The project P Bass I talked about a few entries ago is finally finished… but, things didn’t quite go according to plan.

First off here’s what (s)he looked like upon completion:

Not bad huh? The kinda-sorta-sparkley, black finish on the body went really well with the perloid pickguard and the rosewood neck. It looked rad The bass was also wearing a set of Split P pickups by DiMarzio. The Split P’s are actually twin humbuckers; quite a bit different than your standard in-series P bass pickup. They sound great! I’m a fan.

But, Houston… we have a problem. The body, even though it had a pretty finish, was pure crap. No 2 ways about it… it was garbage.

I got the body on eBay for $65 and it was advertised as an original Fender body. I always thought the price was way too low for a decent slab but figured it was worth the gamble. When I first unpacked the body the main thing I noticed was that it was light as hell. Knocking on it made me think I was at the supermarket shopping for watermelon. It sounded hollow. Due to this crappy body the bass just felt cheap. I gave it a little while hoping I’d get over it but that never happened. This thing was crap and there was no way around it.

For what its worth, here’s some pics of me putting thing thing together:

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So, a couple weeks went by and it was time to find a replacement body. This time I stuck to a more reasonable price range and grabbed a white, Fender P Bass body. This body arrived on Friday; it had some weight to it (felt normal) and sounded solid when I knocked on it. The neck pocket revealed some raw wood and this thing’s definitely alder.

I had an hour to kill this Saturday and put the bad boy together. It felt and sounded way better than in its previous incarnation. After a tad bit of thinking I decided I wanted to go for a more traditional sound with this guy so I ripped some Lindy Fralin P Pickups off my PJ and replaced the DiMarzios. I’m pretty happy with this choice. This guy is gonna stay passive so the Fralins suit it better. The PJ’s got a URetro pre in it so the more modern DiMarzios will be happier in there. Its a win-win.

Looks good huh? I’m pretty happy with the final outcome. I’m totally a fan of more modern basses like the Music Mans but its nice to have a meat and potatoes bass in the stable. This P is currently my only bass without a preamp… we’ll see how long that lasts

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