Fenders are rubbish......But

[M@23]

I loved my Fenders. Fender are great for having these basic designs that have stood the test of time and still work perfectly for most of us. Just, Sandberg, Lakland, Maruszczyk and a host of others have taken that design and made a few tweaks that make them more awesome, versatile and playable. There is something cool about a passive P bass though, plug in and play and get that fantastic usable sound.

[3below]

[quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1442690155' post='2868826']
At the end of the day I suppose its horses for courses
[/quote]

Very much so I suspect. These days I just enjoy playing any reasonable bass, be it £100 to £OMG and enjoy the differences. There are good and bad examples of all, most of which can be sorted with good setup. I am still not taken by the Columbus, Kay (Woolworths?), Jedson and Avon basses of my youth - yet.

[Naetharu]

For what its worth my take on Fender is that they make nice basses but charge over the odds for them. At the end of the day even the MIA stuff is still just production line factory made and it's selling for over £1200 for a pretty basic passive bass. You're coughing up a lot of money for the name on the head-stock.

On the other hand, that same name on the head stock will mean they retain value well so its not as clear cut as it seems at first.

[3below]

[quote name='Naetharu' timestamp='1442696586' post='2868889']
For what its worth my take on Fender is that they make nice basses but charge over the odds for them. At the end of the day even the MIA stuff is still just production line factory made and it's selling for over £1200 for a pretty basic passive bass. You're coughing up a lot of money for the name on the head-stock.

On the other hand, that same name on the head stock will mean they retain value well so its not as clear cut as it seems at first.
[/quote]

This +1, they (Fender and many others) are mass produced CNC machined products. Compare them to laptops, washing machines, mobile phones,TVs, or X boxes etc. Look at the amount of technology and manufacturing processes involved and then reflect on what we get for the money. I have two basses that are broadly directly comparable: Alder body, maple neck, humbucker pickup, rosewood board, large tuners 4 a side. Both have comparable action and sound pretty similar. It must be the decal on the headstock that makes one worth approx 10x the other s/h?.

Edited September 19, 2015 by 3below

[Roger2611]

I love my Fenders, I have recently decided to cull all the non Fender Precision basses after finally realising that the Precision basically just works, I decided to give the Warwick a rare outing the other week, it is a 2010 German dealer only LTD edition Corvette $$, so all in all a pretty decent bass, I used it for the first half of a gig in a room with awful acoustics, it was horrendous, every time I played a G the whole room shook like a Chilean earthquake yet all other notes you could hardy hear!

At the interval I switched to my 1986 Jap Precision (the Precision version of the Jazz Bass Special) the whole second set I could hear every note, the sound was far better balanced, I don't know why but the Precision bass just does the job where a bass with far more tonal options seemed to struggle...explain that if you will!

After the gig a random punter wandered over and asked why the "good looking" bass sounded horrible in the first half....what more can I say other than Leo Fender really did get it right first time

[Guest bassman7755]

[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1442699269' post='2868907']
I don't know why but the Precision bass just does the job where a bass with far more tonal options seemed to struggle...explain that if you will!
[/quote]

The precision has a pretty much unique pickup arrangement i.e. a single pickup in the mid position. You happened to be in a situation where that particular setup worked better than any other option. No big mistery IMO.

[chris_b]

What is this thread about? Dressing up opinion as fact? Some Fenders may have issues but to generalise that they are [i]all [/i]rubbish is plainly not true.

Some issues with set up doesn't make all of them rubbish instruments either. Just means you have to give them your own set up. That might be annoying but doesn't make the bass bad.

Let's have some common sense. That some companies make better basses doesn't mean that all another companies basses are "rubbish".

Many great players are using Fender instruments and that proves large numbers of them are fit for purpose and fine to use at the highest level.

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1442706846' post='2868952']
What is this thread about? Dressing up opinion as fact? Some Fenders may have issues but to generalise that they are [i]all [/i]rubbish is plainly not true.

Some issues with set up doesn't make all of them rubbish instruments either. Just means you have to give them your own set up. That might be annoying but doesn't make the bass bad.

Let's have some common sense. That some companies make better basses doesn't mean that all another companies basses are "rubbish".

Many great players are using Fender instruments and that proves large numbers of them are fit for purpose and fine to use at the highest level.
[/quote]

Have you read the thread, or just the title?

[lojo]

Every time a pino comes up for sale , there's a que of basschaters wanting to spend a few grand , they don't hang around long

[lojo]

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1442685266' post='2868789']


Options and price, mainly. And the build quality is up there with the top-end MIA / CS stuff.
[/quote]

Great, I'm going to check them out

[Marvin]

There's nothing at all wrong with Fenders IMO apart from the price. Before I bought the Sire V7 I have now I checked out the standard Fender Jazz and in hindsight I made absolutely the right decision. I cannot see how a Std Fender Jazz is nearly twice the price of a Sire. If I were looking to spend £700-1000 on a bass, my first thought would be a Maruszczyk not a Fender.

The Precision and Jazz designs are great, I love them both, I just don't need a Fender headstock to get a good one.

[discreet]

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1442702716' post='2868930']
The precision has a pretty much unique pickup arrangement i.e. a single pickup in the mid position. You happened to be in a situation where that particular setup worked better than any other option. No big mistery IMO.
[/quote]

Quite right, and I find myself in that situation pretty much all the time! And with regard to the fact that Fenders are, and always have been, mass-produced and are essentially all bitsas - that makes little difference, imho - it's the design (and as said, particularly the placement of the split pickup) that makes the P Bass what it is, and that design still works well today. If it ain't broke, etc etc.

Edited September 20, 2015 by discreet

[phil.c60]

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1442681816' post='2868757']
I'm perfectly happy with my MIA P have no wish to try any other bass (unless someone can find me a left handed one with a maple neck), mind you, being cack handed my choices are limited, I think the fact that the bass you see most amongst professional bass players is a P says it all
[/quote]

I bought my 1999 Hot Rod P when I was looking for my first "proper" bass as it was the best left handed thing I could find at the time (great Ebay find, I gave £600 for it), and it's still the bass I gig and rehearse with week in, week out. It never goes out of tune during a gig - so much so that unless I know I've clouted it while playing I rarely check it after tuning up. Maybe (usually, now I think about it, just out of habit) before the second set. I've just got it out of the bag and it's still in tune from Friday's gig (except the G which is the tuner that catches when it's in it's gig bag). It's never let me down and I think it plays better than I can, and I get regular comments that it sounds great.
This is clearly why Fenders are rubbish, and I'm obviously deluded or I just made that all up.
I've also got a '79 Jazz that I bought from a guy who cam up to me at the half way break at a pub gig and said "Your left handed - want to buy a Jazz bass?" I like it, it's got black tapewounds on it now but by all that's holy is it heavy compared to the P! (which is why I don't gig with it but play it sitting in the comfort of my house).

Edited September 20, 2015 by phil.c60

[4-string-thing]

There are bound to be good and bad examples of every bass on the market, depending on age, set up, damage, your taste etc. Fenders are no different.

One thing I've always thought though, is that EVERY other electric bass is, to some degree, a copy of the precision.

[Rich]

Sire V7.
Everything a Fender Jazz 5 should be and much more, and for stupid money.

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1442735794' post='2869013']
There's nothing at all wrong with Fenders IMO apart from the price... I cannot see how a Std Fender Jazz is nearly twice the price of a Sire. If I were looking to spend £700-1000 on a bass, my first thought would be a Maruszczyk not a Fender.
[/quote]
Agreed.

[discreet]

[quote name='4-string-thing' timestamp='1442746974' post='2869135']
One thing I've always thought though, is that EVERY other electric bass is, to some degree, a copy of the precision.
[/quote]

That is very true. So why not just go straight to the source?

[TheGreek]

Emperor's clothes...

Best jazz I ever played was my Overwater custom - better than anything with a "F" on the headstock. The build quality was exceptional, the standard parts far superior.

The car analogy is close - think of Fenders as VW Beetles - reliable but limited in what they can do. If you want a Porsche buy something other than a Fender.

[4-string-thing]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1442750890' post='2869181']


That is very true. So why not just go straight to the source?
[/quote]

Damn it, I'm off to my Mums house to get mine from her cupboard and rediscover just how good the real thing is!

[bigjohn]

So much nonsense in this thread.

There's a reason Fenders are expensive. It's because people will pay that much for them. People trust the brand (whether that be for gigging, touring or recording) and are willing to pay for that, thus resale values are good.

Everything else, relatively, is a copy of them, without the 60 years of trust building heritage. You want to compare a new brand with a fender on build and parts, go right ahead but you're not comparing the whole package.

And before someone says "I don't care about the trust and the heritage", fine, loads more people do, which is why they're expensive duh.

[Number6]

My MIM P-Bass is alright.....which is nice 👍

[MacDaddy]

But what is a Fender? Anything with a Fender logo?

IIRC the current Fender company just own the original blueprints and trademarks. The original factory, machines, and craftsmen are no longer with us.

It's all about the 'brand' .

[discreet]

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1442757074' post='2869240']
But what is a Fender? Anything with a Fender logo? IIRC the current Fender company just own the original blueprints and trademarks. The original factory, machines, and craftsmen are no longer with us. It's all about the 'brand' .
[/quote]

It's all about the original design, which is essentially unchanged. Leo sold Fender to CBS in 1965 and had little to do with it after that. Any bass built to his revised 1957 specs with the split-pickup in the right place is going to play and sound like a P Bass. The rest is marketing.

[karlfer]

Fender prices are not helped by the fact none of them are made in Europe.
Expensive shipping costs, import duties, both have an effect.

All the Fender slagging off, well, each to their own OPINION, but for a long time now, I only actually gig Mex Fenders.
Properly set up, well made in the 1st instance.
Perhaps I got lucky.
Despite all the basses/brands I've tried, pretty much every week at gigs, 1st choice is my Mex P/J FSR.

So. They ain't all rubbish. FACT (imo ).

[SimonEdward]

Fenders are like Marmite

I've [u]never[/u] been tempted to own one, but I've heard them on records and always thought.. meh and?.. so what?? 'Everybody' has them, and everyone sounds similar. Solid but 'safe' and not very inspiring.

When my wife sees a band on TV playing a festival or a show, she nearly always asks me.. "Is it a Fender Bass?" (and laughs - because she knows I'm not crazy about them) and 9 times out of 10 it will either be a 'P' or a 'J'. I don't HATE them - and they have their place.. just nowhere near my rig thanks.

[discreet]

I don't know what the fuss is about. All basses sound the same anyway.