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Fender Dee Dee Ramone P bass

#41
Sergius Durante said:
30" scale length? was it a shortscale or were pbasses always that short?
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As pointed out earlier in this thread, that scale length was a misprint.

I encountered one of these in wild @ Truetone Music in Santa Monica. That shop always gets nice specimens. The one I briefly played looked shiny and well-assembled, but the body felt "funny." Maybe it was a general balance issue, but it felt kind of clunky.
They had the sand blasted Precisions in stock at the same time, and those felt amazing by comparison. Low weight and sounded great. Shoulda coulda woulda on that one.

Of course, had I known how soon it would be gone, I woulda bought a Dee Dee Trib, too, just to admire till the flip.
 
#44
Needs this pickguard, maybe skip the silicone shower-bath caulking though.

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#46
Cool bass no doubt but might as well buy a Player Precision and you're there in terms of looks but with better features. A maple, satin backed neck with the same modern C shape, black pickguard and even has a headstock adjust truss rod instead of body like on the Dee Dee one. Upgrade the tuners to Hipshot if you want. Then throw in a pickup of your choice. Case candy is worthless. The neck plate and sig not a big deal unless you're a true full on fan of the Ramones (I'm not).

I'd much rather have seen a Sid Vicious signature Precision instead. My two cents.
 
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#47
eldoryder said:
If anyone's interested, here's my NBD post from when I got mine. I also went ahead and took pics of each page of the 40-page commemorative booklet, and made a link to a slideshow of all the case candy HERE:


NBD: Fender Dee Dee Ramone Precision (pic heavy)

I am considering letting mine go. I haven't pulled it out of the OEM Fender gig bag since I opened it up and took these pics. It was an impulse buy at the time, and I have a regular favorite P already. So, if anyone's interested in an undisturbed DDR P with all original case candy and gig bag, PM me for details.
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I’m sure I’m too late, but DM sent
 
#48
Laurent said:
I would not get caught in the Fender marketing hype of this instrument.
Any P bass will sound like the bass Dee Dee played.
It's more about techniques which in his case was pick and downstrokes only.

If you want to get closer the Seymour Duncan SPB2 pickup would help and it is the pickup that shipped on these basses. I suspect it's also the pickup Dee Dee played late in his life but I am pretty sure this pickup did not exist in 1976 when the Ramones recorded their first record. In all likelihood, Dee Dee played a mid to late 70's P bass stock. These are generally heavy basses with thick finishes and a punchy kind of muted tone. Some might refer to this tone as the London calling tone (see the Clash).

Rather than looking at the reissue bass from Fender, I would research Dee Dee's actual instrument, choice of strings and technique and go from there. There's plenty of info on the internet and on Talkbass on this topic. It might get you closer to his tone than a reissue instrument from Fender.
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I know that this signature model is a marketing attempt sell '70s RI type basses with his name on it. Granted, this is true but I would be more than glad to be caught in the Fender marketing hype. This is because I love the white P Bass with maple board and big Fender Precision Bass logo on the headstock. There have been various reissues of this type here and there and this is another with Dee Dee Ramone's signature on it. I am a fan of The Ramones but wouldn't buy it for this reason, just I love the cosmetics of this one. I am also a big Peter Farndon fan and Pete used essentially the same bass as Dee Ramone. If anyone influenced me to like this bass it would be more Pete Farndon than Dee Dee Ramone but I'd buy a Dee Ramone if they still made them. I have a Fender Japan '70s RI P Bass but it has rosewood board. Looks great. I hate to say it but that is the one cosmetically Sid Vicious owned. See, I saw owned and not played. Not a Vicious fan but love The Sex Pistols. I just bought it because it's a darn good bass and I love the big Precision Bass logo on the headstock more than the small Precision Bass logo on most. So yes I'd be glad to get caught up in Fender marketing if I had been looking for a bass when the Ramone model was out. Now they go for about $1,200 used so I just bought a used Player P Bass in aged white with maple fretboard. Looks like one Dee or Peter Farndon would have had and it aged over the years. Too bad the logo is the small logo.
 
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