Strange day...

[Dennis_UK]

Sometimes, life does weird things. The P-bass I ordered is out of stock both from the supplier, and from Fender GBI. So, today I was driving my wife to Bristol for a training day, leaving me free to wander the musical emporia of that city with a burning-hot credit card.

The car broke.

Into Plymouth to get it fixed, training day abandoned, bugger it, do some shopping planned for another day. Took an hour out to visit the music shop. No Precisions (no Fender Precisons, anyway...). So I asked for a thrunge on a rather attractive s/b MIM Jazz. The salesman plugged it into a Bassman 25 (and what a nice sounding little combo that is, at least at low volume), and left me to caress it. I did. It's sitting behind me as I type.

So I'm now a traitor to my declared Precision preference. But it's just so much nicer than the '68 Jazz I once had! Weird...
I'll have to change my avatar now, darn it...

[Tim Armstrong]

Heretic!!!!!






















Nice score!

Grins, Tim

[Dennis_UK]

The satin-finished neck is just soooooo slick! I have this unwipeable grin on my face! The poor old Sting is getting a bit green!

[4mal]

The burpi'ness of the J is a 'foundational' bass tone as is the thump & growl of the P. I have to have both in the stable. I sem to be on an endless quest to find a PJ where the pup's are really balanced. I haven't heard it yet... so for now it is put one down, pick another up.

Dennis, be glad there was no G&L dealer in sight ... you might have done more serious damage!

[Dennis_UK]

However, I'm no fan of the look of G&L basses, however good they are. Yes, I know I'm not the one who'll be looking at it, but I find them ugly, particularly the headstocks. I was after a MIM bass specifically because they a) have a Precision that's well made and will do the job, and b) it has the 'other' style Fender logo. So you can see that I judge these things in a very odd way! But I'm happy with my choices, which is what counts.

[FraKo]

since I'm 50% heretic as you are, my dear.

Two weeks ago I bought a Squier P-bass Special, that's actually a P/J with a jazz neck (sweetly satin finished). I felt a little bit guilty as I am (was?) a P-bass fan/player, but now I know I'm not alone, at least.

Let's enjoy our new bridge pup's eh eh eh

[Dennis_UK]

I played it for a couple of hours today. In fact, as it still has the 'shop' strings on, which half of Plymouth have used, I would do well to restring it immediately.

I still have this stupid grin on my face! :D :D :D

[4mal]

Dennis, don't ever play an L2000 or an SB2 ... you may find yourself liking that weird headstock more an more ... The SB2 is simply an amazing bass and the L2K is in a class of 1. Plugged into the board they simply jump up and shout!

I'm sort of with you on the appearance though. I love the look of the P and J basses. They are just so 'right'!

[Dennis_UK]

...I don't think I'd be tempted away from Fenders. They're 'home'. After the 16 year layoff, it was like meeting an old friend, and now I have two! And both these are every bit as good as any USA Fender I previously owned, with the possible exception of my first ever P, which was a cracker. The only other P that matched it was a lawsuit Tokai Hard Puncher. That was a truly amazing bass!

[4mal]

Well the MIM stuff is a real value. They play well, sound good and don't break the bank. What's not to like, eh ? Having swung my share of boat anchor 70's basses around my neck, I'm pretty sure that the current MIM stuff is just about as good in many cases, maybe better ... If you tire of the MIM pup's, I'll have a set of Duncan SJB1's on the block fairly soon. I'm trying an experiment with a set of Bart's and so far, so good. That Duncan has been a standard of mine for quite a while. Time to change one bass out though ...

[Dennis_UK]

...for the Jazz neck, the next (more GAS!) bass will simply have to be a P-bass Special!

(why, oh why, do they call this bass a 'cowpoke' in some circles?)

[4mal]

The Cowpoke term came from www.thedudepit.com. One of the guys over here took a look at the pickguard and decided it looked sort of 'western coyboy shirt' and the name became... Cowpoke. I think Fender ought to coin it. More interesting than Precision Special. I'm thinking maybe a blue denim body with red-checked gingham PG. They could market a white body with larger red check's on the PG as the paisan ...

I succumbed to the buzz on the Cowpoke a while back. It is another MIM hit in my book. I probably overpaid at $300. Mine is black on black and came with upgraded tuners and a hip shot de-tuner though so that offset the sting. The neck is between a J & P. Slightly wider than a J, a little flattish like a P and not so deep as a J. Comfy right off the bat.

I did a setup, re-strung with TI SUper Alloy rounds and it's a nice aggro sounding bass. My only complaint is that there is no mid position detent on the stacked Bass & Treble control. There is on the blend. I'm thinking of yanking the pre and going to passive with a boo-teek (boo-teak would be the Danish translation I think ?) set of pup's.

Maybe a winter time project after all the fall 'get through the list of house maintenance stuff I didn't do this summer whilst goofing off'.

[Dave W]

I've seen three Cowpokes in stores in the past three years, they were priced at $259, $279 and most recently at $299. So I really don't think you overpaid. On a non-vintage piece in that price range, the mods/upgrades won't devalue it. These listed at close to $700 and sold in the upper $400s.

Yes, Dave Fitch was responsible for coining the name at the Dudepit. Later, my former Vintage Precision Bass Custom unfortunately got called a Custom Shop Cowpoke because it had the original style black pickguard.

[4mal]

Custom Shop Cowpoke - that is funny!