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Fender Precision Road Worn Bass

#21
One of my pals is a vintage Fender nut (like myself). For years his road bass was a refin '61 jazz. He wanted to get it off the road so bought 2 different CS 64 Jazzes. They were ok, not great but ok.
He just picked up a RW Jazz and he loves it. Says it flat out smokes his Custom Shop Jazzes.

Have heard the same about the P basses from a couple of people who's opinions I trust. Impressive.
 
#23
Bassist4Life said:
hey, where are those RW's made?
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They're made in Mexico. I spoke with some Fender rep's at a Fender fan appreciation day. And he told me that the staff in Mexico that's making the road worn instruments were actually trained by guys from the Fender Custom Shop.

I haven't tried out the P-Bass. But I did try out the RW Jazz bass. And it's one of the best Jazz basses I've ever played.
 
#24
Ditto to that. There is a RW Jazz in Fiesta red at my usual music store that flat out destroys any other jazz I have owned or played. And I have had models from the standard MIM to a Victor Bailey. And it weighs next to nothing.
 
#25
For starters, I was fairly against relice'd instruments, and the high price of these road-worn MIM instruments.

However, I had a chance to play one on saturday and to compare it to both a MIM Standard and an American Standard. It blew the doors off the MIM Standard.

In comparison to the American standard the hardware was not as high tech, it wasn't as high output, and it was a bit lighter, but it didn't seem to be a worse instruement. Playing the two was really like playing a new instrument and a vintage instrument, both in terms of feel and tone. Overall, I liked the feel and tone better on the Road Worn. Also, though I'm not a fan of paying a premium for relic'd instruments, the worn neck finish is really comfortable.

In short, I'm not going to buy one for myself, but I can defintley see the appeal, and if I had a vintage instrument I wanted to leave at home, this would be a fine replacement for the road.
 
#26
This has me thinking. Many thanks to gcbake for reporting his experience.

I'm saving up for an AV '57 P, maybe the RW P is what I really want! I've been gigging with a Classic '50s P for several years, but its polyurethane finish gets slippery in the summer heat and my arm slides all around (I brace my forearm against the lower bass bout). Other than the finish, I love the bass (Basslines Quarter Pound, TI Jazz Flats) and I was in a band that wouldn't let me play anything else. The poly is not what I want, though.

Damn. More choices.
 
#27
One thing I like about the American Standards compared to vintage style is the satin finish. Much less slippery and some of those maple necks just feel so delicious to me. Nothing against the Road Worn's though...I just haven't been able to play one!
 
#29
lpdeluxe said:
This has me thinking. Many thanks to gcbake for reporting his experience.

I'm saving up for an AV '57 P, maybe the RW P is what I really want! I've been gigging with a Classic '50s P for several years, but its polyurethane finish gets slippery in the summer heat and my arm slides all around (I brace my forearm against the lower bass bout). Other than the finish, I love the bass (Basslines Quarter Pound, TI Jazz Flats) and I was in a band that wouldn't let me play anything else. The poly is not what I want, though.

Damn. More choices.
Click to expand...

You know I own an AV 57 P-bass and it's hands down one of the absolute best P-basses I've owned/played. But I've tried a couple of RW P-basses at GC and really liked them too. It's hard to compare fit and finish when one is new and the other "relic'd" but I found nothing about the RW suggesting poor quality. It played well, sounded good, etc... If they were priced a few hundred lower I'd probably get one notwithstanding the "MIM stigma."
 
#34
I was super impressed with both the Jazz & Precision RWs that I tried. I'm 59, and I've played a bunch of gigs with vintage Fenders since the early 60s and I think that Fender has hit a home run with these. Their light weight, body resonance, and setup is great... plus they sounded excellent too!

Someday one of these will likely follow me home. ("Honey! Look what I found laying at the side of the road!!!" :eek:) :D
 
#39
Mastermold said:
You know I own an AV 57 P-bass and it's hands down one of the absolute best P-basses I've owned/played. But I've tried a couple of RW P-basses at GC and really liked them too. It's hard to compare fit and finish when one is new and the other "relic'd" but I found nothing about the RW suggesting poor quality. It played well, sounded good, etc... If they were priced a few hundred lower I'd probably get one notwithstanding the "MIM stigma."
Click to expand...

My MIM Classic '50s is one of the few instruments I've ever owned that not only had no issues, but paid for itself out of gig money.

I guess I'll go for the AV '57 -- in the back of my mind, I still think "relic" is a fad and will look pretty dated a few years down the road (about the time I kick off and my kids gather up my toys to list on eBay). Besides, the difference in price just isn't enough to keep me from getting a MIA.
 
#40
73jbass said:
I wish do a 60's P-bass in the RW.Can't handle a 1 3/4" 4 string neck!
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I think it's more to do with the depth of the neck rather than the width. My RW has the same width just below the nut as my '63, however, the '63 has a much shallower profile. One of the first things I did with my RW was to strip the nitro off the back of the neck as it was way sticky, and when doing so I also sanded a fair bit off behind frets 1-5. Now it's super smooth and fair deal less bulky, although not as slim as the '63. My experience is that I have found most all maple necks to be chunkier than their rosewood counterparts, at least with Fender and MM, anyone else found this?
 

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