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New Fender American Professional Series....


Musicman20
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I'm extremely underwhelmed to say the least. I own a 2016 Elite Jazz V and the changes on that from the previous deluxe range are amazing! They are a proper step forward for Fender, the QC is great, the tone is good, but not perfect, but the pre amp and pickups are more than good enough! I had hoped to see Fender bring a few more ideas from the elites across to the passive basses, the truss wheel would have been nice as would the compound radius and neck.

The olive colour is nice, but I imagine like the AVRI line they'll stop the olive after a year and just bring out the boring old 3TSB and Oly White.

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[quote name='Muppet' timestamp='1480936176' post='3188119']
New pickups (what was wrong with the custom shop 60s?), revised neck profiles and a couple of new colours. Better to get a bargain on a new American Standard...
[/quote]
I guess as this is not the 'Standard range' anymore, rather 'Elite' like 'Deluxe' etc, hence new noiseless pickups.

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[quote name='AlpherMako5' timestamp='1480963523' post='3188485']
Can I ask a really dumb question? Are the USA models SO much better than the Mexican ones? I just got a mex and the tone is wonderful............
[/quote]

The thing with Fenders is a good mex is better than a bad US, heck even a good squier is better than a bad US, a good US is a nice thing to own IME though.

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[quote name='thegummy' timestamp='1480936667' post='3188126']
It's annoying that there seems to be nothing on the fender website about these. Or am I not looking right?

P.s. The sonic grey jazz is a thing of beauty
[/quote]

I'm not at all impressed with new Fender website in general and I'm fairly sure there are a few models from the current range either not listed or at least not listed where they can easily be found.

Edited by Cato
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[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1480964310' post='3188500']
The thing with Fenders is a good mex is better than a bad US, heck even a good squier is better than a bad US, a good US is a nice thing to own IME though.
[/quote]

The "bad US" is still going to have custom shop pickups compared to the mexi's bottom of the line ceramic ones. It's still going to have higher quality tremolo and tuners (and I think maybe nut) and rolled edges on the fretboard. What would it be about the US model that made it bad?

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[quote name='rhcp128' timestamp='1480974378' post='3188683']
I am sure these are lovely basses, but they seem extremely similar to the outgoing US standards and that's one hell of a price...
[/quote]

What was the post-Brexit price of the Am Std before the end-of-line discounts?

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[quote name='thegummy' timestamp='1480973508' post='3188670']


The "bad US" is still going to have custom shop pickups compared to the mexi's bottom of the line ceramic ones. It's still going to have higher quality tremolo and tuners (and I think maybe nut) and rolled edges on the fretboard. What would it be about the US model that made it bad?
[/quote]

Massive neck pocket, pickup routes too big for the pickups, pickups not screwed in the right place within the route, loose pots, poor paint finish, bad fretwork, all things I've seen on US fenders and I say this as a Fender fan,owner and regular user of their products!

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MIMs are perfectly capable basses (good enough for Ben Shepherd for example). However, what I like about the MIAs eg USA standard, are the little things like the thicker headstocks (more wood), quality pickup, rolled fingerboards etc. I always find that the 'little differences' in gear, reveal themselves at gig volume/situations. I think Fender upped their game from the 2008 USA standards onwards. The Pro series aren't a direct replacement for the USA standards, but they will fill that gap. I'm sure the USA standard will return at some point.

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[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1480974986' post='3188701']
Massive neck pocket, pickup routes too big for the pickups, pickups not screwed in the right place within the route, loose pots, poor paint finish, bad fretwork, all things I've seen on US fenders and I say this as a Fender fan,owner and regular user of their products!
[/quote]

I've only played a handful of Americans but never seen any of those, would be very disappointed if I found that.

Having said that, other than the poor fretwork, none of those would make it worse than a Mexican. I'd rather have a bit of space around the CS pickup (that you can't see under the pickguard anyway) than a snugly fitting standard ceramic pickup for example

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[quote name='thegummy' timestamp='1480975289' post='3188709']


I've only played a handful of Americans but never seen any of those, would be very disappointed if I found that.

Having said that, other than the poor fretwork, none of those would make it worse than a Mexican. I'd rather have a bit of space around the CS pickup (that you can't see under the pickguard anyway) than a snugly fitting standard ceramic pickup for example
[/quote]

Ironically the OP of this thread had one with a sloppy neck I believe?

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[quote name='thegummy' timestamp='1480974718' post='3188693']


What was the post-Brexit price of the Am Std before the end-of-line discounts?
[/quote]

They were 1399 on the Fender website, but pretty much everybody had them around 1299-1329. Pre-brexit they were in the 1200 range. It's more than a 25% increase. That's quite a lot for 6 months and at the 1500 range I could argue there are more impressive options out there.

Just my two cents...

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"[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] I'd rather have a bit of space around the CS pickup (that you can't see under the pickguard anyway) than a snugly fitting standard ceramic pickup for example "[/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif] [/font][/color]
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]£600 for MIM Standard P-bass, £99 for CS pickup. Plenty change left to try tuners and bridges.[/font][/color]

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[quote name='luckman67' timestamp='1480967119' post='3188534']
I prefer the post 2012 Am.Std Precision's, & am still glad I managed to get my 2014 Am.Std :D .
[/quote]
Same here (well 2015 for me). If these new basses are better, imo that means they`ll be amazing instruments. As such I`m not gonna take the chance on even touching one, as I know me, I`ll end up buying one.

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[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1480976218' post='3188725']
[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]£600 for MIM Standard P-bass, £99 for CS pickup. Plenty change left to try tuners and bridges.[/font][/color]
[/quote]

I went through the comparison in my head many times before purchasing a Strat a few weeks ago. Once you do change the pickups, tuners and bridge then you're getting close to what you get from the American Standard minus the rolled fretboard. But you're also getting closer to the price (of the old Am Std, not these new Pros).

For the Strat, once I added pickups, tuners and tremolo, the Mexi was about 100 quid less than the American but with the American I got rolled fretboard, much nicer colour (purely IMO of course) and as an added bonus a very nice hard case where I don't think the Mexi even comes with a gig bag. Also the prestige from having the American one which may be silly to some people and doesn't really mean anything in reality but is undeniably something a lot of people feel.

For the P Bass where the pickup is a lot cheaper, there's a bigger difference - something like 250 which is a lot of money, though you still don't get the rolled edges.

My point was really that it's an exaggeration to say that a "good" Mexi is better than a "bad" American. Unless it has some rare serious manufacturing defect, the American is going to be better.

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