The Aerodyne Fender should have made?

[Chienmortbb]

If you look at my avatar, you will see my Fender Aerodyne. It is one of the first ones made in 2003. I love this bass. it just  looks beautiful. I have often thought about buying the P version. It is in the image below alongside another bass that I sold. 

 

I love the clean lines, no  pickguard, just the front mounted jack socket and three knobs. I have made two mods, the machine heads wree changed for Goton Res-o-LItes and the pickuos were changed to a pair of Di Marzios.  I am not so keen on the later models, especially the ones with the Jazz type metal control plate.

 

 

So browsing on G4M as you do, I found this:

 

 Apart from the colour of the fingerboard, I love the look. Is it worth a £150 punt?

[ezbass]

52 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

Is it worth a £150 punt?

If you've got £150 going spare, there's your answer. Looks great.

[PaulThePlug]

I think @TheGreek picked up something similar i spied on the cheap as he was local... might be worth shouting him.

Must admit it looks nice...

Edited March 29 by PaulThePlug

[TheGreek]

It was a 4 string Ibanez with a humbucker - TBH I haven't even played it - mostly (when I actually pick up a bass) 5ers now.

 

 

Edited March 29 by TheGreek

[kodiakblair]

1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said:

Is it worth a £150 punt?

Mine definitely was 🙂

 

 

Think it cost me £189 either last year or the one before that so if they're no £150 it's a serious bargain.

 

Saw no reason to "upgrade" anything. Neck is a dream to play, not too chunky but thankfully not too thin. Had two issues. 

 

1. Slight string hum, that's down to grounding;  either poor contact at the mono saddles (no bare metal) or a saddle has been skipped.

2. Tone knob needed raised 1mm so it could clear the finish.

[neepheid]

That looks like a lot of bass for very little money.  We are so spoiled nowadays.

[Bassassin]

4 hours ago, TheGreek said:

It was a 4 string Ibanez with a humbucker - TBH I haven't even played it - mostly (when I actually pick up a bass) 5ers now.

 

 

 

It's an Aria STB-GT, basically a mashup of a Stingray, a P shape Aerodyne body & a Jazz neck. I managed to blag one for £99 back when it was a current model. I think list was £250-odd back in 2007 or so.

 

 

The G4M 'version' looks like a steal at £150 - I'm actually relieved there isn't a PJ or JJ version - don't need any more impulse purchases!

[markbunney]

8 hours ago, Chienmortbb said:

If you look at my avatar, you will see my Fender Aerodyne. It is one of the first ones made in 2003. I love this bass. it just  looks beautiful. I have often thought about buying the P version. It is in the image below alongside another bass that I sold. 

 

I love the clean lines, no  pickguard, just the front mounted jack socket and three knobs. I have made two mods, the machine heads wree changed for Goton Res-o-LItes and the pickuos were changed to a pair of Di Marzios.  I am not so keen on the later models, especially the ones with the Jazz type metal control plate.

 

 

So browsing on G4M as you do, I found this:

 

 Apart from the colour of the fingerboard, I love the look. Is it worth a £150 punt?

I used to have that Aerodyne Jazz but sold it, I always have regretted selling it 

[sprocketflup]

How do you date the Aerodyne Jazzes? I have one but have no clue as to when it was made

[uk_lefty]

18 hours ago, kodiakblair said:

Mine definitely was 🙂

 

 

Think it cost me £189 either last year or the one before that so if they're no £150 it's a serious bargain.

 

Saw no reason to "upgrade" anything. Neck is a dream to play, not too chunky but thankfully not too thin. Had two issues. 

 

1. Slight string hum, that's down to grounding;  either poor contact at the mono saddles (no bare metal) or a saddle has been skipped.

2. Tone knob needed raised 1mm so it could clear the finish.

That's a really classy take on the P bass. Amazing the cheap ones can be made without gouging a ditch out the body between the pup and the pots but US Fenders still do. 

[Chienmortbb]

14 hours ago, sprocketflup said:

How do you date the Aerodyne Jazzes? I have one but have no clue as to when it was made

There are several online look up tools and I have just checked and found that my dating was wrong. Mine is 2004-2005 model. This is probably the best Fender Dating

 

 

[neepheid]

4 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

That's a really classy take on the P bass. Amazing the cheap ones can be made without gouging a ditch out the body between the pup and the pots but US Fenders still do. 

 

"Authenticity"

[kodiakblair]

53 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

"Authenticity"

I thought all things 'Authentic' were Gibson trade marked.

 

 

[FatDrunkStupid]

That's exactly what I'm after (the G4M bass that the OP posted). Can't find it on the G4M web site... anyone got a link?

[floFC]

7 minutes ago, FatDrunkStupid said:

That's exactly what I'm after (the G4M bass that the OP posted). Can't find it on the G4M web site... anyone got a link?

I think it’s this one.

https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/LA-Select-Bass-Guitar-by-Gear4music-Denim-Burst/3L4K

[Supernaut]

Looks great but the nut width being 42mm and the headstock logo being fugly really puts me off. 

[neepheid]

18 minutes ago, Supernaut said:

Looks great but the nut width being 42mm and the headstock logo being fugly really puts me off. 

 

In theory, sandpaper could help you out with both problems, but it'd be better for solving the second one.  For £150, would you grudge putting some work into it?

Edited March 31 by neepheid

[Maude]

3 hours ago, Supernaut said:

Looks great but the nut width being 42mm and the headstock logo being fugly really puts me off. 

What is it about 42mm you don't like? 

That sounds like a stupid question and I prefer a narrower neck too, but it turns out for me it's the narrower string spacing I like and the actual neck isn't a big deal. I've made new nuts with narrower string spacing for a few of my basses that had wider spacing than I'd ideally like. I works really well and doesn't leave a big empty space at the sides like you'd first think. Going from 42mm to 38mm* only leaves an extra 2mm of fretboard either side of the E and G strings and you don't notice it but you really notice the tighter spacing. 

 

* The nut obviously stays at 42mm but the slots are closer together. 

[sprocketflup]

4 hours ago, Maude said:

What is it about 42mm you don't like? 

That sounds like a stupid question and I prefer a narrower neck too, but it turns out for me it's the narrower string spacing I like and the actual neck isn't a big deal. I've made new nuts with narrower string spacing for a few of my basses that had wider spacing than I'd ideally like. I works really well and doesn't leave a big empty space at the sides like you'd first think. Going from 42mm to 38mm* only leaves an extra 2mm of fretboard either side of the E and G strings and you don't notice it but you really notice the tighter spacing. 

 

* The nut obviously stays at 42mm but the slots are closer together. 

Well well, thats an interesting idea. As a big fan of slim necks maybe I should try an experiment or two.....

[Stub Mandrel]

On 30/03/2024 at 15:00, kodiakblair said:

I thought all things 'Authentic' were Gibson trade marked.

 

 

 

Looking back, the irony of this video is that, taken literally, it would be the death-knell for Epiphone as the 'inauthentic' version of Gibson. In fact, it marked a rapid turnaround with Epiphone stepping up to become a desirable brand delivering quality instruments as people just couldn't afford Gibson.

[neepheid]

25 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Looking back, the irony of this video is that, taken literally, it would be the death-knell for Epiphone as the 'inauthentic' version of Gibson. In fact, it marked a rapid turnaround with Epiphone stepping up to become a desirable brand delivering quality instruments as people just couldn't afford Gibson.

 

Except that Gibson own Epiphone, so an Epiphone, by strict definition is a Gibson product.

 

Still a douchey video made by douchebags though.

Edited March 31 by neepheid

[Stub Mandrel]

1 minute ago, neepheid said:

 

Except that Gibson own Epiphone, so an Epiphone, by strict definition is a Gibson product.

 

Exactly the point, the video shoots themselves squarely in the foot n that score.

[neepheid]

Just now, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Exactly the point, the video shoots themselves squarely in the foot n that score.

 

I don't see it that way, Epiphones aren't counterfeits or copies, they are legitimately allowed to exist by Gibson.  I just read the video as saying that Gibson aren't worried about Epiphones being counterfeited, although with what appears to be a repositioning of Epiphone as a mid-tier brand (at least price-wise) this attitude might change in the future.

 

We should be thankful that on this evidence, Epiphone is allowed to just pootle along and do its own thing with a degree of autonomy and not get sucked too much into the douchebaggery and general paranoia that Gibson USA exude with a video like this.  Without that autonomy, we might not have had a Jack Casady Signature - because Jack went to Gibson first and they said "nah, get Epiphone to do it".

[neepheid]

Damn it, this is seriously challenging my gear abstinence, thanks for that, OP!

 

I am very curious to see how good this is.  My suspicious mind says some corners must have been cut to squeeze this much (bound body, flamed maple top (surely will be a veneer at this price, but still, it's an extra step in production), roasted maple neck, individual bridges) into £150.  But I also have faith that someone's just uncovered the bargain of the century.

 

If the bones are good (fit/finish/fretwork) then it'd be a doddle to change the pickup, wiring, tuners and a somewhat more involved (but far from impossible) task of replacing the bridge(s) if any of those were found to be substandard.

 

Damn these mind cogs, stop your damn turning!

[Chienmortbb]

I am the same, do I need another bass or more importantly how many more basses do I need?