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P Basses with narrower necks?

Bortron

Bortron

Apr 10, 2018
174
436
#1
I have a Squier Standard P Bass Special V, which originally came with two four-string J pickups. Because those were obviously wrong for the job, I converted it to a PJ with Nordstrand pickups. Playing it more the last few days, I've realised how bloody good and versatile P pickups can be. Unfortunately the neck is like a cricket bat, so there's no way I can gig with it.

So I'm looking for suggestions for a 4-string P Bass, ideally one with a slimmer neck (J thickness would be fine). I'd prefer traditional P looks, rather than a more modern interpretation of a P layout. PJ would be fine. I wouldn't want to spend more than about £/$800 (prices tend to be the same numerical value between the two!).

Any suggestions?
 
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#6
I'd rather get a new 4-string than a J neck for my 5-string, as I'd worry the 5-string J neck would still be too wide for my tastes. Plus I've already spent a small fortune getting the existing neck refretted and refinished, so I'm loathe to swap it out now (yes, maybe I should've thought about that at the time, but it is what it is). And then there's the issue of whether it would fit the neck pocket well, etc.
 
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#10
Bortron said:
I have a Squier Standard P Bass Special V, which originally came with two four-string J pickups. Because those were obviously wrong for the job, I converted it to a PJ with Nordstrand pickups. Playing it more the last few days, I've realised how bloody good and versatile P pickups can be. Unfortunately the neck is like a cricket bat, so there's no way I can gig with it.

So I'm looking for suggestions for a 4-string P Bass, ideally one with a slimmer neck (J thickness would be fine). I'd prefer traditional P looks, rather than a more modern interpretation of a P layout. PJ would be fine. I wouldn't want to spend more than about £/$800 (prices tend to be the same numerical value between the two!).

Any suggestions?
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I think the necks on the Player series P basses run a little narrower than the vintage spec. Have a look at those.
 
#12
Just buy a Fender licensed J Neck and drop it in, way cheaper than buying a whole new bass, and you know ahead of time it will fit. Never much liked chunky P necks. I have an old MIM P bass with terminal Ski-Jump, plan on making a J neck for it for fun. The Warmoth necks are superb, but the Allparts are plenty good enough.
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If you really gotta have that headstock decal, plenty online to choose from, and perfectly legit on a licensed neck.
 
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#14
Grab a 4-string p-bass that you like the sound of, then toss a Jazz bass neck on there. There are some higher-end brands that do have them already (though Sire is pretty affordable), but it sounds like a 1.5" nut width and 9.5"-7.5" radius is what you are looking for, which is in the realm of the jazz neck profile.

Fender standard replacement necks are pretty solid, but come in at a 1.65" nut width on the ones I got. Still very playable and comfortable, I love mine :thumbsup:
 
#16
Since you want to get a new 4 string, and you want a thinner neck, in addition to the Peavey Fury suggestions, may I also suggest the Squier Sonic Precision bass. Don't let the inexpensive price tag fool you - the one I have is very nice. It's got the jazz bass spec'd neck and the one I have is very stable with nice fret work. Now, I will admit that I did mod mine. The one quibble I had is that because of the light body, there was a bit of neck dive. So I solved that issue by changing the bridge to a Hipshot "A Style Fender Mount" bridge, and also replaced the tuners with GOTOH Res-O-Lite gb350s. Perfect now. And even though I found the pickups to be satisfactory, I did swap them with a Seymour Duncon SPB-1. I'm all set.
 
#17
Jazz neck on a Precision body. It works great for me.

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#18
I recently looked for slim-necked PJ basses in the $500 - $1000 price range and found the following:

Sadowsky MetroExpress 21 Hybrid

Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas PJ IV

Yamaha BB434 (nut width is between typical P bass and typical J bass, but the neck profile is slimmer than that of a typical P)

Sire P7 or P8 - I ended up buying a P8 and love it


For me it came down to a decision between the Yamaha and the Sire, because I wanted a passive tone control.
 
#20
beaglesandbass said:
Not if the item is sold here, but I agree with the rest of your post. If OP already likes the rest of the bass, just swap the neck out.
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Would it be OK with full disclosure if listed for sale on TB? If it's a Fender Licensed neck, with a decal that says "licensed by Fender", would that be OK? The whole headstock logo thing has me confused, Case in Point:

If you lose or break the TRC on a Rickenbacker bass, which has the copyrighted Ric logo on it, Ric will not sell you a new one at any price. Consequently, people go on Aliexpress and buy a fake one (that looks identical) for $5.00. Now you have a "counterfeit" TRC on a Legit Rickenbacker bass. The "victim" in this scenario is... who exactly? Seems like it's Rickenbacker Inc., who people would have gladly paid to get a "genuine" TRC.
 

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