Fender Player Precision Bass - 3-Tone Sunburst with Maple Fingerboard Reviews

Short first story. I have been playing bass for a few years. I'm 71 years old and still am playing in a band once in a while. I have had many Basses, Fenders, Gibsons, Rics' German Hoffner. I sold my last PBass through body (US) why, still not sure. Anyway, my Son has a custom Jazz Bass with concentric knobs (US) which I was using. I was looking for a new bass, was looking at the Pro. Series Pbass. But was having a hard time for the amount I play justifying the price. So gave a shot to the MIM Players Pbass. At this was a real surprise looked like my old Pbass. Neck was great finish was great no issues I could see, and sounded great. I did add a high mass Fender bridge Roto Sound Jazz 66 which almost every bass I owned except the Hoffner it made a difference. Oh and changed the pick guard. My experience, great bass for the money.

A recreational guitar player, I decided that I wanted to learn to play bass guitar. Erik was extraordinarily helpful, answering my questions and offering suggestions and instrument options. I decided on the Fender Precision Bass and couldn't be happier with it. Thanks again, Erik!

I didn't want to break the bank, but wanted a quality instrument with great sound. This bass nailed it! Neck has thinner profile which plays very smooth and that Fender "growl" sounds so sweet.

Here's a little story about my road to this bass: My parents bought me my 1st electric guitar when I was 14. Shortly after that I had teen buyer remorse because I realized I really wanted a bass! I was a huge fan of Sting from the Police and other bassists from New Wave bands. Since my parents were working folks there was no way I could say "Hey I really want a bass instead..." So I half hearty learned and became a rhythm guitarist and singer in a HS band all the time coveting our bassist's black Fender P-bass. Time marched on college, life, work, etc and my guitar and the band faded into memory.

Then this year I retired. My son started guitar lessons and I thought maybe I'll play with him. Then the lightbulb went off and I revisited the lost dream of playing bass. I researched and came back to the bass I coveted as a teen the Fender P-bass. I originally wanted black until I saw the pics of the MIM sunburst model with maple neck and pulled the trigger. I was so glad I did! The service and advice from SW and Christian were top notch. The bass is absolutely stunning. Fit and finish were perfect. The satin neck is smooth and easy to play. No sharp edges on the frets. Tuners do a great job of holding tune. The split coil pickup delivers, well, that classic P-bass sound with great sustain. The bridge seems solid to me. I heard my son humming the bass line to "Come Together" so it was the 2nd song I taught myself. Practice and learning are going steady for both of us and we have fun jamming together. The road here was long but worth it.

One last shout out to SW and their CS The bass came practically set up after their 55 point inspection and the box was over packed and double boxed with care to ensure safe deliver. Buy from SW with confidence. Cheers!

The pictures of this bass are nice but I was even more impressed when I received it. Looks great and plays great. Can't go wrong with this bass. Someday I'll purchase an American P Bass but I'm very happy with my choice.

Taught myself to play drums originally, but decided I wanted to branch out and try to wrap my head around something with strings. This bass is wonderful for a beginner or a seasoned player. The range of sound is amazing (coupled with a Fender Rumble 100), and the look and feel are awesome, too.

I am really happy with this bass. I have a USA 50's reissue P bass and this Player Series actually plays better. The neck is absolutely perfect and the satin finish on the back of neck feels like silk. I play through a 1980's Peavey TNT combo amp with a 15" speaker and I can't believe the sound. I might buy the Jazz model next.

This bass is fantastic and as always, Sweetwater continues to be the best website to purchase all things music.

I just opened this thing up about two hours ago. Tidepool was an excellent color choice. It"s bright, silvery, and unique. Goes great with the maple fretboard. I"m probably going to swap the pickguard for a tort one, as I think the color combo will be great.

After noodling for a minute I heard a tiny thing rattling around under the pickguard, which I removed (was going to do this anyway to cleanly take off the plastic) and found a tiny piece of solder to be the culprit. Double checked the solder joints to make sure nothing had come undone and put everything back together - I can"t put this thing down. I own an EBMM Stingray Special 4HH that I picked up last month, a Deluxe Active Jazz Bass I"ve had for years, a Mustang P/J, and a couple of cheapies, and between all of that I wanted something solid and very simple - no pickup positions, no panning pot, no 3-band EQ - just simple volume and tone and this thing DELIVERS. At gigs I"ll find myself turning all my knobs and switches trying to dial in the perfect tone. This thing was bringing it right out of the box. Other than the rattling solder fragment the set up is great - no adjustment needed so far. I highly recommend picking one up.

Smooth feeling, and deep, resonant sound. Fuller, richer sound than Lakland 44-64. Love it!

Delivery a bit confusing.

Action, just perfect.
Playability, perfect.
Sound, Fender.
Intonation, needed 20 minutes.
Look, beautiful.

This bass replaced a Squier affinity p bass. I did several recordings with it, and now that I can compare, Squier is a very good instrument. I might not sell it after all.

Sweetwater, has my confidence, would not buy from anyone else, great guys.

Jose, Miami

Bought this bass a few months ago.
Sweetwater does a great job setting this up.
I took off the factory strings and put GHS BOOMERS on and the sound is excellent. Great product.
I'm looking to buy another. Wish the player series had other burst colors....if they had an AGED CHERRY with maple neck, I'd buy it.

With the quarantine, I like many others I presume, have decided to into music (or in my case back into it).


Typically, I've played Ibanez basses which work great for what I like; jazz, fusion, funk, metal. But you GOT to have a P-Bass in your stable I feel, it's just the philips head screwdriver of bass guitars. So I got one.

Now, if P-Basses are what you always play and love you might want to look at other models. But for someone who typically uses other types of basses as your main and you wanted to have a P-bass in your stable for whenever it's needed this is an excellent professional choice. It does what you want a P-Bass to do; give you that grunty lower midrange tone at an affordable price.

The neck is fairly comfortable. My main basses are Ibanez and have been all my life so the neck is definitely heftier than what I'm typically used to. But I've tried a number of friend's P-Basses and P-Basses in stores and some of those feel like trying to play a baseball bat (Bassball bat??) and it's nowhere near that hefty.

The tone is excellent and what you want from a P-Bass; A lower mid thump that just fills the air and your ears. I kind of wonders "Oh a MIM P-Bass, stock pickups, will I need to replace them for something that sounds better or more vintage?" and no. They're excellent stock.

The finish looks quite nice. Brown Sunburst+Maple Fretboard is the best looking combo for precision basses.

In terms of faults I'm not a fan of the bridge. The bridge saddles don't have any grooves keeping them in place. A lot of bass bridges are designed with grooves to keep the saddle in it's intended location. In the case of this P-Bass,The bottom screws make contact with the bass of the bridge which is just a completely flat plane. Over time they can and they do drift, especially if you play downed tuned stuff that puts less tension on the strings as tension is the only thing keeping them in place, or if you play with a hard touch.

Out of all the guitars and basses I've ever owned and played, this has absolutely the sharpest fret edges I've ever seen. I tend to pinch the neck with my fretting hand, and I only occasionally ever come into contact with the actual sides of the neck. But when I do it's quite noticeable how rough and sharp the fret edges are when you slide your hand up and down the neck. Sliding my hand up and down the neck of the bass and all my other basses and guitars, it stands out every fret edge feels really sharp and rough while other basses and guitars feel extremely smooth or there is only a few that feel a little sharp. If that sort of thing bothers you, or if you're the type that grips the fretboard thumbs over, you might want to look elsewhere.

The actual fretwork outside of that is good. No notes fretting out. I have not encountered any dead spots on my P-Bass.

But at the end of the day, I wanted a P-Bass on the side and it gets the job done. I'm happy having it in my stable.

So in summary, if you want a P-Bass this does the trick, especially if it's as a side-bass especially as the neck profile is noticeably slimmer to other P-Basses. But if this is going to be your main instrument, think about maybe changing the bridge and potentially looking at other P-Bass models that might not have the extremely sharp frets that mine has if that is a significant concern of yours.