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Question on purchasing a 1999 Fender Hot Rod Pbass! Help Needed!

S

SavesNewJersey

Guest
May 18, 2012
12
0
#1
I've recently come across what seems to be beautiful 1999 Fender American Hot Rod PBass in Sunset Orange (Translucent)

The person selling this bass has switched the pickups out with emg's, and the purchase also includes the original pickups (obviously) and the hardshell fender case.

They were asking $875 OBO. I offered $800, pending on how I like it when I play it in person.

I've read a few reviews recently that lead me to believe this bass might NOT be worth this price. Can someone please help me out and let me know if i'll be getting ripped off here. Thanks!
 
#3
yeah? I only ask because i'm reading that in 01' when fender stop making these and the retailers had to make way for new models, they sold these for a much cheaper price... Wasn't sure if this was the case or not. Thanks for replying!
 
#4
a lot of retailers did end up blowing them out for pretty cheap, close to the price of the mexi basses at the time. now they're starting to appreciate in value and selling for what they did when they came out. i bought one from mars music back in '01 and it's been with me ever since. pretty good basses, imo.
 
#5
dedpool1052 said:
a lot of retailers did end up blowing them out for pretty cheap, close to the price of the mexi basses at the time. now they're starting to appreciate in value and selling for what they did when they came out. i bought one from mars music back in '01 and it's been with me ever since. pretty good basses, imo.
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If you don't mind me asking how much did you pay in 01'? Do you think i'm paying a fair price? Thanks again for taking the time.
 
#8
i paid $800 new w/case. they were marked @$1100 or so and had a sale tag on it from a few weeks earlier and forgot to take it off, so they had to honor the price. i've seen them pop up on ebay and sell for $950+/-. considering its got emgs with it and the original pickups, if you dont like the emgs you could swap'em out and sell'em on here, or if you do you could sell the original pickups. seems like a win/win to me.
 
#13
SavesNewJersey said:
They were asking $875 OBO.

I've read a few reviews recently that lead me to believe this bass might NOT be worth this price.
Click to expand...

I have a late-2000 HRPB and I certainly wouldn't pay anywhere remotely near that for one, especially in this economy.

Likewise, I've seen them go for little more than half that in near-mint condition, a more-desirable color but without the OHSC at Guitar Center.

Locally, I've never seen them bring anything like the price for a straight Precision, though the HRPB was a lot more expensive initially.

And trust me, though attractive at first, that orange gets really nauseating fast. :hmm:
 
#14
merc50 said:
Weird, I tied to sell mine for two years and never had any luck with it, I have never seen one go for over $1000.
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Yeah, that's absolutely insane.

One reason these don't sell is the pickup set, which is unique to the HRPB, an attempt to output match the P and J. The P set is lower output and the J is hotter and people just didn't care for the sound of them. The secondary problem with them was they produced possibly the worst case of V/V/T Syndrome I've ever encountered, and V/V/T is usually pretty bad with P/Js.

The one thing this bass does is sound good with both pickups on full (the volume pots are essentially useless) and output matched by height. It's a really nice sound, but that's it.

So, instead of being more versatile, it's actually less versatile. :hmm:

That's presumably why the bass in the OP got the EMG set, though I doubt if they fixed the V/V/T Syndrome.
 

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