I just bought an American Deluxe P bass on Reverb. It is said to be 2010 vintage, ash body, rosewood board, but the thing that seems unique about it, as in I can't seem to locate another one like it, is that it's all passive. I has the regular split coil p bass humbucker and a single coil j bass pickup near the bridge. One volume knob for each pickup and one tone control. All the other American Deluxe's that I see on the interwebs have more knobs / controls / active/passive options. Many have stacked j bass pickups at the bridge. Has anyone else seen something like the one I just bought? I really like it BTW. It seems to have a lot more growly attitude than my other PJ bass, an American Performer with the Yosimite pickups.
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American Deluxe P Bass (all passive) question
- Thread starter PenaltyBox
- Start date
I used to have a 1990's American Deluxe P-Bass in a gold finish. It and the other American Deluxe P-Basses I owned just had terrible sounding preamps, so I removed the preamp and put in a VVTT passive structure instead. It helped, but the pickups just really sounded lifeless passive.
Pix and S/N plz.
American Deluxe Precision in 2009 was Active only per the January 2009 Price List.
The Fender January 2010 price list does not include any American Deluxe anything.
American Deluxe Precision in 2011 was Active and Passive and included a Passive Active Switch per the January 2011 Price List.
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Not looking like a deluxe.
Pictures are very low resolution
Looks like S/N starts with a 'Z'
Looks like a 2000 model year and not 2010. No 'D', as in 'DZ', so no Deluxe for that Series. I'm leaning toward American Standard. Who told you it's a Deluxe?
US deluxe after 2010 have S/N that start with US
From Fender website:
"Z"-prefix serial numbers denoting the new millenniumappeared on U.S.-made instruments in 2000. Z0 denotes 2000; Z1 denotes 2001, etc. American Deluxe Series instruments use the same dating convention, but with the addition of a "D" in front of the "Z"; i.e., DZ1, DZ2, etc.
Home · Customer Self-Service › article
[This invalid link has been removed]
PRODUCTION DATES
N9 + 5 or 6 digits
Z0 + 5 or 6 digits
DZ0 + 5 or 6 digits (American Deluxe)
2000
A new serial numbering scheme was adopted toward the end of 2009 using the number "10" as a prefix, followed by a space, followed by seven digits. The "10" prefix was designed to identify the first year of the second decade of the new millennium, and while it appears on the instrument decals, it was not captured in Fender's operating system. Only the seven-digit suffixes were actually entered into the database. These serial numbers did not identify the country of origin in the body of the number. Instead, the instrument's country of origin appears on the decal on the back of the headstock, near the serial number.
From guitar dater project:
Guitar Info
Your guitar was made at the
Corona Plant (Fender), USA
in 2000 - 2001
Production Number: 137317
Many sellers get things wrong. Model names, paint finish names, etc. Not necessarily intentionally, they just don't really know and aren't detail oriented so they don't really care. The buyer should always do the research before pulling the trigger. The $$ difference between a US Standard and a US Deluxe is significant but not huge. I hope you didn't pay too much for it.
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Thanks B Mac! We are closer to solving the mystery. Seller on Reverb said it was an American Deluxe. I don't really care deluxe, superb, spectacular, whatever, I was just trying to figure out what it is that I really have. So I guess I'm now clear that it's an American Standard made in 2000. Just wondering if they made a p/j bass as an american standard, or somebody added the j bass pickup later????
I'm working now and not at my home pc. I can post catalog/price list data for 2000 model year later today.
btw, your bass looks great!!! Definitely a MIA Fender.
It's certainly an MIA neck, but I'm curious about the body. No American Standard P-basses came in a P/J pickup configuration to my knowledge. With that being said, either someone added the Jazz pickup at some point, it's a MIM Deluxe body, or some other body entirely. Can you provide a picture of the back of the body and the bridge under ashtray cover?
I think I solved the mystery. You guys Rock. (B-Mac put me onto the catalog thingy, and a little clicking around on the interwebs and voila!
Thank you all for sharing your wisdom on this question. I don't want you losing sleep so I will tell you that I still think I got a good deal even though it wasn't technically a "Deluxe." There are certainly Hod Rodded PJ basses from this era that are going for more than I paid. But screw money, I love this bass, it is a joy to play and to hear. FWIW, I started playing bass in around 1977, learned on a Mustang and a P bass, and saved up money in HS to buy the recently introduced Music Man Sting Ray (natural Walnut color body, maple board). I sold it for about $350 when I went to college and only started playing bass again a little more than a year ago. It has provided me a surprising amount of bliss. My other one, the American Performer, is also great, just a little more hi fi sounding, whereas this one has a little bit more ornery attitude, hard to describe exactly.
This is exactly the same data I have from Fender's Frontline Magazine for 2000 Vol. 27
Here is a list of basses they include for 2000 in the magazine.
In 2016, they had a Limited Edition American Standard PJ, I had one. That's the only one I've ever heard of, other than the Hot Rod. This could be one of those.
From what I can see on the interwebs, the limited edition had those words stamped on the neck plate. Mine doesn't so I'm going with 2000 Hot Rod!. This has been an interesting sleuth fest.
