The American Originals are now discontinued. If that is something you like, I would definitely get it now. You can always backfill with a Mexican P or J in the future. I recently bought an AO 60’s P in Lake Placid Blue and I love that bass! Make sure you play it first as the neck is pretty chunky.
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Two MIM or One American Original P
- Thread starter DrFeelgood
- Start date
simplistic theory: get your hands on, and play, the best quality instrument that you can afford, even if you can't afford it initially. It doesn't matter where it was made or the colour as long as it's the best quality. That's the one that will be your best tool; your key to playing at your very best level.
I don't think the regular American ones are much better.
I would maybe give up the two MIM for an American Vintage or whatever they are calling them now, but not for less.
I would maybe give up the two MIM for an American Vintage or whatever they are calling them now, but not for less.
1 American Fender = 2.3 MIM Fenders. It's simple math, people.
I have a couple of American made Fenders. I like them a lot better than all my MIM and MIJ Fenders. I just feel they are a better quality instrument.
Personally, I would keep the 2 MIM's.
While I agree that the AO would likely be nicer in many respects, I don't feel that I would appreciate the single bass as much as I appreciate the choice between a Jazz and Precision.
@DrFeelgood, I'm going to express the opposite opinion of the majority here and say I'd rather have one high-quality bass than two lesser ones. Maybe it's bad luck on my part, but I've never been satisfied with MIM Fenders. I completely get what you're saying about the StingRay.
I’m playing mostly Mexican and Indonesian instruments. For a while I wanted an American Pro P bass. Mostly I notice the neck is a little nicer. But I concluded that I can’t make any music on an MIA that I can’t make on my current instruments. I envision the honeymoon wearing off and being in a similar spot with my abilities. So I put the notion of “upgrading” to the side and poured myself into online and printed material. I haven’t really thought about an upgrade since. (This was about 2 years ago.)
BUT if you had a positive experience upgrading your Strat, it might pay off for you. You seemed to like the EBMM…
I like the “buy it twice” theory for luxury items. If you can’t afford to buy it, and afford to replace it, the item ends up owning you- financially and psychologically. Just thinking in terms of if you NEED to sell the MIMs to make this happen. Ideal situation would be to buy an MIA and really spend some time (months, a year) with the 3 basses.
BUT if you had a positive experience upgrading your Strat, it might pay off for you. You seemed to like the EBMM…
I like the “buy it twice” theory for luxury items. If you can’t afford to buy it, and afford to replace it, the item ends up owning you- financially and psychologically. Just thinking in terms of if you NEED to sell the MIMs to make this happen. Ideal situation would be to buy an MIA and really spend some time (months, a year) with the 3 basses.
I think the question of whether the Alpha for a MIA bass is going net be a better experience. My son has a 1996 MIM JB I bought for him when he started playing bass in middle school. He still has it, has played it a lot (Marine Corps Bassist) and it still works as good as the day I bought it. It’s a natural relic.
My thought on MIM basses vs a MIA, while it may be considered a crude imitation of a MIA version, replacing the pickups, tuning gears, and you may need to address some fret sprout, it becomes a viable instrument that plays exceptionally well.
I think the biggest difference would be like buying a nicer suit, but in practical usage, they function the same. You add in a really nice tie, few will notice the difference. JMO.
I would guess the reinforced neck on the MIA would be slightly more stable in the long run than the all wood neck on the MIM. Are the tuning machines on the MIA lighter? If so that would make the bass less neck heavy. What about the bridge? Is it a better unit on the MIA that will stay put better, easier to restring or give better adjustments?
For my money I choose to build what I want from Warmoth parts. I get something that is measurably better for ergonomics than Fender's offerings for a workable price ($1200 give or take). Great sound, better ergonomics, worse resale value.
For my money I choose to build what I want from Warmoth parts. I get something that is measurably better for ergonomics than Fender's offerings for a workable price ($1200 give or take). Great sound, better ergonomics, worse resale value.
If you had two MIM P basses, I would say consolidate to one bass that you really love. I'm a proponent of having a #1 that you really love vs. multiples of 'lesser' basses (not the MIM are bad, they're awesome actually). But since you have a quality P AND a quality J, I would probably just stay with what you have.
D
The American Original will be an upgrade, but not a huge one, IMO. The US model will probably be a little bit nicer in quality and playing feel than your MIMs, but it won’t be a game changer.
My own personal rule about buying new gear is that the new gear has to do something I need which my current gear doesn’t. Based on that I’d say keep the two MIMs if you enjoy them. And they can do something something that an American Original P can’t, namely be a P and a J.
On the other hand, what the American Original P can do that your MIMs can’t is to be an American Original. If that’s what you want or need, then go for it.
I think it's important to point out that the "best" nut width and neck profile will depend very much on personal taste. Which means that the American Original MIGHT have a nicer playing feel IF you happen to like the wider nut width. If not it will be horrible. These wider P-bass necks aren't for everyone!
Basically: Try before you buy! The necks on the AO P-basses have a COMPLETELY different feel to the 1.625" nut width more commonly used on Fender P-basses today.
Keep the jazz bass and sell the P bass. After selling the P bass, buy the Fender Vintera 50s Precision Bass MIM.
I own two really nice basses. A Squire cv Pbass and a squire paranormal jazz bass. Is a $1700 AO bass a thousand $$ better than these? Maybe but that AO bass can’t touch my Alembic epic I got used for $1k 15 years ago. I see some really nice alembics on reverb for not much more than the AO. IMO if you’re gonna sell your MIMs put that towards something that’s really gonna make a difference.
