Fender Cabronita Precision Bass NBD

littlethoughts

I got hold of one of these from the basschat forums. I think it looks a lot like my pawn shop 51 due to the double cut body, unusual pickguard and telecaster neck. Sounds really nice, plump and sweet with a crisp top end which is really noticeable on the d and g strings. I used it at practice last night and it was really good, although i will say that the body contouring (or lack of) takes a bit of getting used to. There is a forearm contour but that's it. Also the neck is fairly hefty, but all that combines to give the impression of an instrument that is absolutely rock solid.

fretmeister

Bass Ass Bridge as well! Excellent stuff.

What's the pickup like?

littlethoughts

fretmeister said:

Bass Ass Bridge as well! Excellent stuff.

What's the pickup like?

It's very nice, still fundamentally sounds like a P-bass due to the placement, but a bit sweeter. Still as full and round, but with that humbucker chewiness. Also spits and snarls if you dig in. If it was possible to fit them to another bass relatively simply i'd certainly consider it (or one of the various types that tv jones produces).

EdGrip

I'm pleased to hear this! It's a lovely bass you've got there. I've been planning to put one of these pickups, or a TV Jones version, or something similar handmade by one of our lovely forum pickup winders, into my project bass - but there's not a lot of info out there. Glad to hear that it basically sounds like a P-Bass still. If you could pass on any further observations, that'd be great!

littlethoughts

EdGrip said:

I'm pleased to hear this! It's a lovely bass you've got there. I've been planning to put one of these pickups, or a TV Jones version, or something similar handmade by one of our lovely forum pickup winders, into my project bass - but there's not a lot of info out there. Glad to hear that it basically sounds like a P-Bass still. If you could pass on any further observations, that'd be great!

Thanks Ed. I think there is a lot of variation in the TV Jones line - some even claim Rickenbacker esque tones which would be awesome.

Yes as I say it still essentially sounds P-ish, in the same way that the old Precision single coil and the split coil both sound warm and woody. I'll try and do a sound demo at some point, but one other thing that springs to mind is that I find the dynamics across the neck to be very even, almost as though the lower d ang g strings were getting an extra kick from a compressor or something. It could also be because it's naturally got a bit more high end in the pickup, so it is just more obvious on those string that that is the case.

Dave_Mc

Very nice