Ever seen a P-Bass like this? Help me out!

P

ProJect

New member
Hey,

So I just got this P-Bass from eBay and I have no idea what it is. They said it's a 1998 Fender P-Bass Deluxe, but I've never seen one that looked this crazy! Anyone have any info on this badboy?

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Thanks in advance!

ProJect
 
Cool bass, man! While they might have called it a "P-bass" in '98, I think it's really an early version of what is now called "The Zone Bass." These are basses that Fender designed to offer more modern features than their regular Precision & Jazz models.

The term "P-Bass Deluxe" usually refers to a basic, MIM Precision with an extra pickup (hence, the "Deluxe" designation). However, there is more to this bass than that. Notice that the body style is modified from the traditional P-bass shape to offer a deeper cutaway for upper fret access. The pickguard, which is a modified version of the one on the old Telecaster basses, is an interesting touch. However, most importantly, I noticed that it also has the dual concentric control layout, just like the first Zone basses. My guess is that it is an active bass, with the controls laid out as follows: first knob has the volume on top and the pickup blend control on bottom; the second knob has active bass and treble, with the treble on top. The axe is probably powered by a 9 volt battery. (Note: the current Zone Basses have moved away from the dual concentric layout, and now offer THREE band eq. There is also a nicer, American version, which offers an 18 volt power supply.)

Nice score, man! The Zone Basses that I've tried all sounded and felt pretty good.
 
I could be wrong, but it looks like a Hamer Cruisebass with a different neck on it.....or something like that. Please look into this yourself...I don't want to steer you in the wrong direction. It does look like an older Hamer though....

LL
 
Yeah, they made some like that. They are kind of like a cross between the original Precision basses (the so called "Tele" basses), which had pickguards kind of like that(Sting usually plays one these days), and the later Precision basses.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
Yeah, they made some like that. They are kind of like a cross between the original Precision basses (the so called "Tele" basses), which had pickguards kind of like that(Sting usually plays one these days), and the later Precision basses.
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Well, actually, no they (Fender) DIDN'T make a bass like this. The more I look at the picture, the more I'm convinced that louloomis is correct. It's a Hamer, or some other cheap, quasi-Fender knockoff, with a Fender neck attached.

As I mentioned before, the Fender model that it is closest to is the current Zone Bass. However, I notice that the body shape isn't exactly like the one used on the Zone basses. And I don't remember the Zone basses - even the early ones that had two stacked controls - using a pickguard like that one. The current ones, in fact, have no pickguard at all. And I believe that they were always like that. Notice that the pickguard on this bass looks sorta, kinda like the pickguard on the Tele bass, but not exactly (partially because the body style isn't exactly like the one used on Precision/Telecaster basses).

While it's true that Fender does make reissues of the Fender Telecaster Bass, they have never, to my knowledge, made one that has some characteristics of a Tele bass, and other characteristics of a more modern design. And there has never been a Telecaster bass with two pickups, either replica or otherwise. The current Telecaster reissue basses are designed to be exact replicas of the Tele basses, except that they don't call 'em "Telecaster basses" anymore. They will say "Precision Bass" on the headstock. Two examples are the Sting model and the so-called '51 Precision. I don't really understand why Fender is currently pretending that they only had TWO series of basses in the old days (the Precision and Jazz Basses), instead of three (the Precision, the Jazz, and the Telecaster Basses). The Tele basses used the same body as the Precision basses, but they had different electronics and a different headstock design and, thus, were really an entirely different bass. And, just to be perfectly clear, the Telecaster basses were NOT merely a transitional model that eventually evolved into the Precision bass. It is NOT a situation such as the "No-caster" and "Broadcaster" models, which eventually became the Telecaster guitar. The Telecaster basses were made well into the late 1970s, and coexisted for decades right along side the Precision and Jazz models. But one thing that I am sure of is that the particular bass in question is NOT a recent replica of the Telecaster bass.
 
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a friend of mine has one like that, its some guys signature model bass has that pickguard on it and the same finish i think.. its a nice sounding bass with flatwounds on it... but the thing is with all things guitar related is that nothing beats playing before you buy!
 
guitar junkie said:
a friend of mine has one like that, its some guys signature model bass has that pickguard on it and the same finish i think..
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I think you've confused it with the Robert DeLeo signature model, which is made by Schecter, not Fender. I used to own one of those in a five string model.
 
That looks like a lot like a Fender Stu Hamm Signature "Urge" Bass. There have been several versions, some have three pickups.
 
resin8r said:
That's it! It's an earlier version, not the "Urge II" currntly seen in catalogues. Here's a pic of one in an eBay auction. The pickguard and two p/u configuration match.
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No, it's not. The two pickup Urge bass that you showed us has a Jazz/Jazz pickup configuration, not the P/J configuration on the bass that is the topic of this post. Neither does the Urge bass have the Telecaster Bass-style pickguard. The only similarity is the dual concentric control knobs. It just doesn't match, period.

I'm convinced that the bass in question is a "Frankenstein bass." It has the body of a modified knockoff of a Fender bass (probably a Hamer Cruise Bass, as louloomis has said), but with a real Fender Precision neck attached.
 
Bassman Brad said:
No, it's not. The two pickup Urge bass that you showed us has a Jazz/Jazz pickup configuration, not the P/J configuration on the bass that is the topic of this post. Neither does the Urge bass have the Telecaster Bass-style pickguard. The only similarity is the dual concentric control knobs. It just doesn't match, period.

I'm convinced that the bass in question is a "Frankenstein bass." It has the body of a modified knockoff of a Fender bass (probably a Hamer Cruise Bass, as louloomis has said), but with a real Fender Precision neck attached.
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Exactly what he said!
 
IronFlippy said:
Hate to say this, but where do you see any resemblance between the two basses?
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That's what I was going to ask. The body styles are similar, they both have two knobs and four strings; other than that...?
 
Thanks for all the replies everyone! I still am unsure what to think. I'm not really convinced of anything, but all I really need it for is a backup so if it's a cheap knock off, so be it. $250 is still not a bad price :)

Anyway... I'll try to e-mail Fender directly and see what they say. But really it just matters how it sounds and since I still haven't received it, I won't know for a few days.

Thanks!
Connor
 
If you e-mail Fender, be sure to include any numbers for identification, model and serial numbers are what they will want as well as a good description so they can verify it and tell you if it has been modified in any way.
 
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