1978 Fender Precision

[Matt R.]

Well here she is. I decided to keep the BA II bridge. It needs notching. This bass weighs about 10lbs. Not bad for a GC purchase.

[Matt R.]

Oh and the pickguard is new. The original was broken. I think Jeannie Pickguards is my favorite pickguard place now.

[andrew]

LOVE the look of that bass Matt, congrats! I've always loved the mocha finish.

[Matt R.]

Me too. The look of the cream pickup has really grown on me too. It sounds good

[Basshappi]

That is a great looking P bass there my friend, congrats! What strings do you have on it?

Yep, those old DiMarzios are kickass! I have them in my '75 Precision and I moved a Jazz set that were in a bass I built back in high school woodshop into my MIM Jazz. They totally transformed it from a pussycat into a snarling tiger.

[Matt R.]

I use D'Addario .45-.100

[Basshappi]

Try a set of Roto 66's on that puppy!

[Matt R.]

Man, I'm actually not a fan of the way Rotos feel. I gotta fight them too much. Also, I'm waiting on a stock 70s style Fender bridge. This BA is a piece of shit.

[gravesbass]

Matt, I got a real 1978 P Bass Ashtray I might be willing to part with. It's got the string mute on it too and I even have the original sales receipt for the bass it came on. Sold the P bass, kept the ashtray. Contact me direct if interested.

[Stingray5]

Man, I'm actually not a fan of the way Rotos feel. I gotta fight them too much.

That's funny, the one and only time I tried Rotosounds that was my exact impression. Don't know quite how else to explain it.

Beautiful bass, cool that you're keeping the pups I also think they look great.

[Matt R.]

Rotos do sound great, that's for sure.

[PunkRockBassist]

I love Rotos really like em when they get old and dead i like the sound of old strings.

[Matt R.]

Ahhhh.

I put a proper Fender 70s style bridge on this thing, which means the shim in the neck pocket that was put in to facilitate that piece of shite Badass II bridge could be removed. Now it's setup properly and plays and sounds like a beast.

The only thing left is to take it to the shop to have the nut scooted over a hair. It had been shimmed at some point too and was put back in its slot a little off, but not really a big deal.

It's completely rockin and playable as is, but my OCD won't let me accept the slight string misalignment on the neck.

Oh well. This is a great instrument that suffered some unnecessary mods.

The moral of the story- Don't f*ckin fix it if it ain't broke.

[Matt R.]

Ain't she purty with her new bridge?

[AzWhoFan]

now that's more like it!

[Matt R.]

now that's more like it!

Yessir, sir.

[pjmuck]

Nice! I do like Badass II bridges, but only on Jazz basses. A P doesn't need one.

[Matt R.]

I've just never had good luck with those bridges. And for a supposed drop in replacement you shouldn't need to shim the neck in my opinion. The only time I've seen one that was setup & notched properly was on the 75RI Jazz I bought from Tony here on the board. But I sold it and put on a 70s RI Fender bridge

[Addison]

Killer man... looks tasty.

I agree about the Badass... some basses it works, some it doesn't.

I tried one several times on my 72/75 Franken-P and it didn't really make any difference tonally and added unnecessary weight.