NBD - After all these years of never wanting one... I bought a bloody P BASS! and no not the £5000 one!

[spacecowboy]

So while I have a couple of days off work, I really wanted to take a couple of hours to scratch a P Bass itch I have, I don't know where it came from as I have NEVER liked the look or the thought of a P Bass, but I've been bitten recently and the itch is too much, so got to scratch it. 

 

I popped into Guitar Guitar in Newcastle and asked them to unfurl their in stock P Basses, line them up and let me try them all in a shootout fashion to see if any of them were a suitable ointment.

 

With that said I was presented with lots of basses highlighting Fenders highly confusing catalogue of models, with a £5000 50's custom shop propping one end and a Squier Classic Vibe at the other, sandwiched in the middle were American Pro's, Vintera's, and Players series'.

 

What a bloody hit and miss selection of basses they are, some were good, some were awful, combinations of good / bad strings, setups and neck feel, the £800 Vintera having a much better setup than the twice the price American Pro for instance... I can quickly talk about that £5k P bass here, and this is for people who have played it... that neck... WTF... it's a tree, U profile? sheesh!...

 

...So for an hour I went back and forward between 5 or 6 basses until I was playing just one and didn't want to put it down... that bass was... drum roll please... a...

 

Squier FSR (Factory / Fender Special Run?) Late 50's Custom Vibe P Bass (awful mouthful) in a two tone sunburst (never liked this colour) with a anodised gold (never ever would have wanted this) pickguard... so it's a P Bass in a colour combination that I would never have looked twice at, it's got a maple fingerboard which I have forever told myself I don't like, and it's a squier... so why did I buy it? well put simply it's one of the best basses I have ever played, ever, I couldn't put it down, I went back to it after playing US Pros and Mex Vinteras and Players Series' and for me it was just better, the neck was better, the frets were better, the feel was better, it was just better so I left with it and then played it for 2.5 hours straight when I got it home, it's tremendous. £400, was the American Pro 4 times the bass? not a bloody chance. 

 

As for P Basses I thought they could only produce a stuffy wooly thumpy jumper sound, but it knocks most basses out the park for bark and bite, volume up, tone down and it just nails everything I want to play. 

 

I'm converted! It's a wonderful instrument, and I'm definitely coming round to the two tone sunburst and gold pickguard, it's classy in a "late 50's" kind of way 🤔.

 

 

[JapanAxe]

One of us! One of us!

 

And HNBD, you have bought well.

[BillyBass]

Congrats.

 

I bought a bass there yesterday, Newcastle Guitarguitar are doing good bass business at the moment.

 

I had my eye on a couple of basses that they advertise but weren't on display.  Of all those on display, I did like the colour of the Aged candy apple red Player Plus Jazz.

[spacecowboy]

Just now, BillyBass said:

Congrats.

 

I bought a bass there yesterday, Newcastle Guitarguitar are doing good bass business at the moment.

 

I had my eye on a couple of basses that they advertise but weren't on display.  Of all those on display, I did like the colour of the Aged candy apple red Player Plus Jazz.

 

Yeah I asked about that cause I checked the stock before I went in and noticed that they didn't have everything out, the guy told me that during the pandemic they got a load of stock in and turned the downstairs of the shop in to a new stock room, so even though he seemed a little put out he did go and get more basses out of the stock room for me, including, ironically, the one I ended up buying, but they must have had 6 models in the store that weren't out on display and TBH really should have been!

[Lozz196]

The Classic Precision look. Great story re selection too, just goes to show that the hands really do trump the eyes (if common sense is applied of course) in choosing an instrument.

[BillyBass]

3 minutes ago, spacecowboy said:

 

Yeah I asked about that cause I checked the stock before I went in and noticed that they didn't have everything out, the guy told me that during the pandemic they got a load of stock in and turned the downstairs of the shop in to a new stock room, so even though he seemed a little put out he did go and get more basses out of the stock room for me, including, ironically, the one I ended up buying, but they must have had 6 models in the store that weren't out on display and TBH really should have been!

I bought a Balaguer, I'll start a new thread about that shortly, but another I looked at was a Lakland PJ in ice blue metallic.  Luverly, inlays but it was £300 dearer than the Balaguer.

[Woodinblack]

The only P Bass I ever got was the Classic Vibe 70s P bass, it just outshone everything in the store in some way that mattered to me (not that the store had much in). Played it for ages but it eventually got sidelined as I can't really gig a 4 string.

[Jus Lukin]

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Edited March 15, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[Reggaebass]

At £400 that sounds like an absolute steal , very nice, congrats ☝️

[Jack]

Nice bass! Nice johnnyx prints too!

[spacecowboy]

4 minutes ago, Jack said:

Nice bass! Nice johnnyx prints too!

 

Good eye! we have bloody loads of them, we went a little crazy at one point! Think there's 8 prints in our house! 

[Basscabman]

I own 2 basses, both classic vibe 60's Crafted In china, Fiesta red P bass and a rare black and tort Jazz. Both from 2013. Of all the basses I've owned, Fender to Jaydee , These two have stayed with me. 

Play em first if poss. You don't have to spend fortune to get a great bass.

 

 

[Lo-E]

Congratulations!

 

I avoided P-basses like the plague for the first several years I played.  I had a couple of late '70s Ibanez basses and I was not going to be bullied into playing what everybody else played!

Then I took down a used Japanese P out of curiosity when I was hanging out at a music store....  CLICK.  The light went on.

 

While I still play lots of other basses, I don't think I'll ever be without a P-bass in the stable.  They just work.

 

I also agree with you that Fender's product line has gotten ridiculously confusing.  Do we really need 72 "different" models of P-bass?  In the end, a really good setup would render most of them essentially the same.  I guess it's better to have too many choices than not enough, though....   it's not a bad problem to have.

 

Enjoy your new bass!! (Now you need an Ampeg B-15.  I'm just saying....)

[dannybuoy]

Nice, never seen that model. Looks a lot like the Classic 50s MIM I had once, which was one of the best sounding P bass I've ever had. The neck was too wide and the fingerboard edges too sharp though, which resulted in an uncomfortable neck unless you have big hands.

[Nibody]

I'm completely the opposite. Started on a P bass, have owned... oooh.. many - Fenders (70's, 90's, 2000's, US/Japanese/Mexican), Squiers, Japanese copies, bitsas.. tried branching out with Warwicks, Ibanez's, Spectors, Deans.. and came full circle. There are P basses and there are P basses as you found out. Nicest playing one I owned was a Mexican first generation "black logo" I bought from here, next to the 1976 I used to own, and the Limelight I recently got (again from here). A lot of it is down to the neck/nut width. tried my mates Mex Classic and hated the surfboardlike nut width, prefer my 96 Squier which has a 40mm nut similair to the 70's US models. Sweet spot for me is a 40mm nut.

[NickA]

Looks awful to me ( only own coffee tables 😉).   But yes Squires Vs Fenders ... Played a random squire p in a practice studio once; much nicer feel and sound than the genuine fender jazz they also had.  Truly the kind of value that puts real hand made bass makers out of business!

[Bassfinger]

Some of those top flight Squiers are really going for the complacent soft underbelly of Fender.

[jassbass]

Ooh nice

Tempted with these

[horrorshowbass]

Congrats, interesting read.

Wonder if its the same for jazzes? Probably.....

[Woodinblack]

The CVs are generally well regarded, so yes, probably the jazzes.

[NickA]

Maybe comes down to the fact that fenders are basically simple factory made instruments that are easy for anyone to make.  So why buy a fender fender.

 

Does make me wonder about Warwick Vs Rockbass.  MusicMan Vs Sterling. G&L vs Tribute etc.

[Lozz196]

I’m yet to play a Squier that I prefer to my US Fenders, but I have played Squiers that have made me question the gap in price between them. If Squiers are £400 then I’d say Mex at around £600, US at £800/£900 is more reasonable.

[horrorshowbass]

10 hours ago, NickA said:

Maybe comes down to the fact that fenders are basically simple factory made instruments that are easy for anyone to make.  So why buy a fender fender.

 

Does make me wonder about Warwick Vs Rockbass.  MusicMan Vs Sterling. G&L vs Tribute etc.

From experience, Sterling has the sound if you go Ray34 but they can be pricey new, almost as much as full fat USA rays second hand. The sound of my Ray34 was same as my classic but sold one to fund another.

With jazzes, I'm definitely going Mexican used as USA prices are mental and I'm broke (see aforementioned classic stingray). I had a sire v7 and it was fantastic but active eq was too much.

I've only ever played a m2000 tribute and it was lovely for price and can't justify a USA G&L so will never compare to be honest.

[jassbass]

Need a review please 😁of the squire pbass 

[Boodang]

Squier basses really are great! My fav bass at the moment is a vintage modified I picked up recently. And I'm a big fan of replacing hardware and getting a luthier to do a setup... has turned a great bass into an awesome one and for way less cost than a US model.