79 P @ Elderly Instruments

[jersey bluesdude]

http://www.elderly.com/vintage/items/56U-199.htm

[AzWhoFan]

and it's under 100 lbs! LOL

[slybass3000]

I bought from them before and I recommand it

[tomdbass]

Very nice bass but $1800 is a bit much for it.

[gravesbass]

1,800.00 -10% aint too shabby for one of these older P basses if the code works. That's $1,620.00.

Check this code but better check the exclusions list first or call: http://www.elderly.com/share/coup10off528.html

These older P basses kick ass and I am not even a Fender guy.

EDIT: Just confirmed the coupon code WILL be applied if called in. Good price

[PunkRockBassist]

my 1975 P-Bass is my baby hands down best bass i've ever played and definitely the best bass that i own.

[Matt R.]

Careful guys. String/neck alignment issues.

[gravesbass]

Careful guys. String/neck alignment issues.

Yea, the G string is kicked in quite a bit. The entire lineup is off center. I figured maybe a 4 bolt loosen, neck kick over and tighten but this one might not be able to get straight. Good catch Matt.

[Matt R.]

Word. I was seriously considering this beast for a sec. It's really nice overall and gorgeous. But obviously that alignment shit is a deal breaker.

[slybass3000]

Careful guys. String/neck alignment issues.

But, this is so fixable when you screw-in the neck. Just push on the head before you tighten up the upper screws.

[Matt R.]

Careful guys. String/neck alignment issues.

But, this is so fixable and you screw-in the neck. Just push on the head before you tighten up the upper screws.

This can be true, but in a lot of cases it's not the neck being shifted, it's a case of the bridge being drilled off center. Hard to determine just from the pic

[slybass3000]

If you like the bass, go for it in IMHO. You still can shim the neck the the bass side too.

Also, ask them to realign the neck and have new pics taken. A lot of people are not aware of the alignemt issue when putting a neck on and just assume that it will be perfect because it is screwed on.

[AzWhoFan]

Elderly's a very lefty-friendly shop. I'm sure if someone was seriously considering this bass, that they take off the ashtray and send you pics of the bridge placement.

[Addison]

I'd rather put my $1800 into something with a warranty and a return policy rather than something I'm going to have to yank on and/or shim the neck before I tighten the screws in order to compensate for poor bridge placement and shitty neck pockets.

But maybe that's just me.

(Yes, I know Elderly has a 7-day return policy, but that's not long enough, IMO.)

[screambasses]

I'd rather put my $1800 into something with a warranty and a return policy rather than something I'm going to have to yank on and/or shim the neck before I tighten the screws in order to compensate for poor bridge placement and shitty neck pockets.

But maybe that's just me.

(Yes, I know Elderly has a 7-day return policy, but that's not long enough, IMO.)

I'm with Addison on this one - I'd build my own, "new" P-Bass...


pete

[slybass3000]

My 75 is one of the best bass around. This one looks just as good. To me this is a very minor issue that I would fix if I want a great vintage kiss-ass bass.

But I understand Addison's point, especcially with all the trouble he got into with some of his basses.

[gravesbass]

35 year old wood sounds really good...... I will never part with my 78/79 P Bass. It's identical to the one at Elderly in excellent shape.

[Addison]

I have no doubt that the vintage basses from this era that forum members own are very good.

And I'm definitely OK with doing my own tweaks to make things work.

I'm a lefty... I do it all the time.

But I have to draw the line somewhere... and, for me, forcing a neck out of the position it lies in naturally in order to compensate for a bridge that wasn't centered properly is across that line.

I've done that "fix" before... and all it takes is a slight bump or some active on-stage antics to get it to fall right back into crookedville again. I've even had people tell me to put strips of SANDPAPER in the neck pocket to keep it from shifting back again.

Yeah... no thanks.

The ADE Precision I have has a lifetime warranty and is amazing in both tone and playability... and I'd put it up against any similar precision from any era in an A/B test any day of the week.

I've owned several precisions... and it smokes all of them.

[Lefty007]

I have to disagree with many of you here. . . I think this is not a big issue, at all. . . I've had brand-new current Fender with this problem, and every time the correction was just that: loosen the neck's screws and set the neck in place. Most of the time, I think this problem is because less-than-tight neck pockets -- I've seen very few that actually had badly positioned bridges. . . But I know it happens.

All this in defense of my '73 P-Bass, which has one of the worst neck pockets I've seen, but it's solid as a rock. I don't play in a punk band and/or dive off stage, but the bass gets around and the neck never moves.

About the '79 in question, I also think it's less than a problem because the strings are just slightly shifted to the top of the fretboard, not the bottom. A real problem is when you have the G string almost by the edge of the fretboard. . . that would worry me without having the bass in my hands before buying.

Also, personally, I would much rather play a good '70s P-bass with less than perfect alignment and/or other quality issues than brand-new basses. Just pulling that 41-year old bass out of its funky-smelling case gets me in the mood (insert Marvin Gaye song here).

[Addison]

If you look at the 3rd position dot, the strings are already way off alignment, and they stay that way all the way down the board. To me, that's not a good sign. In my experience, a neck alignment seems to look ok toward the nut and gets kind of bad towards the base of the neck.

I think if this was as easy as a slight tweak, Elderly would have just fixed it really quick before they took pics.

I'm sort of playing devil's advocate here... and I certainly could be totally wrong. That would be great if I was.

But, for me it's not worth it.

I'd love to send you my bass, Carlos... it doesn't smell like BO, cigarettes and cheap polyurethane, but I think you'd love it.