Doctor J

I preferred Quiches

Killing Yoke

S'eggs Pistols

The decisions in FMIC are being made by a board of directors looking at an Excel spreadsheet, not a hands-on visionary who will get inspired and take chances. Imagine the rigmarole someone in their design department must go through to get something through the various management layers and into development, never mind production. They can't innovate and get things to market quickly in the way a smaller builder can. The entire business model, decided at board level, is based on continual regurgitation and effective branding, unlike the Japanese manufacturers, for example, who seldom revisit the past, never mind try to stay there. Anything vaguely different (i.e. not another pointless jumble of existing parts) they've put out has been something which isn't strong enough to create a market of its own (like Mr. Fender himself was able to do several times with different brands) and usually something another brand has been doing better for decades. Still, they're promising innovation, let's see if it's just more marketing hot air. I'm genuinely curious.

Failure Swift.

The basses used on my favourite albums which immediately spring to mind are, off the top of my head, a Zon Legacy, a Spector NS2, a G&L SB-2, an Aria Pro II Integra, a G&L L-2000, a BC Rich Eagle and... another Spector 🤣 No doubt, the original Fender designs are superb but they are not the be all and end all in the way they used to be. Jumbling up existing parts or a different colour of paint isn't innovation, no matter how much FMIC want you to think it is. Fender stopped innovating when the big man moved out. I'd love to see some genuine innovation from them, something genuinely new and creative but I fear this will be another minor tweak of the same core instruments, as it has been for the duration of FMIC's tenure. Perhaps this time it'll be different, let's see.

Absolutely. They make sure their instruments appear in the hands of a lot of the most popular instrument players. Association sells. They have not innovated anything useful in quite a while, however.

The Dimension was the answer to a question no-one asked. What hole in the market did it fill? This is where everyone gets Fender wrong. They point to mediocre instruments of no purpose and say "Nobody wants Fenders which aren't P basses or J basses" but the fact remains, Fender have yet to put out a "J on steroids" which can compete with Sadowsky, etc or any other variation of the original Leo Fender designs which sell plenty. There are so many companies which exist as enhancements riding on the back of the original Big F designs but these are markets which operate outside the unerstanding of the FMIC boardroom, it seems.

To answer your question... You'll need to do a bit of work on the nut to properly seat the strings and most likely a truss rod tweak and intonation set, but it's all simple to undo. You won't destroy the bass. This is the ESP in action in low A.

You'll be grand, but that low A might be a teeny tiny bit big. I use .60, .80, .107, .145 tuned AEAD on my 34" ESP Jazz. The low A is super-solid at that gauge but you are getting close to being able to tie ships to the dock with it 😀

I used to have a Mayones BE4, it had genuine a Warwick Schaller-made two-part bridge, Schaller tuners, MEC active pickups and pre, a very nice bass for sod all money. They all seem to be quite plain looking though, perhaps they might command more cash if they used fancier wood.

They run off a battery if you play slower than 30bpm? Maybe it's the fretboard overhang and extra fret, a feature not usually seen on the MIJ stuff? That's Fendervation for you. Although, sadly, it looks like another range where you need to remove the neck to access the truss rod. Such a shame they persist with such a terrible feature.

They all have P pickups, even the Telecaster. That's ground zero of the last 40 years of Fender innovation. The world ends on the 16th.

Make sure your bass is set up to your taste and the intonation is spot on. Then enjoy it, recording is a cool experience, and don't put needless pressure on yourself looking for perfection. Music is about emotion, not robotic precision.

Anyone who thinks they're composing by typing a few prompts into an AI generator is just a little wide of the mark, no? It would be a grave mistake to mix it into the existing competition.

Did you recently say Leo didn't get it right first time, by any chance, or even possibly just think it?

That's the way to go to hospital for some tetanus shots.

I'd try T-Cut before sandpaper.

Expect to pay 25% extra on everything second -hand and, as mentioned above, sone shops (only some of the biggest ones) will have their accounts set up in a way that they can sell with UK VAT and import duties applied so you don't get the hit once it arrives. Contact the shop before you buy to make sure you don't pay their country's VAT too.

I'd wager most of the general public wouldn't know what a bass guitar looks like, never mind the owner of the fingers playing it.

Dennis Taylor from Duran Duran ... Hulk Hogan

Finally, after all these years, a blue P bass!

I just don't understand why anyone would bother writing something so intentionally derivative. It's utterly pointless music, to me.

The band says... "Due to a continuing pattern of behavior and the mental health difficulties of our singer Perry Farrell, we have come to the conclusion that we have no choice but to discontinue the current US tour. "Our concern for his personal health and safety as well as our own has left us no alternative. We hope that he will find the help he needs. "We deeply regret that we are not able to come through for all our fans who have already bought tickets. We can see no solution that would either ensure a safe environment on stage or reliably allow us to deliver a great performance on a nightly basis. "Our hearts are broken. Dave, Eric and Stephen".

Grand, except Farrell wears in-ear monitors.