New Bass Day - 2011 Fender MIM Standard P-Bass

[Jonesie]

I had a G&L Tribute L-2000 that I just flat out didn't like. It was heavy as hell, sterile sounding, and I just wanted it to sound like a P or a Jazz, and it didn't do that. I'd had it up for sale on Facebook Marketplace for a few months with no bites until earlier this week a guy offered me $400 for it. It just so happened that on that same day someone listed an MIM P-Bass for $400. So I reached out to the guy with the P-bass, asked if he could hold it for me for a day and he said sure.

So Thursday afternoon I sold my G&L and then bought the P-Bass about an hour later.

The bad: The action was literally an inch off of the fretboard on the P. I brought it home and realized why pretty quickly. It was strung with B-E-A-D strings. ...and tuned up to E-A-D-G. So there was an absolutely stupid amount of tension on the neck. so I took those off and adjusted the truss rod, and the truss rod was barely tensioned.

The good: After a truss rod adjustment and new strings it plays like a brand new bass! I bought a Hipshot Kick-Ass bridge on Thursday and it delivered today, along with a new parchment pickguard. The bass now looks great, plays great and sounds great. I might be getting a set of Duncan Quarter Pounders for it for super cheap in a couple of weeks, but the stock pickups in there right now sound pretty good. I plugged in the bass and it sounded like how I want a bass to sound.

[Larry Mal]

You got your Roger Waters going on over there, don't you? Nice bass.

[Jonesie]

You got your Roger Waters going on over there, don't you? Nice bass.

The exact reason I didn’t get a black pickguard.

[Larry Mal]

Oh, yeah, his is black, isn't it? Anyway your bass is sharp. I Iike those bridges, also, I have one on my Jazz bass.

[BoringPostcards]

I have one that’s pretty much identical. It’s an American Special from 2012.

[burpgun]

Oh, yeah, his is black, isn't it? Anyway your bass is sharp. I Iike those bridges, also, I have one on my Jazz bass.

The Waters one is like super black: I think the pickguard has no white layer. One of Fender's more mysterious signatures: Who in the world wants a bass inspired by Roger Waters? Whatever he brought to Pink Floyd, and yes it was a lot even as his ego stood a repulsive level, distinctive bass playing was not on the list. Maybe he's also got some acoustic sig out there, would make more sense.

[fever606]

Great looking bass! They’re a classic for a reason

Also,

I might be getting a set of Duncan Quarter Pounders for it for super cheap in a couple of weeks

Yes! The stock MIM P pickup is fine, but the Quarter Pound is easily my favourite bass pickup. I have one in my mongrel VI and it rips… “more better” is the only way I can describe it.

Congrats!

[Larry Mal]

The Waters one is like super black: I think the pickguard has no white layer. One of Fender's more mysterious signatures: Who in the world wants a bass inspired by Roger Waters? Whatever he brought to Pink Floyd, and yes it was a lot even as his ego stood a repulsive level, distinctive bass playing was not on the list. Maybe he's also got some acoustic sig out there, would make more sense.

Oh, I guess I disagree there a bit. For whatever reason I've been listening to some Pink Floyd lately, and I do find him to be a fairly distinct bass player and I find Pink Floyd to be a pretty unique band regarding time.

I've always thought that Pink Floyd kind of works with an inner logic regarding time, they don't tend to emphasize the beat a whole lot and often kind of play very loosely within the confines of the beat. Obviously Roger Waters is a big part of that.

Playing like Roger Waters might be a little difficult, but sounding like him is pretty easy. It seems he often kept that metal shield over the pickup on there which forced him to pick the strings closer to the bridge, so just playing with a pick close to the bridge on a P bass is that sound right there.

But like you say the extent of a "Roger Waters" bass would seem to be the black pick guard. I don't even know if they include the pickup cover.

Roger Waters or no, black P basses are cool.

[JSett]

Oh, yeah, his is black, isn't it? Anyway your bass is sharp. I Iike those bridges, also, I have one on my Jazz bass.

I have that bridge on my MIJ Jaguar Bass too...really nice bits of kit. I particularly like the ability to adjust the spacing and it seems to be rock-solid once locked down.

[burpgun]

The Waters one is like super black: I think the pickguard has no white layer. One of Fender's more mysterious signatures: Who in the world wants a bass inspired by Roger Waters? Whatever he brought to Pink Floyd, and yes it was a lot even as his ego stood a repulsive level, distinctive bass playing was not on the list. Maybe he's also got some acoustic sig out there, would make more sense.

Oh, I guess I disagree there a bit. For whatever reason I've been listening to some Pink Floyd lately, and I do find him to be a fairly distinct bass player and I find Pink Floyd to be a pretty unique band regarding time.

I've always thought that Pink Floyd kind of works with an inner logic regarding time, they don't tend to emphasize the beat a whole lot and often kind of play very loosely within the confines of the beat. Obviously Roger Waters is a big part of that.

Playing like Roger Waters might be a little difficult, but sounding like him is pretty easy. It seems he often kept that metal shield over the pickup on there which forced him to pick the strings closer to the bridge, so just playing with a pick close to the bridge on a P bass is that sound right there.

But like you say the extent of a "Roger Waters" bass would seem to be the black pick guard. I don't even know if they include the pickup cover.

Roger Waters or no, black P basses are cool.

Two times Waters stood out to me: There's a point in Comfortably Numb where he's digging into one note, gets louder and seems like chorus effect got more present, and it was subtle and good. Second one: Some of his playing in Live at Pompei, at least based on Youtube stuff I've seen, was pretty cool, simple but really moved stuff along.

[Larry Mal]

Not sure what bass he played, but David Gilmour plays some wonderful bass on "Pigs (Three Different Ones)", and I finally got around to listening to the remix of Animals. I love Animals and was skeptical to think that album could have been mixed any better, but no, it sounds a lot better than it did and it sounded great before. Well worth a spin, and David Gilmour is also a hell of a bass player.

[bluemonday]

I plugged in the bass and it sounded like how I want a bass to sound.

I had that same experience. I had Ibanez, Thunderbird, Danelectro and while they all have their own sound, I just wanted a classic P bass sound. I finally bought a Classic Vibe '60s Precision (used) and plugged it in and there was the sound. I guess that's even with relatively cheap components. I put flats on it and it sounds even more classic. I like 60s r&b, soul, rock, jazz, etc and it fits the bill. It's just hard to mess up that formula.

[Fiddy]

Just gonna leave this here...

[GreenKnee]

https://youtu.be/TPDNQYhNyGQ


Just gonna leave this here, seems appropriate for the Roger Waters chat

[burpgun]

I plugged in the bass and it sounded like how I want a bass to sound.

I had that same experience. I had Ibanez, Thunderbird, Danelectro and while they all have their own sound, I just wanted a classic P bass sound. I finally bought a Classic Vibe '60s Precision (used) and plugged it in and there was the sound. I guess that's even with relatively cheap components. I put flats on it and it sounds even more classic. I like 60s r&b, soul, rock, jazz, etc and it fits the bill. It's just hard to mess up that formula.

Been playing bass since the late 80s and have messed around with all kinds of models. I've finally settled on the understanding that split P pickup is the alpha and omega of bass tone. There are other cool basses but if you're playing something modeled on a Precision--I mostly play a US Jaguar bass these days, with a P--you're most of the way there to getting the bass sound you need.