I am a professional Bassist, recording engineer, and producer.

Roots Rock, Americana

This is the best sounding passive Precision bass I've ever played. It has a real rich, warm, well rounded tone. If you palm mute the strings at the bridge and use Sting's technique, you can get an almost upright sound from it. Its remarkable. Its a versatile instrument so no matter what style of music you play, it holds its own. Its taking over the role as my main bass and its played through an Ampeg SVT-4PRO and Ampeg 4x10. Best thing you could do for this bass is to string it with DR Lo-Riders 40-100

My bass came in a really nicely padded Fender gig bag. It would have been nice if it came with a hardshell case, but I'm happy with the bag. Its really nicely put together and has lots of pockets.

Plug it in and go! The bass is really put together well. There a small little things that people on forums complain about but I didn't have many problems with it. One of the complaints people have is the bridge and the intonation difficulty. My bass was set up perfectly right out of the box and remained so after I changed the strings to better suit my preference. The other complaint bass forum guys have is the 60 cycle hum from the bass's single coil pickup. To me it wasn't a big deal because 4 of my 5 basses have single coil pickups so I don't notice the buzz because I'm used to it. If its something that you can't seem to get your ears around then the best thing you can do is buy a Duncan Custom Shop Stack for the bass but be advised it won't fit in and some of the cavity would have to be routed out. This is the pickup that is in all of Sting's basses. Its a stacked humbucker that retains all of the vintage tone and output but kills the 60 cycle hum.

I usually bring one extra bass with me on gigs but the Sting bass in my opinion is bulletproof. I find it very dependable and extremely reliable. I wish I purchased one sooner in my career but all good things. I gig regularly with it and record with it and it very rarely even slips its tune.

In my opinion the bass is worth the cost of retail for a passive bass. Others may not think so because there are so many other basses in Fender's catalog, and there are many other companies that are selling active basses at this price point. However because this bass is the only representation of the 54- early 57 P bass its well worth it, and if you like Sting then its absolutely worth it. There are more inexpensive alternatives such as the Squier Classic Vibe 50's bass but they only come in Lake Placis Blue and Butterscotch Blonde, they don't have the same pick up, they aren't made of the same wood, and they aren't string-through-body. This bass is well worth the money for sure.

Fender has the some of the best customer service I've ever dealt with, and each time I've "dealt" with them its never been over any kind of malfunction. It was usually about accessories or inquiries into other gear.

I love vintage guitars and basses and this is the best representation of the second generation P bass before it became what we know the P bass to be in late 1957. The Police and Sting are in my top 5 favorite musicians so this bass has special meaning to me as well. The over all look of this bass is "simplicity" and it execute spartanism at its finest. It doesn't have a million knobs like most basses today have. It doesn't have a built in preamp or run on batteries. It has one volume knob and one tone knob. You plug it in and just go. The bass's overall tone takes no prisoners. Its amazing. Its bare bones and simple. When I see it, or even pictures of it or vintage ones next to my rig it just makes me smile. I love it.

Active Musician

Rock, Jazz