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Posted
26 minutes ago, scrumpymike said:

This design is based on the Watkins Rapier that came out in the late '60s. My first bass was a pale blue one (also available in red) and I'd be all over one of these if the bridge wasn't so far from the bottom edge of the body. It just adds to the weight and negates the 'easy reach to the lower frets' benefit that many s-s basses offer. Even so, I'd still have a test run if I could find one locally.

 

I saw a 1960s Rapier for £700 in a Manchester music shop. Was lovely to look at and play. I nearly dropped the cash.

Posted
On 01/07/2025 at 11:29, YellowLedBetterBass said:

Are there any short scale P Basses that actually sound like a P Bass out there? After Glasto this weekend and seeing so many people using them (especially Inhalers bassist who sounded fantastic with that Ampeg behind him), I really fancy a P bass.

 

Harley Benton Shorty does.  I bought one when they came out and it blew me away - I don't know how it is possible to make a bass that is so good for the price of a night out.  The tone, through my set-up, was very similar to the gorgeous woody tone of P bass in Santana's Europa.  Out of preference for a bit more bite I changed the stock pickup to a Tonerider and it is now awesome.  I have sold off most of my basses, including an MIJ Mustang, but keeping the HB Shorty for my Precision flavoured moments.

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Posted
38 minutes ago, Paul S said:

Out of preference for a bit more bite I changed the stock pickup to a Tonerider

I've swapped out the pickups for Toneriders in a couple of my P basses - an immediate improvement in sound, and the cost of them makes it a complete no-brainer! 😎🤘🤘

  • Like 2
Posted
11 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I saw a 1960s Rapier for £700 in a Manchester music shop. Was lovely to look at and play. I nearly dropped the cash.

There was a very nice red one up for sale on here a couple of years back. Probably should have bought it but didn't because I wanted the blue finish that I had. They were £33 new back then.

  • Like 1
Posted
On 01/07/2025 at 11:29, YellowLedBetterBass said:

Are there any short scale P Basses that actually sound like a P Bass out there? 

 

I have a short scale Maruszczyk Jake 4P 30. Styled like a P with a slightly scaled down body, albeit with the pickup more in the Mustang position. It has the Haussel PB4 pickup and to my ears sounds like the kind of vintage P tones I hear on records - caveat being that I've never had a full scale P bass so can only compare with what I hear in recordings. 

 

Prices on them seem to have increased significantly recently though. I got mine only just over a year ago from Bass Direct for £1250. They have a couple in stock now and since then the prices have gone up to £1700! Honestly that seems rather steep. I'd recommend one at £1250. It's a much harder sell at £1700.

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Posted
On 01/07/2025 at 11:29, YellowLedBetterBass said:

Are there any short scale P Basses that actually sound like a P Bass out there? After Glasto this weekend and seeing so many people using them (especially Inhalers bassist who sounded fantastic with that Ampeg behind him), I really fancy a P bass.

There's always the Sandberg Lionel, I love mine though it's more of a modern P sound than an older school thump.  a number of users on here have swapped to EMG Geezers on their Lionels for a more vintage tone.

Posted
21 minutes ago, RichT said:

- caveat being that I've never had a full scale P bass so can only compare with what I hear in recordings. 

I’ve always found them disappointingly bright but I guess I have the James Jameson sound in my head. You might think that rolling off the tone would get there but then you can’t hear the top string at all. I always ended up throwing money at them to try to improve the tone and never got there. Shorties seem to provide that tone much more easily. However, that’s just IMO.

 

Agree about Maruszczyk prices; especially when you see what used examples sell for in the BC listings. I have an Elwood 4a 32” that I bought used and I could never afford to replace it with a new one now, if it got pinched.

 

 

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Posted

EXCITING DAY!! I've managed to buy an Aguilar J-M pickup set from Sweetwater in the US and get it shipped over with the help of a friend in California. I tried to buy one 'locally' (i.e. UK & Europe) a couple of months ago but no-one had stock and or even any deliveries scheduled. I was told it would be 'several months' at least. Anyway, the set arrived yesterday and I'm just off to see Kevin at Taunton Audio Visual to get my Sandberg upgraded (he also sells guitars). And I am definitely expecting it to be an upgrade based on the wonderful Aguilar J-J set that's standard on my Vox Starstream A2S.

 

Watch this space!!

  • Like 8
Posted
28 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

A good carpenter could de-fugly that quite easily.

At that price, i'd be perfectly prepared to have a go.....😎👍

Posted
2 hours ago, mikebass456 said:

They look nice - not too enamoured about the headstock shape either, but worth a punt I reckon.....😎👍

I dunno,   think it has a touch of Sadowski about it!

Posted
On 09/07/2025 at 11:30, scrumpymike said:

EXCITING DAY!! I've managed to buy an Aguilar J-M pickup set from Sweetwater in the US and get it shipped over with the help of a friend in California. I tried to buy one 'locally' (i.e. UK & Europe) a couple of months ago but no-one had stock and or even any deliveries scheduled. I was told it would be 'several months' at least. Anyway, the set arrived yesterday and I'm just off to see Kevin at Taunton Audio Visual to get my Sandberg upgraded (he also sells guitars). And I am definitely expecting it to be an upgrade based on the wonderful Aguilar J-J set that's standard on my Vox Starstream A2S.

 

Watch this space!!

Got the Sandy back yesterday with the AG 4M/J-HC set fitted. Based on a quick noodle at home, definitely worth all the cost and hassle. Will post the full story after tonight's gig.

  • Like 6
Posted (edited)
On 12/07/2025 at 11:15, scrumpymike said:

Got the Sandy back yesterday with the AG 4M/J-HC set fitted. Based on a quick noodle at home, definitely worth all the cost and hassle. Will post the full story after tonight's gig.

Gigged my Aguilar-equipped s-s Sandi Cali ll TM bass on Saturday. Relieved to report a big improvement on the OE pickups. Much enhanced presence in the mix thanks to extra heft compared to OE pups.

 

So I'm well pleased with the mod but getting hold of the Aguilar AG 4M/J-HC set was a saga of marathon proportions. My starting point was the decision to get the Aguilars based on how good the J-J set is on my Vox Starstream. My online search proved fruitless as none of the UK or EU retailers were showing any stock. Next step was to call round to Taunton Audio Visual Services for a chat with Kevin, who would be doing the pup change-over. He found the set listed in his Barnes & Mullins catalogue at £285 and gave them a ring to place an order. All B&M could offer was that they had none in stock and delivery would be 'several months'.

 

Plan B was to find a set in the USA, preferably before any UK government response to Trump's trade war doubled the price. Sweetwater were listing the set at USD259.99 but temporarily out of stock. With the weak Dollar that price converted to around £210 although I knew there'd be import taxes and charges to add on. Sweetwater assured me that Aguilar could ship to them 'within a week' so I placed my order after checking with my friend in California that she was happy to take delivery of my order and forward ship it to me.

 

What could possibly go wrong?

 

The first problem was the shipping quote she got from her local Post Office for a USPS delivery was a staggering USD150 for a fully insured 2 to 3-week delivery service. WTF?! So plan B was on pause.

 

Thankfully I remembered someone on here (forgotten who) mentioned that lots of Talkbass members were recommending a service called Pirate Ship.

 

Next stop the Pirate Ship website, where I discovered that they are effectively a shipping broker offering USPS deliveries at massively discounted rates. I won't extend my already lengthy post by going into too much  detail. The bottom line is that I got the Aguilars in 3 weeks fully insured for a staggeringly low price of USD29.99. I did have to collect them from the Post Office sorting office in town and pay the £53 import charges though.

 

The final all-in cost of the pups came to £280. Inly a fiver less than the UK RRP but I'm betting that, when/if they finally re-appear in the UK and Europe the price will have increased. Most important of all, I've got mine NOW 🙂 and this is how they sounded on a mobile phone recording at Saturday night's gig.

 

Sandberg s-s Cali ll TM with AguilarAG 4M/J-HC set

Edited by scrumpymike
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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
On 01/07/2025 at 11:29, YellowLedBetterBass said:

Are there any short scale P Basses that actually sound like a P Bass out there? After Glasto this weekend and seeing so many people using them (especially Inhalers bassist who sounded fantastic with that Ampeg behind him), I really fancy a P bass.

 

Well, here's 3 that sound like a P bass.

 

The two Jim Deacons were very cheap to buy but they do need some upgrades.

Both of them got Hipshot Ultralight tunes to get rid of the neck dive.

The Cream one has an EMG P-X pickup and the burst now has an Aguilar AG-4P 1960s spec pickup and a Kiogon loom.

 

The Sandberg is a custom order Superlight Lionel (5.7lb) that started as just a P, but I wanted more options so I had it modded to PJ. Aguilar pickups again, with a 3 way switch. I never use the bridge pickup alone on that, just the P or the PJ setting. The J pickup is slightly overpowered to match up with the P and I tend to add that if I need a bit more cut through.

 

Cream has rounds - a great clanky rock sound

Burst has ancient La Bella Deep Talking Flats - my main Duck Dun / Jamerson / Motown choice.

Sandberg has Fender flats - does everything really.

 

They all sound like P basses and the different pickups and strings give me plenty of options between them.

 

The Deacons have very narrow bridge spacing which is not for everybody - it's about 16.5mm. The Sandberg is 19mm like a 34 scale would be.

 

I was surprised to find that I really like the narrow spacing for finger and plectrum playing. It's a bit of a challenge for slap but when I slap I'm old school disco funk rather than Mr Wooten so it's doable.

Jim Deacon 2.jpg

Jim Deacon 1.jpg

Lionel PJ cropped.jpg

  • Like 5
Posted
25 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

 

Well, here's 3 that sound like a P bass.

 

The two Jim Deacons were very cheap to buy but they do need some upgrades.

Both of them got Hipshot Ultralight tunes to get rid of the neck dive.

The Cream one has an EMG P-X pickup and the burst now has an Aguilar AG-4P 1960s spec pickup and a Kiogon loom.

 

The Sandberg is a custom order Superlight Lionel (5.7lb) that started as just a P, but I wanted more options so I had it modded to PJ. Aguilar pickups again, with a 3 way switch. I never use the bridge pickup alone on that, just the P or the PJ setting. The J pickup is slightly overpowered to match up with the P and I tend to add that if I need a bit more cut through.

 

Cream has rounds - a great clanky rock sound

Burst has ancient La Bella Deep Talking Flats - my main Duck Dun / Jamerson / Motown choice.

Sandberg has Fender flats - does everything really.

 

They all sound like P basses and the different pickups and strings give me plenty of options between them.

 

The Deacons have very narrow bridge spacing which is not for everybody - it's about 16.5mm. The Sandberg is 19mm like a 34 scale would be.

 

I was surprised to find that I really like the narrow spacing for finger and plectrum playing. It's a bit of a challenge for slap but when I slap I'm old school disco funk rather than Mr Wooten so it's doable.

Jim Deacon 2.jpg

Jim Deacon 1.jpg

1Lionel PJ cropped.jpg

Oosh! That cream and tort guard look particularly nice 👌 

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)
On 01/07/2025 at 11:29, YellowLedBetterBass said:

Are there any short scale P Basses that actually sound like a P Bass out there? After Glasto this weekend and seeing so many people using them (especially Inhalers bassist who sounded fantastic with that Ampeg behind him), I really fancy a P bass.

@fretmeister’s post reminded me of your question. Has anybody mentioned the Sire U5 shortie? It’s a P/J. I have the fretless version, which I really love and I think it sounds really good. The fretted version comes in at just under £400 at Thomann. It has a lovely rolled fretboard and quiet (very little hum) pickups. It is a Jazz style neck (38mm nut) which might not suit all and the headstock shape is a bit odd. I reckon it is very well made for the price and looks good. Whether it sounds like your take on a full scale Fender P bass, only you can tell but I would recommend you check it out. It’s a lot cheaper than Sandberg and Maruszczyks, so less of an expensive mistake.

Edited by Obrienp
  • Like 1
Posted
13 minutes ago, AlexDelores said:

Oosh! That cream and tort guard look particularly nice 👌 

 

I got the burst first - it was my first shortie and it was very cheap so it was an experiment. I loved it apart from the neck dive. The stock pickup was crap as were the controls - really on/off with no gradient to turning the knobs. But the basic construction was good enough to make upgrades worth it.

 

The Sandberg was my 50th birthday present from my wife, and while I was waiting for that (custom order took about a year) the cream one came up on here so I grabbed it.

 

I had planned on stripping it but when it arrived the colours worked far better than I expected. That one was quite badly set up when I got it (sorry to whoever it was) with a really high action. I think at some point the neck had been off and it hadn't been properly seated again when reassembled. That was an easy fix and now the action is nice and low.

 

The EMG P-X version of their pickup is a lot better than the stock EMG P. More headroom and more mids so it sounds more like a proper P but with more output. The tone control on the X series actually does something too! It's my first choice for plectrum rock stuff.

  • Like 2
Posted
23 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

@fretmeister’s post reminded me of your question. Has anybody mentioned the Sire U5 shortie? It’s a P/J. I have the fretless version, which I really love and I think it sounds really good. The fretted version comes in at just under £400 at Thomann. It has a lovely rolled fretboard and quiet (very little hum) pickups. It is a Jazz style neck (38mm nut) which might not suit all and the headstock shape is a bit odd. I reckon it is very well made for the price and looks good. Whether it sounds like your take on a full scale Fender P bass, only you can tell but I would recommend you check it out. It’s a lot cheaper than Sandberg and Maruszczyks, so less of an expensive mistake.

 

How do you find it to play regarding the forearm against the body binding? I've been tempted to buy one a couple of times over the years but hate binding on body edges.

 

Years ago I had an Aerodyne jass bass which was brilliant... Except that after a 2 hour gig it felt like you'd sawn through your forearm and your hand was about to fall off. OK, exaggerating a little comedic effect but my forearm and hand would be tingling with pins and needles if not actually numb. I persevered with the bass for a couple of years because I loved everything else about it but it eventually had to go. 

 

Is it the same with the U5? Does the binding have a sharp edge or is it rounded off to some degree? Does this affect your playing position?

 

I see there's a newer (2023?) version of the mint green one that comes without the binding but the body edges still look pretty angular. I think Andertons are the only place in the UK that stocks them and I don't have time for a 200 mile round trip to try one on the off chance it's more comfortable than the Aerodyne. 

  • Like 2
Posted

Slightly changing the subject...

 

Is there a good 51 style shorty P bass? I seem to be watching a lot of ZZ Top vids and Dusty's various 51s look and sound excellent so I'm quite tempted.

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