FINALLY got a P

Picked up an MIM P from the mid 90's today at a pawn shop in Philly. A decent price, in fair shape, needs some TLC, but the truss rod works, so I'm fairly certain it'll be ok in the end. The electronics work, though I didn't test 'em out too thoroughly, as I didn't want to get too far ahead of myself.

Tomorrow will be 'goo-gone' day, as someone once had a few stickers on that they didn't work too hard to remove. The neck did straighten, so I'm happy about that. The frets are in really good condition, though I'm trying to guess if that's due the flatwounds, or if the horrible bow in the neck when I got it made it unplayable for the last owner.

I'll get it cleaned up and reassembled, and hopefully I'll be able to seriously put it through it's paces. I had a few stray thoughts I thought I'd fly by youse guys to see what you thought.

I play a fair bit of old funk, and do a lot of string muting on my E and A strings, but I like my D and Gs to be a little 'zing'ier. Anyone ever actually combined flats and rounds on the same bass?

Should I try to rustle up some covers? Aluminum pickguard?

I dunno what the name of the color is, but it's a nice, creamy sort of off-white. I now have an MIM tele, strat and P-Bass in this color, all with white guards (and none over $160)--I find a Jazz, and I'll have the whole set! If I can find the camera, I'll try to get a shot.

I dunno what the name of the color is, but it's a nice, creamy sort of off-white. I now have an MIM tele, strat and P-Bass in this color, all with white guards (and none over $160)--I find a Jazz, and I'll have the whole set! If I can find the camera, I'll try to get a shot.

get a camera fast...looking forward to seeing the matching set!

i'll bet you'll have a real winner when you get the P-Bass fixed up. all it needed was a new home and some TLC. if you don't mind, i'll let you be the guinea pig for the flat/round string combintation. let us know if you do that and how it works out.

my p bass is a mid 90's MIM as well and i really love it. i put an aftermarket pickup in and changed the pots but otherwise it's just fine the way it is. in fact, i like the neck on it much more than some american p basses i've played.

I play a fair bit of old funk, and do a lot of string muting on my E and A strings, but I like my D and Gs to be a little 'zing'ier. Anyone ever actually combined flats and rounds on the same bass?

Mixing strings could be a great idea! The bass sounds like a winner, and it's in one of my favorite color schemes (off-white with white pickguard). I have a MIM Tele in that color (aged Olympic White). Mmmmmm...

ooo.. mixing rounds and flat's. I think I'd go with maybe a half-round or coated string set and change my technique up a bit. The mixing thing ... on the surface of things it sounds icky to me ... not too mention expensive ...

DR Black Beauties have a fairly laid back hi end when broken in.
D'Addario half-rounds used to be a fav for me with a big thumpin' E&A a little zingier on top. IIRC they changed the alloy make up a while back and for some reason they don't agree with my particular sweat. I haven't tried them for a long time though ...

OK--good news. I took some pictures.

Bad news--have no idea how to shrink them to fit the size limit. Workin' on it, though.

Bad news--have no idea how to shrink them to fit the size limit.

Dip the pictures in really, really cold water. :wink:

/ Tony

OK--good news. I took some pictures.

Bad news--have no idea how to shrink them to fit the size limit. Workin' on it, though.

Upload them to photobucket, then edit them, it's easy to do and they have standard sizes for posting on bulletin boards like this one...

Cheers, Tim

or, if you're pc based, get the freebie 'PowerToys' that let's you re-size via right click ...

or, if you're pc based, get the freebie 'PowerToys' that let's you re-size via right click ...

Or MSPaint, which is in your PC. Resize is in the menu.

Oh, and congrats, marshman!!

I wanna P-Bass ... :sad:

mud

OK, let's try this...

Took new toy apart, cleaned it, polished frets, scrubbed off assorted stickers, shined up shiny bits. Put it back together, strung it up with some roundwounds I had laying around the workbench and plugged it in--It's ALIVE!!

Even with no set-up (tomorrow, maybe, but once you've done a few, you can kinda eyeball into the ballpark) it plays quite well. Very punchy, and too be honest, with the tone control all the way up, it's a bit tooo 'zingy'. I expect to replace the mondo cheapo mini-pots and jack at my earliest opportunity, just to see if it helps. A lot of new screws, just because most of the ones present are pretty cruddy in a not-cool-like-a-relic sorta way.

I'll give it a shakedown at next practice.

WOW! That's quite a trio! Niiiiiiice!
mud

changing your pot's isn't really going to change much. It isn't a bad idea in general and a good excure to clean up the wiring maybe do a shielding job - but tonally - nada ... Let the rounds settle in for a while, they're almost always zingy at first. If not they are probably just plain dead ...

Yuma Yuma ! Very nice set.

I see...wait....yes....yes it's getting clearer now.... Along with those white
guitars I see a white drum kit and some white Marshall stacks in your future.
Sorry only white amp I could think of.
Remember Lynyrd Skynyrd's " One more for the Road Album " ?
When I was a kid I used to droll over that inside cover shot of the white amps.

I have a black drumkit (Gretsch Import Blackhawks, Birthday gift from SWMBO a few years back) and I've scored a pair of silver Jubilee 2x12 Marshall cabs. A full-on white-equipment band is quite unlikey...but interesting to consider.

I wanna P-Bass ... :sad:

mud

I GOT A P!!!

Just scored a Squire on the CL ... not much $$$, decent shape (a ding here & there) ... it's BRIGHT red :shock: ... needs some TLC. Already got a set of Duncan QuarterPounders to put in. Pics to follow.

Question: If the neck plate says "20th Anniversay" is it a 2002? I'll check the s/n.

mud

Well, I used it to practice for a few weeks, and was enjoying it immensely. When I finally got around to picking up my Rick, I realized just how dead those strings were. Restrung it, and it's popping again, as well.

The P-bass is the first bass I've had that required tone control use. Maxed out, it is WAAAAY to trebley and zingy. Dial it down to 7-8 for modern stuff, back to 2-3 for motown, add a little palm muting and we're good to go. Been playing that Rick for so long it's almost like cheating (17 years my numero uno bass), but I'll see how it feels. It does have the punch I've wanted but couldn't quite get from the Rick, though the Rick is a bit more 'versatile'. Anybody got an F-type Hipshot detuner key?

Still looking for that Olympic White MIM Jazz, though. At the current rate of acquisition, I should find it in about 2 years.