Fender Precision Bass Player Series Review

[Perpetuo Carlson]

Unusually, considering the size of the Fender brand, it has been a while since I have had one of their products on my lap for a review. Enter the new Fender Player Precision Limited Edition bass in a striking British Racing Green!

So, here we are then! The standard Player series gets a makeover in the form of this exciting model, which not only sports the aforementioned rich finish, but a parchment pickguard, maple fingerboard on a maple neck, and yes, that really is a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder split-coil pickup on board, too.

In my video, I take the familiar route of starting at the headstock and working down through the details of the instrument to give you a better idea of what it offers in real terms. Follow me as I cover the key areas.

The standard Precision nut width of 41.3mm is set by the synthetic bone nut, which is neatly cut and not too high, giving a pleasant playing experience on the lower frets. Speaking of which, the fretwork on this review example is very neat without any undue noises, save for the slightest buzz up at the dusty end of the fretboard. Actually, as it happens, after I shot the video, I tweaked the truss rod slightly to remove a little relief, and I found that the playability of the bass improved preferably. On reflection, I wish I had done that beforehand.

At the 1k price point, it's got some serious competition from G&L, Yamaha, Sire; all of whom offer something similar for less. If you then move away from traditional instruments add in Ibanez and Musicman..

Since the strength of the Fender brand is so strong, especially for basses, is having a good offering at each rung of the price point ladder more important to them than offering the same specs to price ratio as the less established brands?

....that's confusing enough but as they seem to change it each year and there are discontinued names like the Elite and American Deluxe, add to that the made in Japan/Mexico/USA versions and about 60 years of Jazz and P Basses with certain years being good/bad and different necks/pickups etc. what initially seems a fairly simple choice of Jazz or P Bass from Fender becomes really confusing.

...That's confusing enough but as they seem to change it each year and there are discontinued names like the Elite and American Deluxe, add to that the made in Japan/Mexico/USA versions and about 60 years of Jazz and P Basses with certain years being good/bad and different necks/pickups etc. what initially seems a fairly simple choice of Jazz or P Bass from Fender becomes really confusing.

It's reminiscent of the American automotive tradition of having "model years", and serves only to offer the new and used buyer a myriad of choices, which, once you take variable QC into account, may leave a cheaper bass being subjectively "better" than one further up the price ladder.

I was a bit disappointed with these and don't think the differences in spec are worth the price hike. The fades aren't my thing, but the silver burst HSS strat is nice and it'd be cool if they released a bass in that finish.

A mate recently picked up a strat from GuitarGuitar that I think was one of their exclusives. It's essentially a player series, but with a roasted maple neck, custom shop pups and it came in just under 800 quid. If there was a bass equivalent released then I'd be very tempted.

the problem Fender and other manufacturers have is that their product will lasts forever (unless seriously mistreated)and has technically reached it's peak unlike say, a car, they're trying to sell to a market that doesn't really need or want a new one, so they keep bringing out new models, what else can they do?

This is PJ, in the new Mocha Burst finish which contains micro metal flakesIt's the fall of 2019. Winter has brought snow early to my area. Fortunately, Fender has brought something new as well. The new Fender Ultra series is the current top of the line factory issues. You can still get Custom Shop products of course, but if you don't have the coin or the need, the Ultra lineup is a great place to look.

I've seen and played a number of Ultras so far. I like the new neck with its compound radius. I love the simple improvements in radiusing the body for comfort and higher fret access. I think the rolled fingerboard edges are terrific and find the tone from the latest generation of Fender Noiseless pickups to be outstanding. I also think that most of the new finish colours are great.

I'm an adequate guitar player on my best days. I have miles to go as a bass player, but it relaxes me like very little else, and I find I can get some funk going on the bass, easier than on other instruments. When my friend Cody Shaw over at The Arts Music Store gave me a chance to see what the Ultras were like, I confess that I fawned over the Ultra Precision Bass. When Cody let me play it briefly, I was immediately impressed by the subtle alterations that Fender had made to modernize the proven Precision Bass, without going overboard so far as to make loyalists crazy.

The fit to the body is improved. For a player such as myself who won the short and stubby finger lottery, the neck feels wonderful. For an aging player with arthritis in the wrists (never have a rope break while rappelling in your youth, it bites you later), the D neck is very comfortable. I also really appreciate the revised heel which makes high fret access much simpler.

Note the change in the heel and increased ease of access along with player comfortI already own a 5 String American Elite and a '51 reissue. I admit to liking my Geddy Lee Jazz Bass a bit more from a player's perspective, more the tone than anything. The Ultra Precision Bass brings classic Precision Bass pickups and adds a Jazz Bass pickup near the bridge. Fender calls it a Precision Bass, I call her PJ, after the actress PJ Soles who starred in the old movie Rock and Roll High School. That's my story anyways. More likely it's because the Ultra Precision is an ideal blend of Precision and Jazz basses.

The pickups are Fender's Ultra Vintage Noiseless designs. They are indeed very quiet. All my playing thus far has been into an Ampeg Micro CL mini stack with a TC Electronic Polytune 3 between the instrument and the amp input. They also sound terrific in their normal passive mode.

Fender did not stop at passive. There is an 18v preamp in the bass, powered by a pair of 9v batteries. The preamp brings additional controls and basically delivers more punch than the passive option across the board with adjustments for bass, mid and treble. Switching in and out of active preamp service is accomplished by a convenient microswitch.

The bridge is also new, noted as called the HiMass. It's a nice heavily built piece of kit. The photos really do not do the paint job justice. I also find the pick guard to be very gently minty vintage coloured, but not that horrific mint replacement pick guard that one can buy for Strats.

I want to come back to the D neck. I heard some criticisms about the D decision prior to people actually playing it. With the exception of a couple of folks with really large hands who prefer a club style neck, everyone else found the profile very comfortable. The finish on the back of the neck is a very smooth matte, and despite playing for a couple of hours at home, it never got sticky. The fretboard on mine is rosewood, Fender taking advantage of changes to CITES rules on the use of some species of Dalbergia. The nut is bone, and the headstock logos are in gold foil. Some folks have written about finding prototype Ultras with the logos in silver foil. I've not see such a thing myself.

Like the guitars, the bass offers a 10" to 14" compound radius fingerboard. The bass has 21 medium jumbo frets. All I can say is that it's very comfortable to play and doesn't generate a lot of noise when you are moving around on it.

All models of the Ultra Precision Bass have a maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. The body would varies depending on the finish. If the finish has transparency, the body wood is Ash. If there is no transparency, the body wood is Alder. Colours include Aged Natural, Arctic Pearl, Mocha Burst, Plasma Red Burst and Ultraburst. PJ is the Mocha Burst and it changes depending on the lighting and looks fantastic.

I had really good luck with this company. The quality exceeded OEM and fit was great. Website is a little antiquated, but you have to find the pickguard number for your bass (PG 1406) and the color number (color 41). When you order, you have to tell them your make/model, and any special notes. They then review and send you a Paypal invoice. I recently bought one from them, and I had it custom made in less than two weeks. Looks like Tortoise is a little pricey ($65), but the one I tried from Amazon first left a big gap between pickguard and control plate.

10 screws, no truss rod notch, note location of screws on left side of guard 10 screws, no truss rod notch, note location of screws on left side of pickguard WE ALSO HAVE: made in Mexico, 10 screws, no truss rod notch, like guard shown above but for...

I hope you enjoy @alex.s, I was very happy with the one I received. Quality materials and fit perfectly with no modifications (unlike the one from Fender ). I bought another one from them for my Stingray (excuse the glare)

Hi John, the one with the truss rod hole is a genuine replacement pickguard sold by Fender. Unfortunately Fender themselves only offer two pickguards with either 10 or 11 holes for jazz basses, there are no dedicated pickguards available for any series in special.

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