My AVRI 57 is my personal favorite
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The Ultimate 50's Precision Bass?
- Thread starter Garret Wheeler
- Start date
That's a good price, but I'm pretty much dead set on sunburst. My main Jazz is sunburst with a gold pickguard, so I want them to match lol.Here's one that appears to be a bargain. I'd buy this if it weren't essentially redundant in my case.
For Sale - Fender Classic 50’s Precision Lacquer Finish
My main bass now is a sunburst jazz with a gold pickguard and a SD quarter pound P pickup in the neck position. It's also got a USACG Precision neck on it, so for all intents and purposes it's a jazz-shaped precision. I mainly want a regular P bass because I like the look, but I want the same pickup in it so I can use the basses interchangeably. Like have one as a backup, or one with rounds, etc.
The pickup isn't important to me, since I'm gonna put a SD quarter pounder in it anyway. I just like the look of the sunburst with the gold pickguard. Plus from my experience the Fender 50's style basses have the wider nut width and the necks are thicker front to back.
I didn't even know these existed, I'm definitely gonna look into them! Thanks!
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My AV'57 is wide but not very thick front to back. It actually feels slim for an old school, wide P-bass neck. That's only the reason I can actually play that neck, as opposed to the Original 60s which is thicker front to back, or at least the neck profile had wider "shoulders" that felt very uncomfortable to MY hands.
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These do not have the wide neck of actual late 50s P-basses (or Vinteras) though. I've not tested this particular model but looking at the specs it looks like the same neck as the other CV P-basses. If that's the case it has wider nut than the AmPro but it still feels slimmer somehow (probably slimmer front to back, although I've never measured this). I actually like the necks profiles on these CVs a lot (not so happy about the QC though...). But they're definitely slimmer than actual 50s P-basses or historically accurate reissues.
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But with neck sizes/profiles it really is a matter of "try before you buy". We all have different hands and recommending a specific neck to a stranger on an online forum is completely useless IMO.
I get that. I'll just put it this way- I've never played a neck that felt too big to me. In fact, the largest necks in every dimension usually feel the best to me. I've played the MIM Classic 50s P and I like the 1.75" nut width, but it wasn't as thick front to back. I value thickness front to back more than nut width, but I generally want it as thick as possible in every direction.
The thickest P bass neck that I’ve owned, was a Warmoth bound and blocked with a poly finish. The finish was super thick on top of an already chunky neck. I took at least 1/8” of thickness off when I sanded away the finish and reshaped the back profile.
So, a poly finished Warmoth neck is an option.
So, a poly finished Warmoth neck is an option.
Word, do you know roughly how thick it was before you sanded it down? I dig the Warmoth concept, but I've always assumed that their P style necks would be similar to the modern Fender Ps.
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Yeah, Warmoth nut width is more like "modern" Fender. Probably not the right choice for you.
I don't think you will like the CV necks either as they really feel a lot slimmer than their specs might suggest. Before I checked the specs I actually thought the current CV P-basses had a slightly narrower nut width than modern Fender. They feel slimmer to me than the AmPro P-basses, even though they have a slightly wider nut (but not as wide as an actual late 50s Fender). Definitely thinner front to back.
Like I mentioned earlier the the neck on the AV'57 also feels slimmer to me than other necks I've played with the same "old school" P-bass nut width. I don't think I've ever actually measured it but it feels thinner front to back and has a "flatter" neck profile than other vintage spec P-basses I've played with a similar nut width. It kinda takes a small step towards what I would describe as a modern 5-string neck profile, if you know what I mean. You might still love it of course. I guess it depends whether a wide nut or a chunky, rounded neck profile matters the most to you. For MY hands it's the best "vintage" nut width Fender I've ever played but I generally prefer slimmer necks, like the current AmPros.
If you want the wider nut width I don't think you have any other options than Fender? I can't think of ANY other manufacturers that offer this nut width (except expensive custom builds of course).
If you want a wide/chunky neck I would recommend testing a Vintera or find a used Original 60s.
I haven't tried the new American Vintage II series yet but based on my AV'57 I would expect them to feel slightly slimmer than the Originals. It might be worth noting that the American Vintage II P-basses have a 1.70" nut width which is SLIGHTLY narrower than say the Original 60s.
But maybe the slimmer feel was only the '57. I briefly owned an AV'63 before it got thrashed by KLM (airline) and I remember that one as having a chunkier neck than the '57 (but still less chunky than the Original 60s). This is based on memory though. I never compared the AV'63 and the Original 60s side-by-side. My '63 got thrashed several years before the Originals were released so my memory might not be accurate.
Still, I liked the '63 but found the Original 60s far too chunky for MY hands. In fact, the Original 60s is up there with the chunkiest P-bass necks I've ever played. I hated it. You might love it.
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