But I might be able to ask the good people at Lollar for help with some decent pickups, so a cheap-but-solid J style bass with inferior electronics would fit the bill for me.
For clarity: this is not a WTB post (I might be a few weeks away from that), but is more for purposes of information gathering.
A decent older Tokai was my first thought, but those seem to go for more than I'd be interested in paying at the moment.
Older CIJ/MIJ or MIM Fenders would also be cool... but I haven't kept pace with the entry-level market in some time, and it's gotten a lot more complex since the 90s.... many different model names, variants, etc. Squier even had/has some decent basses at one point... right?
Who wants to break it down for me?
THE GOAL: a great value J style bass that prioritizes body/neck/frets quality
- awful pickups and electronics OK
- marginal hardware OK
- thick poly finish OK
- maple neck preferred, rosewood OK
- doesn't look stupid. With pickguard. No bad fake relics or ugly finishes, but any normal Fender-esque color and any reasonable condition is fine
- Tokai or Fender branding preferred, but others considered
- new or used OK
Any ideas?
I have no clue about the distinctions between the "classic player," "vintera" "artist" "player" etc series. Last time I was shopping for an entry-level instrument there were just MIA, MIM and MIJ. I could google, but I want your opinions
Thanks in advance!