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The joy of the P


wintoid

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like a previous poster I bought my Sunburst/Rosewood 73 Precision ( I refuse to call it a P bass , even a bone idle ex council worker like me can be bothered to make the effort) as my first bass second hand in 1978. Still use it unless I'm in a real toilet full of scrota in which case I take my 1997 Japanese 54 blue flower Precision. Thing is - when I bought the 73 it was supposed to be a pile of old toss because it isn't pre-CBS. Now folk would pay thousands for it. Not worth it I promise you. It's dear to me but if it got nicked I'd just get another Japanese one and spend the insurance money on painted hussies. The most precious bit is the brass nut. My Dad made it for me out of an old lock from a building site bog door. He's not around any more to make me another. 

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10 minutes ago, ezbass said:

I have to admit that I was going to post the same as @hooky_lowdown. Top score, absolute bargain.

 

It's very decent for the money. It plays nicer than the Mexican Jazz bass I used to have. Took me 10 minutes to get a decent setup after fitting .065-.130 strings and tuning to drop A#. All I had to do other than minor tweeks was drill out the bridge a tiny bit and file the nut for the A# string.

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On 04/09/2022 at 19:54, SteveXFR said:

 

It's very decent for the money. It plays nicer than the Mexican Jazz bass I used to have. Took me 10 minutes to get a decent setup after fitting .065-.130 strings and tuning to drop A#. All I had to do other than minor tweeks was drill out the bridge a tiny bit and file the nut for the A# string.

Glad it's worked out for you, great score mate!

It's one of the older Squier Affinitys isn't it. 

 

Fun fact:

I once bought a body from one off ebay for a bitsa project. Mated it with an Allparts neck. Turned out great. The acoustic resonance of that bass was incredible! The body is slimmer front to back than a regular P bass by a few mil. 

Eventually because I loved the  bass, I decided to strip the body with a heat gun and redo it in nitro so I could wear out the finish naturally (yeah I'm one of them 😄).

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the body was made of good quality alder, although it was a 4 piece body, 4 very even pieces.

Eventually I found myself in the position to buy a Fender Custom Shop P and when it arrived I was disappointed to find that it wasn't any more acoustically resonant than my bitsa and didn't really sound any different with the band.

I sold the custom shop after a year but still have that nitro finished Squier body under my bed, waiting for it's next lease of life!

I think I paid £60 just for the body a few years ago too!

 

Enjoy your new project, sounds fun 👍

Edited by miles'tone
Typo: SQUIER!! Bloody phone thinks it knows best...
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Depending on what it is meant by "older", there are some old crafted in China (not sure the name Affinity was used then but that was thebequivalent in tje range) that had alder body, rosewood fretboard, lacquered neck and neck witdth in between a precision and a jazz. Today's Affinity are PJs, made I believe with poplar and laurel. Yours is a normal P, so it certainly is not supernew, but no clue how old it could be (you can search the serial though).

I have both a contemporary PJ and an old crafted in China from 2008. The old one is better build, better materials. Not sure about the pickups because they were not stock when I bought it.

Still, I use the new PJ more as it is lighter and has a proper Precision neck width. I have just switched from Wilkinson pickups to Toneriders and I am very happy with the sound

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On 08/08/2022 at 11:12, PaulThePlug said:

When you say Hand Wound... i presume wound on a foot operated winding machine, with a counter... like transformers, chokes etc used to be done... back in the day...

rather than fingers round a bobbin and counting in ya head or out loud and anoyingthe person next to you

 

Did a bit of transformer winding in my apprentiship back in the 80's.. oh to have access to all that kit now... I'd be Custom winding P Pickups and Valve Amps trannys

I remember an interview with Abigail Ybarra , the legendary winder , and she mentioned that winding pickups was like knitting.

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I mostly play short scales these days but still have some classics around. The Pbass is a 72 and for many years was the only bass I owned , whenever someone would pick it up they’d inevitably say “this is a nice one”. I missed out on some great gear deals back when things were cheap because I thought I had all the bass I’d ever need. 
The Ray is about twenty years old now and for years was the bass I kept handy beside the couch. I just love that fat chunky neck! I’m normally a flatwound guy but I keep fresh Slinkies on the Ray. 
Two very different basses.

833504AA-F5C0-433C-A3C9-5003507C94BC.jpeg

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55 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

 

I have no idea. Is that good or bad?

They were the entry level Squiers of the day (early 2000s possibly...) When I say older I mean that you can't buy them now because Squier Affinitys today are PJs. 

Good or bad?... If it feels good then it IS good.

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