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The non-fender P that could...

M

mrkode

Dec 19, 2007
180
2
Montreal
#1
Alright so let's imagine that you got called for a high profile studio gig and the producer told you he wanted a vintage pre-CBS Fender precision sound.

You don't own such a bass so what do you bring to satisfy him?

Can be a custom builder or boutique P, but it has to be able to fool the most trained ears in the industry.

What's it gonna be? ;)
 
#2
mrkode said:
Alright so let's imagine that you got called for a high profile studio gig and the producer told you he wanted a vintage pre-CBS Fender precision sound.

You don't own such a bass so what do you bring to satisfy him?

Can be a custom builder or boutique P, but it has to be able to fool the most trained ears in the industry.

What's it gonna be? ;)
Click to expand...

Any recent American Standard Precision will do that job perfectly.
 
#8
If the producer wants a precision, you show up with a precision..... If you don't have one, you buy, borrow or steal one.

You do NOT show up with something else and try to convince him. They know what they want and you work for them. Don't give them exactly what they want and you won't get called by them again. Just that simple..
 
#14
Now that some of you have chimed in, I'll play my own game.

And remember I said "non-fender", so anything AVRI, Squier, etc... is out of the question.

I wouldn't go with anything Lakland, Sadowsky, Lull, Copollo etc... as I don't think their P's sound like a calssic precision. They are either a different take on it or a boosted version.

I would maybe shoot for a Bluesman vintage or the G&L LB-100 but I haven't played the lather so I'm not too sure of the tone.
 
#19
Bassmunnky said:
If you got "that" call you'd have that bass. If you didn't, you'd have a buddy who wasn't working that day that has one and you'd borrow it.
Click to expand...

This. Exactly this.

That being said, I'll play the game.

I would show up with a beat up G&L. I would come up with a BS story about it. "Leo Fender built this bass before he ever started selling them on the open market. He built it for my great uncle, Herman Snodgiffle, who played bass for Stinky Finklestein and the Hoss Cats." Producers are ridiculous snobs. If you tell them a story that gives the bass "street cred" they will eat it up and swear it is the best sounding bass they ever heard.

Some of the silly crap producers care about is nothing short of a religion based around stuff they can't prove, can't hear the difference in a blind test, and have simply been coached into believing by marketing and folklore. I get so sick and tired of hearing a buddy of mine (who moved to Nashville a few years ago) preach to me about what I SHOULD be playing because the freaking Nashville scene doesn't believe in the stuff I play. What a load of crap. In the 80s all those cats were playing solid state amps and whatever the latest craze in basses was. These days they act as though anything made after 1969 should be left at the city limits. Whatever.
 

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