OK, ok, I just couldn't resist any more. It called to me, and although I was considering a new Fender American Vintage II 1960 Precision Bass, it just wasn't exciting me as much as this one has. Here's my brand new MVP4-62 from Rob Elrick's shop in Chicago (made in South Korea). I may be in love...serious like in any case.
I don't have many pictures (yet), I'm too busy playing it....It came very competently packed.
tl;dr...gorgeous bass, happy player.
It does not come with a case (John at MV said that "we never know what people will want"...uh, OK...so I sprang for the very nice Access semi-rigid gig bag....
Gorgeous Shoreline Gold Metallic finish and...tort...of course, duh--you might guess it's my favorite finish somehow.
(It still has the pickguard plastic on it in this picture.)
There's not too much information on their website...they could really beef it up a bit, but John was very responsive and answered all my questions (it's just a two-person operation at this point). Basic stats: A tad under 8 lbs. by the highly scientific bathroom scale method--it could be slightly heavier for real, but it is almost a light as my Highway 1 Precision Bass, so with my back and shoulder problems, thank you very much. Nut width is 1.75" on the nose, 9.5" radius, the neck profile is approximately .86" at 1st fret and .99" at the 12th, with a nice C shape--rather flat on the back all the way down. I hate skinny necks, and while not a baseball bat or chunky exactly, it's nice and substantial, but would still probably appeal to most tastes. The pickup is stated as Alnico voiced like a '62 P, and it has a nice open and clear character with decent output. Tuners are Hipshot clover-leaf ultra-lites and this thing balances perfectly, both on your lap or strap. The finish is a "thin" lacquer. I cannot find a flaw on this thing. I mean not one--the fit and finish are superb for a production instrument, and the fingerboard edges seem to be somewhat rolled--the fretwork is precise. Intonation and set up were spot on right out of the box--I didn't even have to tune it much. Frets are well levelled and there are no dead spots anywhere on the neck--I can get the action down pretty low. A nice dark Indian rosewood fingerboard and alder body. A beautiful roasted maple neck that has a wonderful caramel colour and perfect satin finish, with a matching head cap. As non-Fender headstock shapes go, I like this one. The truss rod adjustment is at the heel with a generous access channel and a hex nut. I didn't have to tweak it all--just a smidge of relief like I like it..
The vintage-style bridge looks substantial, and the threaded saddles are steel, I'm told. The bass resonates nicely against the body when unplugged.
It came with what felt like stainless steel DR strings (not sure of brand--they have dark grey/bronze ball ends and no silk--any ideas?). I really dislike SS (to me they sound like what sand in your bathing suit feels like) so I replaced them with a broken-in set of GHS Pressurewounds. I have LaBella DTFs on the other P Bass since the string really chooses the bass and it never sounded good with anything but flats. This one sounds great with Pressurewounds so now I have a more versatile P in my arsenal. I played it at rehearsal last night and it sounded fantastic. The guitar player loved the tone and said it was just very "smooth" and I found it sat perfectly in the mix. Also, this is the first bass I've had where the passive tone is usable--go figure! I could get close to a flats sound on the Motown portion of the evening by rolling it about 2/3 to 1/2 down), and it sounded nice and punchy for James Gang on full throttle. I play through a Mesa D-800+ with Subway 1x15 and 1x12 cabs. No effects. I can't wait to play it at our next gig on Saturday.
I frequently suffer from buyer's remorse on nearly everything I get, but I'm only enjoying and respecting this one more each day so far.
If you're in the market for similar type instruments, I can recommend that Modern Vintage should be on your list, although there are so many FSO options out there that there's kind of an option overload. It took me forever to decide. Too bad you can't try them first, but this acquisition worked out great. There are cheaper options out there, for sure, but there's a real quality premium here I haven't found or felt on recent Fenders, for instance.
Peace.
tl;dr...gorgeous bass, happy player.
It does not come with a case (John at MV said that "we never know what people will want"...uh, OK...so I sprang for the very nice Access semi-rigid gig bag....
Gorgeous Shoreline Gold Metallic finish and...tort...of course, duh--you might guess it's my favorite finish somehow.
There's not too much information on their website...they could really beef it up a bit, but John was very responsive and answered all my questions (it's just a two-person operation at this point). Basic stats: A tad under 8 lbs. by the highly scientific bathroom scale method--it could be slightly heavier for real, but it is almost a light as my Highway 1 Precision Bass, so with my back and shoulder problems, thank you very much. Nut width is 1.75" on the nose, 9.5" radius, the neck profile is approximately .86" at 1st fret and .99" at the 12th, with a nice C shape--rather flat on the back all the way down. I hate skinny necks, and while not a baseball bat or chunky exactly, it's nice and substantial, but would still probably appeal to most tastes. The pickup is stated as Alnico voiced like a '62 P, and it has a nice open and clear character with decent output. Tuners are Hipshot clover-leaf ultra-lites and this thing balances perfectly, both on your lap or strap. The finish is a "thin" lacquer. I cannot find a flaw on this thing. I mean not one--the fit and finish are superb for a production instrument, and the fingerboard edges seem to be somewhat rolled--the fretwork is precise. Intonation and set up were spot on right out of the box--I didn't even have to tune it much. Frets are well levelled and there are no dead spots anywhere on the neck--I can get the action down pretty low. A nice dark Indian rosewood fingerboard and alder body. A beautiful roasted maple neck that has a wonderful caramel colour and perfect satin finish, with a matching head cap. As non-Fender headstock shapes go, I like this one. The truss rod adjustment is at the heel with a generous access channel and a hex nut. I didn't have to tweak it all--just a smidge of relief like I like it..
The vintage-style bridge looks substantial, and the threaded saddles are steel, I'm told. The bass resonates nicely against the body when unplugged.
It came with what felt like stainless steel DR strings (not sure of brand--they have dark grey/bronze ball ends and no silk--any ideas?). I really dislike SS (to me they sound like what sand in your bathing suit feels like) so I replaced them with a broken-in set of GHS Pressurewounds. I have LaBella DTFs on the other P Bass since the string really chooses the bass and it never sounded good with anything but flats. This one sounds great with Pressurewounds so now I have a more versatile P in my arsenal. I played it at rehearsal last night and it sounded fantastic. The guitar player loved the tone and said it was just very "smooth" and I found it sat perfectly in the mix. Also, this is the first bass I've had where the passive tone is usable--go figure! I could get close to a flats sound on the Motown portion of the evening by rolling it about 2/3 to 1/2 down), and it sounded nice and punchy for James Gang on full throttle. I play through a Mesa D-800+ with Subway 1x15 and 1x12 cabs. No effects. I can't wait to play it at our next gig on Saturday.
I frequently suffer from buyer's remorse on nearly everything I get, but I'm only enjoying and respecting this one more each day so far.
If you're in the market for similar type instruments, I can recommend that Modern Vintage should be on your list, although there are so many FSO options out there that there's kind of an option overload. It took me forever to decide. Too bad you can't try them first, but this acquisition worked out great. There are cheaper options out there, for sure, but there's a real quality premium here I haven't found or felt on recent Fenders, for instance.
Peace.
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