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Gear Discussion Forums => Fender Basses => Topic started by: hieronymous on July 12, 2011, 04:38:13 PM

Title: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: hieronymous on July 12, 2011, 04:38:13 PM
I thought there was a thread on this but I can't find it - what do you guys think of the 60th anniversary P-Bass (http://www.fender.com/products/60th-pbass)?
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: nofi on July 12, 2011, 07:32:53 PM
is that what happened to all the mike dirnt basses that didn't sell.
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: Dave W on July 12, 2011, 09:51:03 PM
No, this is made in USA with a vintage spec pickup.

Reminds me of my old 90s custom shop Vintage Precision Bass Custom. That one had a J pickup, stack knobs and a vintage 2-saddle bridge but the same white blonde on ash with blackguard look.
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: Psycho Bass Guy on July 13, 2011, 02:02:26 AM
is that what happened to all the mike dirnt basses that didn't sell.

Cheaping out on the pickups and construction in that bass is what was ultimately its undoing. I never understood why Fender would do a Mexi-signature model and then make it LOWER quality than its standard Mexi-brethren. It had the potential to be a huge success. The combination vintage P-body with a standard Badass bridge appealed greatly to me... until I played a few and they were all hopelessly bland and nasal with lots construction corners cut.

BTW, I have played a 60th Precision, and again, the end result is less than the sum of its parts, though for different reasons than the Dirnt. I LOVE the white blonde finish, BTW.
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: Droombolus on July 13, 2011, 03:06:10 AM
what do you guys think of the 60th anniversary P-Bass (http://www.fender.com/products/60th-pbass)?

I think it looks a lot like my 20 year old Robin Ranger ......  ;D

(http://www.mijnalbum.nl/Foto-VRPKD3RY-D.jpg)
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: Dave W on July 13, 2011, 08:41:33 AM
I think it looks a lot like my 20 year old Robin Ranger ......  ;D

(http://www.mijnalbum.nl/Foto-VRPKD3RY-D.jpg)

Leo stole all his designs from Dave Wintz at Robin.  ;)
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: hieronymous on July 13, 2011, 11:42:24 AM
Thanks guys. Every now and again I get a hankering for a P-Bass - my Tele bass lives on the other coast. I found this one (http://www.thelowend.net/gallery/viewtopic.php?t=5520) which looks similar but I like the Tele headstock, plus it has a Jazz pickup. There are some '70s Ps at Bass Northwest too. I'm not seriously in the market, but I do have a trip up to Seattle in August so I keep checking the BNW website to see if anything tasty appears...

I might have to try and play one of the 60th anniversary basses locally - I'll make a report if I do.
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: Highlander on July 13, 2011, 01:22:59 PM
Yep, it's a Fender... definitely a Fender...

If it floats your boat Harry go for it... ;)
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: hieronymous on July 13, 2011, 03:28:56 PM
Hmm, Bass Northwest now has a 1971 Telecaster Bass (http://www.bassnw.com/Used%20Basses/fender_1971_telecaster_bass_304435.htm) - look through the pictures carefully, one of these things is not like the others...

If I do decide to get something, I think I'd prefer to spend a few hundred dollars more for something interesting (and old?).
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: dadagoboi on July 13, 2011, 04:14:28 PM
Yeah, the rear headstock picture is a pre '67 Precision...when did they discontinue the hootenany strap button?  Other than that, bass looks pretty nice.
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: Dave W on July 13, 2011, 04:22:30 PM
Thanks guys. Every now and again I get a hankering for a P-Bass - my Tele bass lives on the other coast. I found this one (http://www.thelowend.net/gallery/viewtopic.php?t=5520) which looks similar but I like the Tele headstock, plus it has a Jazz pickup. ...

That's the Vintage Precision Bass Custom like the one I had, only with gold hardware and a tort guard. The original pickups are great, and they're included. These listed for $2300 originally and later went up to $2500. If you're interested, I suggest offering them $1500.

Hmm, Bass Northwest now has a 1971 Telecaster Bass (http://www.bassnw.com/Used%20Basses/fender_1971_telecaster_bass_304435.htm) - look through the pictures carefully, one of these things is not like the others...

That one has a replacement guard (the 68-71 original Tele Bass series had white guards) and is missing the chrome pickup and bridge covers and finger rest. Aside from that, do you see anything wrong?
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: hieronymous on July 13, 2011, 05:50:56 PM
Aside from that, do you see anything wrong?

Look very, very closely at the headstock shots...

Oh, and thanks for pointing out the other stuff! (The covers and fingerrest I didn't think of, black pickguard I wasn't really aware of)
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: nofi on July 13, 2011, 07:16:48 PM
2 different headstocks. wtf.
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: Dave W on July 13, 2011, 08:18:40 PM
I see, the back of the headstock shot in the second row is from a P or J headstock.
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: Lightyear on July 14, 2011, 07:36:35 PM
Leo stole all his designs from Dave Wintz at Robin.  ;)

One of owners told me a couple of months back that they had mothballed Robin guitars as the economy had killed off their business.  They're ready to start back up if things improve but until then they're effectively closed. 
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: dadagoboi on July 15, 2011, 04:32:30 AM
One of owners told me a couple of months back that they had mothballed Robin guitars as the economy had killed off their business.  They're ready to start back up if things improve but until then they're effectively closed. 

Quite a few guys out there building Fender bass clones and variations to your specs for reasonable prices IMO.  Dan Atkinson is one.

http://www.atkinsonbasses.com/gallery/
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: Droombolus on July 15, 2011, 07:52:32 AM
One of owners told me a couple of months back that they had mothballed Robin guitars as the economy had killed off their business.  They're ready to start back up if things improve but until then they're effectively closed. 

The Ranger Bass is a great compilation, a sort of "Best of Fender", which was produced in an age when there wasn't any MIA Fender to be had with P/J PUPs. They stopped building bass guitars around 1996 so as far as I'm concerned they killed off their own business .....  :mrgreen:
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: Dave W on July 15, 2011, 08:22:42 AM
One of owners told me a couple of months back that they had mothballed Robin guitars as the economy had killed off their business.  They're ready to start back up if things improve but until then they're effectively closed. 

Too bad. I can understand, though. When you're small and you operate through a dealer network, you have to have orders unless you have enough spare cash to stockpile production. And their dealers aren't going to stockpile inventory in this economy.

Quite a few guys out there building Fender bass clones and variations to your specs for reasonable prices IMO.  Dan Atkinson is one.

http://www.atkinsonbasses.com/gallery/

True, but Robin's Fender-style models have never been outright clones. And as Droombolus said, they stopped building basses years ago.
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: Lightyear on July 15, 2011, 07:07:20 PM
Too bad. I can understand, though. When you're small and you operate through a dealer network, you have to have orders unless you have enough spare cash to stockpile production. And their dealers aren't going to stockpile inventory in this economy.

True, but Robin's Fender-style models have never been outright clones. And as Droombolus said, they stopped building basses years ago.


Yeah, and their dealers tended to be small to mid size operataions - those were the first guys wacked by the recesion.
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: hieronymous on July 15, 2011, 09:49:04 PM
Quite a few guys out there building Fender bass clones and variations to your specs for reasonable prices IMO.  Dan Atkinson is one.

http://www.atkinsonbasses.com/gallery/

Thanks for the link! Those look pretty cool.

That one has a replacement guard (the 68-71 original Tele Bass series had white guards) and is missing the chrome pickup and bridge covers and finger rest.

Maybe that's why it's so "cheap"? G-Base has a LOT of Telecaster Basses and most seem to be $3000+! Glad I got mine for $250 back in the early '90s!

Found a somewhat local Fender Japan '51 RI - what do you guys think of this? (http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/msg/2486039115.html)
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: Psycho Bass Guy on July 15, 2011, 11:38:20 PM
Found a somewhat local Fender Japan '51 RI - what do you guys think of this? (http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/msg/2486039115.html)

Those were very nice basses, sold for around $500 new. They tend to be a little bright, which is mostly a body wood/pickup issue. The Lollar in the linked bass is certainly a huge upgrade, but the Baddass bridge is only going to add to the bright factor. The ashtray is not stock either.
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: Dave W on July 16, 2011, 10:33:16 AM
I agree about the tone of the Japan 51 RI. Also I didn't like the neck profile. Very well made, though.
Title: Re: 60th Anniversary P-Bass
Post by: hieronymous on July 24, 2011, 06:05:24 PM
Trying to clean the house and found an old Japanese bass magazine (the January 2004 issue of "Bass Magazine" to be exact) - can't keep so much old crap around so just pulled a few interesting pages - this was on the front page:

(http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/1689/1969telecasterbass2.jpg)