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Who made a neck-thru P bass?
- Thread starter Balog
- Start date
Back in the early nineteen nineties in an antique mall in Centre, AL, of all places, I ran across a neck-thru Memphis P. Price was only $50. I should have bought it.
There were quite a few neck-through Ps from Japan in the late 1970s. Memphis, the above mentioned Fernandes, Vantage and several more. They turn up quite a lot. Many were most probably built in the same factory and distributed under different names. The quality coming out of Japan at that time was very high and the prices on these off-brand basses are usually pretty low. Usually....
The upper-tier Japanese neck-throughs are mostly PJs; Yamaha, late Ibanez Musician, Kawai and the like and those tend to command pretty high prices nowadays.
"treblier low strings and bassier high strings"
Why I like the 2017 Epi T-Birds, 1963/4 T-Birds, and Steinberger XL2's. Notes have similar fullness/body up and down the neck.
Fernandes made a 2 pickup neck-thru P. Main difference, IMO? Sustain and attack are different than most bolt necks.
This one is NOT mine but I had one very similar.
My first Alembic was one of those ('87 Persuader with Vector body) with a flame maple top and standard Persuader electronics. The one you posted has Spoiler electronics.
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I wanted the same for my dream "P" bass that had my preferred specs. I had played a marvelous blonde Precision Bass, known as "The Unknown Blonde", for years until she had to be retired and had a wish list were I ever to marry another P. Neck Thru, ebony finger board, 21 frets and Duncan Vintage P and Jazz Stack as I had used those pickups for the basses I assembled for LMSI.
Back in the day I had played the Yamaha above and that was really close. I luckily came across a Peavey Dyna Bass Unity LTD that was almost there. After replacing the worn out preamp and goldish hardware for black I give her a 99%. "Midnight Lady" is a bit on the heavy side but beggars ought not be choosers or they go home alone.
Back in the day I had played the Yamaha above and that was really close. I luckily came across a Peavey Dyna Bass Unity LTD that was almost there. After replacing the worn out preamp and goldish hardware for black I give her a 99%. "Midnight Lady" is a bit on the heavy side but beggars ought not be choosers or they go home alone.
Thanks joeLowB. It plays wonderfully. Has a set of silky smooth TI flats, DiMarzio Model P with adjustable poles.
Very high level of sustain and attack with a very light touch. Took a little bit to get used to. The strings feel very responsive and snappy off the Ebony fretboard. Unfortunately I sold it to my sister, but so far she likes it.
You have a lucky sister! That's awesome
Where are you in Indiana? I'm in Lafayette.
Tks!
They're visible in the neck. Also the front of the headstock.
We called this bass a "California Custom" when I worked in a repair shop in the early 80s, and I thought it came from Schecter, but I don't know for sure. It was originally a P-bass with a 5-piece maple/bubinga neck-thru core. It's had a lot of work over the years, including the paint job, bridge pickup, and even a truss rod/fingerboard replacement. I searched for years to get the tone I wanted out of it as it always sounded muffled to me, probably due to the umpteen coats of paint and lacquer. It sounds great now, with the vintage Sheptone P-pickup and Nordstand Big Single combo, especially with larger gauge strings tuned down to C#-F#-B-E.
They still make them and you can order any configuration you want, this is my 2010 Elan:
Attachments
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It does. I bought it in '87 to replace a late '70s Wal ProBass - the Wal had an amazing V-profile neck but had the worst dive ever - it would not stay still on the strap so playing it standing was not an option. This one has perfect balance on the strap, and the upper access is completely free thanks to the tiny lower horn. It started life all passive with DiMarzio pickups. Over the years I installed all gold Schaller hardware (except the bridge) and replaced the P with a German-made Bill Lawrence/OBL. The J went through a number of iterations, finishing up with the Seymour Quarterpounder. I also installed a home-brew JFET buffer and added a bunch of hand-rolled wiring options. Eventually I retired it in 2015 when it was replaced by first a fretless Warwick Corvette (another diver) then a fretless SR4 (not a diver!). Right now I am getting to know it all over again since I gutted it and installed a Lutishand NPF filter preamp. Still sounds great but is a totally different character.
Are you referring to the angle of the bridge pickup on the Tele and Strat? Makes me wonder if anyone ever built a Tele or Strat with that pickup angle reversed (not including all those Reversed Strat guitars that companies like Schecter made in the late 70s/early 80s).
I would love to see a pic of the back of that bass!
Wow - you spend a bunch of money, wait a few YEARS in anticipation of the "best bass ever", and you get.....an unusable instrument. That's about the worst deal ever.
