You might want to take a look at the absolutely lowest cost Fender product, the Squier Mini (Precision) which is in a current production by Cort in Indonesia. I have owned six basses in my lifetime three during high school and college :'67 Jazz Bass, '67 Mustang Bass and '67 Gibson EB-O with Guild Tape wound strings first played thru a Kalamazoo (Gibson) 50 watt 2 10 speaker combo bass amp then a *68 Fender Bassman and then with an Ampeg BT-15-D all of which were sold after I left college and went into the Army. I continued to enjoy listening to bass lines bass but having relocated to get a job after the Army so I lost my old music network so stopped playing. When I approached retirement I put playing bass on my bucket list and decided that I wanted a small amp due to health issues and decided to go back to Fender products. I bought Fender's bass starter pack which had a Squirer Affinity Precision PJ bass with a 34 inch neck and a Fender 15 watt bass amp with an 8 inch bass speaker. I began to reteach myself bass using a number of bass books including Bass for Dummies, the old Learn to Play Bass by the Ventures (so old that same time bass listening guide was on Vinyl, the three months free Fender internet lessons which came with the purchase, several internet You Tube guide s for improving your bass playing, a book to relearn how to read bass clef, and the introductory bass players lessons in BASS PLAYER magazine. I very quickly found that the full size Precision body and neck are too big for me at this point in life and that the 4 inches of neck in the first three frets was too much of a stretch to playing complicated bass lines.
Also, I got the opportunity to join a community weekly jam at our Farmer's Market and in the winter at a local. restaurant No electrics allowed so I bought a Fender (made by Cort in Indonesia)Accoustic Electric with a 32 inch neck the CB-60 which has worked out well except for not having enough volume (if I were to buy another acoustic bass I would look at a Martin, a Guild or the Epiphone archtop acoustic electric bass but I don't see retirement income allowing fore that) I had to take my Precision to a local luthier for a set-up and saw a Short Scale (30 in) Squier Jaguar and found that both the body size and the neck shape worked much better for me so traded in the Precision for the Squier. My purchase was validated by the fact that two members of our jam band use the same bass guitar when they play electric (one plays standup bass in the band, the other dobro) I did have a sort of beef with the tone from the Jaguar (my ear likes early 60's heavily deep bass inflected sounds that I hear from a Precision or my Gibson EB-O. Also I can n o longer comfortable ply with a pick or my thumb but thumb resting on either last fret on the neck or the neck pickup. Fender/Squier Precision pickups have a sharp edge which irritated my thumb so I went to the local stationary store to get a large size rubber thimble to protect the tip of my thumb, which works really well I started following 12 or so bass Sites and through the short scale site back in June saw that Squier was releasing an Indonesian Precision Mini with only Precision split pickups. The discussions were lively and led to a separate Squier Precision Mini Club. Members of both sights had tried out the Mini and really liked it even though it had only a 28.6 inch neck and a 3/4 Precision body. I
bought a Precision Mini in red and honestly it is the best bass guitar that I have owned so far. I was fortunate that my bass's build quality was excellent. Even with the small amp I have I get really good sounds. The smaller tuning keys cause the bass to go out of tune more easily than the full size machines on my other three b asses (I am including the now gone PJ in this comment). A number of people in the Mini Club have replaced the stock tuners with slipshot or other higher quality tuning machines. A number of us on the site are really happy with the bass stock. It is the only bass in this iteration of my bass c areer to have arrived with a good s. Other people have had quality control problems like poorly tightened screws. A number of people replaced the pickups, volume and tone controls, and screws as well. On e fellow eplacing every thing else and has been highly happy with this mod. But for 179 bucks I think you get a really easy to play and strong. All of the major internet/mail order guitar dealers in cluding Guitar Center,
Fender Direct, Sweetwater, Musician's Friend, zZounds, Elderly Guitars, Woodwinds/Brasswinds carry this guitar. I think with any Asian made guitars you need to expect the guitar being made olf new growth wood and possibly damp wood so that you will have to spend the money for a new set up when you first receive the bass and if you are taking the bass out from the warm house in to a cold car. Both my Squier Jaguar and Fender CB-60 went out of tune in this situation and both required a followup additional setup. Also you needto anticipatethe need to have your truss rod readjusted fairly frequently for the first yearyou have the bass since literally the moisture remaining in the wood is being released. But that Squier Precision Mini delivers alot of value and its low cost opens up the chance to havew more money fore a better beginning bass amp. But I will also say the bass that I wish I did not sell was my '67 Fender Mustang Bass because as I look back it checks all the boxes and besided several Rolling Stones albums were recorded using a '69 Mustang bass. Sorryh for the long winded explanation.'
