Superior American Build Quality.

[RayFW]

Here's a little quiz:
Take 2 Fender basses. One was made in Indonesia and cost approx £200. The other was made in the Good Ol' US of A and cost £770
Can you guess which is which?


[attachment=7387:IMG_4220.JPG]
[attachment=7388:IMG_4223.JPG]

Now I know that a nicely finished neck pocket is not the be all and end all of a decent bass but I would expect the bass costing nearly 4 times as much to exhibit better QC.
Thoughts?

[OutToPlayJazz]

As I've said in many posts on here, you really need to play a lot of Fenders to get the right one. Quality control on the USA ones is patchy & you really do need to check out a few to make sure you get a good one. I was lucky with my MIA S1 jazz, it really is a well finished instrument and oozes quality. Conversely (I assume your Indonesian one is a Squier VMJ?) the quality control on the Japanese models seems very consistant, and Squier just gets better and better. Also, the last few new MIM jazzes & precisions I've played have been stunning - In particular a sunburst MIM jazz at SC in Leeds. It blew every other bass in the shop away!

Oh, I almost forgot... The MIA is the first picture - Oh, is that the new American Standard? Got any better pics oif it?

Edited April 8, 2008 by OutToPlayJazz

[thedarxide]

Only real thought here is that the pic is so high res, how noticable is it really?

[wateroftyne]

Does your camera have a macro setting?

Just wonderin'.

[RayFW]

Yes the 1st pic is a new American Standard P and the 2nd is a Squier VMJ. I've only had the P a couple of hours so far and despite the QC issues I'm really loving the sound and playability. It sounds more "rounded" than my Reggie Hamilton with its P pup soloed and the neck is fab - much less of a tree trunk than my Warwick and similar to my Stingray. It's also light which is a big bonus in my book due to my increasingly knackered back.
It's a definite keeper (so far!) but it just irks me when I look at that ragged neck pocket edge. Oh, and I also needed to do the old "loosen the neck screws and yank" trick to get the G string to not be too close to the edge of the fingerboard.
Here's a couple more pics
[attachment=7390:headst.jpg]
[attachment=7391:tuners.jpg]
[attachment=7392:pbass.jpg]
[attachment=7393:fboard2.jpg]

[quote]Only real thought here is that the pic is so high res, how noticable is it really?[/quote]
It's not [i]that[/i] noticeable - I'm a picky bugger

[quote]Does your camera have a macro setting?[/quote]
Pic was taken with macro yes.

Edited April 8, 2008 by rayfw

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='rayfw' post='172222' date='Apr 8 2008, 12:54 PM']Pic was taken with macro yes.[/quote]

Oh.

[OutToPlayJazz]

Looks like a really nice bass... Is that the new Blizzard Pearl colour?

At the end of the day, it's not going to be brand new and shiny for long, so what really counts is how it plays, I suppose

Looking at the pics, there's more adjustment on the bridge saddle for your G. Lines up with the pickup poles nicely, though.

Edited April 8, 2008 by OutToPlayJazz

[RayFW]

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='172254' date='Apr 8 2008, 02:32 PM']Looks like a really nice bass... Is that the new Blizzard Pearl colour?

At the end of the day, it's not going to be brand new and shiny for long, so what really counts is how it plays, I suppose

Looking at the pics, there's more adjustment on the bridge saddle for your G. Lines up with the pickup poles nicely, though.[/quote]
It is Blizzard Pearl yes.
Like you say if it plays well and sounds good nothing else matters.