Hutton

I'm getting fed up with folk passing sweeping statements and not stating that it is merely their opinion. An early 80s P bass for instance is for sale at the moment. It is made by an excellent maker and is no doubt a superb bass. However, is it really necessary to add that it is better than USA Fenders of the same era. I have two early 80s P basses and they are both fantastic basses. I'm not saying that they are any better or worse than any other P bass of the early 80s but to claim that the 80s bass for sale is far better is ridiculous. It is misleading to say so in the for sale forum without stating that it is the posters opinion. I don't want to clutter the post which is trying to sell the bass by making my point. This is not another Fender verses the rest post. It just happens that the P bass for sale post is the example I'm using. By all manner of means compliment a bass to help the sale but don't say it's better than something else. The next post down may be trying to sell the very bass that is being denigrated. It's not difficult to add IMO! This, of course, is only my opinion. Rant over.

Good man! I like your username!

I've added my tuppence worth by reporting to ebay that the listing is fraudulent.

Not strictly speaking identical twins. My son's Jazz and my Precision. [URL=http://s30.photobucket.com/user/Williamwood/media/BPampJ2_zpsbeed4265.jpg.html][IMG]http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c322/Williamwood/BPampJ2_zpsbeed4265.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

I certainly hope that the early 80s Fullerton basses rise in value as I've got two of them in great condition.

Matt has got a good point here. It seems that we will inevitably have a I love/I hate Fenders thread every few weeks or so. So be it. For my part, I obviously love my Fenders but I also used to own one of the Gibsons that Matt now owns. It was a cracking bass but it just wasn't getting played as much as my precisions due to preference. Is that not the whole crux of this? Some prefer one thing and some another. It's not however the case that one bass is better than another it's just a different variation on a theme. It's fine to discuss the merits and otherwise of particular basses by expressing our opinions but it is utterly juvenile to come out with silly statements of the 'it sucks' variety. BTW Matt, I'm going to be moving to Aberdeen in the next couple of months. The big smoke beckons!

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1372770670' post='2129681'] How big are your hands? [/quote] Forgot about the hands Jack. Yeah, I'm afraid they're big enough to be regarded with disdain.

[quote name='cloudburst' timestamp='1372545581' post='2127140'] This is just one example of how there's more to life than Fender, more to life than 4 strings and more to life than overweight big-handed male bassists. [url="http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2013/06/26/poliana-magalhaes-jamiroquais-runaway-playalong/"]http://www.notreble....away-playalong/[/url] CB [/quote] I play a four string Fender. I am overweight and and male. Does this mean we can't be friends as I seem to be all the things you abhor?

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1372321157' post='2124154'] That explains why he was able to do it, but not why he did it in the first place. [/quote] Can he not just do it because he wants to?

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1372318711' post='2124116'] So why is it? This isn't intended as a troll post (or at least no more so than the original post). I am genuinely interested in why greyparrot needed to make to post in the first place, and then why others were obliged to back him up. [/quote] I would imagine that, amongst other reasons, he did it because he was free to do so. Long live Basschat!

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1372256506' post='2123451'] Fender were at the top of their game around then, with a small workforce turning out a lesser amount of instruments. [/quote] Yes, yes, and yes again.

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1372255189' post='2123427'] I agree with you actually, my post was badly written. When I meant periods of ups and down, I didn't express myself properly infact I should have said that in that period of time their quality has been up and down and not that it was ALL bad, but the Fender Special series (the active ones in lake placid blue and candy apple red, remember them?) that came out in 1983 I remember that they were pretty bad. [/quote] Fair enough my friend!

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1372253669' post='2123401'] I believe Fender have gone through various periods of ups and downs, generally speaking, their qc has been all over the place from the late 70's and failed to impress during the 80's-90's however, in the year 2000 something must have imploded in their head offices, their Big Cheeses must have hired new dedicated staff that allowed the "concept" back to the drawing board, and caused them to shake up the entire company ethic from the foundation up. I guess they must have reached a point where they were faced with the question "Do we go ahead and keep on manufacturing the same below average crap that no one will buy and lose business to the copycat market or are we going to come up with a product that will be both in line with the former glory years and at the same time be something that the punters will find to be of excellent quality sound and perfect for gigging. [b]The American Standard series meant exactly that.[/b] I can't fault them, and I don't just buy a bass because of the name on the headstock, but being of a mature age and having known what a P bass was like all that time ago, when I first tried an AM Standard P I knew I was holding a fantastic piece of kit that I would buy without hesitation, now I have 2 of them a P and a J and I have the Fender gas fully under control until something better comes along... [/quote] Nice to see the same old dreary quality control argument rearing its head again. My 83 & 84 p basses ooze quality. I'll give you that some stuff in the late 70s was poor but it's just ridiculous to claim that 20 years of Fenders were poor. Do you honestly think that professional players would have used Fenders throughout these decades if they had been of questionable quality? There has already been criticism of the OP making generalisations but it works both ways.