Fender Player Precision Bass - Black with Maple Fingerboard Review

Great bass for the money!

I really like this bass. Fit, finish, and quality control at this price point is superb. No noticeable flaws on my personal example. The neck is very well finished in a nice satin, and the profile is a nice kind of D (not too thick, not too flat). The frets are all level with no sharp ends. The truss rod works well in both directions. The tuners work wonderfully and are very stable.… read more The bridge, while a little lightweight, works well. You can easily adjust for string height and intonation. My only complaint is with the pickup. While it works perfectly fine and objectively sounds alright, I find it lacking tone wise for my personal tastes. It's fairly low output, and lacks punch in the lows and low mids. Increasing said frequencies at the amp caused the pickup to flub out fairly quickly. I'm much happier with the aftermarket pickup I replaced it with (Seymour Duncan Hot P). All in all, however, the Fender Player series P bass is a great instrument at a great price!

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Positively Player Precision!!

For the longest time I just wasn't a P-bass fan, but then I really started honing in on some famous P-bass players and learned to appreciate their sound and playing (praise & worship music also has a lot of P-bass on those recordings). So, I had to add one to my arsenal. After reading lots of reviews online and watching several videos, I knew the Player Precision was what the doctor… read more ordered. So far, the experience has been great! The bass is definitely made very well build and finish-wise. My bass arrived set up very nicely with very playable action, nice fretwork, and very little to no fret buzz (raised the saddles a tad and the little bit of buzz was gone, still plays perfect) - that was my biggest worry about buying this instrument and I'm more than happy. The pickup, too, is really cool; very balanced sound tonally and output-wise (not too loud, but not too soft, if you want to turn up your amp's gain or volume controls). The sound is just pure P-bass heaven; it's the one tone we all know and love that works so well on everything. The volume and tone controls are also top notch, with every smoothly tapering off or turning up (no sudden cuts as you turn the knobs). The tone control is also perfect, and with it I am able to make it as bright or as boomy as I need, with every tone in between. The stock hardware works well, too, in my opinion. Still, some may like to upgrade all those parts, but, for me, it works and sounds great. The bass has plenty of sustain, and no crazy dead spots in weird places (the 7th fret on the G-string still dies off quickly, but still has the same volume and punch as the other notes). All in all, I've finally got a really cool Fender Precision in my arsenal. Looking forward to recording and playing this ole girl!!

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Aw, heck Yeah!

Ever since a bud turned me on to Sweetwater, I go window shopping nearly every day, see what's around. I have an Ibanez Black Eagle bass, and was curious about some tech improvements. Christian Baer, my sales engineer, was with me 100%. He gave me great suggestions; I was receptive. But in the end, I decided not to commit. Because I wanted another bass in my arsenal. I had my eye… read more on the Fender P-Bass because I had learned and played on many basses, BUT not the P-Bass. I needed it. So, I went in. Christian was there with me and was utterly fantastic. Shipping was quick and easy. When I received it, it came out of the box perfectly (a major thanks to Conner and Austin for the 55-Point inspections, and the folks in Mexico for assembling a lovely instrument!) I plugged in and the P-bass was fire! It has such a warm tone, great sustain. It plays better than most basses I've used before. I cannot thank Christian and the other folk whose hard made this possible enough! You are all the best!

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Career

I made $1000s since 1974 with this bass and a '74 bassman 50, a root of a few relationships. The gear was the best and longer lasting.

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Exceeded Expectations

I expected a pretty good bass at this price. What I got is an excellent instrument! The fit and finish is as good as my American Fenders, the neck wood is very nice and the neck shape very playable. The bass balances nicely, a comfortable weight. The pickups are surprisingly good! The tuners are solid. Pots turn smoothly and are tapered nicely. I don't love the bridge so I replaced… read more it with an AV bridge. All in all, an excellent package. Special thanks to Colton for making this a pleasant buying experience.

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