NBD: MIM Fender Precision Special Deluxe Series (2001)

So I ran across this cutie, and it eagerly wagged its tail and followed me home. What could I do?

MIM, 2001 (Feb. 18), with a Jazz Bass neck, V/V/T, side mount output jack, HSC, unopened case candy bag. I love the way Fender used the third pickguard hole (usually used for the output jack) to mount the tone knob. This way any standard Precision pickguard can be used.

It came with another pickguard, but I had this white one laying around. A white pearloid pickguard is on the way.

The bass came to me with action at about 1/2". The seller said he bought it ten years ago intending to learn to play, but had never gotten around to it.

A few simple twists of the included truss rod tool and the installation of a Badass II bridge I had laying around resulted in surprisingly low action, one of the best I have.

All of my favorite basses have PJ pickup setups (Pedulla MVP, Yamaha BB 3000s). I'm not crazy about the tone of the MIM pickups in this one, and hear a noticeable loss of bass when the Jazz pickup volume goes above 2/3 or so. A pickup upgrade might be in order.

But all in all, a very happy day!

 

Thanks for the nice words!

I cruise the usual local online sites regularly, and on occasion something crops up that tickles that certain place.

BTW, anyone have any thoughts on the pickup issue I experience with this? Specifically, with the P bass pickup up at full volume and the J pickup with the volume off, all sounds great. I can gradually roll the J pickup up to about 2/3 keeping full bass tonality while adding some J high end.

But once the J pickup goes past 2/3 or so, there's a distinct loss of low end frequencies. All solder connections appear to be original, so no weirdness there.

What might cause such a tonal outcome? I don't experience this with any of my other PJ basses. If the J pickup were accidentally wired in reverse, might that cause this?

Thanks!