This is a very well made instrument with a very "acoustic" look due to the spruce top. The traditional Fender electric headstock has just the single word *Fender* on it with no model designation or other identification. The body is the classic P shape but the squared edges give it a distinctly vintage flavour. The bass has a serial number from the Japanese Fender serial number sequence decal on the neck just above the heel and *Fender USA* on the heel plate. The gloss finish is flawlessly applied and the wood does not have any obvious blemishes. It has a distinctive sound and quite a different fretless *growl* to that on my solid body fretless basses.

The bass came with nylon covered flat wound strings which gave a very flat tone and were set for a high action. This gave a nice pseudo double bass sort of sound but wasn't very playable. I had my luthier adjust the action, by shaving down the bridge bar, and recut the nut to take GHS Brite Flat ground wounds. This made a tremendous difference to both the sound and the playability of the bass. The neck is J width at the nut, is very fast and hasn't needed any adjustment in the time I've had it..

The combination of the magnetic and piezo pickups gives it an extremely wide amplified tonal range, though I find the piezo not very useful by itself, it has to be mixed with the Lace Sensor to get sufficient bottom end for my taste. The Lace Sensor is quite usable on its own and gives excellent fidelity of reproduction of the acoustic sound of the instrument with very little obvious magnetic colouration The combination of Lace Sensor, piezo and TBX control provides rich diversity of sound. The bass is electrically very quiet, even with the TBX control cranked to maximum boost, which has been a real plus for session work. The piezo will amplify any contact noise, so care in handling is needed in session work if there is anything but a small amount of piezo panned in.

The semi-acoustic body is quite light which does give the bass a noticeable tendency to neck dive, but nothing that's particularly hard to control. On the other hand, the overall weight makes it a pleasure to play when standing for a long time.

Battery consumption is low.

I have two minor dislikes about this bass. The first sort of goes with the territory of ABG/SABGs and that is the fixed bridge which means that intonation is fixed and string height is only adjustable by shaving the bridge bar. I now have the height to my liking, and being fretless, can adjust intonation on the fly, so the fixed bridge isn't an intolerable dislike. The second dislike is the tone control; I'm never quiet sure what the TBX will do at any particular pan pot position, and have to experiment each time to find the sound I want. This is OK for sessions but makes quick dialling in of a sound on stage a bit tricky. I'd prefer conventional treble/bass controls.

ABGs are are somewhat acquired tasts a staright ABG has a number of limitation interms of overall usefulness for an "electric" player. The Fender Precision A/E is an intersting compromise which gives a good ABG flavour while still being useful for straight electric work.

It wouldn't recommend it as the *only* bass to have but I'd strongly recommend it as a *second bass* to a solid body bassist as it will add a great range of versatile sound you'll never get out of a solid body!

Construction	100%
Playability	100%
Sound	90%
Value	90%
Cust. Service	0%
but did provide other specifications.
Overall	95%