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What makes a Precision Bass, a Precision Bass?


thebrig

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I asked this question today on the Facebook Precision Bass Lovers group, so I thought I would ask the great BC community as well.

 

Not sure if this has been asked before, but what makes a Precision bass a Precision bass, is it just the shape?

The reason I ask is because there are so many different pickup configurations such as a single-coil, a single split-coil, a single split-coil + jazz, humbucker, soapbar, etc, most have a P neck, but some have a J neck, then there are the headstock and pickguard variations, active, passive, and so on.

 

Because of all these variations, they would surely all sound so different, but they are all called a Precision bass, so is it all down to just the body shape?

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1 minute ago, PaulThePlug said:

Body Shape 'n Split Coil... anything else is P Bass+

Absolutely - except I'd say that anything else is no longer a Precision. It might be as good as a Precision, or even (however unlikely this might be) better than a Precision, but take away the simplicity of the standard Precision and it becomes something else.

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I would say:

 

1. Split coil pickup in the right place

2. Body style

3. Thick-ish neck

 

and......

 

4. Made by Fender or Squier.

 

Anything else is either slightly less than, or with more pickups a little bit more than, or a variation of, a Precision.

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4 hours ago, headofire said:

Im going with, 1 split coil hum-cancelling pickup in the right spot (not reversed), two knobs, 43.75 mm at the nut, Depth at 1st fret 20.25mm..  a wide and slim C profile with a 7.25" radius. 

 

Anything else is a sandberg. 
The rest only matters in videos. 
 


 

 

That would mean a lot of fender precisions aren't actually precisions though, including some pre CBS golden era vintage stuff.

 

They made em with 1 1/2", 1 5/8" and 1 3/4" nuts didn't they? A, B and C neck?

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