Bass Gear Review

Reviewer	Miguel C. Mendiola
Experience	20
Review date	November 04 2003
Manufacturer	Fender
Model	1996 P bass
Price	500
Item owned for	6 months to 1 year

Bass type	4 string fretted
Neck join	Bolt-On
Neck construction	maple
Fingerboard	rosewood
Body	alder? Ash?
Finish	see text
Pickups	standard?
Hardware	standard
Electronics	VT, passive

This bass was "pre-owned" (used), and I got a great price on it. The looks are what grabbed me at first. It is surf green with a white pearloid pickguard that has faded over time. This is one of the same color schemes found on the japan- made Mark Hoppus signature p-bass. The bass looks really hip, but as soon as I played it, I had to have it. I put flatwounds on it. The sound? What can I say? Punchy, warm, powerful! This is what bass is supposed to sound like. I recorded a song where I played a Musicman Sterling and a warwick streamer, along with this p-bass, and a/b'd it. I did one bass for the 1st verse, one for the 2nd, and another for the chorus. The P-bass just totally blew the others away! I have flat wounds on it, but am still able to get a good slap sound, which is wierd! People ofter say that the P-bass is a "one-trick-pony". I thought the same thing once too. I use this bass for blues, jazz, country, funk, disco and world music of all types, and the only style I probably could not use it for completely would be really modern jazz fusion. And even then, I could probably still use it for the main parts, but not for solos....for that kind of playing you need a hippy sandwich, active electronics hi-fi bass anyway! If you are a regular bass player, not really into solos, this is the best workhorse bass you will ever play, with a signature tone you have heard on so many hit records over the years! I am not sure why I never got one before, except to say that the P-basses made anywhere other then corona, California are just not as good, so when I tried them before at the music store, I was never that impressed. I also realized that the P-Bass is really meant to be strung with flatwounds (although round-wounds strings played with a pick and mild overdrive can be really raunchy and gnarly for rock or punk)because Flat wounds are what the pick-ups are really designed for. I also own a '54 sting signature re-issue (previously reviewed) and this new one blows it out of the water. It makes me sound even more like Duck Dunn, and that is the warm, burnished tone I was looking for. I intend to someday put some better pick-ups on it. I am thinking about either Lindy Fralins or Seymore Duncan Antiquities. If I do this I will post a review. Let me tell you again how much this bass blows me away! I have a high-tech musicman sterling which I won't even look at anymore! It sucks compared to the venerable American-made P-Bass!!

Construction	95%
(built like a tank!)
Appearance	95%
(retro-cool!!)
Playability	95%
(fat neck)
Sound	95%
(it's a p-bass!)
Value	98%
(500 bucks? A total steal!)
Overall	95%
(get one!)