A Simple Lesson Learned the Hard Way

Maybe some of you budget instrument owners can benefit from my experience and save yourself some time and money.

I'd never "gotten" the whole P-bass thing, for whatever reason, but I finally found one I liked when I played a Squier Classic Vibe 60's Precision while on TDY in San Antonio. The color looked much better in life than in pictures, and I could not deny the tone and feel of the instrument. I had to have it!

Perhaps I was trying to cleanse myself of feeling smitten by a budget instrument, but I foolishly began to mod the bass with a new capacitor and a DiMarzio Model P pickup. Maybe some of you folks like the Model P, but I never really clicked with it. I didn't want to sink more money into trying every P-style aftermarket pup on the market, so I felt kind of trapped and just stopped playing the bass after a short while.

Since then I've bought a Fender Original P-bass pup to try and rectify the situation, but if that doesn't work, I'm not going to be ashamed to put the bass back to its stock form. I loved it then, and I don't see why it's so terrible to play a stock budget instrument if that's what sounds right. It's a lot easier to try and buy your way out of something than to just get over your mental hangups about gear.

So I guess the lesson is: if you like the way something sounds, it doesn't matter what the label says on it. Play it, by God!