Cheap Vintage P-sytle Basses

Y

Yanjipy

Nov 2, 2019
11
6
2,531
Thailand
#1
Hi everybody,
I've been going through Reverb lately, and I have found a few vintage P-style basses that are between the $300-$700 range. The ones that have caught my attention are Japanese made (60s) and (70s). I personally think these old, beat-up basses look awesome, but I'm skeptical of their overall playability and quality.
Any advice for me regarding these cheap P-style basses?

Thank you!
 
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#4
Yanjipy said:
Hi everybody,
I've been going through Reverb lately, and I have found a few vintage P-style basses that are between the $300-$700 range. The ones that have caught my attention are Japanese made (60s) and (70s). I personally think these old, beat-up basses look awesome, but I'm skeptical of their overall playability and quality.
Any advice for me regarding these cheap P-style basses?

Thank you!
Click to expand...
The 70's were especially good for Japanese lawsuit P clones. The 60's versions sometimes had cheaper hardware but there are good ones to be had. I think any of them can be made playable if you know your way around setups, and if you don't like the pickups, they can be replaced. But they often had really good pickups as well. If I were in the market, I'd give them consideration for sure.
 
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#5
Yanjipy said:
Hi everybody,
I've been going through Reverb lately, and I have found a few vintage P-style basses that are between the $300-$700 range. The ones that have caught my attention are Japanese made (60s) and (70s). I personally think these old, beat-up basses look awesome, but I'm skeptical of their overall playability and quality.
Any advice for me regarding these cheap P-style basses?

Thank you!
Click to expand...
You're talking about buying one without having the chance to play it?
 
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#8
jd56hawk said:
I've done it with nine of the ten basses I own.
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Me too, except I now have 11 and I'm including my Upton upright. Also bought several others sight unseen, including a Realistic violin bass that needed a full resto and was basically a parts bass when I got it. Some have required work to make them playable, but since I'm good at setups and halfway decent with very light fretwork, I've been able to make them all play and sound great. Can't recall ever buying a dud, either. The cheapo Bradley Steinberger copy I got for $80 required new pickups (in this case, ancient DiMarzio Model J's I got for cheap), new routing and a pickguard to cover it up, but I got it done for very little, it sounded and played great, and made back all of my money when I sold it.

Do your research before you buy, learn how to do setups if you don't already know, and it makes buying before trying a lot less risky.
 
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#9
JimmyM said:
Me too, except I now have 11 and I'm including my Upton upright. Also bought several others sight unseen, including a Realistic violin bass that needed a full resto and was basically a parts bass when I got it. Some have required work to make them playable, but since I'm good at setups and halfway decent with very light fretwork, I've been able to make them all play and sound great. Can't recall ever buying a dud, either. The cheapo Bradley Steinberger copy I got for $80 required new pickups (in this case, ancient DiMarzio Model J's I got for cheap), new routing and a pickguard to cover it up, but I got it done for very little, it sounded and played great, and made back all of my money when I sold it.

Do your research before you buy, learn how to do setups if you don't already know, and it makes buying before trying a lot less risky.
Click to expand...
I've been lucky so far but I still worry about the possibility of shipping damage, and to a lesser degree, the seller's integrity.
Bought a two-month-old custom L2000 last year that must've originally sold for $2,000 plus...got it for $1,350. Had to wonder why the seller sold it for so little...was the neck warped, was there something wrong with the pickups or electronics, etc?
Fortunately, it was 100%.
If you have to buy sight unseen, it helps to know as much as possible about what you're buying.
I don't have a problem with buying something new without playing it, but I've passed on several T-40s because they were too much of a gamble for me.
 
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#11
Personally think the late 70s and 80s MIJ stuff is generally better. Usually 60s and 70s stuff is a bit kooky design wise as it was before they really started nailing down the proper specs to copy (could be cool though if you want a more unique take on a P and not a spot on copy).
 
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