Green Guitars is a new Swedish brand that offers affordable and mid-priced electric guitars and basses, which are made in China. Green’s line-up even includes a few Korean Custom Shop models.
For the most part Green instruments are straight copies of classic models, but as a special feature some instruments are available with relic’d finishes. There’s also a choice of different pickups for many models.
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Green Guitars’ P-Bass (current price in Finland: 375 €) is the brand’s own version of a 1960s Fender Precision Bass.
Our review instrument’s basswood body comes finished in a very pretty Sonic Blue.
One player-friendly change comes in the guise of a modern truss rod, which is adjusted from the headstock end. No need for taking the neck off on a Green P-Bass.
The bolt-on neck is made from maple, with the fingerboard being a slab of rosewood. The neck sports a thin satin finish.
The Green’s machine heads are modern updates of the classic open tuner theme, and they seem to be of very decent quality.
The bridge has been updated, too. The base plate is considerably thicker than on the classic Fender bridge. The bridge saddles’ height-adjustment screws run in grooves to prevent sustain-robbing sideways movement.
The Green P-Bass comes equipped with a Kent Armstrong split-coil pickup. This Far Eastern version uses a ceramic magnet stuck to the bottom of each half’s bobbins with soft steel pole pieces, instead of the separate slug magnets on original 60s Fenders.
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Many P-bass copies in this price bracket deliberately use a different neck profile than the Fender original. A genuine Precision’s neck is relatively wide and a bit flattish at the top nut – some bassists like this, others don’t. Most affordable copies of this classic use a more middle-of-the-road, narrower C-profile.
I like a Precision-style bass to feel like a Precision, which is why I applaud Green Guitars’ decision to build their P-Bass with a traditional neck profile. This bass feels like it should.
The Green bass also wins me over in terms of its sound. I used my own 1976 Fender as a benchmark, and the Green P-Bass growls just like it should. The low register is punchy, and the top end is open, but never sharp or brittle.
The original Fender Precision is the classic of all classics; it was the first electric bass, and its sound is familiar to us all from thousands of recordings. I have chosen to record a little Motown-tribute as a demo song. The Green P-Bass went through a SansAmp Bass Driver and then into a Focusrite interface:
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We could, no doubt, spend hours on end discussing the ethics and the raison d’être of copy instruments. The truth is, though, that there’s an abundance of affordable copies of classic designs on the market.
Green’s P-Bass is definitely worth trying, if you’re shopping for this style of bass in this price segment. This bass feels and sounds very much like the original classic that served as its inspiration. Judging by the review bass, Green’s workmanship seems very clean and crisp for the price.
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Green Guitars P-Bass
375 €
Finnish distributor: Nordsound
Pros:
+ value for money
+ authentic neck profile
+ sound
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