1970's the dark ages of fender??

[PWRL]

I think it has to do with the volume of instruments produced. Sure there are lots of 70's Fender dogs out there, but there are a lot of good ones, too. My old 73 fretless was one of them. Just like anything else, you just have to play it first, that's all.

[lowphatbass]

Originally Posted by narud

Pretty rough.

[Bone]

I was a player in the mid and late 70s. Gibson, Fender,Travis Bean,Kramer,alembic,BC Rich with there maple ,northern ash. walnut and Teak bodies were alll heavy as hell. I seem to recall that heavy guitars were what people wanted. I own 5 70s Fenders at the moment 73 to 79 4 under 9 lbs one at 10 lbs 2 oz. I have owned close to 50(maybe more) 70s Fenders 1 was over 11 lbs. Ive been through Smiths, Dingwalls, Laklands, Tobias, Surines all of them gone. Guess I just like crappy basses.
If your 70's Fender wasn't heavy enough Fender also sold brass body plates, headstock plates and the Fender high mass bridge

[ggvicviper]

Originally Posted by narud

id still put that one on **** happens more so than ****** cbs fenders. my musicman sterling that ive had since 96 failed on a gig a couple years back. turned out the battery box wire had come detached from the box. hardly an indictment of ernie ball. id probably love your bass

Ok, well this is actually good for me. I am planning on keeping the bass for the rest of my dad's life. While he's still around, I want to finish properly restoring the bass - get the right era pickguard, get decent pickups (the bass was originally modified with a DiMarzio Model One at the neck, and we replaced them with Fender Noiseless which I found terrible).

When my dad goes, knock on wood, so will the Jazz. I hope that doesn't happen for a while, but when it does, I'll be happy to know I have a potential buyer for the bass right off the bat!

[georgestrings]

Originally Posted by ggvicviper

Ok, well this is actually good for me. I am planning on keeping the bass for the rest of my dad's life. While he's still around, I want to finish properly restoring the bass - get the right era pickguard, get decent pickups (the bass was originally modified with a DiMarzio Model One at the neck, and we replaced them with Fender Noiseless which I found terrible).

When my dad goes, knock on wood, so will the Jazz. I hope that doesn't happen for a while, but when it does, I'll be happy to know I have a potential buyer for the bass right off the bat!

Really??? - under those circumstances, *I* would probably never part with such an instrument, due to it's past - and I'll bet if you do, you'll regret it later on...


- georgestrings

[ggvicviper]

Originally Posted by georgestrings

Really??? - under those circumstances, *I* would probably never part with such an instrument, due to it's past - and I'll bet if you do, you'll regret it later on...


- georgestrings

My father bought me a bass that has sentimental value - it was my first instrument. A Carlo Robelli 5er, and I still have it my closet, completely bowed neck and all. I will hang onto that forever.

I see what you're saying about the Fender, but I don't have the same sentimental attachment to it. In fact, I was trying to get my dad's permission to trade it in or sell it during my high school years.

[chadds]

Originally Posted by king_biscuit

Well, mine are both 9 pounds, so there is that. btw, I worked at a music store, and handled many 70s Fenders too, and my opinion is that most were pretty good basses (guitars too) once properly set up. I do not believe that most people really know how to judge a good guitar -- in my experience selling guitars, if a guitar (or bass) has nice low action, then most people will think it is a good instrument -- so much the more if it has bright new strings. I believe that many Fenders came from the factory with bad setups. Yes, the tolerances got a bit looser later in the decade from worn equipment, but by and large that doesn't affect the tone/playability -- if properly set up. I believe that most 70s Fenders with straight necks (and a weight suited to the player) are nice playable instruments.

Now with that said, we both know that most people are not spending money on vintage Fenders just for the playability and sound, so much of your point is irrelevant for that reason alone. Also, and I have asked this several times, why can't each bass simply be judged as an individual?

Each bass could be judged individually and I hope as players we are discriminating when we are shopping. Yet if you were shopping for a car and learned from research that the 2009 model had transmission problems that the other years didn't, wouldn't that be valuable?

Some of us played what are called vintage instruments when they were new. I did own '50s & '60s Fenders and Gibsons. When the community of players I knew hit the stores to try the new ('70s) stuff we found instruments far different than we'd been playing. We were ready to buy and continuously went back to our own stuff. Tone and playability differences, not just fit & finish.

Fender had all kinds of problems with '70s block inlay Jazz necks. Does that mean the Verdine White wasn't laying it down with one?

I have not read anyone say here, "all" Fenders. They have said most or many.
If your personal experience differs, great. For the "most" of us it means proceed with caution that's all.

[king_biscuit]

Originally Posted by chadds

If your personal experience differs, great. For the "most" of us it means proceed with caution that's all.

That goes for any used instrument.

[chadds]

Originally Posted by king_biscuit

That goes for any used instrument.

Used washing machines too but what does that have to do with the OP's question? No one said "all". Seems many have had issues with "some" enough that there is a consensus. This isn't a Fenders s$%^ thread. It actually could be seen as an appreciation thread.

My tech worked at Fender and on the Jefferson Airplane's gear. He then went to Alembic. He will tell you what year's Jazz basses had the notorious neck bump in the fret board near the 14th fret or so. The '80s reissues, reissued the issue.

[Mojo-Man]

The early 70's are more consistent. 1970-1973

But fender made great basses all through the 70's.

There quality control went down after 1975, by 1979 there were just more examples of bad quality control.

It got so bad that is why fender came out with there reissue in 1982.
To win back the fender player who, went to other basses.

[DirkP]

Originally Posted by king_biscuit

Exactly right. I had a long talk with Chip Todd years ago and the heavy ash for the T-40s and 60s was hand picked because it was heavy.

Here's what Paul Simenon had to say:

"We used to get cheap Fender from CBS; they were newer models, quite light and insubstantial. But the one I smashed that night was a great bass, a Fender Precision®, (it cost about) about £160 (272 Euros), one of the older heavy, solid models, so I did regret breaking it."
http://www.groovemonster.de/content/...r-basses.shtml

It's funny, they simply can't do justice to all of us. When the basses are heavy and ash - it's Fenders downfall. When the basses are light - they are considered toys. When they are alder instead of ash, people miss the grain...

My main bass is a 1977 all original Oly white Jazz and I love it. It's about 4,9 kg (10.8 lb). Heavy but not as heavy as my 1993 G&L L 2000. And I'm just 135 lb :-) The neck pocket is o.k., there's only a very small gap on one side. The neck is perfectly straight and there's no buzz worth mentioning.
Although sometimes I like to play lighter weight instruments, I guess that neck diving instruments are a greater problem than heavy instruments. And if a traditional Fender has a light body it almost certainly is neck-diving. That's very bad for the left arm and hands if you don't sit down during playing, because subconciously one is permanently lifting the neck with the left arm (if you're not a lefty!) while it has to be relaxed for the fingers to do their job.
Dirk

[gaffster787]

my '75 p-bass and a '95 mij foto-flame jazz

[chadds]

I played a 1970 Telebass for more than a decade. It was essentially a '51-'55 with the lollipop tuners.

[king_biscuit]

Originally Posted by chadds

Used washing machines too but what does that have to do with the OP's question? No one said "all". Seems many have had issues with "some" enough that there is a consensus. This isn't a Fenders s$%^ thread. It actually could be seen as an appreciation thread.

The op wanted to know if the 70s were some sort of dark age, and you said a person has to approach buying a 70s Fender bass with caution, as if that is the only kind of used bass for which that is necessary. I sure wouldn't buy an early 60s Fender (especially at those prices) without exercising caution!


Btw, every time a 70s Fender thread comes up it gets peppered with posts by people who do essentially say all 70s Fenders are crap.

And your "tech" is welcome to come here and speak for himself if he can get any time off from Jefferson Airplane

[smcd]

Originally Posted by king_biscuit

Btw, every time a 70s Fender thread comes up it gets peppered with posts by people who do essentially say all 70s Fenders are crap.

Nobody said that.

[chadds]

Originally Posted by king_biscuit

The op wanted to know if the 70s were some sort of dark age, and you said a person has to approach buying a 70s Fender bass with caution, as if that is the only kind of used bass for which that is necessary. I sure wouldn't buy an early 60s Fender (especially at those prices) without exercising caution!


Btw, every time a 70s Fender thread comes up it gets peppered with posts by people who do essentially say all 70s Fenders are crap.

And your "tech" is welcome to come here and speak for himself if he can get any time off from Jefferson Airplane

This is suspiciously seeming like arguing on the Internet. I love my Fenders. My experience is mine and I had this opinion in the early 1970s without knowing that others where having the same. I mentioned my tech just for fun. Sorry if you misunderstood anything I've said.

I can't see why you'd be defensive when there has been such an even handed treatment here.

[HolmeBass]

Originally Posted by gaffster787

Awesome!! I loved that catalog.

In defense of my '77 "turd", I had a good Fender-loving tech put a spot of glue down on the neck and that solved the neck mis-alignment that could happen due to the 3-bolt neck. No shim needed, just a dab of glue provides enough resistance that it hasn't shifted once since 1996.

And while it's not an easy bass to play, when plucked forcefully it has a tone that is golden and historic- just like you hear on all of those old recordings. Although it just doesn't have a slap tone at all, the rosewood neck and other things maybe combine to produce a fairly nasal blah slap tone. But for Motown or old soul or finger style funk, it has that authentic sound.

I was in GC a few years ago, trying out some amps and also looking for an active electronics bass, and a kid in there was all gaga about the 77 Jbass. I told him I thought that many of the new ones right there in the store were probably just as good. He said no way. We spent about 1/2 an hour trying out some price point MIM Fender and Squier J's and he was right- while some were easier to play, none of them had a tone that could hold a candle to mine, as far as finger style. One of them with a maple fingerboard however had a far superios slap tone, but I had to conceed that he had a point.

[king_biscuit]

Originally Posted by chadds

This is suspiciously seeming like arguing on the Internet. I love my Fenders. My experience is mine and I had this opinion in the early 1970s without knowing that others where having the same. I mentioned my tech just for fun. Sorry if you misunderstood anything I've said.

I can't see why you'd be defensive when there has been such an even handed treatment here.

I'm not defensive at all -- the part about your tech was meant to be funny. I think if this is starting to look like an "argument" you need to go back and look at your posts to me. Or have your tech look them over and advise you

[king_biscuit]

Originally Posted by smcd

Nobody said that.

There are always posts like "I'm sure there were a few good basses from the 70s, but i remember the 70s and most of them sucked and we didn't want them." These are in many cases the same hippies who stripped custom colors off of PreCBS Jazz basses and Strats, however, so I'm not always too impressed with their recollection!

[chadds]

No one said it in this thread.
Think I'll go play a G&L that Leo actually touched. Good night.