Untried P bass, would you purchase?

[SlapbassSteve]

My brother and I have both bought used MiM P-basses untried in the past (2002 for £150 and a 2008 for £200) and while both were a bit of a gamble as the pictures were a tad blurry, in both cases turned out to be massive bargains as it was just a case of the sellers not knowing what they had. Both needed a setup but now have great actions and great sounds, although I'm not a fan of the newer mex p pickups(too much clanky treble). There are some real bargains about so it can definitely be worth buying s/h.

From my (admittedly limited compared to a lot of folk on here) experience of new basses, the thing with trying them out is you can't tell if one is any good just by playing for a bit, even from main shops the setup is often appaling instore- I remember trying out my dream bass at the time (about three years back) a Fender Marcus Miller in a well known music shop based in Brighton and being shocked at how the action rendered it nearly unplayable, there's no way I'd've parted with the £949(or whatever the price was at the time, it was a while back...) without taking my trusty set of allen keys to it and trying it once set up. Odds are it was the dream bass I hoped it would be, just there was no way of knowing with current setup. A high action is also unfortunately a great way of hiding a poorly finished neck, a trick I've seen a lot on the cheaper basses I've had.

What I'm gradually getting at is that whether new or second hand 90% of the time there won't be anything wrong with a bass that couldn't be remedied with a decent setup, usually a little work on the truss rod or at very worst a bit of fret levelling. If it's a genuine Fender with a working trussrod at a good price then go for it, but unfortunately be prepared to have to fix a shockingly high action whether buying new or used.

[Musicman20]

[quote name='leftyhook' timestamp='1339165376' post='1684718']
bah! just been to Newcastle Guitar Guitar. Not a single left handed bass in the store!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So i pick up a few R/H P basses, American and Mexican.Look noce but ranged from average action to bloody awful.
Upon enquiring about L/H availability, only 2 P basses in the whole company (Scotland to London) and if I put down a deposit to have one sent, found I didn't like it,
the deposit would have to be transferred to something else in store. &*$%£"!!!!!!

Certainly won't buy before I try after today's experience.

Predictably disappointed
[/quote]

They are a bit tight in my experience. Buy it online from them and use the 7 day returns policy. If its faulty you pay nothing, if it's fine but not for you, you pay their pickup fee (£15 I think).

This is why I don't bother spending money going all over the country anymore. More power buying online

It is a mess about though I agree.

[Immo]

I bought my Fender Precision totally spontaneous and despite the fact everybody [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/139009-gaffer-tape-madness/"]HERE[/url] were sceptic.
She had some faults and definitely wasn't the top-notch bass, but I'm really happy I bought her and modded her to my preferences

[LukeFRC]

You are spending between £1000 and 2000 on a lefty P bass? You thought of getting one custom made for you?