• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Noob question: What exactly is a p bass?

terribilino

terribilino

Nov 22, 2008
458
66
#1
I mean, I know it refers to a Fender precision bass, but can it only be a Fender bass? Is something like the Lakland Duck Dunn a copy of the way the Fender p bass looks, or sounds, or is it something to do with the pickups, or what? It seems almost like saying a Sony I-pod.
 
#2
Many manufacturers have copied the Precision bass, Jazz bass, and other Fender products, as well as those of other manufacturers.

They have different headstocks because Fender has trademarked their headstock shape and has sucessfully defended that trademark. Sometimes the only vusual difference is the headstock shape and decal (another Fender trademark).

On the other hand some companies have been liscensed by Fender to produce necks with the same headstock as Fender. One can find basses with illegimate decals on homegrown instruments and on some output by small manufacturers who illegally used bogus Fender decals before Fender's lawyers ordered them to desist.
 
#4
This could get bad.

The P bass was the original shape of the electric bass guitar created by Leo Fender. Other companies over the years have just taken the idea, changed the headstock, pickup location, paint, etc.

They are all P basses in their own rights, just not the REAL P bass.
 
#5
To me, when someone refers to a P-bass, it generally means one of two things - either a Fender Precision Bass or a very close copy thereof, or, in a more general sense, a bass that shares some characteristics of the Fender Precision - the defining features, compared to other basses, would be the single split humbucking pickup (the P pickup) and the wide/flat neck dimensions (a P-style neck).

To me, you can have a P-style bass that might not share the Fender body shape, if it shares enough other features, like the pickup or neck dimensions.
 
#6
terribilino said:
I mean, I know it refers to a Fender precision bass, but can it only be a Fender bass?
Click to expand...
Technically, only a Fender bass can be called a "Precision Bass" since Fender holds the copyright to that name.

Technically, there are two different Precision Basses. The first (the original) had a "slab" body (no contours to the top and back), a true single-coil pickup (looks like a Stratocaster pickup), a Telecaster-style headstock, and a separate plastic pickguard and metal control-cavity cover. These were made from 1951 until 1956. Think of it as a Fender Broadcaster/Esquire turned into a bass:

Link Removed[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

From 1958 onwards, the Precision Bass turned into the bass that most of us are more familiar with. It's got a "contoured" body (like a Strat), a split-coil pickup, a Strat-style headstock, and a 1-piece pickguard and control-cavity cover. Think of it as a Fender Stratocaster turned into a bass:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Fender%20P%20bass.jpg


terribilino said:
Is something like the Lakland Duck Dunn a copy of the way the Fender p bass looks, or sounds, or is it something to do with the pickups, or what? It seems almost like saying a Sony I-pod.
Click to expand...
It would be more accurate to call those basses "Precision-style." In practice, people commonly use the terms Precision Bass (or P-bass) and Jazz Bass (J-bass) to describe P-style and J-style basses. It's sort of like Kleenex or Xerox. These are trade-names that have morphed into generic names because so many people use them that way.
 
#8
Some quick corrections to what LanEvo said, the original precision was made with a slab body until 1953 at which point they gave it body contours, and then in 1957 the bass changed to the modern precision as we know it today
 
#12
IMO, my Fenders are Precisions, and anything else that is basicly a copy can be called P-bass, or P style, and I have no issues with that. Just don't call them a Presicion.

Yes, the Single Coil P's fall under the same rules, but I typicaly referer to those as Single coil P's (or Precisions) to avoid confusion with the much more common, split coil P. When someone says Precision, or P bass, my default setting is the 57 and later split coil version.


Some would go so far as to refer to other basses with the P p/u configuration , but different body styles as P's. I draw the line there. If they don't look like a Precision, and that would include having a split coil Pickup, then it's not a P bass IMO.
 
#13
Baryonyx said:
No, it's not the body shape. Jeff Berlin used to play a bass with a P bass body shape and two Bartolini humbuckers in the "jazz" positions. Definitely not a P bass.

To me, aside from the "Fender" issue, a P bass is a bass with the body shape, the split coil pickup and the general Fender headstock shape.
Click to expand...

Now that is a bass that Fender should reissue just to spice things up a bit.Shame he's with Dean.Not to say that his bass or the company he endorses is in anyway.Remember seeing a couple of years ago in his instructional video and it was unlike anything I have seen.
 
#16
GobBass said:
Now that is a bass that Fender should reissue just to spice things up a bit.Shame he's with Dean.Not to say that his bass or the company he endorses is in anyway.Remember seeing a couple of years ago in his instructional video and it was unlike anything I have seen.
Click to expand...

IIRC it was custom made by Mike Tobias (the records that Jeff made with it list him as playing Tobias basses). It did look cool though, but if it had a Precision neck on it...yikes! Could be a pretty cool bass though, with the right neck! It sounded amazing, but then Jeff has always had a great sound!
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back