I bought Sweetwater’s yellow Player II demo and as I figured it had been set up pretty well and weighs just 8lb 2oz. It’ll take a Fralin likely!
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Help Me Target a Year and Model of Precision (PBass)
- Thread starter TroyK
- Start date
Oops I like it so much now that I forgot that the stock tuners made my head explode. Swapped with the Hipshots recommended by the TB team. Still played great with the stock hourglass tuners but I couldn’t deal.
Sounds like an awesome afternoon out! I love G&L's take on the classic designs and you are correct, stock their nut widths are in the range you have found you like, just need to be aware if a bass was a custom order with specs that differ from the default "off the shelf" G&L recipe for each model.
I will say if you are looking at G&L, do not ignore the SB-1 model! The LB-100 is their "classic" P style, and the SB-1 is a revised take with a slightly different body shape and a more aggressively voiced stock pickup, but when I was on my own hunt for a Precision, after many A/Bs the SB-1 is the one I ended up taking home.
Look for a MIA 1995 American Standard.
1. Vintage pickup that actually sounds vintage.
2. 1st model with Graphite rods in the neck. Bought mine 14 years ago when it was already 15yrs old, have never had to touch the truss rodd and that bass has played in sub 0 F winters in the Rockies to 100 F humid summers on the east coast and never moved.
3. The sunburst back then cost $50 extra because the body was 2 piece matched Alder and premium to show off the 2 color tobacco sunburst finish.
4. The big unknown is that the scalloping on the facia of the headstock was much more shallow than other P's making the headstock thicker. This makes this model bass sustain forever and eliminates the 7th fret dead spot you often read about.
5. This biggest win apart from the actual bass is these commonly sell for just under or just over a grand, making them the very best P value out there.
My observations and I am not a die hard Fender guy, just have a few in the stable because........
1. Vintage pickup that actually sounds vintage.
2. 1st model with Graphite rods in the neck. Bought mine 14 years ago when it was already 15yrs old, have never had to touch the truss rodd and that bass has played in sub 0 F winters in the Rockies to 100 F humid summers on the east coast and never moved.
3. The sunburst back then cost $50 extra because the body was 2 piece matched Alder and premium to show off the 2 color tobacco sunburst finish.
4. The big unknown is that the scalloping on the facia of the headstock was much more shallow than other P's making the headstock thicker. This makes this model bass sustain forever and eliminates the 7th fret dead spot you often read about.
5. This biggest win apart from the actual bass is these commonly sell for just under or just over a grand, making them the very best P value out there.
My observations and I am not a die hard Fender guy, just have a few in the stable because........
Fair enough but there won’t be any MIMs for sale for $1,600, that’s more than new. And I would suggest that there’s really nothing modern out there that will require a bridge and tuner replacement, unless that one bass was stored in a dungeon or what have you.
There’s very little bad stuff made today and P-Basses are simple instruments. Most of them work fine for most people.
If you want to save some cash find a used newer MIM for $500, like a Player or a Vintera or what have you. You probably won’t need to replace anything.
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The broader tonal range of the '88 MIJ might be caused by the tone cap value. Most passive basses use .047 uF tone caps these days. Early, vintage Fender basses (certainly in 1957) used .100 uF tone caps. This will give you a noticeably broader tonal range than most "modern" Fender basses. The tone will be identical with the tone knob at 100% though, which means that the difference is all about a significantly darker tone when you roll off the tone knob all the way to 0%.
Most modern Fender basses use .047 uF tone caps, but some vintage-reissue models still use .100 uF.
Maybe the 1988 MIJ you tested used the period correct tone cap for a '57 P-bass, and the 2009 didn't? The difference would be exactly how you describe it.
The downside of using a .100 uF tone cap is that the tone can get too dark/muddy too fast for some players when you roll off the tone. Another downside is that a broader tonal range is cramped into a shorter travel on the pot, which can make it slightly more fiddly to dial in your personal sweetspot. Tone caps are cheap though. If the bass is wired traditionally (no circuit boards with surface mount components) it's very easy to replace a tone pot (if you know how to solder). Which means it won't cost much to experiment with different values.
The Vintera P-basses are great instruments. The necks are unfortunately too wide/chunky for MY taste, but the pickup is possibly the best, and certainly the most authentic vintage-sounding, in the entire Fender product range these days (outside of Custom Shop anyway). With the AmPro it's the opposite for me: I love the neck size/profile, but the pickup needs to be replaced (IMO), at least if you're looking for classic, vintage Fender tone/dynamics.
The string-thru option on the AmPro... You're right, you shouldn't care. There may be a THEORETICAL tonal advantage due to the steeper break angle and increased pressure over the saddles, but as long as the break-angle is sufficient when stringing through the bridge (and on a Fender P-bass it is) the actual tonal difference will be somewhere between negligible and non-existent. You can find all kinds of misinformation online (including on this forum) about how the part of the strings that goes through the body will improve the tone by "transferring" tone to the body. But if you think about it, this part of the strings doesn't even vibrate at all. Which is a good thing of course. If it had vibrated it would only have given you nasty, ringing, out-of-tune overtones. This part of the string doesn't even really have any contact with the body at all, except at the ferrules. Stringing through the body have some DISadvantages though. Many types of flatwound strings can't handle the break angle and may unravel at the bridge. Standard long scale strings from SOME string manufacturers will be too short, which means you will need extra long scale strings from SOME, but not all manufacturers. You will basically have to measure the distance from ball-end to nut, like you need to on short scale basses, where the winding lengths from different manufacturers are all over the place. String-thru = just a lot of unecessary hassle IMO (unless of course the bass is a design that actually needs it to get an acceptable break-angle over the saddles, but that's not the case with Fenders).
Another idea:
Have you considered buying a Warmoth P-bass neck instead of a new bass? Most players go the other way, buying J-bass necks for P-basses, so I'm sure you should be able to sell your Warmoth J-neck separately. Like you said, Warmoth craftsmanship/construction is WAY better than Fender. Buying a Fender when you're used to a Warmoth will probably feel like a downgrade.
Just don't get Warmoth's slim profile P-bass neck. That option is VERY slim/flat, and based on your description, it's probably not what you're looking for.
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That actually sounds like a great idea, although I'm always for buying an old bass that's special. I would be very torn in your shoes, Mr. Troy
@S.F.Sorrow what you're saying about the tone pot makes perfect sense. That's how it felt and I came to the same conclusion without the historical background that you provided.
I have considered building up a Warmoth.
I have considered building up a Warmoth.
IMO it would be better to just try or buy some used less expensive basses until you figure out what specs you like the best. If you bought a used MIM P-bass to see how you got along with it, you might find out that you are happy and need nothing else. If you love it, you could upgrade to a fancier model with the same specs later. But worse case scenario, you can sell the cheaper one on for the same as you paid.
1963 has been a great year for me, so has 1965.
Since you said you play upright to me that equals tight radius + wide neck. The American Vintage 2 1960 precision bass seems right up your alley. I really like the daphne blue one, and with flats I’ve sounded great at gigs.
Here’s the one I had.
Since you said you play upright to me that equals tight radius + wide neck. The American Vintage 2 1960 precision bass seems right up your alley. I really like the daphne blue one, and with flats I’ve sounded great at gigs.
Here’s the one I had.
Less money spend for vintage period ???? Here you are.....
Mexico Vintera 50s P.
Mexico Vintera 50s P.
Man I just gotta try a chunky wide P neck fretless with vintage radius now.
Dang it Troy!
Dang it Troy!
You want either a AVRI '58 (American Vintage Re-issue) or AO-50 (american original). The major diff being the neck radius. I'd say I prefer the 7.25 but to be honest I can't tell it from a 9.5 unless I look at it. But that alone won't get you there. Then you want Ti Round-Wound strings. Yeah, flats are good too (either TI or Labella), but the Ti rounds seem like they're made for a P-bass. If you still want a little more, I'd probably add Lollar pickups. But the '58 pickup is pretty good itself (to me anyways).
I may go back and play it again, but it's not really haunting me. The basswood body had some fairly serious wear and there was a chip out of it around the neck pocket. Cosmetic, but I think I could find a cleaner 80s MIJ for the same price. What really has me pausing on it, though was a weird little relief thing in the neck. I could talk with the in-house luthier about it and if I were going to buy it, would him set it up with my preferred (best guess) strings before I forked over the $. But, I had an 80s Jazz bass that I had deep personal connection with and got a lot of work with until the truss rod popped out through the fingerboard and that's haunting me a bit with this 80s P Bass.
I have a local nibble on the Warwick. Nothing from here yet, but I think I know what I'm looking for now and I'm sure that I could find a good one if I was sitting on sale proceeds. You guys told me not to worry about years and models, but you've actually done a really good job of orienting me to years and models that I think would make the best basses for me. That local, used Vintera would certainly work, I could take a closer look and negotiate on the MIJ bass and there's something on Reverb that I think I could buy with confidence now.
1999 - 2012 Fender American Standard. You can find them used around a grand. They are great.
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