Fender '62 Precision Bass Reissue

2003, Fender American Vintage Precision Bass '62, manufactured in Corona, California. 20 frets,maple neck, C-shape with rosewood fretboard, solid alder body in Olympic White, nitrocellulose finish with red tortoise shell pickguard. Fender Vintage '62 Precision Split coil pickups, passive. One tone and one volume control. Vintage bridge and reverse tuners. Hardshell case, vintage leather strap, chrome pickup and bridge covers, vintage cable.
I give it an 8 because the pickguard is too dark compared to the original '62 which detracts somewhat from the good looks of the bass.
Otherwise, this is a very accurate reproduction.

I play in a classic rock band and this bass suits me perfectly. It has a deep, warm full sound that supports and drives the music. I play through an Ampeg SVT-3 Pro Head and Ampeg Classic 4X10 Cabinet. No special effects, I don't need it. The equalizer on the head is all I need. Pickups are much quieter than my American Series Jazz Bass I have been using.
The tone is there for Rolling Stones, Santana, Rare Earth, Cheap Trick, Free, Cars,Grand Funk and other classic rock group songs we do. There is more variety in the sound than I would expect with the split pickup and tone knob. The major sound from this bass, though, is deep, dark, warm and full, although it can be brightened a bit through the amp. This is not a slapping bass. It sounds great on stage. We have not gone into the recording studio yet, but will after the first of the year, but I suspect it will sound great. The only thing I don't like, is the width of the neck makes it a bit harder to play than a Jazz Bass, so more effort is required when playing.

I was surprised at how well this bass was setup from the factory. The action, neck and pickups were perfect for me. I had the bass restrung with flatwounds by the Guitar Factory in College Park, Florida who do warranty work for Fender. They were very pleased with the setup and had very little to do when restringing the instrument. The finish, frets and fretboard were excellent. The only flaw, was the tone knob was loose and I had to tighten it with a screwdriver.

I have no doubt this bass is reliable. It will withstand live playing and will last a long time. The nitrocellulose finish requires special care so it takes extra precautions to maintain it, but that is part of the mystique and part of the reason for the great tone it has. Strap buttons are solid, it even has a "hootenany" strap button on the headstock. I am considering changing to strap-locks. I don't know yet how often I will need truss-rod adjustments, but I suspect this will be minimal.
I would have no problem gigging without a backup.

I have never had to call Fender about any problems for any of the other Fender equipment I own.

I have been playing off and on for 32 years, semiprofessionally. I have an American Series Fender Jazz Bass with roundwound strings that has been used less and less since I acquired this Precision. However, there are some songs I prefer the tone of the Jazz Bass. I also own a true vintage 1970 Les Paul low impedance bass made of solid mahogany that weighs a ton and not great for gigging, but I have used it.
I love the tone this Precision bass has, I love the way it looks and the way it feels. I would certainly buy another if this one was stolen or lost. I was able to compare a '62 Precision bass reissue to an American Series Precision, a used Japanese Precision Re-issue prior to ordering this one. I played a true vintage '64 Precision Bass and the reissue sounded essentially the same. The tone is what sold me. This is what I had been looking for. This bass is not for everybody. It gives a classic, full, warm, predominantly dark tone. I think it sounds well with flatwounds or roundwound strings. It is whatever you prefer and how you play it. It is not a bass to slap or pop, but for classic rock tone, It cannot be beat. Compared to buying a real '62 to '65 Precision bass for twice the price or more in less than perfect condition that you would be afraid to gig with, I think this is a good value; at least it was to me. If the neck were a bit narrower, (a la Jazz Bass) it would be even better.

Made in Feb. 2000, in Corona, CA
20 Frets, 4 strings
Volume and Tone controls
One Precision style Humbucking Pickup, U.S. '62 reissue pkup
Passive
Body is Alder, with Nitrocellulose Laquer finish
Fingerboard is Rosewood, neck is Maple
Vintage Bridge
Vintage, Reverse gear tuners, strap button on back of headstock
34 in scale, wider at nut than most Ive played, 3/4 in at bridge C-C
Comes with vintage cable, strap, chrome covers for bridge and pickup, polishing cloth, and vintage style tweek case from G+G.

The P bass sound! Fender hasnt made a P bass like this since 1965.
You would pay at least $3-4000.00 for one of the originals like it.

I do theater work and studio work, plus club gigs.

I am currently using a Bass POD for anything I dont just go direct on.

It isnt that noisy, but it is exactly as noisy as the original.

Definitely Rich, Full sound, can get dark, very warm. Can be bright, but you typically dont want that sound from a P bass.

Sound Variety on this bass comes from the tone knob and where you place your right hand. For the most part though, it is a meat and potatoes bass and you either like its sound, or you dont.

I would say this is a great studio bass for those that cant afford or just cant find a vintage model in good shape, I own an original 61 P bass and this new one is really close.

I like everything about the bass except the wide string spacing at the nut!

I have never had a good from the factory setup.

Pickups are adjusted fine.

I have yet to find any flaws in the bass.

Very Reliable, its a U.S. Fender
Very durable hardware, nothing cheap on this bass.
Finish is delicate, but its supposed to be, that is part of the mystique of the vintage basses is the nitro cell finish.
Strap buttons were solid, but I changed them to Straploks
I can depend on this bass, it is a work horse.
I could use it on a gig without backup, but I always take my Jazz to bet both ends of the tonal spectrum.

I havent talked with Fender in a long time, but I remember them as being helpful, and how can you doubt a company that has been around for half a century.
Most towns have an Authorized Fender Service Dealer, so you should get any repairs done here.
Limited Lifetime Warranty

I play professionally doing 2 live shows per day, 7 days a week.
I also occasionally get called for studio work, and enjoy late night jam sessions at small pubs and restaurants.

I have a Fender Jazz, Sadowsky 5, Zon 519 Sonus, Musicman Stingray Fretless, 61 Precision bass ( Original ), Danelectro Longhorn Reissue, and a Knilling Upright, besides this 62 Pbass.

I wish it were more comfortable at the nut.

If it were lost or stolen, I would replace it with another one.

I love the heritage of this bass, a la James Jamerson, Duck Dunn.

I only compared it to my 61, very close, hotter pickups.

It has everything I need it to have.

If you are a studio musician, or if you are into playing vintage style music, MOTOWN, R and B, Blues, Funk, Old Country, etc., then you should pick one of these up because they are a classic. Respect the heritage of bass players and remember how many 5 or 6 string players, whose names you know can you count on one hand? The following played 4s. Jaco, James,Duck, Victor, Marcus, Joe, Carol, John Paul Jones, Paul McCartney, Bootsy, Robert "Kool" Bell, Flea, Michael Manring, Stu Hamm, Tommy Shannon, John Entwistle, Sting, John Cowan, Prince, Larry Graham, Louis Johnson,the list goes on and on, but you get the idea, the best things in bass were done on FOUR STRINGS!

Japanese made P-bass, 20-fret, 4-string, vol and tone knob,
passive p-bass pickup. Rosewood fretboard, maple neck, vintage style
tuners, etc...
Don't Know what year, late 80's ???
Stunning foto-flame finish, beautiful!!!
Neck is nicely tinted vintage look, finished with poly-U I think?
Neck seems wider than modern P-basses but has perfect thicknes and feel to it.
I got a chrome bridge cover off of EBAY and installed it. also got two
of those plastic thumbrests and installed one above and one below the
strings, now this thing looks ULTRA COOL DADDY-O!!!
Have you ever seen a Fender bass with double thumbrests???
I think not...so let the record show that you heard it here
first on Harmony-central.com...and don't none of ya go stealing my
idea, you hear!!!(Just kidding, for all I care, you can put 50 thumbrests on you own bass but you won't have room for your fingers)

Killer P-Bass sound!!!
I play Classic rock, blues, psycedelic, gospel, tinged with the occaisional disco fill, surf, r&b, etc...
well suited to all my styles. occaisional slap and popping.
I use a Peavey TNT with a 15" Scorpion. Sounds great!!!
My 2 previous bass players(I started out on lead guitar then switched to bass 6 years ago) both had Peavey TNT's and I have always coveted
those bass amps, just plug in and play(but thats another review)
FULL, WARM, CLASSIC FENDER SOUND...WHAT DO YOU EXPECT???
Used to play a $200 Ibanez then upgraded to this beauty.
For choir rehersal and church, I play it thru a Peavey Classic 50 410
which gets nice tube tone at low volumes(the sound people won't let me
cranck it up in church!!!) at higher vol, the amp begins to distort(the Peavey classic 50 410 is mainly a guitar amp similar to
the old tweed Fender Bassman amps)
I played it thru an Ampeg SVT at the store today, great tone, gets that bit of that tube graininess and crunch to it which would be great for playing Rush and Yes stuff. But for now, I am more that happy with my TNT.
(I might get an Ampeg SVT after I get my Engineering Degree and get rich and am able to afford a house big enough to put that monster Ampeg cabinet in!!!) But for now I am a po student with an expensive hobby, and I am more than happy with my TNT.

The finish was FLAWLESS!!! These MIJ reissues are really well built.
Came with the action really low, and pretty easy to play. I raised it
considerably to suit my taste. I have had it for about 2 yrs. and last night I lowered the action to about where it used to be. I did this
because I heard a bass on a gospel recording where the plucked notes were catching some of the neck and giving them a characteristic "crackle" I thought this was the coolest thing so I considered getting
one of those maple fretboard 70's P-Basses to get that sound, but when I lowered the action, that did the trick, it is characteristic 70's
funk sound now and the slap and popping works a lot better now.

Very solid bass. no back up needed. stays in tune.
When I bought it, the finish was intact.
The back has begun to crackle where it makes contact with my belly
and leaves a wet spot, I don't know how to stop this finish checking
other that trying not to subject it to temp and humidity extremes.
but I am keeping this bass anyway, it is a player's bass.
never had to adjust truss rod.

Don't know...this thing don't need repairin', not for a while anyway.

I stared on lead gtr 13 yrs ago and bass 6 yrs ago.
I also have a classical guitar, 2 electrics hollow bodies, acoustic, amps, pedals, you know, the works.
I would definitely get another MIJ RI P-Bass if it were stolen orlost.
I'm very happy with my purchase, $400 used like new condition, what a steal, I am eternally thank ful to the sales person who convinced me to get it. Can you belive that???
You can probably find them on EBAY occaisionally around that price but I hear that they are going up because people are discovering how awsome these things are.
I now walk in to the local music stores with this bass in hand and play it thru the killer amp rigs they have there, and then I try out the $1000 plus Fender basses they have there and I always walk out saying to myself"I got the prettiest, best sounding bass in the store, and it is MINE!!!"

1997 in a teal greenish blue colour with an 3 ply aged white(i.e. cream) pickguard. standard 4 string with (I think) 21 frets. Standard passive fender pickups, volume and tone controls, rosewood fretboard. It's a gorgeous looking beast!

I play rock/ blues and it suits that perfectly. I use a Peavey TKO 80 amd and occasionally use effects including electro harmonics bass balls, a 105Q crybaby, and boss overdrive and chorus pedals. The bas has a naturally warm, mellow sound which means that it doesn't suit slapping etc. and the tone needs to be right up if you want to feel the wah on the low end but it perfectly suits the sound I like to make. Really deep and mellow.

Action was pish and needed adjusting at the truss rod which sadly involves taking off the neck. This is a pain. It does lose tune quite easily but that's just with going in and out of the bag. The vol and tone controls really piss me off because if you look properly, they don't sit on straight to the pots and wobble as they turn but I guess that's just me. The pickguard is also slightly warped at the top. As for the finish, though, no complaints there.

I would never gig without a backup but this is fairly solid all round. The strap buttons are fine and the since adjusting, the actions remained perfect.

never dealt

I would buy it again but it's not the best bass I own.

Que tal mi Bajo es un 62's construido en Japon fabricado en los 80's (segun el numero serial). Tiene 20 trastes, lo tengo con los controles y pastillas originales (pastillas americans Vintage). El color es quemado, de negro a las orillas y amarillo obscuro al centro(Sunburn). La mica es Roja con brillante en blanco y negro. "PRECIOSO"

Me agrada el sonido, si quiciera identificar un P-Bass el 62 es el indicado para carta de presentacion; me encanta el sonido de mi 62 Japones por que tiene un toque muy rico y clasico.Yo lo estoy utilizando para tocar: Funk , Ska, y algo de Jazz. Estoy muy complacido con el.

Este bajo en mi opinion es muy dificl de calibar, pero como es aguantador para multiples calibraciones. El unico problema es que el tornillo del alma esta pegado junto al cuerpo de tal maneta que para calibrar el brazo se necesita quitar del cuerpo (en un dia yo lo quite 15 veces y aun asi sigue firme y fuerte)por eso es tediosa su calibracion; pero yo ami bajo le lime para que tuviera esa pequella rampa y que tenga un facil acceso al tornilo, con un poco de cuidado queda muy bien. Pero que mas puedo decir mi bajo me lo calibro el Se?or Jack de la Fender (Si ese gordito que sales en las revistas y en la pagina de la Fender) asi que que mas puedo pedir es un exelnte bajo.

Este bajo sin duda alguna esta echo para la guerra estan firme, con un acabado tan precioso diria yo que es el mejor de los Japoneses P-Bass.

La Fender me a tratado muy bien respecto a mi bajo sobre todo Mr.Jack!!

Exelente sonido todo un P-Bass a un precio mas comodo que los Made In USA.

Mine was manufactured in 1998. It's a white Japanese model with a red tortoise shell scratch plate. The basic thing came with a standard Precision bridge (i.e. crap) which I soon replaced with a Badass 2, and also standard passive pickups. I replaced these with active EMGs despite there being nothing 'wrong' with standard ones (apart from not suiting the style of music I play). I also removed the tone control because it coloured the natural sound of the instrument when amplified.

Suits reggae and agressive ska great. Nice 'bite' to it without sounding harsh. I use it with flatwounds, so the sound is very 'full' and never brittle.

Set up and construction are excellent, but not flawless. The only gripe is that the volume and tone controls were a little crooked on arrival, but I soon corrected this with a tine screwdriver. It was that minor.

This bass has been incredibly reliable. It's been dropped, thrown in the back of cars and vans, stood on, soaked, banged on walls, everthing. It just won't die. There's obvious battle damage (flaking paint where dings have occured), but apart from that it's pretty damn flawless. I've used it without backup for 2 years. I had to replace the nut, but only because I dropped the bass face down and broke it clean in two.

Never dealt with Fender.

This is the second 'proper' bass I have ever owned. It does everything I demand of it with no hassle. It's a very straight forward instrument that can be used in any type of music and I would not hesitate to buy one again.