Bless me father for I have sinned! I have only ONE bass in my life, a beautiful 96 Fender American Standard J-bass, but I hope to rectify this sin by getting a P bass soon.
While researching P basses: American, MIM, and Squire, I happened to come upon a MIM Precision with the P p’ups in what appears to be in the traditional position, then a J p’up in the bridge position. It also appears to have active P’ups with a switch to make them passive. Seems like this could be a great combination giving a ton of sounds.
That’s what I was hoping. Only $250 more for the extra P’up, and since I have a J seems like this P/J would give me so many sounds. Need to try one to see if my hand will fit the P neck. I’m sure I could get used to it, or change to a J neck if needed.
You have no idea how blessed you are to only have one bass, well you’ve sinned and desire more,
PJ is different than the JJ even when you just play the bridge pickup. The bridge pickup on PJ usually acts like a tone knob to adjust brightness and tone to me. I love all of my PJs but if I have just the Jazz bass and get the PJ I’d always want to get just a P bass.
Everyone would have different reason to own a PJ a big reason for me to own just a P bass is the neck profile and string spacing. Most PJ basses feature a Jazz neck and not P neck. I like my wider spacing and neck at the nut so that’s the first thing I’d look for and almost always the deciding factor.
Yeah, I’ve got smaller hands and have a hard time stretching on my J bass, so figure the P might feel really big. I’m sure I could get used to it, or change it to a J neck if I had to, so if it comes with a thinner neck I’m probably good. I have a damn back injury so can’t drive down to the music store to try anything out, but hopefully soon.
As for my sin, I have 4 Strats, 2 LP’s, an Ibanez, 3 acoustics, and I don’t really play guitar at all, which is why I’m trying my hand at bass! (LOL)
I was playing away on any kind of basses and not knowing any better until I started to pay attention how each feel and play then after a long stint on fast and narrow jazz profile I jumped to spacious MM, I just fell in love with the generosity, sure it’s slower but sometimes it’s a welcome change. Switching back and forth from one bass to another has been very rewarding to me.
I prefer a Jazz nut width, but I’m game to go to a tad bit wider nut to get a pure P tone. It really depends on the chunkiness of the neck profile. For me (maybe not you), thin necks work a lot better.
I’m sure I would. I adore my EBMM Cutlass bass neck at an approximately 40.3mm, although it takes me a beat to acclimate to the slightly wider dance floor.
My favorite neck (that I have) is 1.625"/41mm. It’s cupped nicely but not too hefty, and the neck flattens out as you go up the frets. Just a classic 70s P neck. You can’t beat them. I like 40mm too.
There’s techniques to play with small hands, don’t talk yourself out of a P because of the size of your hands, play it and go with what is comfortable. And P necks come in all sizes, even Jazz necks.
But if you’re liking a PJ that’s fine. I have a Mustang that’s a PJ. Super fun to play. There’s a really good tone out of PJs with about 10% bridge / 90% neck balance. You have the fundamental P sound just enhanced with a bit of the J.
Different profile and width can shape the approach to the song. Take Cutlass and Caprice for instance, the way the I approach the fill is slightly different, because the Caprice feel fast and nimble I’d sometime inspire to play tight and fast fills, where the wider Cutlass offers more articulation because I feel that there are more space. I know we are talking about millimeter(s) here but it feels different.
I think one of my problems is I’m coming over to bass after trying to be a Strat/LP player. Even the J neck feels a little long for me. Hard to get used to the stretch, but I assume it will come to me with practice.
