Yes...I know....no photos..no bass but it is raining here so photos will come later.
I didn't need another bass but I wanted a Precision. I had a fantastic Fender American Standard V Precision and sold it. THAT WAS STUPID!!!
Since then I have been shopping and shopping and playing P basses and finally decided to buy one of the new Fender MIM Player Precision basses. Mine came from Sweetwater so I got to look at the photos and had an idea of the weight. It is Pau Ferro/3T burst. It weighs 8 pounds, 9 ounces. The fingerboard is one of the darker Pau Ferro boards with nice figure. It looks a lot like the Rosewood board that was on my AS V Precision that I should have kept.
The bass arrived and the first thing I noticed is that it shipped with no gig bag. I believe the Fender Standard P basses came with the Fender "Deluxe" gig bag but the Player Precision comes with no bag. No big deal to me since I had a Fender G&G black tolex P bass case waiting for a bass to fill it.
I was surprised that the bass came to me set up quite well. It plays very nice and sounds just like a P bass should. I checked for the dreaded dead spots and there is only a very slight fall off of sustain at the D on the G string. You have to really be looking for it to hear it. No buzzing on the fingerboard anywhere.
The face of the headstock is finished in gloss clear and the remainder of the neck has a very nice feeling mate finish. The neck is beautifully carved and feels wonderful. Fret ends are nicely finished and there is no fret sprout.
Observations that set the Player apart from the Standard: The dark part of the sunburst on the Standard basses always went too far toward the middle of the body on the back. This is corrected on the Player. The Pau Ferro fingerboard looks like it is made of a thinner piece of wood than the rosewood used previously. I may be wrong about this but it does look thin. The electronics sound very good on the Player...perhaps due in part to the upgraded PU's. That is subjective, of course, so give one a listen and see what you think.
I found only one thing not up to par on my bass. A wire was trapped between the face of the body and the pickguard. This caused the pickguard to warp away from the body and there is a slight gap there. I was planning to change the pickguard to black anyway so it is not a big deal to me. I do not care for sunburst basses with a white pickguard. Tort or black looks much better IMO.
So the Player seems a good deal to me. It cost just a bit more than a Squier and for that bit of $$'s I got an Alder body, upgraded PU's and a Pau Ferro fingerboard.
I think Fender did good with this slight change of model. I'll install the black pickguard when it comes and will also put on a set of LaBella flats. Photos to follow when weather permits.
I didn't need another bass but I wanted a Precision. I had a fantastic Fender American Standard V Precision and sold it. THAT WAS STUPID!!!
Since then I have been shopping and shopping and playing P basses and finally decided to buy one of the new Fender MIM Player Precision basses. Mine came from Sweetwater so I got to look at the photos and had an idea of the weight. It is Pau Ferro/3T burst. It weighs 8 pounds, 9 ounces. The fingerboard is one of the darker Pau Ferro boards with nice figure. It looks a lot like the Rosewood board that was on my AS V Precision that I should have kept.
The bass arrived and the first thing I noticed is that it shipped with no gig bag. I believe the Fender Standard P basses came with the Fender "Deluxe" gig bag but the Player Precision comes with no bag. No big deal to me since I had a Fender G&G black tolex P bass case waiting for a bass to fill it.
I was surprised that the bass came to me set up quite well. It plays very nice and sounds just like a P bass should. I checked for the dreaded dead spots and there is only a very slight fall off of sustain at the D on the G string. You have to really be looking for it to hear it. No buzzing on the fingerboard anywhere.
The face of the headstock is finished in gloss clear and the remainder of the neck has a very nice feeling mate finish. The neck is beautifully carved and feels wonderful. Fret ends are nicely finished and there is no fret sprout.
Observations that set the Player apart from the Standard: The dark part of the sunburst on the Standard basses always went too far toward the middle of the body on the back. This is corrected on the Player. The Pau Ferro fingerboard looks like it is made of a thinner piece of wood than the rosewood used previously. I may be wrong about this but it does look thin. The electronics sound very good on the Player...perhaps due in part to the upgraded PU's. That is subjective, of course, so give one a listen and see what you think.
I found only one thing not up to par on my bass. A wire was trapped between the face of the body and the pickguard. This caused the pickguard to warp away from the body and there is a slight gap there. I was planning to change the pickguard to black anyway so it is not a big deal to me. I do not care for sunburst basses with a white pickguard. Tort or black looks much better IMO.
So the Player seems a good deal to me. It cost just a bit more than a Squier and for that bit of $$'s I got an Alder body, upgraded PU's and a Pau Ferro fingerboard.
I think Fender did good with this slight change of model. I'll install the black pickguard when it comes and will also put on a set of LaBella flats. Photos to follow when weather permits.
