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Fender MIA precision bass

Vargaspub

Guest
Jun 10, 2015
10
1
54
I bought a Fender American precision bass from the local pawn shop at a great price. Well, at least I hope it's one. It's either modded or fake. Can anyone help?
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I'm really not a bass person. I play bass, but I am an acoustic guitar fingerpicker. I am limited in Fender bass knowledge. I tried it out, the neck feels great, and it sounds great. But was not convinced it was a genuine Fender for some reason. But for a couple hundred bucks I took a shot at it.
 
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the missing screw on the D string is driving me crazy, also the rounded knobs are a red flag

Yeah, though the knobs could be aftermarket. In fact, the early MIM basses had plastic knobs.

I'm really not a bass person. I play bass, but I am an acoustic guitar fingerpicker. I am limited in Fender bass knowledge. I tried it out, the neck feels great, and it sounds great. But was not convinced it was a genuine Fender for some reason. But for a couple hundred bucks I took a shot at it.

Couple hundred bucks? I think it's a good buy, then. The MIA necks are pretty good IMHO, and as long as it's sounds good then you're all set :thumbsup:
 
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I'm aware that there are faked fenders out there, but if it was me, I would have tried to sell it somewhere else. I mean, the guy probably got a hundred bucks from the pawn shop for it. He probably would have made more money online.
If it is a modded MIA then that's awesome. From what I can guess, those pickup covers were added later. Or the pickups might be another brand. They are pretty loud. The pick guard was probably added later as well. The fender logo and serial numbers are not stickers and they seem right. But I guess the guy could have used the neck from a bass that didn't work anymore. Now I have to find someone with an MIA P bass and compare sounds.
 
You mention a couple hundred bucks for it.....so like $200-300? If so you have done fine, if you had paid in line with what a 2002 stock Fender MIA P went for around $700 id say you were ripped off. That neck is a American Standard Fender Neck from that era. It looks like a late 90's maybe 1998 or so MIM P bass body that purple color is dead on with a color they had during that time. The tuners on the MIA neck look like MIM tuners so maybe they just used the MIM necks tuners and put them on the MIA neck. There were MIA Fenders that came with MIM style tuners like that but they adjusted at the headstock and thats a heel adjustment, the neck is worth around $300 + or - $50 depending on condition.

If I saw the neckpocket, neck heel and a photo of the back of the headstock with 1 tuner removed I could confirm all my statements. Obviously the guard and the pickup cover at least are aftermarket and those arent fender knobs.
 
the missing screw on the D string is driving me crazy, also the rounded knobs are a red flag
What screw is missing precisely? Don't know that much about Fenders and would like to know, thanks!

Gee - two whole days since the last "is this a real Fender" thread.

Yep yep, you know what I am going to say... Nothing wrong with those phony labels...
This might be splitting hairs, but the labels on the headstock are, for all intents and purposes, original. Looks like you need to include Franken-Fenders in your rants now, too.;)
 
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This is all useful information. I didn't realize that it was common to find fake basses. I figured that faking guitars is more lucrative. I guess I'll call the bass a frankenfender.
I'll change the strings and get a new bridge and see what happens.