Introduce Yourself! (2018-2022)

Welcome @420bpm

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Welcome aboard @420bpm ,
Enjoy the ride,
Cheers Brian

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Yes, keep playing, not matter what.
Of course not to the point of injury, and if you develop severe pains, rest for whatever amount of time needed, but if you keep playing, you will get there.
You don’t HAVE to use all 4 fingers all the time, or ever to play bass, unless you are into playing baselines where this is mandatory, mainly jazz, solos, slap, but even there, there is micro shifting, using pinky instead of ring finger when playing 3 frets in a row to give your ring finger a rest with stretching, and add strength to your pinky.

If you have not already, watch @JoshFossgreen 's video on the Bass Buzz channel on YouTube about 1 finger per fret (1FPF) vs Simandle (Micro shifting) techniques and know when is best to use each of them, and know it is not an Either / OR mandate.
Just play and have fun, and go as far as your body allows.
I have had many injuries, including shoulder, elbows, wrists, and most of my fingers broken on my fretting hand at one time or another, so anything is possible.

Also, Know you are not alone, we are all here for you, this is an extremely friendly and helpful community, one of the only ones I have found on the internet (with acceptation to Basseducation, Damien Erskine’s site, but is a bit smaller then here last I checked) and fighting and bullying are pretty much not tolerated here.
Ask anything.
The only stupid question, is the one that is not asked.
Welcome, I hope you find a home here and have a long and prosperous bass journey.

Welcome to BassBuzz @420bpm (your pic might need to be re uploaded, I can’t see anything) . I have one of those, a USA Made Fender 50’s reissue, road worn to look like from the 50’s. Normally, I don’t like the new basses made to look used, but Fender did an amazing job on this bass.

Thank god you got a Jazz neck on it, because the 50’s P neck is one of the harder necks on any bass to adjust the truss rod. Its not hard, per say, but it is a pain in the ass next to say like a Stingray with the wheel adjustment where the neck meets the body and is always easily accessible. Or even an open access to hex head where the body meets the neck like on Yamaha’s, or the most popular, on the headstock, weather open or hidden behind a cover plate.
At least its not like my new Danelectro, which the neck needs to be completely removed to adjust the truss rod, but that is also because his original bass and guitar design did not use an adjustable truss rod, but a couple metal support strips built in the necks. But its really not hart to maintain your own bass. It can be intimidating the first time or two when you are afraid to destroy your new toy, but once you realize, you practically have to be The Who to destroy a bass, and it is highly unlikely that you will damage anything beyond easy repair with a couple tools needed to maintain your own basses, it becomes rather satisfying and even can be a side hobby in and of itself.
And you will find loads of help here and on YouTube to guide you along.

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Have you considered a lighter gauge of strings (less fretting pressure required) and/or a shortscale bass? Several people here have 32 and 30 inch scale basses, and the Ibanez Mikro or Fender 3/4 scale basses that are 28.6" scale are pretty popular. My Mikro feels like a breeze to play when pick it up after a lot of time on my 35" Schecters :smile:

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Great point, I forgot to mention that I have recently switched to super light strings (but still use standard 34" scale basses) a little while back, and I am hooked, I love them. I pay mostly Ernie Ball Extra Slinky’s (blue pack) or D’Addario Nickel XL Super Light Gauge, both .040 to .095, and also RotoSounds with gauge lighter down to .035 to .090 or .030 to .085 (I broke the .030 string tuning it the first time, not sure if 34" is too long for that or not, so I stick to .035 now) and I love the lighter gauge strings.
The sound fantastic, but feel great under the fingers, especially if you to a lot of string bending in your playing like I tend to do.

Great point @Koldunya

I have a Micro but never play it, I will let my daughters have it, it is just too little for me, but I can see its allure, and it won’t stop me from trying other 30" scale basses, or even better 32", but I have no problem with standard 34", and kind of prefer it, for now at least.

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Yeah the Jazz neck seemed like a perfect place for me to start but I didn’t know about the truss rod being hard to access on a P bass. Thanks for all the info!

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Not all P basses. Mostly models from the 50’s. seems they learned to give better access in the 60’s.
IDK exactly when they stopped, but they did, so if you buy modern day P basses, you don’t have that problem.

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The Beast has a .030 string tuned to C on a 34" scale lol, how on earth did you manage to break a .030 going for G? XD

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I didn’t want to walk into the “I broke the G-String” trap again,
but, in all likelihood, it was probably a defective string, the knob at the end popped off, it didn’t snap in the middle.
Still, .035 and .040 seem to bee light enough for me.
Actually, I don’t really mind .045, .055, .070. But I rather stay under .100 on the E string, .095 is just fine, but the sets with .090 have the smaller G string, which is the main reason I have gone that small, because I really like the .080 E string. .065 to .07 is great for A string, anything .055 or under for D and anything under .050 for G is what I like.

And I realize that I can probably find those exact sets, but I tend to like to pay $20 and under for strings, rather then $35 to $55 plus.
I realize they are one of the most important things on the instrument, but I was raised on Slinkys, they have never failed me, and they are not expensive. I have been buying the D’'addriao XL super lights because they have been $16 on Amazon recently, and I have gone thru about 4 sets (lots of basses coming in and out) and have bought them as a replacement to slinky’s, that cost $19.95 on Amazon.
TBH, I don’t feel or hear any difference, and they both sound and feel great.
The RotoSound sets I have gotten also feel great and are in the middle at around $17-$18 bucks on Amazon. Rotosound does have some sets with exact size strings I would like, but they are being sold for around $30-$40, and there is nothing different but the seller charging more.
I like the Roto’s just as much as the XL’s just as much as the EB Slinky’s.
Its all about gauge, and not about brand at all, they all feel and sound the same to me, but I don’t have the best ear, and probably lack a lot of feeling in my finger tips, but that said, I stand by them all.

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I tried to edit and upload the pic again. Let me know if that worked.

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Nope, it must be on my end, because nobody else has said anything else.
Thanks for trying.

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Oh great! Yeah the Vintera is made in Mexico and the one I have was made in 2019; much cheaper than your worn USA 50s reissue. I almost bought a new Yamaha TRBX 604FM and still might in a couple of years if I stick with this.

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But the Vintera is a 50’s reissue and trust me, it has the hart to reach truss rod, ask @John_E, he has one, and cursed about it as much as I did (only he did first, as he owned his before I did).

I will send you an e-mail in a few minutes.

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Also, as I had stated in another thread, my G is on an inline head, with the G string being furthest away from the nut, instead of a 2 x 2 or 3 + 1 or 3 x 3 or 3 + 2 head, where the C would be as close to the bridge as the E string (or close) unless you are talking reverse inline headstock of course, so the length still could be a factor, but in the end, I am guessing it was a defective string.

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Done

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Welcome @ednolanus and @420bpm
enjoy your journey

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Did they stop doing this? I thought that recent “vintage” reissue models could still have this too. Not all P-Basses, but some.

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Yes they stopped for productions sometime after 50’s AFIK, but,
Yes, 50’s reissues as far as I know all have this, no matter where they are made, as least if it says Fender, IDK about Squire, and or if they are reproducing any 50’s P’s by squire or not.

Mine being Road Worn is obviously a reissue as well

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Welcome.! Always good to have another bassist! Everything else is really just accompaniment, anyway.

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Adam, it looks like your bass has the truss rod adjustment at the headstock so you shouldn’t have any problems adjusting it. I had a Fender Vintera Mustang for a very short time and to adjust the truss rod you had to loosen the neck screws and tilt the neck. :grimacing:

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