 or more like 1.562?

19mm at the bridge.

 

[Meddle]

The string tree looks wrong-o-clock. Is it pinching the strings in?

Love the pickguard, I would expect to see carp swiming in the ripples.

 

[oldrockerdude]

my guitar player has one kinda like this he uses for recording demo's it was a $40 pawn shop bass i told him was not bad at all. like the 80's usa peavey foundation, very over looked. people still seem to go in and pay alot more for a Squire/fender and get alot less.

 

[JoshuaTSP]

played it at practice tonight.....still kicks butt.

I had to shim the neck a little to raise the saddles a little.....I was bottoming out the highest string saddle. Plus all of the adjustment screws were poking/cutting my hand. All is good now.

 

[jim777]

Memphis = Ibanez. Same factory, same guys building both.

 

[gitlvr]

We have that exact same bass at our church. Absolutely love it! It's heavier that a truck, though. It belongs to our old piano player(I'm the new piano player). It's so old, however, that it's experiencing some electronics issues. It gets distorted at times. I think it's an old solder joint. I really think all it really needs is someone to go into it and re-flow the solder joints again. Unfortunately, the owner won't let anyone do any work to it. So we have all been playing my Affinity P lately. Too bad. That's one killer bass, IMHO.

 

[drewfunk]

My guitarist had a Memphis P bass that was all clear finish. The body was made out of like 8 pieces of wood, and the headstock was made of three. It weighed a ton and had a huge ass neck. But it was pretty damn solid!

 

[Jordan fulton]

Can someone help me with some information about my bass. Can't find a serial number or any information about where its from or made.

 

[bholder]

Memphis = Ibanez. Same factory, same guys building both.

Thanks, did not know that.

 

[GregBass1979]

Memphis = Ibanez. Same factory, same guys building both.

To set the record straight, Ibanez was FujiGen and Memphis along with Ventura and Conqueror was made at Matsumoku. All well built, but for future inquirers let's get accurate info here.