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Back to Precision
- Thread starter BaltBass5
- Start date
I have been through the boutique route. Custom Sandbergs, Warwicks (4 custom shops!), Marleaux…. 5, 6 string even. Now all I need is a P. I own a Dingwall SP1 and a Fender Mod Shop P, they’re both fantastic; but the Fender P is the one I’d save if I had to. It’s got sentimental value, but it also has this versatility and simplicity to it that I love. Sounds good, plays good, looks good. All I need. Less is more!
Similiar story as the OP. I now play two Squire P basses and when I look out into a room people are groovin and on stage the band are loving it too. Both basses feel good too. As Ive gotten older Ive come to realise that simple is way best and lets me concentrate on the music.
I had the same experience as you. "Feels like home" is a great way to describe it. The Am Pro II is a fantastic bass in every way! Enjoy!
I’ve never owned a fender, though I do have a Squier mustang as a hobby mod platform. Despite this my first bass was a PJ Guild Pilot, my best sounding bass until very recently was a Pedulla MVP 4 PJ with bartolinis.
I had to sell that one due to weight and health issues.
My current version of a P bass is great. Bartolini PJ setup, 30” scale, TI Jazz flats. Plays great, sounds great.
I had to sell that one due to weight and health issues.
My current version of a P bass is great. Bartolini PJ setup, 30” scale, TI Jazz flats. Plays great, sounds great.
A Precision bass is where it all started for me. I spent 26 years playing my 68 Precision, which I bought from new and still own. It was retired when I switched to 5's in 1996, but 15 years ago I finally found a great 5 string P bass, a Mike Lull PJ5, and I'm set for the rest of my playing career.
I used to be a "not a Precision" kind of a bass player. I had no reason for this attitude other than, "boring"......."single pickup".......and my young age.
Then, back in 1987, a friend at my job sold me his 1962 P neck on a 1967 body with a black bottom pre-CBS pickup for $250. I didn't really want a P but the price was right.
Story over!
Ps and only Ps.
(was lacquer green back in '87 and it refinished to sunburst.)
Then, back in 1987, a friend at my job sold me his 1962 P neck on a 1967 body with a black bottom pre-CBS pickup for $250. I didn't really want a P but the price was right.
Story over!
Ps and only Ps.
(was lacquer green back in '87 and it refinished to sunburst.)
Attachments
Yeah, I made a 10 second decision in the store back in '72 when I picked one up, didn't like the shape of the neck, and put it back down. Didn't touch one again until about 18 months ago.
Tastes change, and decisions made quickly based on "feel" in stores aren't always the best ones.
I think most bass players will end up in a “P bass” phase at some point or another. Over a 30 year span, I started off with Jazz type bass’s, then a Stingray, then back and forth between a J or a Ray. These days I bounce between a P or a Ray. The P just does what is does very well, beefy grindy tone.
It's just the simplicity of the instrument and the ease of use in good and difficult venues. As much as newer designs make needed and useful modifications to the instrument array we choose from, after being away from one for a while, there's something about the Precision that still fascinates simply because it's such a simple thing.
A good product, however, is a good product. No matter who produces it.
It took me almost 30 years to own a pbass. At first I couldn't afford one. After that I stubbornly decided a pbass was too "ordinary" and looked elsewhere. I ended up with a Peavey T-40 for a lot of years. It finally dawned on me that the pbass sound and feel was what I was looking for all along. I have 4 and 5-string and PJ variants. I have a jazz and a stingray, but my first grab is for something with a split pickup. My G&L L2500 and an old Reverend Rumblefish R5L are my second picks when deciding on what to play.
Well sure. I get that and completely agree. My comments weren’t about the efficacy of the P-bass, which I already stated I like and use, but rather the polarizing effect Fender seems to have on people. Neither slavish devotion nor seething hatred for a guitar brand makes any sense to me.
The Fender detractors don’t seem willing even to acknowledge that Fender designed two of the most popular basses of all time despite their enormous popularity (and usefulness) even now, 75 years later.
The Fender cultists don't seem to want to acknowledge that Fender has made some blunders over the years, has had periods of quality control problems and, in its corporate mindset, has chosen some onerous business paths.
Many of the same things could be said of many other corporate entities in the MI industry but, for some reason, nobody seems to get anywhere near as passionate about any other brand. Gibson is the first to spring to mind but how many Gibson-bashing rants do we read here? Compared to Fender I bet it’s fewer than 10:1.
I think P-basses are great. I like playing them. I like J-basses, too, as well as Leo’s post-Fender designs. That doesn’t mean I think Leo was infallible or that Fender is beyond reproach.
Certainly, I can’t be the only person here who has mixed feelings about Fender.
I've not been big on fender for a variety of reasons recently (before the recent s-type threats). I feel like they are actively trying to shut out small dealers and on top of that they don't often release basses specced as I would like.
It's pretty easy to find a bass with a split coil pickup in the P position, though.
It's pretty easy to find a bass with a split coil pickup in the P position, though.
When my band on Long Island were ready to gig in 1975: Based on going to Clubs and hearing and seeing what top Bass players were using got Amp I wanted SVT-810 but I wanted to be different as majority of players were using Fender P basses
So I tried Fender Telecaster, Gibson EB, Rickenbacker and one other I am drawing a blank on
Didn't have any of them for more than 2 gigs
So I succumbed and got new '75 Precision and there it was and then knew why so many players choose the P
Had tone and felt right in my hands
even though I have smallish hands
Bass had chunky neck, 1.75 nut and
weighted over 10lbs
Used it for 1K+ gigs for 25 years always worked in mix and with technique got tones I needed for songs
Since I had 2001 Precision, EBMM 25th Anniversary, Fender Ultra P and in 2023 bought a Stingray Special: always had Stingray in my head since I heard one in 1979
I am very content with Stingray but
I now do like what I hear from AV II 54P and new 75th Anniversary 51P peaks my interest
So I tried Fender Telecaster, Gibson EB, Rickenbacker and one other I am drawing a blank on
Didn't have any of them for more than 2 gigs
So I succumbed and got new '75 Precision and there it was and then knew why so many players choose the P
Had tone and felt right in my hands
even though I have smallish hands
Bass had chunky neck, 1.75 nut and
weighted over 10lbs
Used it for 1K+ gigs for 25 years always worked in mix and with technique got tones I needed for songs
Since I had 2001 Precision, EBMM 25th Anniversary, Fender Ultra P and in 2023 bought a Stingray Special: always had Stingray in my head since I heard one in 1979
I am very content with Stingray but
I now do like what I hear from AV II 54P and new 75th Anniversary 51P peaks my interest
And the Ford Model T is for cars. Doesn't mean I want one as my daily driver.
Cue pearl clutching about 'Fender hate'; no, it's just that I don't like them. If you do, fine, play them with blessings and get great joy from that, but please put away the victimhood and relentless tales about them 'being all you ever need' or 'you'll never get another job playing professionally unless you play one'. I also get that these are sometimes memes making fun of Fender owners and stereotypes, but often it's not too.
This comment is separate and distinct from Fender's recent C&D letters which I think are a huge own goal and whilst I hope the corporate twats get a kick in the bollocks over it from the community, I hope Fender continue to prosper and make instruments many love, even if I'm extremely unlikely to ever buy another.
And I'm laughing and having a cuppa whilst writing this and restringing my 80's Strat copy.
That's a people-personality thing. Everyone wants to feel justified in their purchases and expect others to feel the same way. Ain't gonna happen in any context. Personal, professional, or political.
Every instrument I've ever bought, I've had to personally and physically incorporate that into working for me or, it didn't. Lotta my former gear is owned by others. It's nobody's fault, that's just the physics and traits of each player having to meet their personal expectations
For the Bass Porn Crew that wanted pics:
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