Reviewer	Will
Manufacturer	Fender
Model	American Standard Precision Bass, '98/'99
Price	~$760

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Neck Type	maple, bolt on
Fingerboard	maple, medium/large jumbo frets
Body Type	alder
Finish	3 played: black/sunburst/inca silver
Pickup(s)	passive
Controls	1 tone, 1 volume

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i tried 3 american standard p-basses with maple fretboards & alder bodies. the more expensive sunburst one sounded a little thinner than the inca silver one, but played better; the boring-looking black'n'white one looked and played better than the other two. the pickups are very high quality, the best of them sounded supercharged, & fendered-out precisiony. the neck is perfect for most styles of music & big enough to prevent the post-jaco diarrhea of the hands syndrome too many of us bass players experience. the bridges are great & the option of string-through-body or across the bridge is considerate; they sound better with the strings through the wood. these basses are the best precisions fender has made in a long time, perhaps ever. they are better than the american reissues. 2 of them had fully buzzless fretboards. The overall quality of these basses approaches that of the slightly better built --and less expensive-- g&l's. the bridges on the g&l's, though awesome in every respect, visually stick-out a little comparedto the fender bridges. the older headstocks on the g&l's didn't try too hard to improve on the already perfect design of the fender original.

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Construction	98%
Playability	90%
Appearance	95%
Sound	90%
Value	95%
Overall	96%

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