The Bass thread (funk, Paul McCartney, guitar)

[My Mind Sedate]

Originally Posted by Lateralus

Advice from all the bass players who I attack regularly with my noobish questions please.

I am going to start saving up for a new bass. At the moment I have a Hartke bass, it's not THAT great because, well Hartke really specialise in amps and not instruments, but it's done its job. I bought it when I first started learning bass and now that I've decided I am going to continue playing and learning the instrument I have decided to upgrade as I feel I've kinda moved on.

I've basically just thought about saving for a standard Fender p-bass. Even though I'm upgrading I'm still on a very tight budget and it will still be a world of difference better than the bass I have now. But I'm not so sure if this is the right thing to do? I just don't know I've played Fender precisions lots (not mine, friends' etc) and I've liked them but I've never owned one so I wouldn't know. I've been looking at price lists online and there are just so many basses and so many differences in pricing that I really don't know what to get. I want to upgrade but I'm not sure how to go about it. I would also like to know if there is much difference between the American models and the Mexican ones? Because most likely the Mexican would be more obtainable for me.

It would be so, so helpful if somebody who knows about basses could give me a rundown of what a person in my situation could do/ look for in an upgrade from a beginner's bass. In Australia the price for a Standard Mexican Fender Precision is about $1000AU (Billy Hyde Music - Shop : Fender - Bass Guitar - Mexican Standard Precision). Is this a good price from this store? I just have no idea what to do. But I need a new bass!

Here are my two cents...

The Fender P is a great choice, but you have to keep in mind the fact that the neck is a lot chunkier than say, Fender Jazz basses (which come with very thin and fast necks), and the variety of tones is very limited, since it only has one pick up (but the P bass tone is absolutely classic).

There is a definitely a big difference between American and Mexican Fenders. The build quality of the Mexican Fenders are (in my opinion) not up to par considering they are not exactly cheap. I would advise you to look into second hand instruments, there are plenty around and you should be able to get a much higher quality bass for the same amount you are prepared to dish out for a Mexican P bass. If you are in Australia there is always Ebay, but in NZ, Trademe is the head honcho.

This site is execellent: bass guitar, bass guitars, bass amps, fender bass, musicman bass, rickenbacker. A quick disclaimer: this is not an ad, every now and then they get in a new batch of second hand basses, and there are always some gems in there.