40 is the new 25

Or something.

Monday saw my 40th birthday come and go. I don’t get what all the fuss is about. I don’t feel any different. If that number makes someone “feel” older, they need to seek professional therapy.

But, since everyone keeps saying I need to do something to celebrate, I made sure that I got myself a new toy. I had actually been saving for this since before Christmas, and then when I was asked by folks what I wanted for that holiday, I told them gift certs/cards for the guitar shop.

After waiting for the right strings to finally arrive and the set-up guy to get on the ball, here it is (clicken to embiggen on all pics, of course)

You are looking at a Fender Precision Bass, Blacktop Edition, in White Chrome Pearl. At the end of last Summer, Fender finally released this special edition of their iconic P-Bass. Instead of the standard set of split pickups, they took a pair of their single stack Jazz Bass pickups, molded them together and then wrapped them to “buck the hum”.

The result is something that sounds like nothing else out there. Hotter than any standard or custom P-Bass from the past (even those with active pickups, without having to worry about batteries for active pickups), thicker than an Ernie Ball Music Man Double-H Stingray, more growl than a Gibson Thunderbird IV, and the same tonal possibilities of any 4-string Ibanez Soundgear made without the four-figure pricetag.

Can you say “Tone Monster”? I knew you could.

Let’s just say my practice amp has been and will continue to get a workout this week. I took it off so I could stay home and play with the new toy.

Yay for me!

Below the fold you’ll find more bass guitar minutae on new Fender models.

The nicest thing about the Blacktop Edition is that it a Mexican Fender P-Bass that costs almost $100 less than a standard MIM P-Bass. Why, I’m not sure. They aren’t building them fast enough to make me think they believe they’re going to sell a ton of them. Even retail giant Guitar Center, whose marketing VP used to work for Fender, only had 17 in their warehouse and they’ve been on the market for five months.

No one local to me has one in stock. It is a special order item only. Mine is #101, and I’m quite happy with the binary numeral for a serial number.

When it arrived at the store, I unboxed it and the half dozen guys who stopped to see what was coming out of the box has expressions on their faces depicting deep confusion. “What the hell kind of P-Bass is that?” is the actual direct quote from the store manager. The assistant manager had never heard of this model and thought it was something I ordered from the custom shop. I did a quick tuning and plugged it in and blew them all away while playing with the tonal range (sadly, not with my actual playing ability).

For fans of the Jazz Bass body and neck style, there is also a Blacktop Edition.

For those who clicked through, yes, that is a pair of P-Bass split pickups on that Jazz Bass. I’m not particularly a fan of the body/neck style, but I’ve heard guys describe it as like nothing else they’ve heard before as well. As you can probably image.

These basses are as rare as the P-Bass version. So don’t expect to find them hanging in the rack at your retailer either. About the only new model from Fender you might find out there is the “Modern Player” edition.

This edition consists of a Jaguar Bass with a P/J pick up combo, a Jazz Bass with the same dual humbucker pickups as mine, and a Telecaster Bass with a set of new split pickups that are mild humbuckers set in the extreme bridge and neck positions. If I couldn’t have gotten the P-Bass, I was looking at that Tele-Bass real hard.

But do beware on these, Fender has started up operations in mainland China, and all the Modern Player editions come from there. I worry about the quality, as the Modern Player Jazz Bass I was able to lay my hands on was lacking in quality parts and fit. The finish was superb, but there was just something lacking. Fender get their Squire brand guitars built in Indonesia and they reminded me a lot of those items, but for double the price.

When I am feeling like developing a conspiracy complex, I worry that the reason Fender’s Mexican production is behind is because they’re moving that production facility to China. This would be a real loss, since the MIM guitars and basses are way above average in quality, using the same parts, etc. as the America made products, but they cost half-or-more what a US made axe would. Which is nice for those who can’t afford a $1500 guitar.

I don’t know though. That sounds like a really dumb idea to me.