Fender Fools Gold Jazz

[Woodinblack]

Just now, 40hz said:

Let's ignore the fact the Mexican factory has pumped out some stonkingly good quality basses and guitars for the best part of a decade now. So, imo, specifically being from Mexico has very little do with this.

 

No, its nothing to do with coming with Mexico. The final setup set is a human adding strings, plugging it in, playing it, giving it a visual check. Even at a quick once over that should have been seen - in fact that would have been seen, it is obviously within the range that the QA has been told is acceptable.

[DTB]

I too have had a couple of really nice guitars from that factory. 
I think that Fender shipped most of their original machines there so you are getting stuff made on the same machines as made the iconic 50s and 60s guitars. 
I was just saying that maybe the human element has an impact on the final product. 

[Quilly]

11 minutes ago, 40hz said:

The basic finishing and set up will be human. The rest of the construction process, automated.

 

Let's not ignore the fact the Mexican factory has pumped out some stonkingly good quality basses and guitars for the best part of a decade now. So, imo, specifically being from Mexico has very little do with this.

Exactly, the player and vintera stuff is excellent , it’s a company problem not a country problem 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Quilly

[DTB]

11 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

it is obviously within the range that the QA has been told is acceptable.

Just not acceptable to most on this forum. 

Edited February 7, 2023 by DTB

[Woodinblack]

30 minutes ago, DTB said:

Just not acceptable to most on this forum. 

 

Can't imagine who it would be acceptable for - but it is a decision by fender.

Seems like a very shortsighted and dumb one.

 

And I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't end up being known as the fools gold or golden shower fender!

 

I am not a huge fan of lobster, I don't like the claw thing, or the fast cuts in his video, but I do like his thorough testing, and also appreciate how many different names he came up with to describe this bass!

[Baloney Balderdash]

10 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Can't imagine who it would be acceptable for - but it is a decision by fender.

Seems like a very shortsighted and dumb one.

 

And I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't end up being known as the fools gold or golden shower fender!

 

I am not a huge fan of lobster, I don't like the claw thing, or the fast cuts in his video, but I do like his thorough testing, and also appreciate how many different names he came up with to describe this bass!

Those two are very accurate names too for this bass, not just random silly word plays.

 

Like it literally feels like Fender is taking a pee up their customers backs.

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Quilly]

It’s such a pity because they look cool, if slightly pointless 

[Doctor J]

2 hours ago, DTB said:

I think that Fender shipped most of their original machines there so you are getting stuff made on the same machines as made the iconic 50s and 60s guitars. 

Ehhh... not quite. The C in CNC stands for Computer and weren't in use by Fender until the mid 80's, I believe. The idea behind the Mexico factory was to churn out high volumes of units at the lowest possible cost. This means minimising the human involvement and automating as much as possible. The labour intensive manual methods of the 50's and 60's are exactly the opposite of what the Mexican factory is doing. Whoever told you that is, I suspect, a little misinformed.

[spencer.b]

I played an ultra jazz V at a shop a few months ago and the g was right on the very edge of the board , shocking QC for £2249

[Baloney Balderdash]

3 hours ago, DTB said:

Just not acceptable to most on this forum. 

I don't know who exactly an unplayable low E string on a 4 string bass would be acceptable to, not even on a 100£ instrument, except apparently Fender.

[ped]

I mean it's obviously a bad one which he/his pal could return for replacement, and some of the others look like they're out of alignment a bit too, but presumably most of them are fine and they sound quite nice if that's your thing. I think he's being a bit sensationalist to gain some traffic, and who can blame him - but it does feel a bit OTT! 

 

Are the magnets in the pickup actually bars? if so then a 5 string pickup would have looked better. 

 

It does surprise me that there's any latitude for these to come out of the factory 'wrong' - does that in fact show that there's less cookie cutting going on that we think, or do they just keep nudging the router on the way to the break room?

[lemmywinks]

4 hours ago, 40hz said:

Not sure how all of this affects the CNC machines they use in the Fender factory in Mexico, as they use the same ones in the USA, China, Indonesia and Japan. Where people are from would make little to no difference to the end product given the high level of machine automation in a Fender product.

 

 

The factory is in Ensenada, looks like a nice place tbh. Lots of tourism etc:

[Doctor J]

That enormous flag pole could be turned into a sun-blocker very easily, should Mr. Burns wish it to be so.

[40hz]

This also brings to mind the oft-quoted statement when referring to Fender bass/guitar place of manufacture (I'm paraphrasing slightly) ;

 

"You can have a Fender made in Mexico by Mexicans, or a Fender made in the USA by Mexicans"

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by 40hz

[Cato]

I've had a few Mexican Fenders in the last 20 or so years, I know everyone's experience is different, but I've never had a bad bass or guitar from that factory. My Baja telecster is one the favourite guitars that I've ever owned.

 

As said above the Goldfoil design looks flawed, the pickup looks too narrow for the string spacing, even if the bridge and nut were perfectly placed the outer strings would be right on the edge of the pickup. 

 

I'm not  making excuses for the factory, obviously they should have noticed the issues during QC, but they should also have been picked up at the R & D phase before production had even started.

Edited February 7, 2023 by Cato

[Bassfinger]

I sometimes get the feeling that Jesus himself could commission Nelson Mandela to build a Bass in conjunction with the ghost of Jaco, NASA could do the design in partnership with Leonardo Da Vinci, and Lobster would still find a reason not to like it.

[Belka]

1 hour ago, ped said:

I mean it's obviously a bad one which he/his pal could return for replacement, and some of the others look like they're out of alignment a bit too, but presumably most of them are fine and they sound quite nice if that's your thing. I think he's being a bit sensationalist to gain some traffic, and who can blame him - but it does feel a bit OTT! 

 

Are the magnets in the pickup actually bars? if so then a 5 string pickup would have looked better. 

 

It does surprise me that there's any latitude for these to come out of the factory 'wrong' - does that in fact show that there's less cookie cutting going on that we think, or do they just keep nudging the router on the way to the break room?

I think you're right. I mean, the pickup/bridge misalignment is not forgivable at this price point, but complaining about a vintage style bridge, truss rod access at the body end and neck dive being defects isn't really fair, they're features of pretty much any vintage styled Jazz, and you'll get them on custom shop instruments costing three times this much.

 

I see this bass has an ebony fretboard and Gotoh tuners, so it's not as if Fender is using cheap parts. Shame they couldn't get this right. The whole gold foil thing would probably have worked better as a short scale Mustang/Musicmaster bass rather than a Jazz , especially with their narrower spring spacing and the current interest in short scales. 

 

It is quite an entertaining video though, although it does annoy me sometimes when he tests out tones that noone would ever really use (whenever he reviews an active bass, he does a sound test with the active eq all the way off - I mean, does anyone use that kind of setting?) 

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, lemmywinks said:

The factory is in Ensenada, looks like a nice place tbh. Lots of tourism etc:

 

Yeh, not quite *that* bit of Ensanada, *this* bit of Ensanada

 

 

 

But looks pretty similar to the actual fender us factory, which lets face it, is only 180 miles further north and looks pretty similar and probably has a similar demographic.

 

 

 

 

[bartelby]

1 hour ago, lemmywinks said:

 

The factory is in Ensenada, looks like a nice place tbh. Lots of tourism etc:

 

I see they really love Sid the Sloth from Ice Age

[Quilly]

8 minutes ago, Bassfinger said:

I sometimes get the feeling that Jesus himself could commission Nelson Mandela to build a Bass in conjunction with the ghost of Jaco, NASA could do the design in partnership with Leonardo Da Vinci, and Lobster would still find a reason not to like it.

It’s good to know all potential flaws of a bass , you can decide “that fault doesn’t bother me “ for yourself and ignore it . At least you know what someone mightn’t like .

[neepheid]

19 minutes ago, Bassfinger said:

I sometimes get the feeling that Jesus himself could commission Nelson Mandela to build a Bass in conjunction with the ghost of Jaco, NASA could do the design in partnership with Leonardo Da Vinci, and Lobster would still find a reason not to like it.

 

If it's anything like a Jazz bass, it can get in the bin as far as I'm concerned regardless of the level of involvement of the Almighty in its design!

[Paolo85]

19 minutes ago, Bassfinger said:

I sometimes get the feeling that Jesus himself could commission Nelson Mandela to build a Bass in conjunction with the ghost of Jaco, NASA could do the design in partnership with Leonardo Da Vinci, and Lobster would still find a reason not to like it.

I remember some quite enthusiastic reviews to be honest (Squier Paranormal, quite a few HB  quite a few Sires...)

 

20 minutes ago, Belka said:

 complaining about a vintage style bridge, truss rod access at the body end and neck dive being defects isn't really fair, they're features of pretty much any vintage styled Jazz, and you'll get them on custom shop instruments costing three times this much.

 

From my point of view, I can understand why, in an attempt to make exact replicas of vintage instruments, they decide to sell expensive basses without direct access to the truss rod. I would never pay even 250 pounds for a bass like that but I understand (I mean, I would buy for 250 pounds but then resell immediately :)). But at the end of the day, this bass is new. it is as vintage as a Classic Vibe. So in my opinion, having features that are objectively annoying (having to remove the neck for a setup, neck dive) is not necessarily a great idea.

[Woodinblack]

30 minutes ago, Belka said:

But complaining about a vintage style bridge

 

He complained the adjustment on the vintage style bridge wasn't useable as there were no slots for the sadles to go in so you couldn't use the side to side mvoement. That seems fair enough

 

30 minutes ago, Belka said:

 truss rod access at the body end and neck dive being defects isn't really fair

 

They are defects. I guess if you care more about the look then the function you could get away with it, but they are defects whichever way you swing it, so it seems a reasonable thing to bring up.

[neepheid]

In my opinion there's no need for this kind of antiquated heel access on anything other than period correct reissues.  We've evolved.  These basses have no historical precedent whatsoever, so there's no need to do this.  Come on, learn from Gibson's insistence on sticking with the 3 point bridge when they've shown they can use other, way less consternation generating bridges.

[lemmywinks]

1 hour ago, Woodinblack said:

 

Yeh, not quite *that* bit of Ensanada, *this* bit of Ensanada

 

 

 

But looks pretty similar to the actual fender us factory, which lets face it, is only 180 miles further north and looks pretty similar and probably has a similar demographic.

 

 

 

 

 

Roads look in better condition than the ones round here!

Edited February 7, 2023 by lemmywinks