Interesting. How would I tell what neck my cheapy Chinese p-bass has on it?
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Measure the width of the nut from end to end.
Also measure the depth of the neck at the first fret, from the top of the fingerboard to the back of the neck.
The neck profile (curvature of the neck’s shape) is trickier to determine. It is likely some sort of a C contour, but might be a D. Hard for anyone not actually holding the bass to tell. Pics taken from a couple of angles would help.
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I think it is funny how two of my hobbies that are totally different corelate here:
In kitesurfing, the “Modern C shape” on kites is also a thing. 
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I’ll go and measure the neck once I find my Vernier Calipers. What is the difference between a “C” and a “D” neck?
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Always wanted to try that - realistically, I’m sure I’m too inflexible, uncoordinated, or just generally unathletic to manage it, but it looks like a lot of fun…
I have played the p-base and don’t care for it at all. Just something about them that some people like I guess.
There are many variants of P basses made by many makers.
What setup do you like?
After playing a few, I settled on the yamaha. I started with a Yamaha trbx 304. Now play a Yamaha bb734. For my hands, the Yamaha neck thickness and shape are ideal.
Also a big fan of humbucker pickups and Yamaha puts those on quite a few of their instruments. My 7:34 I play in passive mode, I really enjoy that instrument.
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If you look on YouTube on the bass buzz videos, Josh did a shootout video between the squire and the trbx304. The Yamaha won.
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TRBX304 and BB734 are both fine instruments. Good choice
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Oval C neck - it’s 1.75" but thin front to back with exceptionally rounded ‘shoulders’…that is MY draw to the P bass — I also think it sounds good ALL the time…whereas other pickup/preamps can be daunting to fiddle with and you end up convincing yourself that it sounds great - until someone asks you if you have a P or jazz bass with ya. There’s THAT. lol
I am fortunate enough to have numerous choices - and I do play them all…but 80% of the time, I reach for my P bass ----it’s just really really familiar and good!
(I have two Wals, a Dingwall, Pedulla’s, Fbass, and a few others------ I typically bounce between my Ash Fender Custom Shop P, or my Alder Custom Shop P).
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Yeah the whole TRBX line is solid, my 604 was a steal. And the BB is a classic bass legend. First bass I played back in the '80s was my friend’s BB, and I loved the 734A I owned. Great line.
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Man, that’s a hell of an impressive arsenal!
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Yeah was gonna say, as much as I love my P-Bass, I think I would be reaching for the FBass
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Absolutely. And the Wals ain’t exactly shabby.
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I broke my left wrist in 7 places forty years ago (motorbike accident) and still have extremely limited movement in it (and so have to ignore all Josh’s advice on hand and wrist position as I simply can’t do it) so neck type isn’t really relevant to me so far! I’m currently saving for a Harley Benton HBZ-2004 (Peavey Cirrus clone), which is simply gorgeous, but I’ll keep my P-bass and probably get a Jazz copy eventually too.
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I fought getting a p-bass for the longest time, because I really dislike Fender’s modern implementation of the p-bass. For me, they’re too heavy and the neck is like trying to play on a tree trunk. But the more I played, the more I realized that the p-bass “sound” is what I like to hear, and what I want to sound like. Eventually, I capitulated… but I didn’t go Fender.
Hear, hear. Check out the Schecter P-4 (not the Exotic, although I think the Exotic has the same neck), that’s the p-bass that I play. 42mm nut width, 16" fretboard radius, 20mm thick at the first fret/22mm thick at the 12th fret. It’s a true joy to play, a contender for my absolute favorite neck (currently tied with the Charvel Pro-Mod San Dimas IV). And it’s just a beautiful instrument:
I can say that I did NOT like the stock pickup on my P-4 (a Schecter USA MonsterTone-P). It was just too… OMGIAMANEFFINGLOUDPICKUP for me. I replaced it with a Seymour Duncan SPB-1, which has been perfect.
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