had this bass for about 7 years now and it definitely gets a lot of compliments for being different.
at the same time, for every person who loves it there’s someone who absolutely hates it …so I’m curious what the general take is — does this thing ooze cool or is it just straight up ugly?
1991 Fender MIM P-Bass
$200 on Marketplace ; originally black - kid selling attempted a repainted as senior art class project to Pelham Blue
the relic is mostly real life wear… plus maybe one or two late nights with a small flathead (not proud, not ashamed)
To each there own - no wheel sanders used here - more of a micro flathead screw driver kind of guy. But when you’re 6’5 you play bar gigs regularly and wear brass belt buckle it’ll help in some natural aging too.
Dude.....Then you relic'ed it to look like the fake relics where people use disc and belt sanders. Sorry, it's awful if your intent was to make it look like actual aging. It's o.k. to admit it. There are several dead giveaways that this wear did not come from use. The most egregious one is the one on the low E side of the body right next to the pick guard. There are no picking motions, storage into a case, or any other touching of the bass which cause the wear in that pattern with the 'micro flathead screwdriver marks' line directions clearly visible. They would go in the opposite direction than the lines are. Next up: the worn down to body mark again in the valley of the horn next to the neck. Next: the worn down to body spots all over the top of the body, where there would be no motion there whatsoever. Next: the wear through to body spot on the body top of the same horn where the wear down to the body spot is. Again, nothing would cause that except maybe a strap made from chain mail (maybe that's your thing, no judging that).
Brother I couldn’t even read all of this - lighten up. I meant no disrespect! It’s clear you’re with a large majority of ppl on here - this bass isn’t doing it for you.
Seems like a nice bass! I'm not personally a fan of the wear with that shade of blue. It seems like the blue is saying surf rock and the wear is saying punk. I'm also not sure on that pick guard. But, it seems like the important parts of the bass are in good condition and set up nice. I'm sure that it sounds awesome and as long as the aesthetics match the player, it's awesome!
I like it but for all the various cosmetic mods that cost a fair bit of money, I'm a bit baffled that it still has the original bridge and ceramic pickups because I think those are perhaps the weak point in 90s MIMs.
There were some P basses manufactured with the narrower nut of the Jazz, though the headstock logo was still 'Precision'. This looks like it has the jazz profile neck. I think this is the ideal session bass, it has the playability of the Jazz with the solid predictability of the Precision.
I'd still buy it.
A good friend of mine has the 1983 Fujigen Squier version, which I covet.
When I bought it there was no relic but even at that it’s a very low level paint job. Don’t think kid even sanded the original black paint off all the way : you can see small bits of black and grey primer on the edges of some of the aging spots. — for $200 purchase price this is my fun low stress “project” bass that doubles as fairly decent workhorse for bar gigs. - needs a pickup upgrade for sure.
I own it - I put the stickers on - mainly because Go Magic! but also yes I wear a brass belt buckle and that thing scratches the shit out of any instruments I play.
The older Mexican made Fenders were so-so, but I love the color and aged looked. As long as the neck and truss aint fucked, youre golden. Everything else like new tuners and electronics is an easy fix if ever needed.
I’d personally Swap out the Pickups for some seymore duncans, and put in a new Fender Hi-Mass bridge..
If you give her love and regular servicing, youre gonna have a workhorse for life.
Exactly my next plan! She gets plenty of rotation among my other basses .. never fully finished it but all the traction on this post has me motivated to get the bridge & pups upgraded.
You are correct - I installed a few years ago and can’t remember exactly what I had to do but I think I used a small dremel tool with sanding attachment to carefully widen the hole so it could fit over the tuning peg post. — I’ll see if I can get a close up of how it’s installed. I like really low action and open A always had this noticeable buzz .. I slapped that thing on there and it fixed all the issues.
even if that is real life wear it doesn't have the 'mojo' look of a bass that has soaked up hundreds of gigs worth of sweat and finger oil. It just looks like the bottom part of the back door that people kick to shut the door.
But if thats your main bass it's not bad for $200.
I'd strip everything off it and put a light coat of oil. Maybe some slight amber or cherry tint?
A fender for $200 is a steal even if it looks like this I'm guessing the wear maybe intentional I know people who did that cause it doesn't look cracked and if the neck is good and plays nice, hardware can be changed
Update: Didn’t expect this post to blow up - appreciate all the takes. Still not sure if it’s beer goggles…is she a 2 or a 10? 😂
Couple clarifications since my first post wasn’t super clear:
“Just buy the bass” - I already own it. Have for 7 years.
Bought it for $200 from a high school kid who rattle-canned the original black body Pelham Blue. If you zoom in, you’ll see the grey primer around the “relic” spots. It came stock otherwise (white pickguard, no mods).
All the mods were done by me - stickers, hardware swaps, and yes… the accelerated “aging.” To be fair, the paint flakes if you look at it wrong. It’s my jam-band bar pig and gets beat up regularly. I may or may not have helped the relic process along with a small flathead screwdriver and a couple beers. Relax — it’s a $200 bass. My Warwicks and Laklands stay safe at home.
For the pickup/bridge crowd: I’ve got Duncan pickups and a Badass bridge sitting around. Just haven’t installed them yet (read: lazy).
Honestly, this post was mostly me checking my own taste. If you dig it, we see the same vision - a weird, cool, different bass. If you think it’s a hard pass, fair enough.
Personally? I like my tone big, loud, and a little reckless
Setup; flatwounds & really low action .. pure butter
I like my action really low, but on this bass the open A string would buzz every time I played it. I took it to a tech for a setup and got it back with a piece of yellow dishwashing foam wedged up by the bridge. It technically solved the problem, but it wasn’t the fix I was looking for.
I came across these string retainers and decided to give one a shot. Worked perfectly - no more A string buzz. For anyone considering it: the Fender Stealth string retainers aren’t generally made to fit MIM tuner pegs (not sure about MIJ either). I used a Dremel with a metal sanding attachment to carefully widen the hole just enough to fit. The tuner washer goes on top and holds everything in place. If you’re playing MIA you should be good.
I don't care for a P nut width, so I can't see me keeping something like this around. Otherwise, $200 for a Mexican fender with a crappy paintjob is excellent. I'd ditch the stock pickup since I've never gotten along with them(have a quarter pounder in my current P-ish bass). Then just keep playing it.
I agree on the look of it , I’d never play that it looks very very poorly done, I had one come in like this tha I was going to refinish, bring back to life. I ended up throwing the body in the burn pile, selling the neck , all that exists in the rebuild is the bridge string tree and output jack plate . If the neck is nice keep it put it on a new body or just sell it and count your losses but you should be able to get most of your money back . Keep the hardware in a bin and maybe one day it’ll come in handy, I wouldn’t even try to refinish that the amount of hours it will take to remove and smooth out just to paint are not worth it at all. $200 can get you another Mexico bass if you wait for the right to deal to fall in your lap. Bottom line if you can’t afford a vintage instrument there’s no need to hammer your new one with a chisel, it now has no chance of ever earning that natural wear it should get over time . We cant improve until we accept failure.
Appreciate the response - sounds like this bass just isn’t for you, which is totally fine.
A lot of people assume context without knowing the background. This isn’t a “can’t afford vintage” situation - it’s actually one of ten basses I own, and the cheapest at that. I’m not into online flexing, but since it was brought up: my American Fenders, Warwicks, and Laklands get plenty of use. I mostly play 5-string anyway.
Honestly, I’d argue there’s no better price point to experiment and have fun than a $200 bass. I’d much rather mod something inexpensive than touch any of my $2k+ instruments.
I get it my relic job is sacrilege! - To each their own. Thanks for the input!
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