Aged charcoal frost, tort, and rosewood is the prettiest fender color scheme out there.
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Fender Pino Palladino vs "Regular" Fender CS
- Thread starter lsu921
- Start date
Yes there is: Quarter sawn neck wood, which IMO makes for a very solid, stable and even-sounding neck. My CS '59 with the quarter sawn neck has no dead spots
Fully agree. My two CS (Jazz and Precision) have very stable necks, no adjustment needed once done, sounds great and full everywhere. These necks are very very well built.
I appreciate the poster's original question - I've always wanted to know the difference myself. And don't sway from wanting one if that is what you want.
The one guy that I know that has one loves it and raves about it. I kind of got into P's with different pickups this year and I've wondered if I should have just pulled the trigger on a Pino instead. I like what I put together, but it was a lot of work sourcing everything myself to get what I want.
I will say - the Allparts Rosewood Precision necks are big and remind me of the American original neck. I have a fretless one and it's huge. I think with some shaping and rolled edges - they could be a good neck for someone looking for this vibe if they got a nitro finish on it. (Not quartersawn). I wish Warmoth had more of a vintage correct Precision / Jazz neck to use. I have a quartersawn / roasted neck that is great - but I'm not sure if I love it.
And agreed to all of the words on the Hurley - it's a beaut!
The one guy that I know that has one loves it and raves about it. I kind of got into P's with different pickups this year and I've wondered if I should have just pulled the trigger on a Pino instead. I like what I put together, but it was a lot of work sourcing everything myself to get what I want.
I will say - the Allparts Rosewood Precision necks are big and remind me of the American original neck. I have a fretless one and it's huge. I think with some shaping and rolled edges - they could be a good neck for someone looking for this vibe if they got a nitro finish on it. (Not quartersawn). I wish Warmoth had more of a vintage correct Precision / Jazz neck to use. I have a quartersawn / roasted neck that is great - but I'm not sure if I love it.
And agreed to all of the words on the Hurley - it's a beaut!
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I have a Fender CS '62. It has a C shape neck, however, it feels less thick front to back than my old American Vintage 63, also with a C. I think they spend a good amount of time on these necks to get the shape and feel just right. Also, they round the fret board nicely. It may still feel pretty big to you. I have not played a Pino. But it is less club like than the 63 AV that I used to own.
I had a CS '59 P (NOS) a few years back that was great. Sold it and some time later became infatuated with the Pino, though I'd never played one. I wanted a vintage-feeling, light, passive CS P and scoured the TB classifieds. Not because I wanted to sound like Pino (I'd love to but no bass is going to make that happen), but because I know the Custom Shop has been doing great, consistent work and the Pino has the features I was looking for. After striking out for many months, I found a barely used Sean Hurley P and took the plunge.
The Hurley is amazing. To me it's the Pino with a better finish (lightly aged charcoal frost is perfect) and the switchable mute. Feels like a vintage bass without the vintage price - yes I know the new ones are crazy expensive, but I sold another bass and kicked in some cash to make it happen without breaking the bank.
I still haven't played a Pino, but based on my experience with the Hurley I'm sure it's worth the CS premium.
The Hurley is amazing. To me it's the Pino with a better finish (lightly aged charcoal frost is perfect) and the switchable mute. Feels like a vintage bass without the vintage price - yes I know the new ones are crazy expensive, but I sold another bass and kicked in some cash to make it happen without breaking the bank.
I still haven't played a Pino, but based on my experience with the Hurley I'm sure it's worth the CS premium.
Smooth_bass88
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Looks freaking great!! Sean knows his stuff regarding vintage Fenders- he owns many of them. He actually let me borrow his old '64 P bass way back in the day. I'm dying to try a Hurley bass out.
A Roasted neck is even more stable - the stresses have been taken out, so it moves far less than a non-roasted neck. Quarter sawn is primarily helpful with cupping, which...doesn't really affect performance as a guitar or bass neck. Maple doesn't really cup enough in the small cross section of a neck to where it's an issue for us. Sure some folks would be mad that their 7.25" radius fingerboard is now 7.2" or 7.3", but I don't think most of us would ever notice.
I'm glad the dead spot on your bass isn't noticeable to you. Knowing the Physics of why dead spots occur, and how wood's properties affect it, dead spots don't depend on how the wood was sawn. Dead spots occur because the neck is resonant, and has places (antinodes) where, with a certain frequency of excitation, it will absorb that energy readily. A neck is, like a marimba bar, a mass loaded bar in principle (that's what us Physicists would call it). The resonant frequency of the neck is affected by mass loading (how heavy the tuners and headstock are - the body end of the bar is so massive compared with the headstock that the performance difference between a 4 pound body and an 8 pound body is relatively insignificant) and by the velocity of propagation for bending waves. That depends on the geometry of the neck (bigger cross section necks are stiffer), the inherent stiffness of the material (flat sawn and quarter sawn are the same stiffness), and the density of the material (which is absolutely not going to change between quarter sawn and flat sawn).
You have a good neck - that's cause for celebration. Just know that it's more luck than anything else - it has nothing to do with how the wood was sawn.
I currently own a Pino (with me in my profile pic)....I've had it since new in 2013. Over the years I've owned and currently own many other P's including other CS models, AVRI's, and original vintage P's.
The only thing I can confidently say IMO, is the Pino P is the best P Fender has ever made. The feel, the sound, the balance. The CS used some sort of magic dust or something when they made it. I love all of my basses, but my Pino is my #1 and still always gets the first call for duty.
The only thing I can confidently say IMO, is the Pino P is the best P Fender has ever made. The feel, the sound, the balance. The CS used some sort of magic dust or something when they made it. I love all of my basses, but my Pino is my #1 and still always gets the first call for duty.
You had me until you compared a CS P to an AO P…two totally different animals made in two totally different shops by two totally different staffs with two totally different wood supplies…the Custom Shop always gets the first choice of woods entering the Fender wood storage, so while saying that they're both production line instruments is technically true, they are made in two very diff shops with different materials, the materials being used in the Custom Shop often being much better…they also use a lot of the original machinery in the Custom Shop for the sake of history and maybe (Fender style) consistency I guess(?), but I've never really cared about that..
An old classmate of mine owns an AO i tinkered on from time to time…absolutely nothing wrong with it…sings like a mofo, but it isn't that close to a CS P, especially when it comes to fit and finish..the Custom Shop fit and finishes I've seen are among the best I've ever seen…the CS '59 I had was the best P I've ever owned from a sonic point of view but the neck felt too wide for me on that particular bass, but boy did it sound like THE old Fender P Bass…I have a CS '64 that I think has the same neck profile (or very similar) but it feels amazing in my hands…one of the best necks I've played and much different than the '59…the Pino I played the most was pretty comfortable, but the action on that bass was really high so that threw me off…even when my Buddy let me drop it and we A/B my CS '64 we both preferred the '64's neck better but agreed that perhaps the pickup in the Pino may have been slightly more dynamic sounding, especially when cutting the bass ….
I do agree with your statement about the Pino probably not being worth the extra dough…it's as good as any CS P I've ever owned and played, but I don't think much better if at all…it could be the mystique of it being a Pino model that make some people a little more susceptible to its charms, but I didn't find the ones I've played to be any better than anything else they offered…the Pino's pickup is voiced a bit differently but it's not like the CS P du jour is voiced badly..it's just a bit less particular maybe..I don't think you lose anything by getting one..the Hurley does have a few options that make it cool (the muting system being one of them ) but sonically and feel wise, I'd say it's right there with the rest….
to the OP, either way you go, go used if you can…you'll save money no doubt and if you're buying a relic, who the hell's gonna notice an extra ding or two..? Good luck and congrats with whatever you end up with..!
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In large part, because people are willing to pay it. I have a killer Zon with gallery top, etc. that I could probably even trade for a Pino. Looking at the two the Zon should be worth more (hand made, exotic top, composite neck), but it's not.. The market only cares about what folks are willing to pay..
1) Flat sawn and quarter sawn are not the same stiffness. A quarter sawn piece will always be much stiffer than its flat sawn equivalent.
2) Flat sawn and quarter sawn have different densities. The more annular growth rings per section, the harder, denser and heavier the wood. Thus any quarter sawn piece is likely to be heavier than it's flat sawn equivalent.
But don't take my word for it. Try this experiment:
Take two 6 feet x 6 inch x 1 inch boards. One flat sawn, one quarter sawn. Place one end on the ground, and the other on a brick laid flat so the end of the board is elevated slightly. Stand on each and see which bends more. The flat sawn board will always be more flexible. The quarter sawn board with always be stiffer.
Take those same two boards and lay them narrow-edge down. Now apply the same amount of downward force to the top edge and see which splits first. The flat sawn sawn board will have a tendency to bow laterally under the downward force and then split outward along the grain, while the force applied to the quarter sawn piece will be distributed equally because of the longitudinal arrangement of annular growth rings. In other words, more force will be required to split it.
With respect - your attempt at schooling me on the properties of wood only to reveal you really don't understand the properties of wood yourself seems to have been a pretty pointless exercise.
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BobDeRosa
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So the sound guys might know, but if it's well played, I'll bet the audience never will.
One of my favourite Nashville session players took a Roadworn on a short tour and wound up using it in the studio over his vintage stuff. I've seen video evidence. So there you go.
No shame in wanting a top-banana model though, especially if it's a goodie.
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If you find a Fender you love, good work! I dig my Precision.
Pino best ever made? Not in my experience.
the best way to know exactly what this color looks like it to look at the iPhone Xs Coral color. that is what fiesta red or G&L fullerton red looks like
With respect, you haven't actually done the science I have - I studied the Acoustical Physics of musical instruments at a University. I've done the Science, and read the results of others who also have. Although some of what I said may seem counterintuitive and go against "common wisdom", what I posted is accurate. If you don't believe me, that's your choice.
Here's a short article where the guy did his homework - easy to read, easy to understand, and the fact that he used the same piece of wood as quarter sawn and flat sawn by rotating it is a clever way to make sure the difference isn't because it's just a different piece of wood.:
Brace Stiffness: Quarter-sawn vs Flat-sawn
If you really think that quarter sawn is denser than plain sawn, ponder the fact that rotating a quarter sawn square piece of stock (as this guy did) makes it flat sawn. How does the same piece of wood gain density by turning it in space?
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