GreeneKing

I'm blown away by their fretwork especially given that they don't fret dress. They glue them in perfectly. I ran a fret rocker over the necks set straight and there wasn't a click to be found. The action is super low and clean. If you had Warmoth do a finish for you it's be something special I guess. Maybe I will some day. I fancy a 54P.

Not for the first time I’ve come to the realisation that the simple P bass ticks my boxes. Some years back I built a Warmoth black korina bodied P bass that I had routed for a Blackstar pickup. It was tung oil finished. I wonder where it is now? I was browsing the Warmoth site a few months ago and saw a purpleheart and ebony P bass neck on offer. It has block moonglow (glow in the dark) markers. I bought it and then set about speccing a body to match. I bought a chambered roasted swamp ash body with a bubinga top. The 6 P rule; Prior Planning Precludes Piss Poor Performance. It was never going to balance well. The neck is seriously heavy even with graphite rods. So a rethink. I ordered a straight swamp ash body and a quarter sawn maple and maple neck. Some while later I have the purpleheart neck in the swamp ash body. Rear of neck finished with Tru Oil and headstock rear finished with Osmo Poly X gloss. Front of headstock sprayed with gold acrylic. Body finished with Osmo Poly x over a green water based tint. Gold aluminium pick guard. Fender Vintage 63 pickup and Obsidium wiring. Gotoh 201 bridge, Schaller tuners, Hipshot string tree and all black hardware. Strung with La Bella flats. It’s immense, the action is super low courtesy of Warmoth’s awesome fretwork and the neck is ultra stable. At 10.6lb it’s no lightweight and a Comfort Strapp helps with a slightly neck heavy balance. It sounds and plays superbly. Today I finished work on the maple neck. I used satin Osmo Poly x throughout. The original body has been waiting around a while for its match. Body is finished with Osmo gloss with a white pearloid pick guard, Lollar pickup, Gotoh 201 bridge, Hipshot Ultralite tuners, Hipshot string tree and a John East P Retro onboard preamp. Strung with DR Low Rider strings. It weighs 7.6lb. Exactly 3lb lighter than its sister. It was only finished today but I’m oh so pleased with how it plays and sounds. It balances perfectly. It is a lot of money to spend I guess but when one considers the quality of build and cost versus Fender it seems worthwhile. I’ve not owned a Fender built to this quality. I’ve owned many. Both necks have graphite rods. Purpleheart and quarter sawn maple are extremely stable. The nut width is 41mm and they are standard profile. A good size neck for me and certainly no baseball bat. The finish on neither bass is of a showroom standard but in an organic way it’s rather excellent. And chips/scratches can be repaired and refinished easily. Sorry for such a monologue. Peter

It’ll be good to catch up.

Over the course of nearly 30 years I've owned a huge variety and number of basses. Well over 100 (I had 27 at one time - ADHD and obsessive pastimes may be an issue here ). For me, there is something about a good P bass that sounds uniquely kind of visceral. They connect to my sense of bassiness. There are many instrument manufacturers who put a better effort into the details of construction in my opinion. Fender do the basics (no pun intended) well enough. Sandberg are better but there are many others. Fender are expensive for what you get methinks but they hold their value well. Stupidly so sometimes. I can remember back when many 70's Fenders were considered inferior and essentially worthless. They were avoided. Now they sell for a ridiculous amount just because they've got old. I've presently got a mere 5 basses. Well 4.5 actually, with one presently up for sale. My Zoot Funkmeister 32" scale pair are superb.They aren't going anywhere. I have a P equivalent that was custom built for me by Mike and a J likewise that I bought 2nd hand from Mark its original owner who was awaiting another Zoot to be finished. Both are active with a passive bypass and both are very strong in terms of tone, build quality, playability and appearance. Then I have my recently completed Warmoth build above. I originally had a chambered body with a bubinga top with this, as it turned out, very heavy neck. It didn't balance well (hardly a surprise). I ordered a Warmoth swamp ash solid body to complement the neck and it's now met all my expectations. The fretwork is really good allowing a setup with a low action and tremendous neck stability. I've a quarter sawn maple neck in process to pair to the original body. It'll need to be finished. An East P-Retro V2 will give added options. Which leaves the Sire D5 that's presently in the for sale section. It plays and balances very well courtesy of the Hipshot Ultralites. I'm going to bring it along to the next band rehearsal and see how it sounds alongside the Warmoth. I may then pull it from sale. It doesn't sound like a P bass exactly. No bass with a Curtis Novak Gold Foil pickup could It's something else entirely and that's no bad thing. Peter

I bought a new Player 2 recently. I played at least half a dozen before deciding on the one. Fenders are expensive for what you’re actually getting. I couldn’t afford a US P bass. In terms of neck stability relative to many other basses I find Fenders a bit all over the place with temperature and humidity. I built a Warmoth P many, many years ago. It ended up with a Dark Star pickup in it. Then I spotted a reduced purpleheart and ebony neck on the Warmoth site, it even has block luminary markers. It’s now a P with a 41mm nut, 20 frets, graphite rods, swamp ash body, Gotoh 201 bridge, Vintage 63 pickup and Obsidian wiring. So much better than any Fender imo and I got the fun of finishing myself. Excuse the grotty photo. It’s not light at 10lb but I have another underway with a chambered body.

It’s a great bass tastefully modified.

Keep warm.

Being as I tend not to come onto BC socially any more (too much other stuff going on) I nearly missed this. I’ll be there. Hope to have my Zoot medium scale J and P and a pair of Warmoth P basses. Thank you for getting this up and running again and I’ll put the word out where I can. Peter

Paul drove across country and gave my Precision a check over. Lovely chap, very straightforward sale. Peter