Jimhew

If it has truss rod adjustment at the heel, a boxy string tree, white pups, a rosewood fretboard and weighs more than a house, it'll be an Indian one made in a Fender factory. Also sold as the Encore E83 in the UK and Squier II P Bass in the USA. They are all the same bass guitar.

This is an advert from September 1993. It has the E83 bass on it plus the E76 + E77 electric guitars. They all quote solid ash bodies on the ad which I'm inclined to believe based on all the info on this thread and other info I've read. I own a black Encore E83 from the early 90s. It was given to me back in 2004 by someone that no longer wanted it. It's incredibly heavy but sounds great to play. From what I can gather, the E83 was made in a Fender owned factory in India that also made the Squier II and Sunn Mustang electric/bass guitars. They are all practically identical and all have gold lettering on the headstock for whichever brand they are being sold as. The only visible difference I can see is screw hole positioning on the pickguard varies between brands. Fender stopped production of these Indian guitars but I believe the E83 was still produced for a while, but sported a non Fender style headstock.