Still a P-Bass if it has a flame maple top?

[Captain Chaos]

Well, since Fender themselves offer a flamed maple finish on their higher end Select models, you're OK.

Invalid Link Removed


They've also done it with other models from Japan:

I want to touch that blue PJ. It's so pretty.

 

[Freekmagnet]

Why would you get a flamed maple top when you could get purple glitter?

 

[BigBobbyBass]

I'm considering ordering my first P-Bass. It's going to be a G&L LB-100 fretless (yes i know what the P stands for and means). G&L has a Premium Flamed Maple Top option that I know I like the looks of. I know I'm supposed to have flats, tort guard... and I will, don't get me wrong, but with the idea of a P-Bass being a very conceptually specific thing, I need to ask you experts (armchair or what-have-yous are quite welcome too) about the body:

Q: If I order a flame top, will I ruin it's P-ness, by way of rendering it no longer a P?

I mostly want to be sure I don't screw up by ordering flame maple. I would really hate to lose any of that Pino Paladino type of tone I'm looking for in a P

Please Comment! Please Vote! Have A Great Day!

_dash

Are you serious? Why does it matter?? Jesus...

 

[One Drop]

In common parlance a P is a Precision style bass of any manufacture, including Fender, and a Precision is only called that if made by Fender.

 

[cnltb]

A bass can under no circumstances EVER have a fancy top and still be rightfully called a P bass.
Not ever ever ever ever and not at all!
















...and in all seriousness!!!

 

[Stranger Danger]

Many real Precisions have narrower necks.

I agree it's the PUP type and placement, and body shape that identify a P visually and sonically.

Totally agree on the nut width however the LB-100 didn't quite get the body shape or pickup placement right. (Assuming you think Leo Fender got that right in 1957.)

 

[Stranger Danger]

while we're on the topic of pups, just so everyone's aware of my position (no pun) on whether it will still be or not be a "p", is that i plan on routing-out right up against the fingerboard (as close as structural limitations will allow) for a real Telecaster (yup, for electric guitar) neck pickup in my LB-100 and probably some sort of split and tapped humbucker in the bridge

in the neck will be like:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
i will still consider my bass a P, albeit "modded"

Meh

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

The L in G&L stands for Leo (last name = Fender)... Leo Fender created G&L with a buddy after the sale of his "Fender" company to CBS. This means (to me) that the G&L is the newest real fender. LB-100 means "Legacy Bass" and it is G&L's self proclaimed "straight-uh-head-uh-P-Bass"



some people said the nut width makes one or breaks one. the guy in the video mentions the nut width on his, but you order whatever you want. nut widths (and other options) available: [[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]]

Anybody else have any more general input about how flame maple tops may or may not effect (ruin or not?) the final tone of the proverbial P-Bass?

Okay so John Delorean designed Pontiacs. Does that mean Deloreans are Pontiacs? Just because he designed them, doesn't make them the same. I once owned, and truely miss an SB-2. It was a great bass, but not a Fender P. I've owned Fender Ps since 1967. I would also like to try out an L100 if I can find one in a store.

 

[buldog5151bass]

If it makes you pick it up and play/practice/smile, that's all

 

[GMC]

If you are going for a fancy top...please get it rear routed and ditch the pick guard. If you are going to all that effort of getting a beautiful top and then covering most of it up with a cheap bit of plastic ply....oh...boy!

And to all the P bass purists...what we talking about as pure here? Are we saying that only a slab body '51 is a pure P bass or are we saying only a pre '63? Come on...they are all P basses, even the P'ish ones. The body shape has changed, the hardware...even the pickup design.

I sort of get the vibe that Leo was thinking of a P bass when he invented the MM bass...to my mind he was trying to re-invent or evolve and idea and he sort of missed and made something different but also great.

 

[mat666]

As long as the top is thin it won't affect the tone, the look yes but not how the bass vibrate.

As for the pickups, the P placement is a standard (Leo established electric bass standards) so no worry G&L will place it correctly.

As for your pre-CBS pickup, remember tone wood change over the years (even with all the same parts) an old alder/maple neck fender will sound differently than a new alder/maple neck one.

 

[GMC]

Just to add....
If something looks like a P bass, feels like a P bass and sounds like a P bass...then it probably is a P bass.

 

[MegaSwing]

Like, what else would it be?

 

[Hopkins]

i'll bite, what's the right location? i ask because i'd like to understand if the basses i have picked-out are made "correctly"

The center of the top coil at 11 inches from the 17th fret, or the 11 5/8" to the split.

 

[jeffreylee]

Seriously, every P sounds different to every other P. The only consistent feature is that type of pickup in that location. If you want to get into specifics, pick a P player that rocks your boat and figure out what they were using. They probably weren't using a P with a maple top, but that's your decision.

 

[Timmy-Watts]

Do what you want.

What I personally want:
-Light wood that looks decent and balances well (I like alder just fine)
-A good pickup (the Geezer signature is my favorite)
An awesome neck (varies, but I personally don't like rosewood fingerboard for the feel and it's too warm of an attack. I can warm up the attack with my fingers. I prefer ebony, pau ferro, and maple.)
-My preferred strings for THAT BASS. It varies, but I'm generally on Dunlop nickel rounds for a P-Bass.
I also prefer a lighter vintage bridge and heavier tuners (VS. The ultralites). I built this exact type of thing myself for around $700. It rivals my AVRI 57.

 

[gln1955]

My Aerodyne P (like the one in MarkoXYZ's post) has a flame top, PJ arrangement and a Jazz width neck. It will hang with any classic P bass, tonewise.

Fender calls it a Precision. Good enough for me.

 

[Dash Lashes]

Why would you get a flamed maple top when you could get purple glitter?

cool color!

if i get alder, my choice would be margarita metallic.
if i get flame maple, my choice would be tobacco burst.

 

[Freekmagnet]

cool color!

if i get alder, my choice would be margarita metallic.

Now we're cooking with gas!

 

[Dash Lashes]

Now we're cooking with gas!

you have no idea how much mental-crunching went into finalizing those two colors for me lol

...and to you guys that said stuff about the tort on top of flamed maple; im totally fine w/ tort covering the flamed maple. the maple's not there for me to see. it's there for me to know it's there. plus i like the plastic tort equally as much as i like flamed maple - under tobacco sunburst (or alder under margarita metallic!)