Fender Sting Signature Precision Bass  

I got this from a local Music shop around the time they first came out - in early 2002 - so I've had it for about 10 years now. The single vintage P-style pickup produces nice vintage tones but has some buzz when you are using a higher gain. Not the best for heavy rock/metal or slap. I use it primarily for old school rock and blues and some alt stuff and it works great. Velvety smooth and toneful. I might replace it with a Seymour Duncan but it works fine so I'll have to think about it. One volume and one tone - not much to it feature wise. The neck is very vintage feeling - round like a baseball bat - and very slick with a thick poly coating. One important thing - the truss rod adjustment is at the base of the neck where it sits in the body and to get to it you have to remove the neck. It's kind of a pain in the butt to do but I've done it 5 times now to adjust the neck due to seasonal changes and string guage changes and the neck is still in there solid - no looseness or stripped out bolts. But you need to realize this bass is a "vintage" spec bass - not modern.

Pretty good quality. Mine came with the jack cup (Tele style) a tad loose but since I bought it in from a music store with a trade-in and got a great price I didn't complain. I left it like that for about 9 years and then it started getting so loose that when i pulled out my bass cord the jack cup pulled out and I would have to push it back in. Finally I fixed it last year by replacing the jack cup with a new one and it's still going strong. Other than that I could not find any major quality issues. Tuners and bridge, controls and pickup all still work perfectly. Built solid. Other than the jack cup they did a great job putting this together.

THis bass is a pretty decent value for what it is. You are paying a bit more for the Sting signature name. The components are good and it's a Fender - made in Japan - so for the price it's a good deal but not spectacular. There's not much to this bass other than the single pickup and vol/tone so it's not versatile compared to an equally priced jazz bass. You're definately paying for a look and name here as much as for the overall good quality so if this was just a vintage P-bass re-issue, and without the name, I would expect to see the price a couple hundred lower. It also comes with a gig bag that is not much protection so you will need to buy a decent hard shell case. For the price it should have included a hard shell case.

A good solid bass - Fender made in Japan. Make sure you realize it has vintage style tuners that turn in the opposite direction to tighten the strings - clockwise instead of counter clockwise. Also, this is probably not the best bass to have if this will be your only bass since it's not terribly versatile but it's nice to have if you also have another bass like a jazz bass or equivalent. It looks cool with the vintage P-bass look and the long Tele headstock. It looks way longer than other basses due to the long body and long neck headstock. It's a 34 inch scale. The coler is vintage 2-tone brown burst so it's not the typical 3-tone burst but still looks nice. The vintage bridge with the two saddles are kind of weak looking but have held up for 10 years now. I wouldn't replace the bridge since it would no longer have the vintage appeal. There is a "Sting" signature inlay block at the 12-th fret but nobody much notices or asks about it. Most people are too busy noticing the great finish. THis is a great second or third bass if you want to have a vintage looking/sounding bass for your collection.