Deedee Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Hi all Given my complete lack of knowledge of Fender's range now, could any of you guys advise me on the differences between the following: USA standard P USA series P USA Special P I apologise for my ignorance in advance! 😔 Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickster Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 (edited) OK I'll have a stab: USA Standard: Latest version of the same classic P bass that has been made since the late 1950s. Highlights include custom shop pickup, rolled edges on neck, satin finish on back of neck, graphite support rods to strengthen neck. Traditional P bass tone circuit. Through body stringing. Hi-Mass bridge allows thru-body or top load stringing. Comes with good quality hard case (at least my 2012 model did). USA Special: Cheaper version than std, but still made in USA instead of Mexcico / Indonesia / China. 'Greasebucket' tone control, standard mass-produced pickup, traditional BBOT bridge. Not drilled for thru-body stringing. Still has graphite rods in neck (?). Gloss finish on neck. Neck edges not hand rolled. Allegedly cheaper hardware (tuners, nobs, electronics). Allegedly bodies use slightly more bits of wood than USA Stds - can't confirm this by experience. No hard case. Never heard of a USA Series. The other range is the USA 'American Vintage' series: These are recreations of original USA Stds from the 50's/60's/70's. Hardware is recreated as per the original model, and subtle issues like body & neck shape conform to vintage specs. These are finished in Nitro, which is thinner and wears much quicker / differently than the poly based finishes in the 2 modern models above. These come in sexy (but less practical IMO) original style hard cases. Hope this gets you started. There'll probably be someone along soon with more specific info / opinions on the diffs & whether they're important or not.I have a US Std & am very pleased with it FWIW. Take a look in the BC for sale section, as will be lots cheaper than buying new. Edited August 28, 2014 by mickster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skej21 Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 [quote name='mickster' timestamp='1409224656' post='2537656'] OK I'll have a stab: USA Standard: Latest version of the same classic P bass that has been made since the late 1950s. Highlights include custom shop pickup, rolled edges on neck, satin finish on back of neck, graphite support rods to strengthen neck. Traditional P bass tone circuit. Through body stringing. Hi-Mass bridge allows thru-body or top load stringing. Comes with good quality hard case (at least my 2012 model did). USA Special: Cheaper version than std, but still made in USA instead of Mexcico / Indonesia / China. 'Greasebucket' tone control, standard mass-produced pickup, traditional BBOT bridge. Not drilled for thru-body stringing. Still has graphite rods in neck (?). Gloss finish on neck. Neck edges not hand rolled. Allegedly cheaper hardware (tuners, nobs, electronics). Allegedly bodies use slightly more bits of wood than USA Stds - can't confirm this by experience. No hard case. Never heard of a USA Series. The other range is the USA 'American Vintage' series: These are recreations of original USA Stds from the 50's/60's/70's. Hardware is recreated as per the original model, and subtle issues like body & neck shape conform to vintage specs. These are finished in Nitro, which is thinner and wears much quicker / differently than the poly based finishes in the 2 modern models above. These come in sexy (but less practical IMO) original style hard cases. Hope this gets you started. There'll probably be someone along soon with more specific info / opinions on the diffs & whether they're important or not.I have a US Std & am very pleased with it FWIW. Take a look in the BC for sale section, as will be lots cheaper than buying new. [/quote] The US special models come with deluxe gig bags instead of hard cases. It's also the fingerboard edges that are rolled. Lower end US models (standards or specials) are 2-3 bits of wood in the body (it's the Mexican factory that have no wood waste and can have as many bits of wood as it takes to make a body). The USA deluxe models have 2 or less bits of wood. So do the US American vintage basses (2 bits or less) but feature side seaming to hide the join. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamfist Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 [quote name='mickster' timestamp='1409224656' post='2537656'] USA Special: Still has graphite rods in neck (?). [/quote] Yup, the specials still have the graphite rods. I had a Precision from that series for a short while. Sounded incredible, but the neck and fretwork on that particular one were not the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deedee Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 Many thanks guys, that's just what I was after. The 'series' that I mentioned was prompted by one that's on fleabay at the moment (£600 in Notts). The tag on it says 'American series'. It has S1 switching. I wasn't sure if this is actually a different range or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franzbassist Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 If it's [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fender-American-Series-Precision-Bass-/331300091609?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item4d230636d9"]this[/url] bass, then it's from 2004-2005. I would imagine this became what is now the American Standard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickster Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 (edited) ^^ walbassist is right - the American Series became the USA Standard series in 2008. I forgot that bit... Edited August 28, 2014 by mickster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deedee Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 Mystery solved then! I do love this forum 😄 Many thanks everyone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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