Lyle P-Bass Copy

this is a 70s Lyle bass, i have no idea what year (S/N: 766073, so maybe a 76, i dotn know) made in japan. 20-fret 4 string P-bass clone. split pickups, 1 volume, 1 tone knob, open geared tuners, maple neck and fretboard, sunburst finish. long scale, jumbo frets. nothin fancy, just tried and true standards.

i play in a variety of styles, and she'll work through any of them. i generally just run straight through an amp, no effects. its got a good solid range, maybe a little weak on the high end. has a really great warm sound.

i would say its probably a better stage bass, it has a lot of character, but the stock pickups are really noisy... after i repalced them though, the sound is so good that i couldnt see myself either playing live or in the studio without it.

since i found this thing, ive replaced the pickups with a pair of dimarzio humbucking p-bass pickups, and that cut down the noise to almost nothing, and it alreayd sounded good with the stock pickups... its a freakin champ now.

this bass was foud in '98 underneath a bunch of crap in my high school band room where it had been sitting for about 10 years. i have no idea what it wa sliek new.

the stock pickups and electronics were definitely sub-par, but the body and neck are fan-freakin-tastic. after i replaced the pickups and wiring, it is much nicer. the pots are a bit scritchy, and should be replaced as well.

it is dinged, scratched, chipped, and just generally well worn now. but its still a tank.

this bass has withstood live playing, the hardware is solid as a rock, the finish has taken some abuse, and is chipped and dinged in many places, but it was abused by a high school band for many years.

the screw hole for the strap button at the bottom of the bass was terribly stripped out, and completely decimated. a new strap button was improvised from a nut, a few washers, and a drywall screw. it will nwo last forever. the neck is straight as an arrow, and i never even had to adjust it. the frets are solid, the whole thign is a tank. i coudl easily count on this bass withotu a backup.

ive got nuthin

if you ever find one of these, buy it. buy it, buy it, buy it. they are cheap, and they are fantastic. with a new pair of pickups and some replaced electronics, it will sound as good as any other bass you've played (it will sound good even with the stock components, they are just noisy... current p-bass pickups are made with opposing magnet poles for each half, creating a humbucker like effect, these stock pickups seem to have identical poles, and create an extra noisy signal, remniscant of early strats set to the 2nd or 4th position).

Guessing from the serial # it was made in '75...probably a good guess since they were made from 71 to 80. 20 fret 4 string p bass copy, volume and tone, passive, maple neck, sunburst finish, string thru bridge, non-locking elephant ear tuners.

Amazing sounding bass for rock, tight and punchy, and with enough low end punch to be a nice reggae bass. possibly a little ill-mannered for jazz. full and warm sound. the pickups are pretty noisy, which is no suprise given their genericness and age.

I can say nothing about the factory setup...

the fretwork is perfect and the neck is absurdly straight, even after sitting in a nasty basement for god knows how long. the only problems i saw on here were from neglect.

see story at end...i would say this bass will bury all the pretty ones. built like a sherman tank.

ha!

i play with a drummer often who had this sitting in his basement, and i thought it was a neat bass but needed love. all the electronics were rotted out basically, it needed serious cleaning and setup...so i took it home and fixed it up. made a replacement thumbrest, replaced every bit of electronics after the pickups, cleaned it head to toe, put foam under the pickups...after a few hours work and maybe 20 bucks worth of stuff, this bass is so nice i don't even bother to carry my G & L to his place when we jam, i just use this one. Perfect fixer-upper.