Model Year: 2000
Price: $420.00 (new)
Where Obtained: Guitar Center, Brea CA

First, a little background: Ive been playing guitar for 26+ years- this is my 1st real bass (I had a fretless no-namer from Japan about 12 years ago for some fun). My PLD was bought new at Guitar Center, Brea, CA. According to them, the instrument came from a local Fender Dealer who went out of business. GC bought their inventory and passed the savings to the consumer. The Fender Percision Lyte Deluxe is made in Japan. The bass is beautiful, and being a sucker for a beautiful face, it was the first thing that caught my eye! The body is made of mahogany and has contours more similar to a Fender Stratocaster than a typical P Bass. In addition, both the upper and lower cutaways have been routed and smoothed out- this baby has some curves on her! The neck is made of maple complete with Fenders traditional walnut stripe that covers the truss rod. The fingerboard is rosewood (mine has some nice grain and coloring ranging from light to dark streaks). The neck has a 34 scale and 22 standard sized frets. The headstock is adorned with gold plated, mini Gotoh tuners. It is a four string. Both the neck and body feature a hand rubbed finish. Since I take extremely good care of my instruments this will not be a problem. For those who toss their instruments around, this bass would not be a good choice. Overall, the instrument is light weight- I would estimate 8+ lbs. It weights about half as much as my custom electric guitar. The bass features active electronics. The knob configuration is (from the players view going clockwise from 12:00) Mid Boost, Pan Pot for PU Selection, Tone for neck PU, Tone for Bridge PU and Master Volume Control. The pots all have a center notch so it is easy to know where you are at a given time. The pickups are a P/J configuration. The bridge is gold plated and allows the bassists the options of stringing the instrument thru the body or directly thru the bridge. The bass came with Fenders standard gauge roundwound strings: .45 - .105.

The bass was set up with very low (almost non-playable) action (The original store had set up the instrument and blew it). Furthermore, the neck had been straightened with no relief. There was also the classic Fender hump at the 17th fret. After I brought the bass home, I made the needed adjustments; a minor tweak at the truss rod and raising the action to a medium height (3/32 at the E/B string). Intonation required a small adjustment on the first string after I was through. However, there remains a buzz at the 20th fret on the 2nd and 3rd strings due to a high fret. This issue will be resolved shortly. The way the neck was set up is not typical for Fender- I blame it on the original store and later GC for not servicing the instrument prior to putting it out on the sales floor. (I did get a great deal though, and since Ive set up many a guitar over the years and am handy with a hex wrench, I was fine with it) The neck has a slightly flat radius and feels very comfortable in my hands. If the neck felt like a baseball bat, it would have gone back on the wall- pretty face or not.

The instrument has a very wide tonal palette. My preference is for warm, woody, defined and articulate. I can obtain that easily. If I want something with a lot of high end and trebly, I can dial that one up too. The active electronics offer a lot of character. I once had a GTR with active electronics and I always needed to adjust tone settings to get an acceptable tone. I was concerned about that going in, but once I started to play, the tonal quality of the instrument really began to blossom. I think all she needed was a good home My amp is an Ampeg B50R. The only effect I use are my hands and a volume pedal (My E-Bow doesnt like active pickups):( I play fingerstyle and am extremely happy with the bass. To see what one looks like, highlight and paste this URL into your browser: http://www.fender.com/electricbasses/pbass/deluxe/p_basslytedlx.html

I would consider the bass to be reliable for steady playing. As mentioned earlier, it does require attention to the finish and the neck due to the hand rubbed finish. No adjustments have been required to the neck since I made my adjustments. The instrument retains correct pitch. I check tuning every session and the most it ever needs is a microtone on occasion.