The Last Bass Outpost

I'm with Uwe all the way just about on this except that the 60's EB-O &3's did have the correct body contours and slim styling. The 70's more 'manly' thickness was lost a little in the translation but I understand what they were trying to do. If you want the real mud with something extra you need a EB-2(not the 2-D as they were trying to get some sort of tone which was not really pure(!) or  the Rivoli. The '60's EB-O's &  3'etc left you stranded but fun to play. All arguments were over when in 2006 the Supreme came out and finally a Gibson that summed it all up with no arguments. So basicly the gamut is the EB-2-Supreme. All things are covered just about except one thing: Gibson got it right the very first time in what was it.. 1953: the Gibson Electric bass, almost the same as Leo Fender got it right the first time.

I'll have to say that is pretty cool looking. Nice combination of fetures and design. Wonder how it sounds and the actual body dimensions.
Yairi in Japan has had several really cool looking basses that had an upright if not slightly too trbly egdy sound but the body dimensions were slightly comical(huge).

The 'official' Fender color designation during those years was MIdnight Blue. They had a series of colors with the Midnight designation.
My friend has a MIM 1998 Jazz and in his particular bass the tuners &  pickups were USA made. He bought it new and from what he recalls they were using USA pups and tuners around then. He opened his up and sure enough it was true. It could very well be that they were using both because of parts stock overages and shortages.

Recently I had been asked to gather up some basses for some music programs so I went  around to various music stores in the SF Bay Area. Approaching this task I decided to approach the quest with a very open 'mind' with respect to brand. When playing through the Fender selections I just went down the line and found something that surprised me quite frankly. The MIM Fenders came out on top 80% of the time when coming to feel, playbility, balance, weight and dead spots. Even the sound in most cases was totally acceptable. I simply picked the basses up, plugged them in without checking out the various hardware, pickups, headstock decals etc so to keep with my open approach. I had a budget that was not too restrictive to work with but I wanted to just see what would come out in the wash. The result was surprising to me because of course I had preconceived notions that the Japan, USA, custom shop etc would be the overall better instruments. This was not necessarily so at all. It has been years since I really went in a music store and checked out a bunch of basses. I have quite a collection of basses that I have played and kept over the last 45 years and with respect to the Fenders in my collection consisting of a '56, '71 & '73 Precision and a '66 & '71 Jazz, '67 & 78 Mustang and these are all great playing & sounding basses. So I felt I had to mention my surprise and relief that Fender is still capable of making some great instruments and these at  prices that will not break the bank. The only upgrade I might suggest would be the pickups if absolutly necessary.
I also recently attended a club date to see Sly & Robbie. When their 1 1/2 hour stunning set(as usual) was over I got talking to Robbie and  upon broaching the subject of the jazz bass he had been playing he handed it over to me and it was MIM Standard Jazz bass! He mentioned it it was his current favorite bass and not just for touring. He had been using it in the studio as well. For anyone who knows this guy you know what he is capable of on the instrument.

On the subject of Musicmasters brought up in another thread several weeks ago it revived my interest and I am wondering something:  Has anyone had ever tried putting a Musicmaster (or a Mustang) pickup in a P-bass?  I do have a '67 Mustang bass and I ultimatly chose it over 3 of my P basses (a '66,'71 & '73) some years ago and sold them in fact. As mentioned in that "I just bought a Musicmaster" thread  the response over the neck is totally even (which is also the case with the Mustang) and somehow the Mustang pickup just really had it all (for what I wanted in a Fender solidbody). Now there is the issue of longer scale: do ya think a Mustang pickup or Musicmaster would handle the larger string spread inserting it in the same p-bass pickup location?

Well Kenny with that last comment I think you have nipped it in the bud and Abbey Road might be at a dead end. I mean we did go over Fender, Rickenbacker (and they even have their own forums), Yamaha & Hofner. Now before someone brings up Klira, Danelectro or Epiphone Casino's......

I'll stick my head out a bit and venture the Ric is his original , went through a psychedelic paint job and then stripped down to the natural. It might be his one and lonely Ric. Returning to the exciting (hijacked)Fender thoughts, there was a mention several years back that Elvis's own Precision was under consideration to be possessed by whatiz name himself. Wonder what happened?