My error - MF did post. I missed it. -Mike
Initially I posted this thread thinking I had submitted a review that MF did not post.
After a week of not seeing it appear I stated here mistakenly, that MF had not posted. It was then pointed out here by Maplenecked that, indeed my post was on the MF site - my mistake.
This is the item:
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This is the review at
Musicians Friend:
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I'm not a troll, but judging from all the stellar reviews here I'll probably be taken for one. Here are the facts in my experience with this bass.
I've been playing bass since 1967 and still own the 1966 Precision bass I bought new after saving by working after school. Over the years I've owned over two dozen Fender basses, many of them pre-CBS and transition era.
I bought a new 50's Precision bass as a stage bass when I didn't want to sling my '66 around. I'm not a bass snob; there are plenty of inexpensive new basses that are excellent instruments. I also don't hold to the belief that American basses are made any better than those made in other countries, rather that there are many finely made instruments coming from elsewhere.
I found the craftsmanship on the 50's Precision I bought to be exceptional. I was surprised at how good the fit and finish was on the bass. But that's all I can say positive about it. It proved to be the most unusable Fender bass I've ever owned until I went through a series of changes to find out what was wrong with it.
The beef I had was that it was the most unclear, dead sounding Precision I had ever encountered. I went through aseries of changes trying to find out why.
First I went through swapping out the stock pickup with various pickups. No change.
I've owned basses that had dead spots in the neck and thought maybe this bass had a massive amount of those. I swapped the entire neck for an Allparts replacement, but still - same dead thud, even with new strings.
It turned out that the good looking finish consisted of a thick shell of urethane that was choking the vibration in the instrument. I sanded off the entire finish and had a local furniture shop stain it and put 3 thin coats of nitro lacquer on it and was then amazed at how the bass sounded - a totally different instrument, one of the best sounding I've owned.
If you're contemplating buying one of these I suggest buying one used, then refinishing it in nitro.
