Fender Precision US v current Musicman Cutlass

[Slick Bass]

Hi All,

interested to hear your views on the comparison between these two instruments.  The Cutlass doesn’t appear to be a huge seller, but people seem to like them, the Fender P seems to be everyone’s favourite.  Apologies if this is a novice question.

Cheers, Ben

 

[grayn]

I've owned a couple of US P basses and only played a Cutlass, in a shop.

In general I'd say EBMM gear is of a higher standard than Fender, though there will always be exceptions.

If I was looking for that type of bass, I'd definitely go for the Cutlass.

It looks feels and sounds, so good.

As you say though, the re-sale on a Fender will always be better.

[Mmarc]

Cutlass wins

[Lozz196]

Having a MM Stingray I’d agree that it’s a higher standard than Fender (and I’m a Fender fanboi) so I’d expect the Cutlass to follow suit. As said though, resale on a Fender is likely to be easier.

[sshorepunk]

I'm currently after a P style bass with a J neck and the Cutlass' brother, the Caprice has my attention

Guitar guitar were showing a cutlass at a good price from what I remember 

EDIT - looks like its sold now

Tony

Edited April 13, 2020 by sshorepunk

[Slick Bass]

Yes, that seems to be a popular combination.

The simplicity of the P with the smaller dimensions of the Jazz neck making it faster to play, or is there more to it?

[ead]

This one seems particularly good value (depending upon your colour preferences of course):

https://guitarvillage.co.uk/products/music-man-cutlass-bass-black-ex-demo-rrp-1999

[Slick Bass]

Yup definitely, they look nice in Black too. They have a really nice Natural Stingray as well 😍

[fretmeister]

I think the Cutlass has been discontinued 

 

There was a thread last year.

Edited April 13, 2020 by fretmeister

[jimmyb625]

3 hours ago, fretmeister said:

I think the Cutlass has been discontinued 

 

There was a thread last year.

Yes, it was, together with the Caprice

 

 

[Slick Bass]

That’s a shame, obviously not selling enough of them.

[Slick Bass]

42 minutes ago, jimmyb625 said:

Yes, it was, together with the Caprice

 

 

Interesting, I didn’t find that thread when I searched, but it is useful in answering my question 👍

[kyuuga]

1 hour ago, Slick Bass said:

Interesting, I didn’t find that thread when I searched, but it is useful in answering my question 👍

Or maybe it rises up the Cutlass in terms of priority since the re-sale value only tends to go up 😏

[sshorepunk]

The cutlass has a P style neck and Caprice has J style

I've been after a Caprice for a while, not many coming up second hand now 

There seems to be a few Cutlass available if you look around

Tony

[No. 8 Wire]

25 minutes ago, sshorepunk said:

The cutlass has a P style neck and Caprice has J style

I've been after a Caprice for a while, not many coming up second hand now 

There seems to be a few Cutlass available if you look around

Tony

There's a caprice on eBay right now https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124152583912

[sshorepunk]

Thanks for that link, was after one of the solid colours, but will keep an eye on this one

I have Musician caprice set up with notifications in eBay, so surprised I didn't se it

Tony

 

[Cuzzie]

20 minutes ago, sshorepunk said:

Thanks for that link, was after one of the solid colours, but will keep an eye on this one

I have Musician caprice set up with notifications in eBay, so surprised I didn't se it

Tony

 

Possibly if you did Musicman instead of Music Man - it may not have picked it up

[bloke_zero]

I'm really interested and if I had a grand + to drop on a bass a cutlass would be it! The pickups being single pole must make a difference to the sound - I've read a few different reason for the Fender double pole pieces but most consistently seen a variation on:

Quote

Plus, early bass amplifiers had only limited ability to deal with the sharp, powerful signal spikes of magnets placed directly under the strings of a bass, and would distort the sound. So Leo placed the polepieces on either side of the string, to provide a smoother "attack", more like an acoustic upright bass. 

But also on the Seymour Duncan site:

Quote

Each string used a double pole to reduce the unwanted “beat” effect common in pickups with single magnets.

https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/swd-qa/why-do-fender-precision-bass-pickups-have-two-offset-coils

Huh!

[Cuzzie]

2 small overlapping  fields, 1 wider field 

String lined up directly, or slightly off (stingray old smoothie)

AlNiCo (whichever version) vs Ceramic magnets 

Scatter wire vs none scatter

All decent things to do that produce slightly different flavours that will suit some more than others i reckon - personal taste, non of which is wrong

[IanA]

The Cutlass feels a much better quality bass Compared to a Precision and the neck profile is to die for. Tone wise it is a bigger sound than a Precision, kind of a Precision on steroids vibe...

The only reason that I sold mine was the lack of body contouring at the top of the bass, I found that I couldn’t play it without it irritating my forearm, that could just be my sloppy technique but it was nevertheless an issue. 
Back to a Jazz or Precision and no more issues...

[Musicman20]

You must have just missed the GuitarGuitar offer. Think they had a few Cutless and Caprice basses at end of line prices, brand new as well from the dealer. 

[jimmyb625]

There's one here, which is a big reduction on the original price:

 

https://www.promenademusic.co.uk/Musicman-Cutlass-Bass-Diamond-Blue

[grayn]

On 14/04/2020 at 18:39, jimmyb625 said:

here's one here, which is a big reduction on the original price:

 

https://www.promenademusic.co.uk/Musicman-Cutlass-Bass-Diamond-Blue

I had a play on that, a few months ago.

Spot on bass.

Edited April 17, 2020 by grayn

[ClassicVibes]

Small bump.

I have a chance to get a Cutlass at a great price and wanted to hear from owners their thoughts on the bass?