NBD - Fender Modern Player Telecaster Bass

[mojobass]

Well ive seen these about on 'tinternet and often wondered how good they might be so i decided to try one!!! Ive opted for the sunbirst finish model!

Well it arrived today!!! after giving it the once over to check it out it feels quite solid! very nicely put together, excellent fret work/fret ends, nice finish on the body too!

Set it up with a set of flats and nice low action (just how i like it) and plugged it in and had a play (albeit,, through my practice amp)

Only gripes - cheap machine heads ( but i plan to put a set of vintage reverse winding ones on eventually) and although the bridge is good, again, i'm planing on changing it for a standard bridge but with the 'screw' saddles

Main gripe! - the pickups sound nice but.... the bridge pickup has hopeless alignment with the pole pieces and strings! - to the point where the 'E' string floats above and to the left of the actual pole piece! and similarly the 'G' string is out of line too

Its not too bad but it does make the 'E' string quieter!

Anyhow, apart from this its a cracking bass and very good value (I don't hold any prejudice with Chinese made basses!!) well worth a punt for its looks alone!!

will take a few picies when the missus gets home with the camera! but for reference its one of these:

[Gust0o]

This is timely

Any chance of a clip? The few on YouTube are mixed.

[mojobass]

sorry but I aint got any way of recording it! it sounds nice (to me anyway!) just a little disappointing about the bridge pup!

[mojobass]

Gonna gig it 2moro nite to see how it does sound, if i manage 2 get a recording there i'll try uploading it

[Gust0o]

That would be cool, if you get a chance - very interested to hear more. Had a stroll around Leeds to see if I could find one, to no luck.

[LemonCello]

I had a Squier Vintage Modified P with an out of alignment pup. Poor QC? Didn't appear to make a lot of difference to the sound, just a little irritating. I've been looking at the MP Jazz in trans black. Worth the £400?

[chrismuzz]

Sounds and looks awesome, but surely the pickup alignment is a QC issue?

[fragglefart]

[quote name='LemonCello' timestamp='1330026990' post='1551758']
I had a Squier Vintage Modified P with an out of alignment pup. Poor QC? Didn't appear to make a lot of difference to the sound, just a little irritating. I've been looking at the MP Jazz in trans black. Worth the £400?
[/quote]

Ooo I've been checking those out too, looks right up my alley.

These tele's look the part though, waiting for pics!

[Gust0o]

How much can the alignment be resolved by some minor adjustments?

[TRBboy]

Looks nice, good score!

If it makes you feel any better, there's plenty of US Fenders out there with misaligned pickups and/or bridges!

Hmmmm...... Pair of Dimarzio Model Ones?

[TRBboy]

Actually, looking at the above picture it's clear what the problem is; the pickups are the same size, but one's right at the bridge, the other's right at the neck. It looks like the polepieces are spaced for the neck position (as with the Squier VM tele?), so therefore the polepieces are never going to line up at the bridge. This is why Jazz basses have the bridge pickup longer than the neck, and they're not spaced as far apart as these.

Not a QC problem, a design problem. Still should sound fine though, I wouldn't let it worry you too much if you really like the bass.

[ColinB]

[quote name='TRBboy' timestamp='1330031033' post='1551872']
Actually, looking at the above picture it's clear what the problem is; the pickups are the same size, but one's right at the bridge, the other's right at the neck. It looks like the polepieces are spaced for the neck position (as with the Squier VM tele?), so therefore the polepieces are never going to line up at the bridge. This is why Jazz basses have the bridge pickup longer than the neck, and they're not spaced as far apart as these.

Not a QC problem, a design problem. Still should sound fine though, I wouldn't let it worry you too much if you really like the bass.
[/quote]

^^as above.

If there's a string imbalance problem then could this be addressed by adjusting the pole pieces on the two outside poles? They look like they should be adjustable with a screwdriver.

[mojobass]

I agree about the pickup size issue!! def a design flaw! theyre exactly the same size so the bridge one is never gonna sit/work correctly!! It might look good but it ain't gonna work good!!!

Ive been scouring the net to see if i could find any replacements/alternatoves that would work in its place but to no avail! I'm considering having a regular soapbar humbucker fitted in its place and just desguise the fact with a little more/larger pickup ring! but i'm not sure that'll look right??

anyhow, heres a couple of pics so you can see for yourelves!

[attachment=100801:DSCF9508.JPG] [attachment=100802:DSCF9509.JPG] [attachment=100803:DSCF9510.JPG] [attachment=100804:DSCF9511.JPG] [attachment=100805:DSCF9512.JPG]

[TRBboy]

Yeah, not great really. Even though it's clearly a design flaw it is mounted slightly off-centre too (toward the G side) from the look of your pics.

You're just gonna have to bite the bullet and stick an MM 'bucker in there!

[mojobass]

Thats what me thinks too!! however, i do have a humbucker from a VM jag lying about that would be a good fit!!

[mojobass]

problem has temporarily been addressed!!! Ive retro fitted an old fender standard bridge i had lying in my parts drawer and the string spacing appears to be 'slightly' narrower so the strings now 'just' align up with the outside edge of the pole pieces on the 'E' and 'G' strings!!!! sounds better but will give it a gig tomorrow night and see how it plays!!

[cocco]

are these true humbuckers or split coils under chrome? obviously they look like humbuckers but the exposed pole pieces make me ask.

[mojobass]

hmmm no idea TBH will investigate!

[TRBboy]

[quote name='cocco' timestamp='1330044673' post='1552076']
are these true humbuckers or split coils under chrome? obviously they look like humbuckers but the exposed pole pieces make me ask.
[/quote]

I agree, they look like "fat" split single coils.

[Green Alsatian]

I noticed that the pole alignment was out on the bridge pickup due to the string spacing being wider down there, but didn't experience any volume drop on any of the strings.

As to whether the pickups are a large split coil - I was intrigued by this myself and tapped around the pickup casing away from the pickup poles with a screwdriver to see if there was anything picking up underneath, but there wasn't so they do appear to be large split coils.

I added a clip in another thread, along with my thoughts before selling, so here it is for convenience:

[url="http://soundcloud.com/andrew-john-durney/fender-modern-player"]http://soundcloud.com/andrew-john-durney/fender-modern-player[/url]

[TonyBones]

defo humbuckers, 4 wire as well so you can series/split/parallel them with an on on on switch.

[andydye]

how are you getting on with this matey? is it still doin' the business for you, I'm really interested in one so wondered how you were getting on...?

[bh2]

Charlie Jones (Goldfrapp) has one, so I reckon they're okay.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I played one last year and loved the feel - particularly the neck - but found the whole thing too dark for me. I often wonder about getting one and popping in a couple of those Bisonic reissues...

[lou24d53]

Was in Motherwell there to pick up my new specs from the opticians and couldn't resist popping into the local Crack Converters for a nosy.

They had one of these on display, they gold / black version, maple neck, looked pretty ok actually, asking for £115 I think. Wasn't tempted myself, but looks like it'd do a turn.

**sorry for regurgitating an old thread, just done a search and was the only relevant one I found.

Edited April 14, 2015 by lou24d53