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NBD: Retired my Jazz. Going all Precision now
- Thread starter MovingPitchers
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- precision bass
I spent about ten minutes just playing the bass. Feels alright. Not exactly how I want it but I can't complain. I don't have to press down too hard to fret the notes.
P-Basses are rare at my church...mostly because the bass players here are either too "cool" for a simple bass like the Precision or are youth kids who were forced/asked to play bass for their respective teams and thus buy the cheapest bass they can.
Thanks for posting that...I bet there are alot of broken truss rods that didn't need to be. I hear bullet truss rods are the best.
Some old Fenders used to come from the factory with shims allready installed.
Why not keep them all handy. I just reach for whatever I feel like playing. Besides, the room looks a lot better the more basses hanging around.I received my Nate Mendel Precision Bass from TBer @static0verdrive a week ago. I couldn't get the action or anything to my liking so I turned to a local trustworthy tech to fix it.
He said the truss rod was really tight and wasn't turning anymore so he did the best he could without touching it. Oh well. When I got the bass today, dropped off by a friend and a fellow TBer, I plugged it in and it felt amazing. It sounded killer. I did miss that Precision Bass sound.
So as of today, new bass day! I'm retiring my Jazz (went to a humble hibernation inside my hard case) and going all Precision for my rig.
Action is a bit too high for my liking but I don't wanna undo all of the tech's hard work. As you can see, the bridge saddles are notched really high because of the problem with the truss rod. I don't think it'll tighten anymore unless I wanna break a beautiful neck. I'll live with it. I don't need a low action to play anyways.
May or may not switch out the QPs. They're a bit too hot for my liking but I'll spend about a week or two and a few Sunday services with them in to make a final judgment.
View attachment 803004[/QUOTE just keep them all handy. I
I did this to my mm stingray 5 long time ago ..I added a washer .and tightened the truss rod. It straightneed thE neck perfectly
This doesn't make sense to me. If the truss rod is maxed out and you still have too much relief, making the saddles higher isn't going to compensate for the problem; it is going to aggravate it. If the truss rod is completely loosened and you've got a back bow problem, you might have to raise the saddles. If that is the case, though, you might just have a piece of wood that doesn't want to be a bass neck.
My Mendel P is perfect. It plays okay with a little too much relief (some guys seem to prefer their P basses that way), but it is exceptional when set up correctly. I did ditch the quarter pounder; it was fine, but I wanted a more traditional tone so I switched to the SPB-1.
Forgive me if this was covered already, but people just blithely say this without mentioning that you can't just use a common washer from the hardware store. I have found that SAE washers, which your hardware store might have, do fit. And, if Fender has washers that are even more special, you should get those. If a tech bottoms the original tension nut and just stops there, you need a better tech.
That's really interesting, because at my church, two of the three basses I regularly play have, sort of, a Precision pick-up.
What I mean is my PJ on the left <--- obviously has one, and my Roscoe Beck's Lawrence pick-ups do a fairly good approximation of them when set to Serial mode. I think the tone fits a lot of the music we play.
Thats what I was thinking...I mean, really...time to start doing your own work, or find someone who actually knows at least the basic setup 101 stuff.
He knows his stuff so please don't insult his years of experience.
Even great techs have troublesome equipment come their way and they do their best to make it playable and right for their customers.
I tried that a few years back but it was a month after I tried out a P-Bass. I wanted that P-Bass tone so I couldn't stand having two Jazzes. Sold one to get a P-Bass and now my life is screwed with forever GAS.
He knows his stuff so please don't insult his years of experience.
Even great techs have troublesome equipment come their way and they do their best to make it playable and right for their customers.
I tried that a few years back but it was a month after I tried out a P-Bass. I wanted that P-Bass tone so I couldn't stand having two Jazzes. Sold one to get a P-Bass and now my life is screwed with forever GAS.
"You know, I've been that road before",....
He knows his stuff so please don't insult his years of experience.
Even great techs have troublesome equipment come their way and they do their best to make it playable and right for their customers.
I tried that a few years back but it was a month after I tried out a P-Bass. I wanted that P-Bass tone so I couldn't stand having two Jazzes. Sold one to get a P-Bass and now my life is screwed with forever GAS.
OK, fair enough, my comment was a bit insulting. But did he mention the washer approach at all to you? That has been a successful and widely known method to correct this type of problem for decades; a method that any competent tech would know about. Perhaps he tried it and it didnt work in your case?
Went the same way in January 2015 still glad of my choice, American Standard Precision & Fender Rumble 200 combo 
This is what I have found, band at church is usually: two acoustic guitar, one electric, keyboard, drummer, two-three backing vocals and the lead vocalist, when I play my P is like magic, bass is there, easy to be hear and feel.
Yep. I played my Precision for church yesterday. Needless to say, I fell in love with it. I now know what it means when people say that the Precision "sits perfectly in the mix".
This was a P with roundwounds. Imagine a P with flatwounds for me!
This was a P with roundwounds. Imagine a P with flatwounds for me!
Some people overuse the term "life-changing" these days, but a P with flatwounds really is that for a lot of us. It made me rethink the way bass is supposed to sound. There are very few musical applications for which it will not work.
Keep that jazz bass around, though, even if it's just to remind you that you're a precision guy every once in a while.
