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Why don’t I see any discussion or review about the Fender P Lyte Bass, MIJ ??? I know it has the Jazz neck, some have active pick ups. Does anyone like them?? LNZ

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Maybe it has something to do with the price. The cheapest used one I saw on Reverb was $1,500CAD. :slightly_smiling_face:

If you are willing to pay that kind of money for a used instrument why not consider a new Yamaha 504 or 604 that gives you the option of switching between active and passive modes and save yourself around $600? Just a thought. :+1:

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It’s probably also pretty rare. Definitely don’t see a lot of them in the used market.

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Yep, good points both. You can even get a Yamaha BB400 series for under $800.

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MIJ instruments from the 80s-90s seem to have this mystique to them with the price premium that goes with it, plus the “age tax” as well.

The Precision Lyte also have a 2 band EQ. I didn’t find anything about a jazz neck, just that it was a modern C profile which could also mean the same thing in this case; I don’t know enough about Fender instruments as I’m not super into them, tbh. The tuners look pretty cool, too.

I’ve definitely seen them for under $1000 on Reverb in Freedom Dollars, though. Try searching for “Precision Lyte” as that was closer to their official designation.

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FGN creates amazing guitars. Bet that bass is good quality too!

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You can get the “new and improved” Boxer model now at Fender.

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Yeah FujiGen is top notch.

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This is an over inflated price. There was one just a week ago on Kijiji (Canadian craiglist) going for $900 CDN. It was there for weeks and eventually sold. It was a good price at $900 but $1500 is way too much. The one listed was a natural finish and in very good condition.

This is a perfect reason why Reverb is so bad for Canadians. Way too expensive (high shipping and custom charges on top of it) and the way things are going it is only going to get worse. Buy up good deals while you can.

The Lyte was the answer to people’s dilema on weight. They were well constructed but not sought after in the used market for quite awhile.

Demand was similar to the Blacktop Fenders that had some great concepts but only recently have gained popularity.

The Lyte was followed up with the Fender Mexican Zone. Very similar PJ pickups (some Lytes had a humbucking J I believe), smaller bodies, string through body and J necks The average weight was 7.5 to 8lbs. They also had a contoured heal. There was a Zone that just sold for about $600 but as usual flippers are looking to make an extortionary profit cause a week later I saw it for $1200.

If you can get it at a reasonable price its a solid bass as most stuff from Japan is.

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I am so :unamused:ing tired of flippers. Aaaaaand I just deleted a paragraph rant on it that has no place here lol…

But yeah, f those people.

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Go ahead. I am pretty sure most of us if not all will agree. Watching our love for everything music becoming some kind of scam is sad. I have been considering offloading some of my premium basses and just sticking to the mid tier because even the parts are becoming too pricey.

It’s the reason I got into Fender. They were modestly priced (until the last year), they were modular and they got the job done.

In all fairness I don’t think I am good enough of a player to really feel a big difference between a mid teir and a boutique bass to justify the price.

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I’m kinda sad. I loved Carvin growing up, getting their catalogs in the mail to drool over the pretty pictures of and dream about. Now that it’s the Kiesel Power Hour show, their prices have gone up tremendously. They went from being the working person’s custom shop to just another boutique guitar company, imo.

Due to this, I doubt I will buy another of their instruments new. Maybe, who knows. They are very well made instruments. I used to browse the “in stock” section because you could find good deals sometimes. Maybe not quite how you’d spec it out yourself, but the prices made it worth considering, at least.

It’s that feeling that your favorite company has lost its way. I paid $1200 for The Beast (my 6-string Xcellerator X64) in late 2015. Now at Kiesel, the cheapest bass to get with 6 strings starts at $1549 for the 4-string Zeus (which is headless, and not my favorite headless…), and depending on how much adding strings costs (on the bolt on Aires guitar it is $70 to add one string, and $150 to add 2… or $70 and $350 to add 2 on a neck thru Aires… well okay Kiesel…) so let’s call it $1800 for a 6-string bass in 2022. Oh, you want a headstock? Step right this way to the Icon that starts at $1849… Oh, you don’t like the Icon? Or all the headless basses we make? The only way to get a 6-string Vanquish is to buy the Roy Vogt signature that starts at $2200. Ouch. I still have pictures of two Vanquishes from the in stock section or maybe from the model page, 6-strings, that were really beautiful instruments. I was going to get one similar to it for a “classier” look if I needed one (because The Beast is a Kiesel Racing Green monster lol). But that ship has sailed, I guess. Only way to get a new Vanquish is to buy this guy Roy Vogt’s signature. Don’t get me started on cancelling the Xcellerator and keeping all those hideous hair metal guitars :joy: Their current builder doesn’t even explain their pickups, nor does anywhere on their site that I can find…

Oh well. Maybe I’m just bitter because of change, or how much it seems they changed in the 5 years since. Not like I don’t own multiple wonderful basses that I am very happy with :slightly_smiling_face: I always wanted a purple Carvin. Now I have a pair of purple Schecters XD

Which wasn’t where I was going originally, it had to do with scalping pieces of trash making supply and demand issues that much worse, and I’m sitting here with a video card that will be 8 years old later this year because mid-range cards are $1500 instead of their $500ish MSRP, if you can even find one at all. The only way, last time I checked anyway, to get one for a normal price was to let someone build a computer for me which still costs more than the card on the open market lol… it’s so frustrating…

But this is all really off-topic lol…

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That got me tilted too. Nvidia even tried to create cards that aren’t as effective for mining compared to last-gen. That whole market is f’ed up.

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This popped on FB Marketplace today, used Fender Lyte $700 CDN in BC (So about $100US). They’re out there for reasonable money if you want one.

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WOW!! I like that :heart_eyes:

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talkbass.com has a much larger community. I’ve seen threads over there about them. If you search for Fender Lyte you should find more information about them.

Like anything else, they have both their fans and detractors. All that really matters is that you like them.

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