Incoming Bullet Bass deluxe!

[Deathshead]

 Bullet bass deluxe anyone else into these? One of the most under-rated Fender basses of all time, the "student model" step child replacement for the Mustang. But the "Deluxe" model is 34" Scale. I just won this one earlier today.

After owning over 100 basses over the last 12 years, gibsons, rick 4001-4003s, early 70s p-basses, Jazzes,customs, you name it These are the basses I come back to full circle.

Heres why.

Built in the original Fullerton Fender factory with left over old parts.

Where else can you get the following neck for this kind of money? this combo on a Fender bass is not too common.

Neck specs
Full scale -
"B" width,
1 piece maple
Your choice of either walnut OR maple skunk stripe, as they came with both, Maple skunk stripe I haven't seen on another fender bass.
small vintage frets.
Soft V profile.
Early P-Tele headstock with the little bit smaller Sting ray style tuners.

a GREAT neck!

Body, Slightly downsized slab P-bass body.

electronics consist of left over Mustang bass pickups under white covers.

Tone -Heres the best part, You have your classic fat woody p-bass here, but its a bit brighter,super punchy and has a very unique growl. I think of it as a Precision-jazz-single coil early p hybrid tone.. a bit more upper high mids in the mix then a split coil p-bass.

The Mustang pickups have 1 pole piece per string but are very very long.

I see a lot of these basses routed for regular split coil p-pups, I did this with my first bullet deluxe back in the early 90s with a dimarzio and was very disappointed these mustang pickups are really great.

So there ya have it, The overlooked bastard Fender bass, Nothing cheap about them quality or tone wise. Just the price of them used. USA 79-82' P-basses seem to currently start at $1000-$1100 and up with some occasions of a great deal out there but these basses are currently topping out at around $550..

If you have the means, I highly recommend you check one out.

Just cant decide on a new pickguard for this one, Vintage pearloid or parchment?

[Dave W]

They're nice basses for the buck. The Mustang pickups don't do it for me, though. To each his own.

I vote for parchment.

[Droombolus]

I used to give my then harmonica-player's Bullet shorty regular tune-ups in the late 80s. I liked it better than the late 70s Mustangs I came across, the diffrence must have been in the neck because the bullet had a real gem mounted ...... What I definitely didn't like was the cheapo 1 ply pg which looked like it could split from its screws any minute ......

And talking about pg's, I vote pearloid ! 

[Deathshead]

Ya the pickguards were junk and are almost always wiped out at the jack.

[Hornisse]

Glad you found one!  Those are some seriously cool basses and Made In USA too.  I had the Squier version some time ago and they were pretty neat as well. 

[Pilgrim]

hey Deathshead, what's the balance like on that Bullet?  I'd think that the 34" neck would make it a bit of a diver.

[Deathshead]

hey Deathshead, what's the balance like on that Bullet?  I'd think that the 34" neck would make it a bit of a diver.

They can be hit or miss in terms of neck dive, my first dakota red didn't have any neck dive,i then had a creme one with a body light as air and it neck dived pretty bad, still it wasn't as bad as like a tbird etc.. I'm hoping this one will balance really nice.

[eb2]

I loved these things when they came out.  I didn't dig the muted cutaways as they were kind of Music Master bass shaped, and the bodies were real hit or miss.  Some were boat anchor, some were light.  I think they have lots of glue in them.  I recall most being red or yellow/white.  The stubby tuners aren't really as nice looking as longer stemmed ones on there.  My hope in days gone by was to get one for the neck and make a souped up Tele bass style thing with a WD body (rounded out neck pocket). 

In the early 80s, when CBS sold Fender and they were blowing out the Elites and all the black necked Fender Japan stuff started showing up (and they were wonderful for the $$$) these things were going for $100 used.  Kids were DiMarzio-ing the hell out of them, and punk bands did the spray paint and bumper sticker jobs on them, so they really are a rare breed to find clean.  Prices have been higher than that in the recent past.  That is a good buy.  I suspect when the dollar starts getting hammered in the next couple of years, that will seem amazing.

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Congrats! Great deal!!!