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P bass, and why I love it!!


mic mac moe

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Just thought I'd drop this here; grabbed this Squier Precision Standard 5 off Fleabay today. Someone's added a Fender decal and curiously it has J pickups but I'm looking forward to putting it through its paces.

What I'd really like to know is where I might be able to get hold of a black or tort pickguard for this configuration? Also, any recommendations for decent budget 5 string J p'ups?

IMG_20180904_163216 (1).jpg

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Just now, discreet said:

Looks good in white! Anyway, if that's Shoreline Gold then black or tort is actually illegal and you risk a visit from the pickguard police. :lol:

Hehe, I can't be sure but it was sold as 'metallic champagne'. To be fair it looks far better overall since I gave it a thorough clean.. never understood why people don't do so when trying to sell stuff on.

Cream pickups would totally set it off though... 🤔

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28 minutes ago, theosd said:

Just thought I'd drop this here; grabbed this Squier Precision Standard 5 off Fleabay today. Someone's added a Fender decal and curiously it has J pickups but I'm looking forward to putting it through its paces.

What I'd really like to know is where I might be able to get hold of a black or tort pickguard for this configuration? Also, any recommendations for decent budget 5 string J p'ups?

IMG_20180904_163216 (1).jpg

Thats a cool bass. I saw guy play one in Blackpool once. Had a proper "fender" sound

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1 minute ago, mic mac moe said:

Thats a cool bass. I saw guy play one in Blackpool once. Had a proper "fender" sound

Thanks muchly, although I will definitely be looking to upgrade the pickups. Oddly enough, in my 15+ years of playing this is the first Fender/Squier I've ever owned.

I've had plenty of copies however, including my trusty '70s Ibanez Fretless P which I bought on this site a number of years ago (upgraded with newer bridge and Basslines quarter pounders).

This also needs a new pickguard... 😒

IMG_20180905_002618.jpg

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1 minute ago, theosd said:

Thanks muchly, although I will definitely be looking to upgrade the pickups. Oddly enough, in my 15+ years of playing this is the first Fender/Squier I've ever owned.

I've had plenty of copies however, including my trusty '70s Ibanez Fretless P which I bought on this site a number of years ago (upgraded with newer bridge and Basslines quarter pounders).

This also needs a new pickguard... 😒

IMG_20180905_002618.jpg

Thats a beauty. I love a fretless P. I can see the little flaw on the pickguard when I zoom in 😳

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Just now, mic mac moe said:

Thats a beauty. I love a fretless P. I can see the little flaw on the pickguard when I zoom in 😳

Haha! Thanks. This one's been gigged a heck of a lot. The pickups desperately needed swapping when I first acquired it.

In regards to the.. ahem... slight cosmetic blemish.. I can only assume someone trod on it whilst it was in its hardcase.

The most interesting feature of this bass was a major factor in why I bought it - the cheat lines on the side 🧐

IMG_20180905_003602.jpg

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8 hours ago, theosd said:

That was my initial thought precisely.... 😁

Always thought white pickguards look a little tacky.

Thinking about what you said I realised that I share your sentiment.  I then realised that I haven't owned a bass with any sort of pickguard since 1987.  Currently I own five working instruments.

Then it struck me that another reason for my mild aversion to Fenders in general is the pickguard or pickguard/control plate in combination.  I am less bothered about what colour it is than the fact that it conceals some ugly routing in the guitar's top.  I know that production cost used to be lower because of it and that low manufacturing cost is part of the reason for Fenders being the Ford of the guitar world.  It's cheap but not nasty.  Never the less, subconsciously, my brain says Fender pickguard = concealed bodge.

I have no problem with the hollow body type of pickguard (Gibson for example) that stands just off the bass top.  They're pick guards, nothing-more and nothing-less, so I don't think bodge! when I handle them.

It's just that with Fender the pickguard is in reality more of an access panel than it is pick guard.  Oh those clever marketing people for calling it a pickguard.  That's just my take on it.  Other opinions are available.

Slight diversion; Burns take the Fender style "guard" notion to an elegant extreme by covering the guitar top with panels.  This seems to be for purely aesthetic reasons.  It might also have been an attempt to protect new instruments from surface damage from those flouncy cuffs that were big in the sixties - with cuff-links they'd scratch the heck out of the whole guitar top!.  Either way, I'd hang a Burns on my cool wall and a Fender on my workhorse wall.

P (and J) basses sound okay though so don't take me for a hater just yet.  Leo got his priorities right for the era.

Edited by SpondonBassed
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