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Post subject: Used Value of P Bass MIM? & Their Sound?
Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 11:09 am
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I'm looking to to buy a used P Bass made in Mexico. Approx what are they worth? Do they sound and play good?


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Post subject: Re: Used Value of P Bass MIM? & Their Sound?
Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 12:28 pm
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For a used MiM, you could be looking at $400-300 for a decent one.

In terms of playability and sound, I own a MiM standard alongside my Japanese 51 and the MiM is my main playing. I have since made major mods just cos of my preferences, but when I got it, it felt great and played fantastically. It didn't feel cheap as you'd usually hear. I did change the pickup got it sounded a bit thin and wasn't all that, but that's normal.

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Post subject: Re: Used Value of P Bass MIM? & Their Sound?
Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 2:02 pm
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Just the other day I saw one on E-bay with a buy it now price of 250.00$,p-basses usually are cheaper than a jazz bass and fetch between 200.00-300.00$ I personally from experience would opt for a Japanese model which in the most part can compete with many of the US made basses.
Spending 400.00$ on a Japanese made bass is in the longrun a much better option,they are made better,sound better and quality control fit and finish is well above the MIM series. :mrgreen:

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Post subject: Re: Used Value of P Bass MIM? & Their Sound?
Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 2:45 am
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How much one is worth depends partly on where you are. Values are much higher elsewhere than here.

Friend of mine locally bought a used MIM 2006 P-Bass that still had the plastic on the pickguard (in sunburst) for $250. That is in south central North Carolina at a music store.

I disagree about the Japanese ones being better than MIM. A good MIM will beat a bad CIJ. All instruments should be judged individually and you can not clump all MIM's together and say any CIJ is going to be a better instrument.

On the other hand collectively CIJ's are generally considered to have inferior non-standard electronics that often are not completely interchangeable with USA OEM parts. MIM bass electronics are completely interchangeable with USA parts.

In the CIJ's favor they do have good fit, finish and necks and look amazing.

I've owned USA, MIM and CIJ P-Basses. MIM's are a significant value on a totally gigable instrument right out of the box. MIM Standard P-Basses may have peaked in about 2005 to 2007 when alder bodies were still being used. So if I was buying one I'd look for a late production one with an alder body. Today many people give glowing reviews to some of the MIM P-Bass models like the 50's Precision, the Road Worn 50's Precision and the active P-Bass Special. More arguably some of the best finishes in the entire Fender line are coming from Ensenada in my opinion.

The $ to Yen exchange rate is pitiful and you can almost buy a USA bass for what a CIJ costs. The CIJ instrument will actually cost more than a comparable USA one after upgrading the electronics (which can often require body cavity modifications to install USA electronics.) Cost alone does not make the CIJ almost as good as the USA bass, it just costs more than it should. I admit that CIJ Fenders look amazing, but the sound is sometimes quite different from USA or even MIM. One example is the Japanese Duck Dunn Precision which has a wonderful look but I've yet to see one in stock configuration that sounded quite as one would expect a bass with both the Fender name and Mr. Dunn's name on it to sound.

The early MIM's are not as good as the later alder ones. The early ones are easy to spot as they have the same type white knobs used on Stratocaster guitars. I'm not very fond of those. Additionally there was a Black Label series that were actually a step below the Standard which can be distinguished by the solid black Fender logo which looks silk screened.


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