Mexi P-Bass w/mods or American P-Bass?

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PFDarkside

New member
Would you go with a Mexican P-Bass with new p/u, bridge and electronics or an AMerican P-Bass stock? Or is there another bass that plays, sounds and looks similar that would be a better choice?
 
Have you tried both basses and compared them yourself?

If you sent me to the store with a blank check I'd get the MIA.
 
I never, ever recommend getting the cheapie import and fixing it up (bad money after good that you'll never see again come selling time), but it makes especially less sense with the Precision due to the neck, which is objectively much better with the MIA graphite reinforcement and detailling, and you can't go back and fix the MIM neck to bring it up to that level.

Hunt a deal on an "American" series Precision and get it. Then set it up well and don't screw it up "improving" it beyond that. This is advice you won't regret taking.

Good luck!

P.S.: You might want to take a look at the CIJ SCPBs, if that configuration floats your boat and you can't find a good price on an "American" series.
 
Ok... good points guys. (Yes money is an object) I've not played a MIA P-bass. How much better is the new American Series than the older American Standards?

(I used to think I needed the extra Jazz pickup by the bridge but the one Precision is good enough)
 
no offense...but any time you have a chance to NOT buy fender...take that chance. I am a bass player and i always find yamaha basses to be far superior. Any one agree with me? If not, why not?
 
Jakearabble said:
I am a bass player and i always find yamaha basses to be far superior. Any one agree with me? If not, why not?
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I've never owned a Yamaha bass. It's funny to me that a lot of people like Yamaha guitars (the Pacifica series has a real following) and find them a great deal, but very few pople seem to like the basses on the bass forums I've seen. I see lots of gripes about them and not a lot of praise.

Just an observation. No personal take on this one myself.
 
PFDarkside said:
Ok... good points guys. (Yes money is an object) I've not played a MIA P-bass. How much better is the new American Series than the older American Standards?
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Quite a bit because of the neck. I'm not sure when the graphite-reinforced neck was phased in, but I know it wasn't on the earlier American Standards. In any case, the main change between the American and American Standard was a general upgrading of the neck. While this isn't a big deal on the guitars, it is on the basses.

Precisions usually have a horrific dead spot somewhere around the 5-7 frets on the G string - and sometimes elsewhere - and the graphite neck does help with this (as does brighter strings).
 
This makes me wonder if I shouldn't consider replacing my Squier P-bass (bought as a "Bass Pack" with a Squier BP-15 combo amp, etc), with a for real Fender Precission? For me, when I got the package deal, via 90-day lay-away, it was the best way for me to get into a bass guitar. Almost had a Gibson EB-3, about 10 years ago, but ended up losing a bit of lay-away money to get out of that lay-away, when circumstances dictated that I spend my money elsewhere.

I may condsider the Epiphone EB-3, sometime in the future, but for now I plan to record with my Squier P-bass, once I've got more of the toys that I need, for my Mac-based DAW setup.

BTW, the best thing I did for the Squier P-bass was, get it a Vox T-25 bass combo...although I bought it, along with a Squier Fat Telecaster, only to find the Fat Tele's humbucker through the T-25 to be "just a bit" too thick, for my taste in trying to recreate some of the early 60s surf guitar sound.
 
QQ is dead on. Even if you bought a "used" newer P or J Fender thats set up "right", you`d be hard pressed to find all categories of a better built, bettter playing, better sounding bass than either of these in any other shelf brand. I`ve played ona couple of squires that rate as well. Durablility over long term, I dont know. But the P and J can survive natural phenomena.
 
Toki987 said:
QQ is dead on. Even if you bought a "used" newer P or J Fender thats set up "right", you`d be hard pressed to find all categories of a better built, bettter playing, better sounding bass than either of these in any other shelf brand. I`ve played ona couple of squires that rate as well. Durablility over long term, I dont know. But the P and J can survive natural phenomena.
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This is why you have pro players that may have more than one of the same brand & model of axe...the 2 or 3 (say) Strats. I guess, if trying out a P or J at the local music store, and it don't sound right, to you, there's another one hanging right next to it that might.

When I bought my Fender AmpCan, several years ago, it was because when I tried it out, I played a P-bass through it, and the lil' combo didn't even "complain." I don't play my P-bass through it, normally, but it was that test that told me it'd more likely handle any guitar I throw at it.
 
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