I bought this bass as a donor for a P/J bass project I'm working on. After being bowled over by the prices of finished bodies (some are more than 300 bucks), I figured I couldn't miss with this COMPLETE P-style bass for only sixty bucks and change.
It was a pleasant surprise when it arrived. Shipping was quick. The bass arrived barely protected.... it was in a foam bag and the only protection was some Styrofoam blocks in a shaped cardboard box. To be fair, it arrived completely undamaged. The setup is off- WAY off- but it only took a few minutes to get the intonation and string action dialed in.
The neck is maple and is straight. It didn't need the truss rod adjusted. Finish is clear satin and nicely applied. The fretboard is a pretty nice piece of what looks like bare rosewood. I will apply lemon oil to this one.... S.O.P. for rosewood. Frets are all installed well and polished properly, although the ends protrude slightly and could use a final filing and polish. The body is VERY light, most probably basswood or poplar. The bass does balance, but it's a near thing. It's only a breath away from being neck-heavy. The body finish is well applied and glossy.
Hardware is a little lightweight and cheap looking, but to give credit where it's due, the chrome plating is heavy and shiny. Bridge is easy to adjust, and the tuning machines are fairly smooth and accurate. Bridge and tuners both seem stable. I applied a little lithium grease to the tuner gears; smoothness was improved.
After plugging it in and tuning it, I played some scales on it. It sounds okay! Not as rich and deep as an actual Precision, but good nevertheless. There were no buzzes or dead spots anywhere on the fretboard.
The pots are very slightly notchy, but turn without any scratchy noises. Tonal range is good and if there's any 60-cycle hum, it wasn't apparent at the volume I was using. The split pickup is supposed to prevent 60-cycle hum anyway.
If you do want to improve the tone, there are plenty of wiring kits available using CTS pots (BEST!!) and Alpha pots (good), right here on Amazon. I recommend the TAOT P-bass kit if you choose to go this way. It includes fabric-insulated "pushback" wire, CTS pots, Orange Drop capacitor, and a Switchcraft jack, all for about $13-$14. This simple, cheap mod alone will awaken the tone and sound quality of any entry-level instrument. You will have to get new knobs too, again a cheap mod.
Further, for this price, you can certainly afford to buy a genuine Fender or aftermarket pickup. Like with wiring kits, Amazon offers some amazingly good-sounding pickups for short bucks. However, this bass sounds more than good enough for learning, practice, and light gigging/jamming. I'm going to use it as-is for some practice until I gather the parts to complete converting it.
For a practice or beginner instrument, I have to recommend this enthusiastically. It needs a little work, but it plays well and sounds quite good. Frankly, I have no idea how they can offer this bass at this price point. Buy one before someone changes their mind!!
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To Good to be True
This instrument is well made, suprsingly well made given the ridciliously low price you pay for it. Here are the things I had to do to make it perfects.1. Shim the pickups to get them to start a higher point, they were way to low from the factory.2. Reseat the grounding wire under the bridge, it wasn't all the way out.Other than that a basic setup was all that was needed to make it play like a dream. Its action is currently at 4/64 no fretbuzz what so ever. I didn't even need to adjust the truss rod. I recommend this a great project/practise bass.
