PB-50 SB Vintage Series : Amazing value.

Disclaimer:

I play mostly metal and classic hard rock. Exclusively as a hobby, for my own enjoyment. My opinions are entirely from that perspective and do not reflect the needs of musicians who gig or play mostly with others.

Good:

-Fantastic price.

-Very good overall fit and finish

-Looks great

Bad:

-The pickguard is poorly finished.

-The pickup sounds a bit thin.

Fit and finish:

The body is finished very well. No flaws in the lacquer.

-Fret ends are very nicely done. The fret wire stops just before the edge of the fretboard and the gap is filled in as it should be.

-The neck is finished in a very light matte. It feels almost unfinished and my guess is that there is just enough clearcoat to keep it looking nice for a long time.

-The neck pocket is a very tight fit.

-All metal hardware is decently finished. No sharp edges anywhere.

-The pickguard seems a bit flimsy and the edges of it are not finished very well. Nothing 5 minutes with fine sandpaper can?t fix but a bit of a shame since everything else is so nicely finished.

Playability:

-The neck and fret finish ads a lot to overall playability.

-The simple bridge made for pretty easy setup, but getting a very low action will take a bit of work.

-Comes with quality Daddario strings right out of the box. Something I would not have expected for the price.

Sound:

-The Wilkinson pickup sounds a bit ?thinner? than the classic 50?s P-bass but is not bad at all. Not the warmest tone but it handles dirty overdriven tones without any issues.

Overall:

I would definitely recommend this bass.It is more than worth the very low price and easily competes with instruments several times its price. By no means perfect but a very solid product that should give years of enjoyable playing.

If it came bundled with Rocksmith 2014, I would call it the perfect gift for new bass players.