Nock Offs?

Bass Freak

New member
ive been lookin around ebay for awhile. it seems theres a lot of p-bass and j-bass nock offs. as well as some epi's here and there. do any of them play or sound as good as the orginal? im just wondering because some of them are vintage at a really low price. but its hard to tell with it being on ebay, and not playing it before hand.

does anyone own any of these type of basses?




freak
 
you might get lucky and find something decent. however, I doubt you will find a copy that is better than an actual Fender. I have no idea what brands are good.

i buy things on ebay once in a while and if it sucks i sell it on ebay. simple. half the time i get more than i paid.
 
hm thats true.

but im not sure if i wanna risk it...are there some nock offs that are a pretty dependable brand?





freak
 
Mexi PBass

You see Fender Mexican P-Basses on EBay going for around $200 daily. I don't think you can go wrong with that. I have a 94 Mexican P-Bass that I wouldn't trade for anything.
 
I'm with gvarko on this one. Mexican P's and J's are cheap enough that there is no legitimate NEED to go with a Knock off (with some exceptions-like I got my Focus by Kramer P-Bass F-R-E-E)

Plus you can upgrade as you are able.

I have a Mexi-Jazz that I bought new for $321 back in '99. I spent $125 for some Fender Custom-Shop pickups and $45 for a Bad-Ass II bridge and installed them. Now, it will blow away anything that is not a Real American made Fender. And the difference between my J and a U.S. J-bass is small...very small.

Of course I set my intonation and I lemon oil the fretboard every other month, but I do that for all my basses.
 
BTW, I upgraded the FbK too. Dropped a Seymore Duncan Basslines P-Pickup in it. It now rocks. Total investment $80 bucks. But I wouldn't bet the farm on a copy. The basic P & J designs are sound enough so that it is hard to screw up, but it is hard to justify passing up a $200 Fender to get a $200 fenderclone.
 
Should mention

I also upgraded the pu's in my Mexi PBass to the EMG active set. I think any low end bass will need the pu's replaced IMO.
 
woah whats the lemon oil do?


i think the next bass i will get will be a mex p-bass. im lookin for a white one. so maybe ill get lucky.

does the bridge really make that much of a difference? or is it personal feel?


wow, never heard of the lemon oil.


freak
 
gvarko said:
I also upgraded the pu's in my Mexi PBass to the EMG active set. I think any low end bass will need the pu's replaced IMO.

It is a must, pickups in the J-bass were hollow sounding, slightly microphonic, and didn't give me that humbucker-when-they're-both-full-volume thing.

The Focus "P" was just as cheezee.

Now for bridges and lemon oil:

The original BadAss was in response to the fender bass bridge's instability. (Leo himself came up with an improved bridge when he put out the StingRay) If you notice (unless you are very fortunate), the saddles are not horizontally rock solid-especially if you bend like me. The BadAss has milled tracks/grooves for the saddles to slide along. So you can adjust for height and intonation but the saddle does not move from side to side.

Also the BadAss enhances sustain. I can tell the difference (I should have A/B'd the 2 bridges,but hey)

As for the lemon oil; read an article In Bass Player a few years back, on fretless fingerboards (I think it was by Rick Turner).
He talked about the different finishes and fingerboard woods. He said that doghouse bassists would just rub thier boards down with lemon oil as a care regimen and call it a day. ***He also talked about the "groove pits" that roundwounds quickly dig into any other wood, save ebony, and how flats hardly wear a board at all***

Well I had a'94 Std. Jazz fretless at the time, so I compromised on the strings and put halfwounds on it, and I started oiling the fingerboard.

I kept doing that to my other basses, even after I got rid of the fretless. Does it help? Duh, idonno. But it does keep the fretboard from getting too dry, and it makes cleaning fret-gunk a little easier.
 
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