Fender Player II Series - Rosewood is back!

[Yahboy]

I was looking to buy the Precision Vintera II because of the rosewood neck and the 7.25" radius - but not sure that it is now worth $350 more.
Both made in MX, apparently same body and neck wood - differences seem to be on the vintage radius, truss rod, tuning machines, frets (tall), larget nut and possibly wider string spacing (20mm?) on the Vintera II?
Not sure about the pickup tone.

edit: Vintera II has a tortoise shield, done!

Own the Vintera I 50s pbass myself and return the Vii 60s P due to QC issue.

The fret wire on VII 60s P are notable slightly taller than VI 50s P. Has same fetting feel to Squier CV50P except neck profile and fretboard radius.

 

[Yahboy]

$799.99 at Guitar Center!
Just when I was hoping the price would be $899.99.

I still prefer the demonstrator on Player I video. He has nice voice too.....

 

[Wood and Wire]

I still prefer the demonstrator on Player I video. He has nice voice too.....

I'm still waiting for the giant chicken to burst in, and fight him.

 

[jpaulo]

Own the Vintera I 50s pbass myself and return the Vii 60s P due to QC issue.

The fret wire on VII 60s P are notable slightly taller than VI 50s P. Has same fetting feel to Squier CV50P except neck profile and fretboard radius.

Good to know, I have a Squier CV50P (Indo) and like the fretting feel.
Would you know how does it compare to the CV60P (China)?

 

[jpaulo]

The original Vintera 50's Precision pickup was great.

Not sure if the Vintera II uses the same Tim Shaw pickup, and no idea about the 60's, or 70's models.

For my money, I really love the chunky vintage style neck, 7.25" radius, and 1.75" nut width.

The neck also used really nicely figured maple, with a vintage tint.

As for the other vintage features (reverse tuners with long shafts, truss rod adjustment at the neck heel, using a screw driver), to me those were a deal breaker : We're well rid of those evolutionary dead-ends, and I don't do nostalgic dogma, so I bought an Am Pro II instead.



The price differential between the Vintera II, and the Player II makes sense, and in my opinion is justified.

If you can tolerate the inconvenience of medieval hardware, I'd go for the Vintera.

The site does not mention the Tim Shaw Pickup on the Vintera II 60P.
I wonder what it is on the Player II.

Medieval hardware - I'm curious about that, hope I won't regret (much).
Tks!

 

[Yahboy]

Good to know, I have a Squier CV50P (Indo) and like the fretting feel.
Would you know how does it compare to the CV60P (China)?

Been own a CIC CV 60P bass previously and currently have Matt freeman P with me. The CIC CV60P has pretty similar neck profile to Player P , slimmer than MF P neck. But the fretting feel are completely different compare to both Vintera 50s and 60s P which has different fretboard radius.

The best neck for me are Mattfreeman Neck, following Vintera 50s P , CIC CV60P ( player P) .

Both CIC and indo Cv50P has fatter neck profile , play well with low tension flat, but become hard if the bass has loaded with high tension flatwound......

 

[Yahboy]

The site does not mention the Tim Shaw Pickup on the Vintera II 60P.
I wonder what it is on the Player II.

Medieval hardware - I'm curious about that, hope I won't regret (much).
Tks!

V II 60s P stock pickups sound a bit muffle (same happen with Player P pickups ) compare to V 1 50s P ,even the CIC CV60P stock pickups still sound better. But, tonal thing are personalize.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

I found those Birch green, Aquatone blue, Hialeah yellow and Coral red look nicer on Rosewood fretboard than Maple board.

The Hialeah yellow P with maple board just look blank ..... still prefer butter cream more.

If the Red P/black pickguard has Maple board option, this P bass are sharp looking !!!!

Put Black hardware and Pickguard/Electronic covers on all of them

 

[Wood and Wire]

The site does not mention the Tim Shaw Pickup on the Vintera II 60P.
I wonder what it is on the Player II.

Medieval hardware - I'm curious about that, hope I won't regret (much).
Tks!

The Tim Shaw pickup was 50's specific.

60's would have a very different voicing (more windings than 50's).

I've no idea who is credited for the 60's Vintera II pickup.

 

[Bevan777]

Yeah, none of those colours are appealing to me.

 

[gwangi]

I'll write my opinion as well here on this thread, it's annoying that Fender will use a slab rosewood board on the new Player Series ii but that don't use slab rosewood board on the Professional ii Precision or Jazz bass.

 

[Gervais Cote]

I'll write my opinion as well here on this thread, it's annoying that Fender will use a slab rosewood board on the new Player Series ii but that don't use slab rosewood board on the Professional ii Precision or Jazz bass.

I can only agree on this one…………..

 

[Ricky Rioli]

When is the Pro III due to arrive.....?

 

[antfarm]

I'll write my opinion as well here on this thread, it's annoying that Fender will use a slab rosewood board on the new Player Series ii but that don't use slab rosewood board on the Professional ii Precision or Jazz bass.

Is the Pro II round laminated? Some people prefer that. I think it doesn't matter.

 

[gwangi]

Is the Pro II round laminated? Some people prefer that. I think it doesn't matter.

The Pro ii is not slab for sure, you'd figure with the price point and with the American Vintage models that are slab rosewood you'd think the Professional ii would be slab as well but the Player Series ii to have a slab rosewood board at the price point of $799.00 just shocks me.

 

[antfarm]

The Pro ii is not slab for sure, you'd figure with the price point and with the American Vintage models that are slab rosewood you'd think the Professional ii would be slab as well but the Player Series ii to have a slab rosewood board at the price point of $799.00 just shocks me.

What is a slab fretboard to you? I think of it as the other type than the thinner round laminated fingerboard as used in the '60s.

I always assumed the slab fretboard to be the default in modern Fenders, and if a bass is not explicitly specified as having a round laminated board, I expect a slab board.

I was actually surprised they even specify it as slab in the Player II specs. Am I missing something, a third type of fretboard maybe (except for the one piece neck of course)?

 

[antfarm]

The Pro ii is not slab for sure, you'd figure with the price point and with the American Vintage models that are slab rosewood you'd think the Professional ii would be slab as well but the Player Series ii to have a slab rosewood board at the price point of $799.00 just shocks me.

The American Pro II fretboard looks pretty slab to me.

As this is the default for Fender since they changed it back from the round laminated boards in the early '80s, I believe they didn't bother calling it that anymore. Maybe out of fear it could be regarded a downgrade from the round lam?

I guess the use of the term for the Player II series has its origin in Fender's marketing department looking for new ways to describe the same old thing and making it sound more vintage inspired.

The term 'slab board' is usually used with vintage instruments from the time before Fender started using round laminated fretboards in the early '60s. Accordingly, the only other current bass I know where Fender explicitly specifies a slab fretboard is the American Vintage II 1960 Precision Bass.

 

[jpaulo]

The American Pro II fretboard looks pretty slab to me.

As this is the default for Fender since they changed it back from the round laminated boards in the early '80s, I believe they didn't bother calling it that anymore. Maybe out of fear it could be regarded a downgrade from the round lam?

I guess the use of the term for the Player II series has its origin in Fender's marketing department looking for new ways to describe the same old thing and making it sound more vintage inspired.

The term 'slab board' is usually used with vintage instruments from the time before Fender started using round laminated fretboards in the early '60s. Accordingly, the only other current bass I know where Fender explicitly specifies a slab fretboard is the American Vintage II 1960 Precision Bass.

View attachment 6978708

 

[jpaulo]

Is this a slab fretboard?
This is my 2012 Squier CV, but i saw it in also in other 2-tier basses, like Essex and Sterling (vs Fender or MusicMan) so not sure if it is a premium feature:

 

[antfarm]

Is this a slab fretboard?
This is my 2012 Squier CV, but i saw it in also in other 2-tier basses, like Essex and Sterling (vs Fender or MusicMan) so not sure if it is a premium feature:

View attachment 6978747

In my understanding, a fretboard is a slab board when it is sufficiently thick and the side that joins the maple neck is cut straight, as is the corresponding part of the neck to which the board is glued.

The term is used to differentiate from a round laminated fretboard where the surface of the neck and the underside of the fretboard are curved with the same radius. I have posted a picture of both types side by side a few posts up.

The term is (again, in my understanding) mostly used when referring to the fretboards of vintage basses, as the slab rosewood fretboard was only used from 1958 to 1963. From 1963 on, Fender built their basses with round laminated rosewood boards.

This changed again in the early '80s, when the fretboards were again cut straight, but you normally do not hear people refer to that as a slab board. It is just the default on a modern Fender, and the only kind worth explicitly mentioning is the round lam, as used in Fender instruments from the '60s and '70s.

So if you hear someone refer to a bass with a slab fretboard, they most definitely do so to state that the bass does not have a round lam board, which was the default kind of rosewood fretboard in most of the '60s and the '70s.

So, yes and no. Yours is a modern style fretboard that could be called a slab fretboard in a certain context. As i assumed in my earlier post, the use of the term in the Player II marketing copy is probably there to express the vintage inspiration for the design, and to have one more bullet point when the series is compated to the predecessor.

I prefer the round lam, because I find it more elegant. Generally spoken, a slab board is not neccessarily more desirable or a premium feature, unless the instrument is from the '60s, as then it is a sure sign of a pre-CBS instrument.

All of this info is to my best knowledge as a Fender fan. If I got something wrong, please feel free to chime in and correct me.