The way a P bass should be

[Dincrest]

Jaco's tone was in his fingers, MY tone is in the mist.

And Murderface's tone is in his trouser-snake.

 

[5StringBlues]

Dead Spot

 

[DJ Bebop]

Here, have an M&M.

Tho' watch for the brown ones; I hear they cause stage lights to fall.

The brown ones are the green ones I sucked the coating off of.

 

[mongo2]

This is how my "P bass" should be...

It has the best P bass tone of any of the many P basses I've ever played in over 50 years of playing them.

 

[Gervais Cote]

Always thought these chrome guards were to prevent breakage of pickups and bridge when bassists throw it back in the Chevy van after a gig at 3:30 am………….

 

[WI Short Scaler]

Title change: "The way MY P bass should be"

Who likes being told what they "should" do on their bass?

I was wondering if anyone else had this thought.

No one is the correct answer.

Happy that he likes his bass though.

 

[Bikeguy57]

Not to conflict but the chrome pickup cover is far enough away from the magnet tops that it has zero effect on the field.

Dead spots on the G string???..............I have more P Basses than you can shake a stick at and I've never had any dead note spots anywhere with any string.

Roto Flats are one of many, many, many flat wound strings made by other string makers. If you like them, that is what counts but they are not the final word for flat wound strings.

TIs, D'Addarrio, LaBella and others are also excellent flats. (TIs are my personal favorite.)

Like lug said.........."where's the tort?" Or carrots?

Nice bass!

Spitfire?

 

[Bikeguy57]

pedals is in the original boxes.

I see what you did there!

 

[J Posega]

This is how a P bass should be. You know, good. Well-balanced, incredibly well-built, thunderous tone, the perfect color. No silly metal doodads, thingamajigs, or whatsits. No hootenanny, tomfoolery, or shenaniganery, either. An appropriate number of strings.

 

[Bikeguy57]

 

[MultiScaleMale]

Pickup cover is to shield the pickup from external (e.g., radio signals).

Bridge cover is to hide the workings of the bridge from upright bass players that would have no idea how to adjust them, and so they could put foam inside the cover as a string dampener/mute. And to match 50s car aesthetics with everything big, round, and chrome.

Not sure how well the pickup cover actually works when it isn't grounded. I think I have a cover floating around somewhere. Need to setup an experiment.

 

[grubdumpling]

This is how a P bass should be. You know, good. Well-balanced, incredibly well-built, thunderous tone, the perfect color. No silly metal doodads, thingamajigs, or whatsits. No hootenanny, tomfoolery, or shenaniganery, either. An appropriate number of strings.

View attachment 5245216

that's TOO DANGED ORANGE!

 

[RGerhart]

Eh

Whatever works for you, sir.

 

[MrClassicMetal]

Pickup cover is to shield the pickup from external (e.g., radio signals).

Bridge cover is to hide the workings of the bridge from upright bass players that would have no idea how to adjust them, and so they could put foam inside the cover as a string dampener/mute. And to match 50s car aesthetics with everything big, round, and chrome.

 

[mcrawfordmusic]

Although I can't agree with what you are claiming...That's a nice bass! American Specials from that era are fantastic (I have a 2011 Tele) and I wish Fender still had the American Special and Standard lines.

 

[micguy]

I had dead spots but called in an exorcist and that fixed it.

Exorcists remove possessed spots. For dead spots, you need a ressurectionist.

 

[5StringBlues]

Exorcists remove possessed spots. For dead spots, you need a ressurectionist.

Mad TV: Davey and Goliath II - Pet Cemetery - YouTube

 

[Gluvhand]

You ARE, at least partly, trying to be funny, right?

Nobody on TB is this funny when they're trying. I'm sure you've visited "Humor" at some point.

 

[fhm555]

Looks nice... just like, as you say, a P-Bass should. It's also the way my "A-spec" necked '78 P-Bass looks. Mine also has the foam mute under the bridge cover, over the closest flats you can get to the original Squier-made Fender Flats - GHS's Precision Flats. I had Roto RS77LD's on mine for several years before that; and yes, they do sound great on a P-Bass. But, I want mine to sound like it would have in, say, 1968 - and it doesn't, with the Roto's. But, the music in '68 - or older - is what I like to play, so...
As for the dead spots? Mine had one when I bought it in 1988 - along with a set of Roto 66's, and what was left of the frets they'd eaten. After I had the bass re-fretted and refinished (that's a long, sad story), and put the Roto 77's on it? The flat spot was gone. I discovered that I could make it come back, though, by messing with the tightness of the neck screws. Turns out, the neck/body joint is a big factor in dead spots, since that's where the mass of the body and the neck combine. And, the tightness of those screws can eliminate/minimize them. They don't necessarily have to be horsed down tight - the correct tightness varies from bass to bass. With mine, the back 2 screws need to be... fairly snug; and the front two, about 1/4 turn lighter. Result? No flat spots, at all. However... yes, the covers - as added mass - probably do effect the potential for dead spots. Just as the Jazz Bass - sized "A" neck does, on mine...

The big thing is to make sure the screws don't bite into the holes in the body. You should be able to push the screws through those holes without the neck in place. I like mine where I need a bit of thumb pressure to push them through and a slight tap to push them back out. Failure to do this will result in a less than ideal neck to body join as the screw biting into both body and neck will be pushing the joint apart rather than pulling it together.

 

[Mantis Tobaggan]

too bad they look bad, get in the way, and none of those things are true….