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Finally ... NBD.
- Thread starter el murdoque
- Start date
Remind us if you would; What exactly is this again?
Nice looking bass...and not too heavy.
Nice looking bass...and not too heavy.
This bass comes with an unshielded cavity so it most likely buzzes already, the aluminum pickguard does next to zero. Your American Original is probably shielded instead.
Congratulations. This is my dream bass, the one that got away. I bought one that turned out to be a lemon (twisted neck) and unfortunately they are not available at the moment in Europe. Even if they were they would be too expensive for me.
I've since ordered a Vintera neck from the Stratosphere to put on my Player P, it's the next best thing to having a real Vintera. I hope I don't get reamed with import taxes.
I can't get over how beautiful that seafoam is...
...one day
I've since ordered a Vintera neck from the Stratosphere to put on my Player P, it's the next best thing to having a real Vintera. I hope I don't get reamed with import taxes.
I can't get over how beautiful that seafoam is...
...one day
That's great! Unfortunately my apartment's wiring buzzes unless I shield the cavity. Same with a couple of local venues. YMMV
.
Sorry for the light quality, it was already dark when I got home - and AFAIK, It's illegal to have an NBD without posting it here and the rule for NBD posts is 'pics or it did not happen'.
Here it is again, in broad daylight. The stock photos don't do it justice - and neither do my cellphone snapshots.
It's not Daphne blue, but Seafoam Green.
Remind us if you would; What exactly is this again?
Nice looking bass...and not too heavy.
Just in case you missed it and can't find the earlier threads on the topic:
It's a Seafoam Green / Maple Board Fender Vintera 50's Precision Bass made in Mexico.
The Pickup installed is an Aguilar AG 4P-60. The Strings are Chromes. The straplocks are Schaller.
The weight is 8,33 lbs. ;-)
The possible upcoming things I might do are:
-Take it to a luthier to dress the fret ends - so the neck's smoothness matches that of my other basses.
-Acquire and mount a different pickguard (Pearl white)
-Decide whether or not the P-Bass Ashtray I have lying around might or might not go on there.
-Mount the thumbrest.
I think both the ashtray and the thumbrest might go on there with double sided tape to check them out for a
while.
...but right now, I'm happily thumping away on this beautiful, no frills / no bells&whistles utility machine and all those mods I deemed necessary can wait for a bit - I'm in no rush.
Exactly. The only thing that matters is the value of the capacitor.
True to 50s basses, Vintera Precisions come with a 100nF capacitor which is super dark, as soon as you turn down the Tone knob it eats into the bass AND mids, effectively lowering the volume. Personally I don't like that, it's too tubby.
I did not want to leave you hanging like this, but the guy who did the work on my bass was out for a week and then TB was down: It's 47 µF
Congrats on the NBD!
When I read, "...massive amount of overthinking..." I had a good belly laugh
I've been going through the same thing over the last few months-- also over a classic Fender P-bass with flats. Learning about flats alone can be overwhelming LOL! Just today my first set of Chromes was found on my doorstep, also to be installed on a Seafoam Green P, so reading your post was a lot of fun-- kindred spirits!Keep us updated on your modifications and thoughts about the bass~
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Congrats on the NBD!
When I read, "...massive amount of overthinking..." I had a good belly laugh
Keep us updated on your modifications and thoughts about the bass~
Chromes on a SFG P bass rock!
So far, I'm still breaking in mine. The brightness has considerably faded, but it'll take a little more playing to get there. I made it a sport to swap between my 6 and the Precision during practice sessions and then figure out how to play the licks with two strings missing, but my upcoming gigs will require the 6 and I need to stay focused on that, with the P thrown in here and there for fun.
It is funny how much I like the sound and feeling of the P bass, given that this is a moderately cheap model of a design from 7 decades ago, while my 6 is a Le Fay that is a high end bass in every aspect. Makes you wander sometimes why anyone should drop a few grand on one of those when a three figure sum can net you such a nice P.
I did order two pickguards, a pearl white one and a pale mint one. They've been dispatched from Scotland last week and should arrive within the next few days. That's when the question of the thumbrest will need to be answered.
Fun fact on the side:
My honeymoon phase with my Le Fay was not yet over when the P bass arrived here. This arrival somehow has rekindled the spark even more, so for the time being, I'm excited about two basses and frequently grab one to play for a bit, then grab the other and enjoy the polar opposite. It seems honeymooning with two instead of one at the same time leads to more honeymoon in total than doing one after the other.
Somebody much braver than me might introduce that concept to the SO ;-)
New pickguards were in the mail today.
The left pic shows pale mint, the right pearl white.
I got them via ebay from a Scottish seller named "earlpilanz" - I mention that not because I'm affiliated in any way or want to boost the sales of that seller, but because the 10 hole variety is not easily obtained and I searched for quite a while, this might help anyone looking for a replacement for their Vintera. The quality is good (and very good for the price) and the fit is a solid 9/10. It was a wee bit snug around the bassy side of the pickup and I had to give it a few licks with 180 grit paper to get it in perfectly.
The obvious choice is pearl white. The pale mint is not represented very well in the cellphone pic, though - and that is what went on first. I ordered it more as an afterthought after putting pearl white in my shopping basket - but while both look absolutely stunning, the mint has a little something I can't quite put a name to, which tipped the scale.
Oh boy, ain't that a beauty.
The three layer pickguard is a little thicker than the anodized aluminum one. It has the edges cut at 45° and addresses all the issues I had with the original one, which were: 1. That weird feeling when it was eating away at my thumbnail, 2. Being metal, it was cold to the touch and 3. The edges were not rounded off and quite sharp.
The feeling of the bass was a complete different one when I picked it up to play. I'd estimate the new guard is about twice as thick as the old one, which makes the pickup and neck stick out less as a thumbrest. Which, for some reason, feels better. The strings feel closer to the body (which they are in the area where I play).
With the pickguard in place, I took the thumbrest and toyed around with it a bit to see where it might go, but then decided against mounting it. The bass plays fine as is and needs no mods in this regard. The P bass I played where I enjoyed the thumbrest had fresh rounds on it and I played north of the pickup to take off the edge. On this bass I find myself playing further towards the bridge.
So with all that out of the way, there are three possible mods I might consider in the future:
1. Swapping the tuners for ones that don't work the other way than you think, and while we're at it use some that look a bit higher quality and maybe even save a few ounces.
2. Dressing the fret ends properly.
3. Giving it a nice vintage 'relic' finish. I plan to do that the only way I deem legit: By playing it every day for a (very) long time, until signs of wear through playing appear. I am no friend of taking tools or chemicals to speed up that process. 60 seconds per minute is how it's done in this house.
...However, I was happy with the bass the way it showed up at my doorstep and now I'm even happier, so investing further work might be something for the long run.
Modding a bass is something I have had no real experience with because I never really played basses that were easily modded. I found that it is a bit like a cheap way to quench the good ol' GAS.
)
