The first time I ever laid eyes on this bass, I just knew. I knew it would have that mojo, that vibe and that P- bass "thing" that we bassists all love so much in these instruments. On first inspection, it was filthy. The strings were so old, they were rusted and there was grime and dust all over the bass. The frets were oxidized, the neck was dull and heavily smudged and even in light of all this, I could still see the hidden gem that lay beneath. A "diamond in the rough", if you will. A second nod of approval was given when I picked it up: "About 9 pounds" I thought and after weighing it, it came in at exactly 8 lbs, 9 oz., so I was close enough for government work. That's Les Paul weight, for Pete's sake! So I got this bass home and knew what was about to happen. I cleaned off my workbench, got my scrubbing things together and poured myself a medium glass of 18 year- old Glenfiddich. That's the stuff of life, right there, ladies and gents. I took this bass apart, down to the screws and after about three hours of detailing, Rock radio and single malt, what lay before me was what you are seeing at this moment. As I suspected, she cleaned up like a hooker with a court appearance and then it was my favorite part: the time to play her. The first thing that surprised me was the bottom end- there's tons of it and with the tone knob rolled back, this thing sounds like a ten- ton steel ball rolling down the road. There's also plenty of growl if you prefer a brighter sound and that just requires a slight roll forward of the same tone knob. The wide "C" neck is exactly like you would expect of a great, vintage P- bass and while I know that this is supposed to be a 1957 Reissue, the entire instrument screams early '60's, from the color to the neck profile. You gotta love it; You can get a vintage- vibed, great playing and sounding Precision bass for under a grand, so let's all thank the very nice craftsmen at Fender Japan for a job well done. This beast will arrive detailed, set up, intonated and ready to play, so you can get to holding down the bottom end as soon as you put your hands on it and come to think of it, ain't that the way things are supposed to be?