Telebass

Leaving aside possibly bad strings, I just can't imagine breaking a bass string. Not once in 40+ years...

Lots of P love? Sure! Original is nearly always best.

I can never figure out why anyone finds any Precision neck too wide - it's the same, even at its widest, as a 6-string guitar...

The single thing that guarantees it as a fake is that Jazzes with the big TV logo like that don't have the Offset Contour Body decal out on the ball. It was dropped when that changed. Also, if headstock-end truss rod adjust, it should have the big bullet, and, of course, be a three-bolt neck. Wrong in oh so many ways. Castration should be looming large in his life...

Tort

It's still the bass that makes people say, "Wow, that sounds [i]nice[/i]!"

Howdy! No idea why you can't access that thread...mod? Japcrap thread could do with reviving, methinks!

I've been trying to get my Squier to be a bit more generally usable, tone-wise, since I got it in May 2007. The zingiest strings, far-out amp settings, re-wire to parallel humbucker, you name it. All had some effect, but all were overpowered by the sheer power of the pickup. I returned it to stock wiring, and put it back to spare. However, yesterday, I tried something a little different. I lowered the pickup until completely flush with the pickguard. This has evened the tone out a great deal, although it's still pretty deep! And, for all that distance, still very loud! Has anyone else tried similar? If so what were the results?

I have no time for them at all as instruments, but they sure do look good!

6 digits is fine. Bought mine new, has 6.

Oh, that would be great, a 2nd edition! In my way, I'm just as obsessed, just don't have the cash to go after it. However, not because the vintage stuff is in any way superior - it's not - but because this was the start of it all, bass-wise. On that score, vintage, especially the slabs, is great!

Ibanez ATK - pretty similar, methinks...

If you want speakers and tweeters for Markbass, again it's Proel, as they are the ditributors for B&C speakers which is what Markbass use.

Wow Rick, if Detlef Schmidt had known about your collection, you'd probably have featured rather prominently in his book on 51-54 Precisions! Wow! Again, wow!

Howdy! I play slabs also. Reissues only, though! Still a great bass by any standards, and a tribute to the rightness of Leo's thinking!

Howdy!

Howdy!

I did start on the guitar, but I'd no sooner set eyes on a bass than I was struck by that Will Smith moment - "I just gotta get me one o' these!"

I'll not ever put heavier strings on than the TIs, so we'll see how long it lasts!

I must admit, if you read that with a distinctly lateral switch on in your brain, all the talk of rods and butt cylinders is a bit disturbing...

Around a year ago, i posted about the problems with my 2003 MIM P-bass neck. Basically, something somewhere was compressing, meaning I could never get the rod to set properly. I contacted Fender about this, and they were entirely willing to inspect it, and replace the neck. However, I've done a couple of hundred gigs with this bass, and the neck is simply lovely, so I let this go in the hope of discovering a workaround of some sort. This gave me an excuse to spend some dosh on a set of TI Jazz Flats, as they are very low tension. Absolutley brilliant strings, and slowed the problem to a crawl. However, it did not stop the problem, so the other day, I stripped the neck off and gave it a good looking at. The truss rod butt was hidden under an inspection label, so off that came, and the problem was instantly revealed. I'd already added a washer to the adjusting end of the rod, as it's commonly that end where the wood compresses. But no, the butt cylinder was quite well into the neck wood, maybe 1.5mm (this with the tension off - probably worse under load). What to do? There's a gap at the end of the skunk stripe. My thinking was if I could fill that with something hard, then it would prevent the continuous movement of the butt cylinder. The 'something' turned out to be a 13-amp plug pin. Take one such pin, remove the shrouding plastic, then snap off the socket end of the pin. Gently tap into place, having first tapped the slack truss rod down against the butt end of the neck. Reset everything, reassemble bass, put some rod tension on, and restring. After appropriate tweaking, great action which seems entirely stable after 48 hours. Potential downsides: the end of the skunk stripe is taking some of the truss rod pressure. No biggie if it's glued in well, and walnut is a pretty hard wood. So let's see what a few gigs does to it!

What model and where was it made?

I have a replica YOB like Gary Mac - my 51RI will do nicely as a 1953 YOB bass!

All this is good stuff. The only thing I find better is to sight the neck from the head end.

Even as a dyed-in-the-wool Fender man, I think they look great! But after having to repair a 70s 4001, and seeing my mate struggle to keep his 4003 usable neck-wise, I've come to the conclusion that they are not (and never were) terribly solid bits of wood, and that they are not remotely worth the money for the build quality. But I'll say it again, they look fantastic!