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Post subject: 1994 Precision Bass Lyte Weight Inquiry
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 4:37 pm
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Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2015 11:45 am
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Location: On the loo, regretting that gas station burrito.
I don't suppose anyone would know how much this bass weighs? I've tried to find out online, but no luck. I know it's a lot lighter than my Schecter Diamond Jazz Bass, which is 9 pounds and 10 ounces, according to the Schecter archives. It feels a lot more than that after playing it for over an hour standing up. :P

Thanks for any help. 8)

Cheers,
Paul LF

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Post subject: Re: 1994 Precision Bass Lyte Weight Inquiry
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2016 9:01 am
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Weight varied on these depending on model and origin plus finishing. Some finishes were mult-layer paint jobs which were heavier. The Deluxes were a few ounces heavier due more electronics. Couple of other recollections follow. The Japanese ones used Asian sourced barrel type jacks that are sometimes called "panel jacks." These jacks were fairly common in lower bout mounted jack positions on Asiatic instruments of the day (and even now) and they are never as reliable as standard jacks. The stock Asian sourced barrel/panel jacks were prone to premature continuity malfunction and also to shorting meaning the battery drained all the time even with the cable unplugged. That was what happened to me and then the audio got to be intermittent too. Replacing a troublesome jack with a Switchcraft 152B 1/4-Inch Stereo TRS Deep Panel Jack (made in USA) is a much better idea than replacing with another Asian one. Do NOT buy one from Allparts or Radio Shack as that is the same Asian jack Fujigen used when making them and will surely start kicking up a ruckus again in about 6 months or less. A permanent alternative is to get an "Electro-Socket" or a cheaper standard "football" type jack mounting plate, bore out the mounting hole to make it larger and ditch the barrel/panel jack mount completely for a traditional Switchcraft jack. I played several of these and owned a pearly white one that had at least three coats of finish on it. It was lighter than any other P-Bass by maybe a pound at least. The lighter the body the more the neck dive though. Saving 18 ounces in instrument weight but then having to use a 4 inch wide suede backed strap that weighs 18 ounces to stop the headstock from seeking the Earth's core is sort of robbing Peter to pay Paul and you wind up back where you started. My Lyte sounded nothing like any other Fender Precision Bass, even other active P-Basses I've had like the Cowpoke. The Lyte neck is super fast, along the lines of a high end Ibanez. Since they have active EQ they have a fat low end and biting top end but I eventually judged the midrange was the weak link in the tone on mine. The preamp ate batteries but I can not remember how long the battery lasted because this was over two decades ago, however it was not as long as in my other actives I've had such as the Cowpoke which I liked better and consider more versatile. I didn't keep the Lyte but a year or so. They sure looked good but just didn't sound much like a P-Bass to me. The Lyte sounded sterile sort of like an active Stingray or Ibanez active from around the same period...which isn't a bad thing, just different from the familiar nasty gritty organic sexiness of a real P-Bass with a passive Alnico pickup pair. Oddly enough with the tone controls set to about flat my Lyte did not sound half bad direct into a mixer. In a live situation it just was not as satisfying into a SVT. The Lyte didn't sound much like a Jazz either but more like an active Jazz that had the mids scooped. It was the only bass I ever had that sounded like this with no EQ doctoring. In hindsight I think the preamp was probably "too clean" (having very low distortion) and no tonal biasing which resulted in the "Hi-Fi" sterile voicing of the instrument. A couple of good things came out of owning a Lyte. I could not stand fresh roundwounds on it so I rediscovered flatwounds after avoiding them for years and have been using flats continuously on some instruments ever since. I learned how to use foam to tame zing and over aggressive harmonics with rounds as well. I never put nylons on mine but maybe I should have since they have strong mids as a rule. I think Fender eventually did a brief USA run and a longer MIM run but I never played either one of those versions. The Lyte became the Zone Bass eventually for USA and MIM production and the Zone was around for a little while but never owned one.


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Post subject: Re: 1994 Precision Bass Lyte Weight Inquiry
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2016 4:09 pm
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Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2015 11:45 am
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Location: On the loo, regretting that gas station burrito.
Thanks for the reply and info, Brother Dave. 8)

I did find someone selling theirs on Reverb and they said it was 7 pounds and 7 ounces, but it was a different year than the one I have. I suppose it's at least something to go by. I know it is a lot lighter instrument in comparison.

I do have to get a short fixed in it, which really didn't occur until a couple of years ago. I suppose that's not too shabby, considering it was bought new by my girlfriend (it's actually her bass, but I used it for years because I didn't have an instrument when I moved here to live with her) and it's been played and gigged a lot. It's never had any battery issue, though. The only thing that really happened to it was the paint started cracking and peeling off around 2005. Who in the hell knows why that happened? I've never heard about anyone else having that issue. Then again, the weather around where I live (a 1/4 from the beach and the Atlantic Ocean) and in this house, that's not climate controlled, could play hell with guitars. It gets extremely cold and dry in the winter and hot and humid in the summer (although, not as bad as Florida.)

The one thing I know about the bass that it can have a strong treble presence in it, unless you really tweak down the treble knob. Also, I started using flats on it to cut down on finger noise, which it seems to pick up a lot, at least with me. It is a punchy bass, though. It's not old school tone, but it does work for other things if you're looking for a different sound. I guess it depends on what you want. I use to have the bass boost cranked and the pickup more towards the P pickup with a little of the J mixed in. I was able to get a beefy sound with that.

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