ead

Never had the opportunity to play a J of this vintage. Interesting that '66 is seen by the collectors/purists as the start of the decline into CBS cost-cutting and yet there seem to be happy bunnies on here. Clearly a massively small sample size of course. George and Leo still involved of course but an interesting period for Fender instruments.

I did some basic recording of the '66 vs a newish Highway One (with Greasebucket circuit) and sound-wise there wasn't a great deal of difference even with slightly different strings on. All nickel rounds for the '66 compared to nickel-wound rounds for the HW One. Not done the full P bass on flats thing yet. In terms of general feel the vintage bass is lighter, has a nicer finish to the neck that tbf is probably due to it having been played over the years and so has worn down to a lovely silky finish. The profile is also slightly fatter and this suits me a bit more. When I bought it I went looking for a well used item on the basis that the fact it had been pre-loved and played as it was a good one. I think this is the case for the bass. I do gig it around the place, as much as when I had a more modern US Precision. The modern bass has long gone so I guess that re-enforces the above. I have a couple of old violins too and they also compare very favourable to the more modern instrument I have. It's entirely possible that there is a element of rose-tinted specs about the whole debate and the fact that these basses are costly may subconsciously mean some kind of justification filter is kicking in; who knows. I love mine and love playing it. Desperately coveting @Burns-bass 's '66J . That would be a lovely soul mate for my P bass.

Here's my '66P. I have dozens of pics of the various bits that would probably bore folks on here to tears but happy to share with the OP if of interest.

I saw that first Genesis Revisited tour with LP on bass, he was excellent. Didn't realise he had played with It Bites though.

I bought the CD shortly after it came out and have just about managed to get past the silly crowd noise. No idea why they could not have released a version without it, can't be that hard surely? Less of a Trevor Rabin fan though. I don't think he has Howe's subtlety of touch and I find the relentless overdriven guitar sound a bit monotonous tbh. I appreciate that I am probably in a mnority though.

I feel the need to see a pic of the old girl again This was that last one I have of the bass...

Ditto. I picked mine up for £90 iirc. Put some DiMarzios in and a new more substantial bridge.

If only I was a half decent bassist ☹️

I have a selection of ACGs, a couple of Spectors, a Sandberg, a vintage Fender P and an Anaconda. My favourite of the Yamahas was actually the RBX270FL that I owned and gigged regularly for over 6 years. It was my first fretless bass. 5ers just arn't my thing and didn't really gell will the P34 sadly as it's a lovely bass.

Currently none but have owned: RBX270FL BBN5 (2 of these at different times) BBP34

True enough, but there are a lot of grumpy people in the world and it makes little sense to add to their number. Sold the bass again a week or so later so no real drama.

Just acquired a pedal from Anth. Really impressive to deal with, excellent comms and even recorded a little demo of the pedal for me ahead of despatch. Deal in full confidence peeps, genuine Top Banana here

I once sold a bass (high end for the brand) to a buyer - no names, no pack drill. As I am wont to do, I met up with the buyer to hand the bass over to give the buyer the opportunity to view the bass to ensure there were no issues. The buyer was able to examine the bass in good light in a car park and declared themselves happy. This was a used bass btw and had been gigged. I described it in excellent condition for its age which I felt was entirely reasonable (please check my feedback you non-believers ). A few days later I received a message saying that the buyer was unhappy as there were imperfections in the finish, which there were, and was why I did not describe the condition of the bass as 'mint' or 'like new'. Clearly nothing I could say would change the buyers perspective so I just bought the bass back. People's standards are different I guess so we just have to be mindful about that.

If you like it then play it and gig it. If you don't sell it. Simples. My '66P gets regular outings. Let me rephrase that: My '66 used to get regular outings and will again.

Very nice. Worth checking with Jack's Instrument Services too as he will make you a good replacement if the Sandberg option is not available / quite costly.