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Second NBD in a few weeks! Fender P Lyte


Marc S
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I've been having a bit of a bass clear-out and something of a change recently. It's now 4 out, two in.... and I have another bass currently for sale - so no more new basses after that...... he says, fingers crossed behind back ;) 

Just got myself a MIJ Fender Lyte Precision from BC's very own blues business - a thoroughly decent sort of guy indeed - thanks mate :)

I had never tried a Fender Lyte before. What with increasing age, and wear & tear on joints / shoulders / back etc. After having bought my sub 4kg five string Ibanez recently, - I thought I might like to try out a nice sub 4kg Precision. I was pleasantly surprised at just how light & comfortable this bass is. Plus, the neck is a comfortable Jazz profile. The construction quality feels great, and so far, I'm liking the sound.

I like a P/J configuration anyway - but this is going to be different, as it's not the usual VVT controls. It has a "Blend" control for the pickups. I'm sure I'll get used to it though. Plus, I'm not normally a huge fan of active pickups - but through my amp headphones, and through my home practice amp, I really like the sound, and I like it a lot. I've got a garden-room / semi open-air acoustic trio jam coming up - so I'm going to take the Lyte along to that, and I must say, I'm really as excited as a kid with a new toy about it :) 

The bass came with La Bella Flats on it, and was in need of a set-up. I tried the LaBellas for a day, and decided they were a bit too high-tension for my liking. So I put some new TI flats on it, and obviously had to tweak the truss rod again - but it's playing like a dream now.

It's a lovely colour IMHO, but the only (slght) downside, is that it's Foto-flame finish. There's some slight crazing to the finish, on the front of the body. I can live with that though..... There was some cracking & lifting of the finish at the back, where you normally get "Buckle rash". I sealed this area, running PVA glue underneath the lifting finish, and when that had dried, I filled any gaps and secured the lifting areas with a combination of modellers filler and some super-glue powder. I've roughly painted the area with some acrylic paint for now - I can lightly sand it back and re-paint when I find a tin of suitably coloured modelling paint.

That's enough waffling on from me ;)

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Edited by Marc S
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I would have tried one out before... if only one had come up locally to me...
Actually, about 3 years back, one did come up for sale on a local Facebook "Guitar, equipment sale & exchange" group. I even knew the fella selling it
I had even messaged him about it, and he offered me a discount.... sadly, I dithered a bit and it had sold. So I could have been a Lyte Convert sooner.

I used to wonder why, in For Sale threads, people asked for the weight of a guitar or bass..... but my advancing years have underlined why this is important.
This might also be down to a lack of gigs and / or rehearsals - I'm doing more noodling at home and on the sofa - so now when I stand up to play, my shoulder is feeling it more :( 

I stood yesterday for ages, jamming along to YouTube videos and albums on MP3..... and the Lyte felt great - my shoulder was fine.
I think this is the most pleased I've been with a new bass in ages, and I was pretty pleased at getting my lightweight SR505 a few weeks back


Also, it struck me that the active pickups & circuitry didn't sound typically "active" - or at least to my ear, the P pickup still sounded like a P bass, if a tad cleaner.
Both pickups were certainly very "hot".

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Just wanted to add another thought here, and report that I'm still really really enjoying this bass....
Despite the light weight of the body, there's no "neck dive" with this bass at all :)

My only problem is that before I picked it up, I was playing my new Ibanez 5 string every day (I must get more used to 5'ers)
and now I've got this, I'm ignoring my other fab new bass ;) 

EDIT: I have ordered a 9v battery compartment which opens with the click of a tab....
Just to ease and speed up change of battery, as there are 5 or 6 screws to undo to get to the battery.
I'm hoping this involves as little work as possible. I've done a fair bit of model making in my time, so it shouldn't be too much hassle.....

Edited by Marc S
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