Ugly new pickguard

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 4:13 am

I like p-basses a lot ... they look good, feel good and sound good ... a p-bass neck is perfect for my hands ... but when it comes to gig time give me a Ric ...

henry5 · Post by **henry5** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 4:50 am

Ilan, don't you just hate that, when you notice something wrong and then you can't NOT notice it? Drives me mad.....

Played a '69 P-Bass belonging to a friend of a friend recently...very nice bass. Great tone and nice feel. I'd like an old P-Bass...but then I'd like a lot of things.

ilan · Post by **ilan** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 4:59 am

Yup, '69 is the best year for P basses IME ('66 for J-basses... just MHO). I like them better than pre-CBS stuff. I have two P's - a '76 and a '72 - that I'll never sell, the '76 was my #1 for many years, but now I don't play them much, since I got into Rics.

johnashfield · Post by **johnashfield** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 8:14 am

Precisions basses are great, jazz basses too, they are just different tools. I know when I pick up a P bass, I play it different than I play a rick (even a rick with an deformed undergrown headstock! *ducking), on a rick I want to play more aggressive, the sound just brings that out. On a P bass I tend to dig in low more, and stay there.

If I could afford it I'd probably have a bunch of basses, though I am pretty certain I'd play the rick more.

Odd thing, I had a cheap Yamaha BB200 in college, which was basically their P bass copy, and it sounded better than any old or new P bass I compared it to, until I played with a guy that had a '65 p bass. That thing sounded and felt AMAZING!

david_schwab · Post by **david_schwab** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 9:00 am

The thing I hate about J basses is the skinny width of the neck at the nut. Bleh! P basses have much nicer necks. The Jazz body is kind of nice, but when I was just starting to play bass, it was the P bass. That's what everyone used. Hardly anyone used J basses.

As far as tone, the J bridge pickup is a classic sound, but the P is too. That short/squat P pickup is really fat sounding, and it doesn't hum! Even on my handmade bass, I have an EMG soapbar with a P inside in the neck position. The only complaint about stock P pickups is the two units should be reversed, so that the coil under the lower strings is closer to the bridge and vice versa. It's more balanced that way.

I had an old Hondo II P bass copy that I made into a lined fretless and added a J bridge pickup. That was a versatile bass!

Lately though everyone is using a J bass... like a bunch of sheep! I loved the fact that back in the 70's I would be the only person playing in clubs with a Rick.

I might build me a J some day though...

lars · Post by **lars** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 12:42 pm

I can't resist posting this picture, Ilan! My 69 p-bass!

bobcat · Post by **bobcat** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 2:12 pm

The reason I wouldn't buy a P-bass is because it's more limited tonally than I would like. Rics are also more limited, tonally, than, say, a J-bass, but I like EVERY sound a Ric makes, and not every sound a P-bass makes. The main reason, though, is simply because I think that P-basses look, I dunno, bloated, or large. I don't know if it's the pickguard shape or size or body shape or size or the tininess of the bridge or anything; just, every time I see a p-bass, I think, "That thing is so bloated." That's just the word that pops into my head. J-basses are slightly better (I think it's the pickguard really), but I'd still take a lot of other basses over either. Ric, Tobias, Spector, Steinberger, etc.

Actually, though, if I could get a P-bass body but somehow fit a J-bass pickguard/metal knob plate onto it and then have a p-pickup in the middle and a j-pickup at the bridge with a J-bass neck and a better looking bridge . . . I would SO take that bass. Mmmm, it might be Warmoth time . . .

bobcat · Post by **bobcat** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 2:14 pm

Oh, and also, every p-bass I've played (Squier Affinity, Mexican, Highway 1, and American) has never been able to make THE p-bass sound I want, which is kind of a cross between Greg Lake's and John Wetton's sounds. I've tried distortion, picking (albeit not so well), and several different amps. But that sound is so . . .

david_schwab · Post by **david_schwab** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 6:19 am

I'm quite sure Greg Lake used a Jazz Bass... at least he did in the Pictures at an Expedition film. Then of course he had the Gibson Ripper. He claimed the midrange choke on the Ripper helped him get his tone.

For Wetton... Get a P Bass, put Rotos on it, pluck real hard, and play through a Hi-Watt! (or even a Marshal would do...)

Boy that was my favorite Crimson lineup!

johnashfield · Post by **johnashfield** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 8:01 am

He looks like he has not eaten anything in a year in that picture!

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 8:19 am

I saw ELP in the 70s live and Lake was playing the Ripper ... it was the worst sounding live bass sound I ever heard ... I think he used a jazz bass in the studio ...

rickaddict · Post by **rickaddict** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 9:18 am

Is that a shirt, or body paint?

morrow · Post by **morrow** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 10:37 am

Pbasses are what I grew up playing.I still have three of them. The sound is in your hands rather than spinning a knob. They sound deeper than a jazz bass or a Ric.. I also have some of Leo's later creations ( a Ray and a L2500) but I still love a good Pbass for most situations.They sound good and are comfortable to play.You can set one up in minutes.

These days I tend to bounce between a SCPB and my Ric for most gigs except for the ones that require an upright.