bassbiscuits

That sounds like a decent price for it really - a 1990s/2000s USA Fender will set you back about £600-£700 nowadays, so as long as its decent condition and you're happy with it, that's a perfectly good price for a guitar with a bit of history too! I had a similar aged Japanese Stratocaster about 10 years ago (think i worked it out as 1985/6) and it was great. Stupidly flogged it for £200 in a moment of financial despair. Don't ask....! Precision basses are brilliant tho - really simple, really effective and they look great. Enjoy playing it sir!

My first bass in 1986 was a rubbish Satellite short-scale white thing - it's only distinguishing features were a horribly warped neck and a paint chip where i'd fallen off the garden fence while playing it. It cost me £60 brand new and I traded it in for a far better Westone Spectrum in 1987. Fast forward to about 1999 and I found the same bass in a secondhand shop in Wales - complete with the same paint chip and the same strings with green silk binding which it had in 1986. Out of curiosity i asked the guy in the shop about it, and he swore it was brand new, and wanted £80 for it. Needless to say I left without it! Never mind eh.

Cheers Weststarx - I'm quite partial to the white one to be honest, but the black does look a little more mean...!

New bass... I've been playing bass for 28 years (yikes...!) somehow, but I've always ended up with a P bass (or at least a P Bass-alike) mainly just down to what was available/affordable secondhand, rather than for any technical reason. Though I love Ps, there's been a jazz bass shaped hole in my life - until now! Here's the new arrival - a 1999 USA Jazz in natural ash with white scratch plate. Not sure if they were called American Series/American Standard/Standard at this time, but I haven't seen many like this outside of the more recent 1975 reissues. It came with a Badass II fitted, which is a shame as i love the thru body thing, but no big deal. I love these late 1990s Fenders - despite the neck varnish cracking on all the ones I've played, I really like them - seems Fender did a really nice 'back to basics' job at the time, just doing a few models and doing them well. Sure, there's not a lightweight ergonomic machine head or Custom Shop pickup in sight, but they sound fat and full and thumping to me, as well as being nicely worn in 15 years later. Our local luthier gave it a bit of a set up and a tweak and i got it back on the weekend - since when I've been surgically attached to it. I plumped for the black p/guard in the end after a straw poll of friends reckoned: 'white looks more country, but black looks more rock.' Ha ha! Should get a chance to gig it in a few weeks - through a Littlemark III and a Schroeder 1210 cab. There's every chance it will sound righteous.... Good old Fender

Just picked up a nice pearl P bass scratch plate from Mike. Flawless transaction, fast delivery and good result all round.