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P body/J neck experiences

I love P-basses, and I have a few. Like you, I want a "P-Bass, but with____..." Something Fender stock models don't have. My P-Bass with a jazz neck, I built from Warmoth parts. That way, I got the woods and all the specs I wanted. I happened to want an oil finish, so I did all the finishing and construction myself. Point is, I got EXACTLY the P-Bass I wanted for around $700 and a few hours of work. I did a NBD thread about it a few months back. With your budget, it's so worth it to just get what you want. You have wiggle room to get nice parts and still get help from a pro for finishing and construction.

Or be patient and get a G&L when one pops up.
 
I have a parts bass with a roadworn P body, american special jazz neck, and a S Duncan quarter pounder (plus I treated myself to switchcraft/CTS/cloth covered wire and full shielding), body and neck Fender, found on the net (nothing easier, you know who these guys are who sell them…). Just had a look, you could have a complete bass for around 700 right now… just have to screw the two parts together, slap some strings, done!
Even cheaper : buy a standard MIM P bass, buy a J neck and sell your P neck (if you really don't like it…)
 
I've had really good luck with MIA Jazz necks, vintage and reissue, and MIJ and MIM bodies to keep the costs down. If you're patient, there's plenty of stuff that comes up on TB, necks, bodies, trons, hardware, everything a P-body J-neck growing boy needs! My avatar is a jade pearl Am Std P from Strotosphere, Geddy MIJ neck (now it has an avri '75, looks the same but isn't as thin), lace alumitone pickup and standard pick guard and hardware. Sounds killer. plays great, love it. I have 4 other P-body J-neck basses with unique characteristics; BEAD, 2 J pickups, Fralin P/J pickups, etc. My main player is a 1976 Jazz neck on an American special body with a Fralin P/J set 10% overwound. Got a great fender tone with a little more umph, plays great, fast thin narrow neck and sits on my body like an old comfy sweatshirt. It's fun if you like tinkering!
 
Well.... My vote is pretty simple... Maybe not!

Lakland 4464 custom.... Can always be refinished..... The new PJ looks really cool!

... You know the quality...

Choice 2 ( for me.... And a VERY close one at that) is the D Lakin.... Played several and like them.... And the "any color...as long as it is....any color" option is very attractive.

Good luck!
 
In my humble opinion there isnothing better than alite pbass body with a jazz neck. I built three of them myself over the years then decided to have the custom shop build me one to my specs. I think iT turned out ok... bassed on a nos 59 model. Pickups are amazing!,,
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Just find an old Peavey Fury. American made P with a Jazz neck on it. You can find them quite often used for under $200.
The Milestone series also have a Jazz neck on a P body. Not quite as nice as the Fury, but a very decent Asian made P bass with a jazz neck and very cheap used. I got my Milestone BXP for $85 and absolutely love it.
 
Update:

Well, I finally went with something like option 5. Bought a P body and J neck (both MIM Fender) from the TB classifieds, plus some parts I had lying around and an aftermarket tort guard from Fender. Pots on the body were really scratchy so I brought it into the Music Techs in Manchester, NH, for new ones, plus a setup. Probably wound up spending $600 altogether, which is only a little less than a new Gamma bass would have cost but half what some of the other ideas were, and it's just what I wanted now.

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Another "cheap option" would be a Precision Bass Special from Squier's discontinued Standard Series. It's a Precision body with a Jazz neck (comes standard) and a P/J configuration. They usually go for somewhere in the $200 price range and pop up all the time on eBay and Guitar Center's used database.

Having not hung onto a JV Squier P and leting a 1980s CIJ P go I got one of these. It certainly does the job and has a neck profile I am more used to. One day I might replace the pickups (sadly Wizard stopped making pickups, so I have no thoughts on a suitable set at present, but it's not critical).