Fender Player Precision Bass - 3-Tone Sunburst with Maple Fingerboard Review

Perfect Instrument, Perfect Transaction

A recreational guitar player, I decided that I wanted to learn to play bass guitar. Erik was extraordinarily helpful, answering my questions and offering suggestions and instrument options. I decided on the Fender Precision Bass and couldn't be happier with it. Thanks again, Erik!

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Great sound, great value!

I didn't want to break the bank, but wanted a quality instrument with great sound. This bass nailed it! Neck has thinner profile which plays very smooth and that Fender "growl" sounds so sweet.

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Great P-Bass Great Service!

Here's a little story about my road to this bass: My parents bought me my 1st electric guitar when I was 14. Shortly after that I had teen buyer remorse because I realized I really wanted a bass! I was a huge fan of Sting from the Police and other bassists from New Wave bands. Since my parents were working folks there was no way I could say "Hey I really want a bass instead..."… read more So I half hearty learned and became a rhythm guitarist and singer in a HS band all the time coveting our bassist's black Fender P-bass. Time marched on college, life, work, etc and my guitar and the band faded into memory. Then this year I retired. My son started guitar lessons and I thought maybe I'll play with him. Then the lightbulb went off and I revisited the lost dream of playing bass. I researched and came back to the bass I coveted as a teen the Fender P-bass. I originally wanted black until I saw the pics of the MIM sunburst model with maple neck and pulled the trigger. I was so glad I did! The service and advice from SW and Christian were top notch. The bass is absolutely stunning. Fit and finish were perfect. The satin neck is smooth and easy to play. No sharp edges on the frets. Tuners do a great job of holding tune. The split coil pickup delivers, well, that classic P-bass sound with great sustain. The bridge seems solid to me. I heard my son humming the bass line to "Come Together" so it was the 2nd song I taught myself. Practice and learning are going steady for both of us and we have fun jamming together. The road here was long but worth it. One last shout out to SW and their CS The bass came practically set up after their 55 point inspection and the box was over packed and double boxed with care to ensure safe deliver. Buy from SW with confidence. Cheers!

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Looks even better in person

The pictures of this bass are nice but I was even more impressed when I received it. Looks great and plays great. Can't go wrong with this bass. Someday I'll purchase an American P Bass but I'm very happy with my choice.

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A great P-Bass for players who don't typically play P-Bass

With the quarantine, I like many others I presume, have decided to into music (or in my case back into it). Typically, I've played Ibanez basses which work great for what I like; jazz, fusion, funk, metal. But you GOT to have a P-Bass in your stable I feel, it's just the philips head screwdriver of bass guitars. So I got one. Now, if P-Basses are what you always play and love… read more you might want to look at other models. But for someone who typically uses other types of basses as your main and you wanted to have a P-bass in your stable for whenever it's needed this is an excellent professional choice. It does what you want a P-Bass to do; give you that grunty lower midrange tone at an affordable price. The neck is fairly comfortable. My main basses are Ibanez and have been all my life so the neck is definitely heftier than what I'm typically used to. But I've tried a number of friend's P-Basses and P-Basses in stores and some of those feel like trying to play a baseball bat (Bassball bat??) and it's nowhere near that hefty. The tone is excellent and what you want from a P-Bass; A lower mid thump that just fills the air and your ears. I kind of wonders "Oh a MIM P-Bass, stock pickups, will I need to replace them for something that sounds better or more vintage?" and no. They're excellent stock. The finish looks quite nice. Brown Sunburst+Maple Fretboard is the best looking combo for precision basses. In terms of faults I'm not a fan of the bridge. The bridge saddles don't have any grooves keeping them in place. A lot of bass bridges are designed with grooves to keep the saddle in it's intended location. In the case of this P-Bass,The bottom screws make contact with the bass of the bridge which is just a completely flat plane. Over time they can and they do drift, especially if you play downed tuned stuff that puts less tension on the strings as tension is the only thing keeping them in place, or if you play with a hard touch. Out of all the guitars and basses I've ever owned and played, this has absolutely the sharpest fret edges I've ever seen. I tend to pinch the neck with my fretting hand, and I only occasionally ever come into contact with the actual sides of the neck. But when I do it's quite noticeable how rough and sharp the fret edges are when you slide your hand up and down the neck. Sliding my hand up and down the neck of the bass and all my other basses and guitars, it stands out every fret edge feels really sharp and rough while other basses and guitars feel extremely smooth or there is only a few that feel a little sharp. If that sort of thing bothers you, or if you're the type that grips the fretboard thumbs over, you might want to look elsewhere. The actual fretwork outside of that is good. No notes fretting out. I have not encountered any dead spots on my P-Bass. But at the end of the day, I wanted a P-Bass on the side and it gets the job done. I'm happy having it in my stable. So in summary, if you want a P-Bass this does the trick, especially if it's as a side-bass especially as the neck profile is noticeably slimmer to other P-Basses. But if this is going to be your main instrument, think about maybe changing the bridge and potentially looking at other P-Bass models that might not have the extremely sharp frets that mine has if that is a significant concern of yours.

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