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What's your favorite "Non Precision" Precision bass?

Yamaha BBP35. LOVE this bass.View attachment 5438553

If we've decided it qualifies as a 'Non-Precision Precision' I'm in agreement with the BBP35 love. I more often run mine with the P pickup 100% and the J pickup at 85 to 100%, but it also sounds really great just using the P.

BBP35 12-8-23.jpg
 
Back in the day . . .

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Late 70's/Early 80's Yamaha BB1200, in my still-favorite sunburst, SG Cherry over antiqued clear. This is the Rosetta Stone of all modern Yamaha basses, spawning the 2000, 3000, 5000 and quite a few variants between those. Actually designed in America with a crew that included John Carruthers, this appeared at the same time as the SG2000 and SA2000 guitars. Alder wings, maple/mahogany neckthrough (FAT neck!), untinted, stripey ebony fingerboard with nod-to-Alembic oval inlays, reversed P pickup, and adjustable stiffness open keys.

These days . . .

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Squier Pro Tone Precision Bass, 1996. THIS is one of those Squiers where you hear the whispered 'Fender pulled them as they were too close to the 'real thing' '. Korean build, one piece ash body, one piece maple Jazz neck with a nice thick rosewood board, paint-to-match peghead with sealed keys, alnico pickups. One of the first PBass/Jazz neck hybrids that works, big time. Mine's in the Rework Hangar right now awaiting an EMG transplant and a few things, but this thing punches so far above its' weight it should be illegal. I looked for an unmodified (more like unmolested) one for five years, and it was worth every minute of the wait, and I'm a five-string guy.
 
Back in the day . . .

View attachment 5448726
Late 70's/Early 80's Yamaha BB1200, in my still-favorite sunburst, SG Cherry over antiqued clear. This is the Rosetta Stone of all modern Yamaha basses, spawning the 2000, 3000, 5000 and quite a few variants between those. Actually designed in America with a crew that included John Carruthers, this appeared at the same time as the SG2000 and SA2000 guitars. Alder wings, maple/mahogany neckthrough (FAT neck!), untinted, stripey ebony fingerboard with nod-to-Alembic oval inlays, reversed P pickup, and adjustable stiffness open keys.
I had a beautiful '79 that was original except for a badly rusted Badass 1 bridge. I replaced that with a new Gotoh bridge that fit perfectly.
Loved the tone, great neck for me, but the "broad" body style, weight, and "fiddly" adjustable keywinds
made me move it on.
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Realized I had not posted a picture of my latest "non p" p bass, a pb -50 with a difference and since I'd finally got round reshaping the headstocks I hought I'd repost the finished sunburst as well

The older Wilkinson pick sunburst one got a early 50's spec wring loom that had been sat in my parts draw nearly as long as I've had the bass (about 8 years). I also removed the gold vinyl wrap from the pickguard & replaced it with a cream one(a little washed out in the photo) and the final touch a bone nut and a headstock overlay(haven't decided on a logo yet)

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The red Roswell pickup one that @kodiakblair sorted me out with had aready been modded a couple of months ago.

Restrung it right hand usage, thenI covered the white guard with black vinyl, removed the controls and covered the plate with mirror vinyl. my son came up with a way to keep the jack socket from getting in the way - we fitted a right angle jack socket adapter and then velcro'd it to the back of the bass, as long as I remember to remove it before it goes in its case there's no risk of any damage.

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When it came time for he headstock re-shape I eplaced the black vinyl pickguard with the same cream colour vinyl as the sunburst, a bone nut and a headstock overlay(again haven't decided on a logo yet) the string tree is slightly out of place so I may put a 3 string tree on it.

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The F-hole was my son's idea while we work out if we're going to pinstripe the body
 
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Decided to add another Harley Benton PB-50 to the stable. This arrived late last week but first chance to post it. When I open the box I was struck by just how different the colour was from my right hand conversion.
Harley Benton PB-50 (Fiesta Red variants).jpg


Out of the Box she was almost perfect, the only blemish was a stupidly high nut. This was quickly replace by a bone one and strung with Fender 7250 strings, that when I noticed the next big difference was the weight. The new one feels much lighter than the conversion one, though scales say there's only 4oz difference. Plugging in revealed that the newer one is brighter than the other one.

Once I get chance I'm gonna detail all the chnges between my 3 PB-50's (that span the last 10 years.

Finished the headstock reshape just before posting this.
Harley Benton PB-50 FR Vintage Series #2 Modded.jpg


Used the older picture to clearly show the difference in colour. The conversion one is what I think of as Fiesta Red whereas the new one looks more Dakota Red to me. New picture doesn't clearly show the difference in colour like the older one.
Harley Benton PB-50 (Fiesta Red variants) 2.jpg


When I get the chance I'm going to document all the changes between my 3 PB-50's (that span the last 10 years)
 
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