Fender American Standard Hand-Stained Ash Precision Bass Amber Stain Mape Fingerboard

I saw pics of this limited-edition bass online and read some great reviews from early adopters on one of the discussion boards. I was very excited to try an American Standard with 2012 build quality and a '70s natural finish. Turns out this isn't exactly that. The bass looked nice hanging up high on the wall at GC and the guy's eyes lit up when I asked to see it. "My favorite bass in the store right now." The bass is well-balanced and light, yet resonant. Really alive even when played acoustically. The appearance up close didn't wow me. Bookmatched two-piece ash body but with some odd figuring on the front. The back actually looks better. But the near-dealbreaker was the hand-stained amber finish, ironically enough. It looks fairly, um, rustic. Blotchy? Have to say yes. Not really amber, more orangey. The wood grain is right there, as the topcoat is thin satin. Almost looks like no urethane at all. Kind of a blue collar vibe, a working man's bass. Nothing wrong with that, and it should wear well. But it is pretty orange. Plugged it in. Wowee. This thing is a tone monster. Really punchy through the Markbass rig at GC, but heck, every bass sounds great through that thing! Nice setup and easy to play even with the Fender roundwounds on it. Took it home. My daughter saw it and immediately said, "That bass is too orange!" I know honey, I know. Rubbed it down with some Virtuoso cleaner and polish, which brought out the luster and toned down the blotchiness. Hmmm. This might work after all. One other thing. For whatever reason, this bass apparently does not have the Custom Shop pickups that Fender is putting in all the other 2012 American Standards. These pups sound fine, but according to the specs, they aren't "the ones." So...I'm still on the fence about this bass. My ears and fingers say yes, my eyes say maybe. Why oh why couldn't Fender have done a nice '70s natural finish with a tinted neck and Custom Shop pups? That would have been an instant classic and would have merited 5 stars.