Fender P-Bass: Japan, US, CS or Limelight

[Chienmortbb]

On 19/07/2021 at 17:03, vincbt said:

Very valid question, I have thought about Lakland, G&L, Sandberg and a few others. I started out with Fender due to some sort of internal bias but I may end up taking a trip to the Gallery and trying all the Ps they have to get a better feel

Of course being a total PED, Fender Japan was a ghost company for a number of Japanese factories. So buying a Japanese Fender is not really buying a Fender. In my opinion you could do worse than try a G&L.

[sblueplanet]

The best 2 Fenders I have owned have both been Japanese. A 1987 MIJ '62 Jazz bass which was super light and a 2010 CIJ '57 P bass which had a wonderful neck. 

[vincbt]

4 months later, I can close the loop and thank everyone who chipped in with advice! 
 

Mark just sent the infamous wooden floor shots and all being well I’ll get to play this beauty this week.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jason Karloff]

Easy question. Limelight. 

 

Ah you already did. 😝

[Ander87]

Welcome to the club @vincbt, that is a lovely looking bass! Here's my 3 Limelight P's with J necks:

 

 

The purple goes on a Nordy P blade for dirty stuff, the White on an NP4V for the vintage tones, and charcoal grey on an NP4A for bright and punchy.

 

Yours reminds me of one....

 

Edited November 23, 2021 by Ander87

[vincbt]

22 minutes ago, Ander87 said:

Welcome to the club @vincbt, that is a lovely looking bass! Here's my 3 Limelight P's with J necks:

 

 

The purple goes on a Nordy P blade for dirty stuff, the White on an NP4V for the vintage tones, and charcoal grey on an NP4A for bright and punchy.

 

Yours reminds me of one....

 

Wow I'm not quite there yet! This is definitely taking the vintage tone while the American Standard will wear the bright and punchy hat, just need to transfer the LaBella on the Limelight and put roundwounds on the Fender.

 

The charcoal grey one was on sale here just last week right?

 

[Ander87]

2 hours ago, vincbt said:

The charcoal grey one was on sale here just last week right?

 

Hey! Yes indeed - I tried to get it some months ago but it resurfaced and did not miss the chance!

[Guest]

11 hours ago, vincbt said:

 

 

 

That tort knows what it's about

[Bassbooksbikes]

On 20/07/2021 at 18:01, uk_lefty said:

The second hand prices of fender japan basses are soaring. I'd only relic and do irreversible mods to one of the common easy to get 62 reissues, not a PB70US or something like that, personally. 

Why? 

Pardon my ignorance, I'm a newby, so are 62 reissues not that good? 

[BlueMoon]

22 minutes ago, Bassbooksbikes said:

so are 62 reissues not that good? 

There’s nothing wrong with MIJ/CIJ Fender instruments. In general they are top notch for consistency. The 62 Jazz reissues are more common and therefore maybe more prone to modding than some models that are less common in Europe…..like the PB-70US. Remember that Japanese Fenders have various grades - typically denoted by a second double digit. Say, JB-62-75 where the first number refers to the model year of the reissue and the second set of numbers denotes the price (in 00’s Yen) when it first sold. The lower priced versions came with a smaller headstock and small footprint tuners, as well as locally specified PUP’s. The body wood may be Basswood (Linden), which is light but dings easily. Higher valued instruments have larger tuners (similar to US) on a typical Fender headstock. The body wood is typically alder or sen (ash). The PUP’s may be wound to US spec or imported US PUP’s. Hence the term US in PB-70US.

 

Basically you will have to look far and wide for a bad MIJ Fender.