The old Squier v Fender debate.....

[Harlequin74]

Sorry to rehash this one, but i really think i am getting a better tone on my £300 quid Squier Jazz 70's bass than my American Fender Deluxe! Especially on the funky , g string , and slap tones.

It must be me..........!

Any therapy gratefully received.

[JapanAxe]

I for one find that perfectly acceptable. Squier away to your heart's content!

[Maude]

It happens.

I feel the live tone I get is better from my cheap Aria jazz copy than my American Fender jazz, mainly because I don't own an American Fender jazz.

[ezbass]

'Tis often the way. Find what works and go with it.

[Marvin]

I think it just demonstrates that tone preferences are a very personal thing.

[Annoying Twit]

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1432549224' post='2782479']
I think it just demonstrates that tone preferences are a very personal thing.
[/quote]

Agreed. I've heard a lot of comparisons between expensive and cheaper guitars. Not infrequently my conclusion is that the sounds are different, but it's not the case that one is better than the other.

[SubsonicSimpleton]

If you use your ears to judge what sounds good and your hands to judge how an instrument feels to play, the label on the headstock is irrelevant.

[lojo]

Guitars are unlike many other things, modern technology only offers differences over older ones, and price tags don't tell the whole story.

If you like a bass and it makes the sounds you need it to , thats all that counts.

[Lozz196]

If the ears prefer, they prefer. This is something that can`t be explained, and why science can`t prove everything.

[Harlequin74]

Thanks all! Nice therapy session.

[landwomble]

Often wondered this, also the MIM/MIJ/MIA with Fender, too.

I'm considering building a bass from kit parts and would love to know how much difference the body makes - raw bass bodies vary enormously in price and come in all sorts of different woods.
Aside from cosmetics, does it make much difference?

[Lozz196]

Well out of the many Precisions I`ve had I`ve found I prefer the sound of ash-bodied ones. I couldn`t tell an ash bodied one from an alder one if walking into a venue and hearing a band, nor could I tell what one was made from if placed into my hands and told to play it, but when I`ve had an array of Precisions, the ones whose tone I`ve preferred have always been the ash ones. The tone to me seems a little sweeter at the top end, and a fair bit more aggressive, whereas the alder ones have seemed much better balanced throughout the tonal range.

But this is in the mix, and when I`m playing them, not anyone else. I`d bet that if I were to hear the two played on a blind test, soloed, I`d prefer the alder bodied one, with them being as I said, to my ears better balanced across the range. World of difference that, soloed and in the mix.

[warwickhunt]

I had a pair of Warwick Dolphin basses; one, the NT top of the range German Pro I jobbie (approx £4000 in today's money) and a Far Eastern BO Pro II (I paid a couple of hundred for it)... for both playability and tone I chose and still own the Pro II and have sold the Pro I.

[spongebob]

I used to play a Gretsch Catalina Jazz drum kit - cost about £350.

Changed it for a New Classic at around £1100+.

Nowhere near as good - hated it from the minute I got it!

[Jono Bolton]

Both my Precisions are Squiers, and both are stock. The build quality is excellent, and I love the tone but the Matt Freeman has a custom wound pickup so I don't know how it compares to the CV or VM Squiers. I've owned plenty of basses over the years and done countless mods to most of them, but straight off the bat these are the nicest playing and nicest sounding basses I've had.

[Paul S]

I have 3 Squiers and 2 Fenders. Common factor is they were all MIJ in the 80s.

[Telebass]

I have Fender bitsa P and a Squier bitsa P. They are both superb and do what I want. I happily gig either one.

[chris_b]

I know guys playing instruments that sound pretty good, and I dislike the sound of when I play.

The OP has discovered a preference. I wouldn't read any more into it than that.

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1432627927' post='2783275']
I know guys playing instruments that sound pretty good, and I dislike the sound of when I play.

The OP has discovered a preference. I wouldn't read any more into it than that.
[/quote]

Agreed but the OP has identified as many have done that the greater the value of an instrument doesn't in and of itself, guarantee a tone or playability that is any better than a lesser value instrument... to the individual.

[Grangur]

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1432628370' post='2783278']
Agreed but the OP has identified as many have done that the greater the value of an instrument doesn't in and of itself, guarantee a tone or playability that is any better than a lesser value instrument... to the individual.
[/quote]

Doesn't it also go to show that when buying an instrument online, no matter the value, you don't know what you've got until it's in your hands and plugged in.

It also makes me think that when building a bitsa most of us are in the same position: You can buy all the parts and do the build, but until it's plugged in you don't know for certain what you have. It's all like buying a ticket in a raffle. Sometimes you win, sometimes you move them on.

Mrs G says to me about all the basses I've owned. I dispute that. I say I've only "owned" half of those that have passed through my hands. Sometimes within the first 5 minutes I say "this one's not staying". Brand names mean nothing except maybe the higher the price, the better the chance of it being a keeper.

[Annoying Twit]

There has been some research into whether or not body wood makes a significant (e.g. audible) difference to electric guitar sound. So far, different experiments give different results. But the most robust experiments I know of suggest that body wood does not make a difference. This of course conflicts with the experience of experienced guitarists who say that it is obvious that guitar body wood makes a difference. However, if it was found that electric guitar body wood doesn't make a difference, it would not be the first time that widely believed things were revealed to be wrong.

See e.g. http://www.guitarsite.com/news/music_news_from_around_the_world/electric-guitar-wood-myth-busted/

[warwickhunt]

I can see this going OT but 'if' the body material (generally wood) didn't have any affect, then every instrument fitted with type X, Y or Z pup and preamp would sound the same... unless the fingerboard material had an effect but then everyone knows that is nonsense!

[CamdenRob]

It's subjective based on our experience isn't it...

I've only had a few Fenders (a US 2010 50th anniversary jazz, an 83 US jazz and an 84 Jap Precision) and they were universally great instruments, solid, pure passive sound and would have lasted me a lifetime if the tone suited me.

Conversely I've only owned one Squier (a late 80s precision) and it was truly awful in every imaginable way... and not because of set up, misuse etc. It had no excuses... it was just an epically sh*t instrument.

Edited May 26, 2015 by CamdenRob

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1432634079' post='2783341']
I can see this going OT but 'if' the body material (generally wood) didn't have any affect, then every instrument fitted with type X, Y or Z pup and preamp would sound the same... unless the fingerboard material had an effect but then everyone knows that is nonsense!
[/quote]

Everyone knows it's all in the fingers..

Every bass regardless of woods, electronics, strings etc sounds identical in a given players hands... It doesnt even matter how you set up the EQ on your amp... it's all in the fingers anyway.

[Annoying Twit]

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1432634079' post='2783341']
I can see this going OT but 'if' the body material (generally wood) didn't have any affect, then every instrument fitted with type X, Y or Z pup and preamp would sound the same... unless the fingerboard material had an effect but then everyone knows that is nonsense!
[/quote]

In addition to pickup design and preamps as you mention, pickup placement, bridge design, nut type, neck-body join, and other factors could still easily produce differences in sound.

IMHO the only thing that can answer this question is extensive double blind testing of different body woods, with all other factors held constant. It's easy to produce logical sounding arguments of all sorts of things that aren't true.