Ed_S Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 A guy in a long-since-closed music shop told me that there were some manufacturers who wouldn't let their dealers put certain products into sales, so instead they would call any such products that had been hanging around for too long 'mint condition second hand' and sell them off that way. I don't buy second hand gear as a rule, but he pointed out an amp and a guitar he thought might interest me and quietly mentioned that although marked second hand, they'd never actually left the shop. I did wonder, since I'd clocked both of them when they were 'new' the weekend before and found it odd to think both had been sold and traded back in, in the space of a week. Fender weren't one of the manufacturers involved or mentioned to me, but I wouldn't exactly be scandalised to find that some shops still use similar strategies to move stock that's sticking to their hands. Perhaps that's why there are so many instances on here of people ordering 'B-stock' and excitedly exclaiming that they've checked it under an interrogation lamp and can't find a thing wrong with it. As to whether I'd pay for a CS, I hate relic jobs and nitro finishes so that probably limits my interest in a substantial number of them that are out there to take off the wall. Ordering a pristine one finished in poly sounds a lot like ordering whatever the current USA flagship production model happens to be, but writing "...and if I slip you another two grand, please can you send me a nice one?" on the bottom of the invoice, when in reality it should already be nice enough. More recently I was in a shop trying a Ray35 out when an older bloke came up and asked if he could borrow the amp for a bit to test out his new CS Precision that he was collecting. He was massively excited, telling me that he's wanted one for his whole playing career, finally decided to go for it, this was the one and he'd moved everything else on. I was happy that he was happy, but it looked like a P, sounded like a P, none of the wood grain looked spectacular, and the orange fluffy-lined case (which he'd opened like a big treasure chest in a Zelda dungeon) just looked a bit cheap. He offered to let me have a play on it, which don't get me wrong I really appreciated given how much he clearly loved the thing, but fortunately I was able to honestly say that my sweat seems to make nitro feel sticky so it was for the best that I didn't even touch it! I say 'fortunately' because I reckon I'd have been significantly underwhelmed and unable to hide the fact. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piers_Williamson Posted September 4, 2022 Author Share Posted September 4, 2022 MY question wasn't really about the mixed views of whether CS Basses are worth the money (for what it's worth I have two. I am left handed and started playing bass in the CBS years. There was very limited choice of any L/H Fender Bass. L/H Jazzes were as rare as pixie dust. Hence today, I have two CS Jazzes. The (relatively) cheaper one is by far the better. The expensive one looks nice and plays well, but doesn't knock me out. I agree wholeheartedly with a lot of comments posted in this thread, on both sides of the argument. What I was really on about was distribution and selling practices (in this case of Fenders), particularly with top end priced products. Left handed instruments are esoteric for a retailer at the best of times, but their relative rarity highlights how they can get 'sold on' in the secondary market without really being sold to an honest end punter. I just wondered how common this was with high end instruments? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beedster Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 8 minutes ago, Piers_Williamson said: MY question wasn't really about the mixed views of whether CS Basses are worth the money...... Questions here rarely define answers here 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubinga5 Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 Ive had a few.. the one that was just awful was a CS 1970 jazz bass. Limited edition. 1 of 100 made. Im not sure what they did to it. But it wasnt resonant. Weak pickups. Big gaps in the neck pocket.. I had a USA 75 avri jazz that was excellent. The best by a long way was a non export MIJ 75 jazz. That thing was killer. Everything you want in a jazz bass. Resonant. Killer tone. Amazing feeling instrument from the fret perfection to the neck profile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nilorius Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 (edited) I can't tell much about Fender custom shop, because i never had it and never ever played one, but about custom shop - hand made by luthiers, i can tell that i bought at 2006 Ibanez GWB1005 which is made by Japan lythiers - SUGI guitars. I felt the feeling of hand made quality at the first second and the second thing is that i will never sell it even for 100000e. About Fender custom shop - I think it is ok with them, hand made job by best luthiers, but that doesn't mean that somewhere in the world, there is a factory made one, that YOU will like better than custom shop job. Edited September 4, 2022 by nilorius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicbassman Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 5 minutes ago, nilorius said: I felt the slime of hand made quality I think auto-translate has let you down today, @nilorius 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nilorius Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 8 minutes ago, musicbassman said: I think auto-translate has let you down today, @nilorius 🙂 OK, slime was not the best word to use in that position. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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