2005 MIM Precision - NBD!!

[BrunoBass]

There’s a 2005 MIM Fender Precision for sale locally, good price and fairly tidy. As I’m currently in the market for a mid level P I’m quite tempted. 
 

I have reservations though, as I seem to recall that the general consensus regarding mid 2000s Mexican Precisions is that they’re not very good. Anyone care to chip in with thoughts and experience? Cheers 🙂

Edited February 9, 2020 by BrunoBass

[Lozz196]

They’re a bit more hit & miss pre 2008, as it’s local try it out, let the hands & ears decide. 

[DoubleOhStephan]

No direct experience of '05, but I have just bought a 2010 P and during my research came across a number of comments saying how fender upped their game (build quality) from 08/09.

[Machines]

I've got a 2005 and had it's a keeper. Judge it individually. 

[luckman67]

Bought a '08 MIM P neck that I had put on my MIJ PB57 body, it was a nice neck felt really good. My mate who bought it from me refuses to sell it back & he owns some nice basses.

[BrunoBass]

Thanks for all the replies. I’ve offered a lower price than what they were asking for, which they’ve accepted. Going to have a look and potentially buy tomorrow. 

[Reggaebass]

2 minutes ago, BrunoBass said:

Thanks for all the replies. I’ve offered a lower price than what they were asking for, which they’ve accepted. Going to have a look and potentially buy tomorrow. 

That’s cool, imo there’s good and not so good in all years, it’s what feels good for you,    I’ve got an 08 and it’s great, hope it works out for you ☝️

[lownote]

I had one from a little later than that.  Best P style bass I've ever had by a long chalk, whatever people say about clones being just as good. They're not.

[BrunoBass]

So this has turned into a NBD, thread title changed accordingly... 

I’ve been after a Precision bass for the new Britpop covers band I’ve joined and this 2005 Mexican model came up locally at a good price. I managed to get the girl selling it down to a very good price so I was happy. Turns out she’d bought it new in 2005 when she was a teenager, but after a while she’d lost interest and had put it in its gig bag where it remained for fifteen years... As you’d imagine it was very clean, but showing signs of inactivity. First thing to do was remove the old strings which were utterly dead and give it a good clean. Lake Placid Blue isn’t my favourite colour on a guitar but this actually looks pretty nice. My first thought was to change the white scratchplate for a black one, but over the years this one has aged to a nice faded white which looks kind of vintage, so it’ll stay for now. I sanded down the glossy neck so it’s a bit smoother, and the rosewood fretboard was very dry so I treated it with some lemon oil fretboard conditioner. I changed the strap buttons to Schaller strap locks which I do to all my basses. The neck was bowed considerably so a bit of truss rod adjustment was necessary to get it playable. The bridge was in bad shape, particularly the grub screws which were stripped. I had a spare bridge so I changed it, and will change it again to a hi-mass bridge later. It was fortuitous that I removed the bridge as the earthing wire had slipped back into it’s hole so I was able to pull it out and get it back in contact with the bridge. I did a quick set up on the new Ernie Ball Super Slinky strings that I fitted and gave it a final rub down. It sounds great, exactly how a P Bass should. I may well change the pickup later but for now it’s fine. Nice slim neck, very playable and 4.1kg in weight so it should be good for a long gig. I’m pretty pleased with it, especially for the price. Result! 

[Reggaebass]

Nice , the nut looks slim or is it just the picture 👍 

Edited February 9, 2020 by Reggaebass

[DoubleOhStephan]

Sounds like you've got a great deal, congratulations! 

Not sure it's LPB though, looks more like either Imperial Blue or Metallic Blue? The only reason I mention it is, funnily enough the bass I bought I mentioned researching above is LPB, and it's quite a bit different to yours. 

Here's a link to the Fender colour chart in case you're interested. 👍🏻

[Lozz196]

You’ve got it up to a great finish, congrats, when you get a good one you get a good one.

[BrunoBass]

2 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

Nice , the nut looks slim or is it just the picture 👍 

The nut does need looking at, I’ve set it up the best I can (truss road, intonation etc) but I don’t have the skill or experience to sort the nut. It’ll do for now but ideally it needs some pro attention.

[BrunoBass]

1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

You’ve got it up to a great finish, congrats, when you get a good one you get a good one.

Yep even with the ancient strings it was loud and resonant unamplified, usually a sign that it’s going to a good ‘un. 

[BrunoBass]

1 hour ago, DoubleOhStephan said:

Sounds like you've got a great deal, congratulations! 

Not sure it's LPB though, looks more like either Imperial Blue or Metallic Blue? The only reason I mention it is, funnily enough the bass I bought I mentioned researching above is LPB, and it's quite a bit different to yours. 

Here's a link to the Fender colour chart in case you're interested. 👍🏻

Thanks, that’s useful. Looking at the chart I think my bass is most likely Metallic Blue; that’s the closest it looks, screen colour calibration notwithstanding. It has a subtle sparkle to it. 
 

Is LPB flatter? 

[Reggaebass]

8 minutes ago, BrunoBass said:

The nut does need looking at, I’ve set it up the best I can (truss road, intonation etc) but I don’t have the skill or experience to sort the nut. It’ll do for now but ideally it needs some pro attention.

Sorry It wasn’t a criticism Bruno , I meant the neck looks nice and slim at the nut for a precision,  my P is 41mm , 🙂

[BrunoBass]

Just now, Reggaebass said:

Sorry It wasn’t a criticism Bruno , I meant the neck looks nice and slim at the nut for a precision,  my P is 41mm , 🙂

No problem, I took it as an observation not a criticism 🙂

I think it’s 41mm, it’s certainly not ‘50s width, nice shallow C profile too. 

[Reggaebass]

Just now, BrunoBass said:

No problem, I took it as an observation not a criticism 🙂

I think it’s 41mm, it’s certainly not ‘50s width, nice shallow C profile too. 

Sounds perfect ☝️

[DoubleOhStephan]

13 minutes ago, BrunoBass said:

Thanks, that’s useful. Looking at the chart I think my bass is most likely Metallic Blue; that’s the closest it looks, screen colour calibration notwithstanding. It has a subtle sparkle to it. 
 

Is LPB flatter? 

Cool, happy to help 👊🏻

LPB is metallic and has a faint green in it, only really noticeable under the scratchplate & bridge where it hasn't faded. 

[DoubleOhStephan]

Here you go, it's a real pita to photograph but you can just make out the green behind the pickguard. 

Tbh, I much prefer it faded. 

[BrunoBass]

13 minutes ago, DoubleOhStephan said:

Cool, happy to help 👊🏻

LPB is metallic and has a faint green in it, only really noticeable under the scratchplate & bridge where it hasn't faded. 

The colour under the bridge when I removed it was the same as the main colour, no fading at all, probably due to being in a gig back for years. No greening so probably not LPB then - well spotted! 👍🏻

[DoubleOhStephan]

15 minutes ago, BrunoBass said:

The colour under the bridge when I removed it was the same as the main colour, no fading at all, probably due to being in a gig back for years. No greening so probably not LPB then - well spotted! 👍🏻

Tidy! 

Interesting that the nut needs work, I wonder if that's one of the things that gives these era MiMs the hit and miss reputation? 

[BrunoBass]

I took the new bass to band practise tonight. It sounds great, exactly what I wanted it to be. It just sits so well in the mix; punchy with a pick, fat and warm with fingers - amp set flat, tone on the bass on full. Easy peasy. I love it, my band mates love it, and I can’t wait to gig it. 

[AndyTravis]

That colour was called Electron Blue. Only did it for a year or so. Nice colour.

[BrunoBass]

9 hours ago, AndyTravis said:

That colour was called Electron Blue. Only did it for a year or so. Nice colour.

Thanks for the info Andy. I can’t find much online about this era of bass production so stuff like this is good to know.

Removing the bridge and changing the strap buttons I was surprised how much finish is on the body, it must be 2 - 2.5mm thick.