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ANY love out there for MIM's?

#141
Best passive jazz bass I have ever owned(this includes vintage pre cbs Fender's, custom shops, Lull's), was a MIM 60's Classic Jazz. It was stunningly good sounding. Why I sold it I'll never know, although I suppose young and foolish is as good an answer as any. There are some real GEMS out there if you keep your eyes and ears open. The line is hit or miss though. I've played dozens of them since I started playing and some of them have real QC issues such as poorly machined neck pockets(uneven to the point of affecting playbility), poor fret work, poor soldering, finish issues. However, they are better now then they used to be, and as I mentioned there are some really great ones out there...
 
#142
Checkin'in! This is my 2008 P bass. It's been my second bass.
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This bass had a lot of problems.
One of the bridge saddles had a faulty screw. Changed.
Stock pickup was really not a great thing. Changed.
Imput jack broke after one year. Changed.
The damn neck pocket was uneven, inclined. Shimmed.
About a square centimeter of the neck has faulty paint. Never cared of.
Also has something that looks like a small drop of transparent glue at the high end of the fretboard. Barely seeable.
But, any bass I play, any bass I own, I always end up back to this one. Gigged it, recorded with it, learned the 90% of the songs I know on this bass, composed all I composed on this bass.
Played it when I was happy, sad, totally angry, played it loud in pubs and acoustic in my small bedroom at night. No other bass beats the tone I get out of this one.
Sure, there is a lot of sentimentalism, and I am a sentimentalist. But I wouldn't have kept if if it sounded or felt crappy, cause it doesn't, at all.
 
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#144
awilkie84 said:
That's because the MIMs are closer to vintage specs than the Americans are, now. It's funny how people overlook this when talking about American models being so great.
Click to expand...

The MIA Standards aren't supposed to be vintage spec. They are modern takes on vintage designs(different neck shape, carbon fiber rods, high mass bridge, string through body, light weight machine heads, etc). If you want a vintage correct MIA they have the American Vintage line.

The MIM 50's, 60's, 70's Classic are pretty consistent IMO.
 
#146
AMJBASS said:
The MIA Standards aren't supposed to be vintage spec. They are modern takes on vintage designs(different neck shape, carbon fiber rods, high mass bridge, string through body, light weight machine heads, etc). If you want a vintage correct MIA they have the American Vintage line.

The MIM 50's, 60's, 70's Classic are pretty consistent IMO.
Click to expand...
Yeah but part of the draw for MIAs seems to be the "Fender hasn't changed in how many decades?" BS. The MIA has had more revisions than most other models combined. lol Sidenote, the Classic 70s P is a bastard child that never would have existed. lol
 
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#150
SonnyBassPlayer said:
Checkin'in! This is my 2008 P bass. It's been my second bass.
proxy.php?image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FHmkVo9t.png


This bass had a lot of problems.
One of the bridge saddles had a faulty screw. Changed.
Stock pickup was really not a great thing. Changed.
Imput jack broke after one year. Changed.
The damn neck pocket was uneven, inclined. Shimmed.
About a square centimeter of the neck has faulty paint. Never cared of.
Also has something that looks like a small drop of transparent glue at the high end of the fretboard. Barely seeable.
But, any bass I play, any bass I own, I always end up back to this one. Gigged it, recorded with it, learned the 90% of the songs I know on this bass, composed all I composed on this bass.
Played it when I was happy, sad, totally angry, played it loud in pubs and acoustic in my small bedroom at night. No other bass beats the tone I get out of this one.
Sure, there is a lot of sentimentalism, and I am a sentimentalist. But I wouldn't have kept if if it sounded or felt crappy, cause it doesn't, at all.
Click to expand...

Who cares??? BLACK AND TORT IS TO DIE FOR!!!
 
#156
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I'll chime in with my '94 MIM Jazz. It's got a set of SD QP's in it right now with a push/pull, series/parallel pot. Took a year to find the glass sparkle PG. Love playing it at home but it doesn't seem to sit well in a band mix (could be the pups or the poplar) so it doesn't get out much but for less than $400, it's good to have around.
 
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#157
I feel like it's time to upgrade the pickup on my 01 MIM P Bass.

I've narrowed it down to three:

Fender Originals
Fender Custom Shop '62
Seymour Duncan Basslines Quarter Pounders

Price isn't an issue for me. I can afford either set. I'm just wondering what the difference is between the Originals and the Custom Shop '62s.

And yes, I want more BASS from my P-Bass..as if it doesn't give enough bass! XD Never hurts to have more.

Updated photos: Sorry, midnight wine seems hard to be captured on camera well. Or it's just my house's terrible lighting.

The holes in the pickguard were drilled so I could fit a thumbrest either below the G-string or above the E-string. Badass II Bass Bridge..the saddles are ungrooved. I just haven't found a good time to get them done. I was contemplating on whether to get a new maple neck from fender, but I think rosewood looks best with midnight wine/black. I prefer to keep the thump and minutely added warmth of rosewood.

GHS Boomers rounds. The packaging said they last longer than other brands. What a lie. Fender rounds lasted longer than this set. Looks like I'm sticking to Fender for my Precision Bass!

As you can see, I've done so much modding and put so much love into this bass that I decided to keep it with me as long as I can. Just yesterday, it broke the record of being the bass that I've had the longest without selling or trading it.

Six months and going strong, guys!

Keep those awesome MIM photos coming, guys!

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#158
I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that it's more cost effective for me (with 6 basses) to forget about getting on the pup merry go round with each one and just stick with a pre amp pedal with some tone shaping capabilities and a DI out and use it for each bass as needed. YMMV of course.
 
#160
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Love my '06 MIM Jazz! I have 0 complaints about build quality. It played and sounded pretty nice stock, but two simple upgrades made it even better. I switched the bridge saddles for the new threaded saddles that come on MIA basses to tweak the string spacing, and traded out the stock pickups for Lindy Fralin single coils. I've played some different model MIA J's to compare and I don't feel like I'm missing out on much.
 
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