Fender Respect

swspiers · #1 03-21-2011, 02:40 PM

Hey all!

In my 34 years of playing off and on, I've never really 'gotten' the whole Fender thing. I don't bash them, but I've never held or played one that felt 'right'.

Until last week, when I sat in on a blues/jazz session. One of the gee-tar players asked me if I would do him a favor and play a bass that he brought, that used to belong to a friend of his. He just wanted a couple pictures to send to his friends' widow. He then handed me what he said was a '69 Jazz body with a '71 neck.

Apparently, it used to belong to an ol' bass player by the name of Larry Fullam. He played with both George Jones and Mel Tillis back in the day.

To keep it short: I have never held nor played a bass that was anywhere near the quality that I felt that night. The darn thing played like butter. Perfectly balanced, wonderful smooth neck, not even a hint of neck-dive.

I think I get it now...

And here's a pic of myself and the ol' gee-tar player.

onosson · #2 03-21-2011, 02:42 PM

Looks like a very fine instrument.

meatwad · #3 03-21-2011, 02:44 PM

Cheers!

tangentmusic · #4 03-21-2011, 02:44 PM

Sometimes you "just know" when it happens. I have several Fenders that all feel slightly different, although they are all great in their own way.

OldDog52 · #5 03-21-2011, 02:46 PM

Do you think part of its "historical mojo" influenced your reaction toward it? Not that there would be anything wrong with that! Completely understandable.

**pacojas** · #6 03-21-2011, 02:48 PM

i'm a Fender Fanboi from way back!!! i think they are super easy to play with the proper set-up. how did you manage to avoid them for so long????

Gaolee · #7 03-21-2011, 02:48 PM

I never really liked Fenders until I picked up a '50s reissue with a bigger neck than the usual modern Fender. Now I own a P and play it more than anything else. It's not even vintage and has no history except a bit of time in a UPS truck from the factory.

swspiers · #8 03-21-2011, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldDog52

Do you think part of its "historical mojo" influenced your reaction toward it? Not that there would be anything wrong with that! Completely understandable.

Actually, I do. The whole night challenged my reaction to a lot of things, from country music in general to that bass in particular. It was all very, very humbling.

OldDog52 · #9 03-21-2011, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swspiers

Actually, I do. The whole night challenged my reaction to a lot of things, from country music in general to that bass in particular. It was all very, very humbling.

Sometimes bass magic happens.

funkingroovin · #10 03-21-2011, 02:58 PM

Boy,that looks like a beauty! I've recently reverted back to,well,at least the Fender style. Started with Fender,tried almost all the rest,and found what I was looking for in Fen.style Warmoth customs..though the only P-Bass I can get along with is a 74 Fender belonging to a friend. It's good to have good friends.

bassbenj · #11 03-21-2011, 04:11 PM

Brother,
We all love it when a recent convert steps to the front of the church and gives his testimonial on how he finally decided to take Fender as his personal savior. Fender SAVES! Once you give your life to Fender, your life will be forever changed. Fender will always be with you as will your brothers and sisters in Fender. We are family.

Can I have a big "amen"?

feh.

darkstorm · #12 03-21-2011, 04:41 PM

When you go thru a bunch of a companies instruments and none of them feel right. Then you find one that does feels right. You still have a mfg whose instruments dont meet your wants. Cause after all, out of all the ones youve tried, only one worked well for you. Myself I require consistency from mfg and only give the nod to those whose instruments consistently are right for me. One good one out of 4 or one out of higher number means instant fail to me. Back when there was very few choices of playable isntruments fender was one of these few but still one had to go thru several to find a real good one., The same applied to gibson; Neither company impresses me in the least anymore cause too many companies get it right every time, not just once in awhile.

**pacojas** · #13 03-21-2011, 04:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkstorm

When you go thru a bunch of a companies instruments and none of them feel right. Then you find one that does feels right. You still have a mfg whose instruments dont meet your wants. Cause after all, out of all the ones youve tried, only one worked well for you. Myself I require consistency from mfg and only give the nod to those whose instruments consistently are right for me. One good one out of 4 or one out of higher number means instant fail to me. Back when there was very few choices of playable isntruments fender was one of these few but still one had to go thru several to find a real good one., The same applied to gibson; Neither company impresses me in the least anymore cause too many companies get it right every time, not just once in awhile.

LMAO!!!

i have NEVER played a bum Fender. just lucky i guess,... or maybe i know that a good set-up is the most i've ever needed on any instrument.
even my mail-order Fenders were keepers!

Life is Good!!! (and Fender rules)

BigOldHarry · #14 03-21-2011, 04:57 PM

So you and I started about the same time - in the Mid '70s...

Back then, it was funny - folks chose "Camps" - I knew some bassist who picked up an EB-0 and said "This it - Gibsons for ME!" - - Same with Rick, same with Fenders (not many other choices back then, was there...?)

Me, my first bass was a Gibson EB-1 and so folks always assumed that I was a "Gibson Guy". In my heart, I felt (for whatever reason) that I was playing a "beginner bass" - that a Fender P or J - or perhaps a Rick - were the only real Pro basses a guy can have... So when I got my first J bass, I thought I have "graduated".

Since then I've only played one Gibson bass I really liked (and that was long ago) and one or two Rics I've liked. I've owned a ton of basses with only a portion being Fenders, but were it 1976 all over again, and I was faced with the choice of which bass to use to gig, I'd pick a J bass (preferably one made PRIOR to that year!!!). Yes, I'd have to import some Rotosound strings... but it would be worth it!

JSK5String · #15 03-21-2011, 04:57 PM

Great OP. Funny how things happen, isn't it? About ten years ago, I decided I wanted to try to find a Fender. I went to a great local store here in the Denver area (Drum City Guitar Land, Jason the owner is awesome!) and I played just about every Fender & Squire they had on the wall. I ended up with an MIM Deluxe Active 5-String J. I picked it over the MIA's they had on the wall becuase it just felt right in my hands and sounded the best unplugged to my ears.

Last year, I decided to get a P and this time I ended up with an MIA 5-String for the same reasons.

I firmly believe basses are a lot like women - meaning, there is definitely more than one out there with whom you can be happily married, but not every one is perfect for you. You just have to search hard to find the right one. And the one(s) I like might not be good for you. So, just don't bash my choices and I won't bash yours.

king_biscuit · #16 03-21-2011, 05:03 PM

IMO the the problem is that you and others are getting too concerned about how a bass plays and not how it sounds. Any bass with a straight neck can be made to play fine with a proper setup. Often times people walk in to a GC and pick up a stock Fender that has high action and old strings and immediately pronounce it to be one of the bad ones. There is really no good way to tell how a bass will play and sound unless it is setup properly. My feeling is that the 69/71 Fender you liked was merely setup in a way that you found comfortable. As far as neck size, I think a lot of people would be surprised at how easily they would get used to and like most any neck if they spent with it.

JSK5String · #17 03-21-2011, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSK5String

So, just don't bash my choices and I won't bash yours.

Let me clarify - I just find the threads that bash other people's choices in gear to be very lame, tiresome and a waste of Internet cloud space. I love the threads that celebrate peoples' choices in gear like the Post Your Pedalboard threads, the Rigs Of Doom Threads, etc. I love looking at what gear turns other players' cranks...

JSK5String · #18 03-21-2011, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by king_biscuit

IMO the the problem is that you and others are getting too concerned about how a bass plays and not how it sounds. Any bass with a straight neck can be made to play fine with a proper setup. Often times people walk in to a GC and pick up a stock Fender that has high action and old strings and immediately pronounce it to be one of the bad ones. There is really no good way to tell how a bass will play and sound unless it is setup properly. My feeling is that the 69/71 Fender you liked was merely setup in a way that you found comfortable.

+1 Very well said. That's why I really like going to DCGL, everything on their wall has been set up by their in-house tech. It's a very simple concept that the chains (GC) seem to miss - axes will move much quicker if they're set up well and play great when a player picks them up.

PopaWoody · #19 03-21-2011, 05:11 PM

Great piece of your bass history was defined right there. There is something about fenders. Not sure what it is since I have played a lot of modern fenders and when setup correctly they play like butter, MIA or MIJ or even MIM. Although the materials and build quality gets better in the MIA ones, some of the MIJ models are really decent quality instruments.

One thing that did stick out to me is that only a Fender feels like....A Fender. Of course IMHO. Based on the numerous basses I have touched over the past 20+ Years. Personally my own collection has only held one Fender P Bass. A Highway One at that, but man did that bass sit nice and pretty in the mix.

One of these days I will own a Jazz V, that is on the GAS list. I wish I could play a vintage Fender.....sigh I don't have enough bass player friends.

jfh2424 · #20 03-21-2011, 06:00 PM

If you play enough Fenders, you will find one you like. The same can be said about most any bass company.

It really boils down to which individual bass speaks to you.

I gotta agree that a lot of it has to do with the feel and the setup of the instrument. The holy grail of basses needing a setup will sound and feel horrible.

I usually hate Rays. I played one last weekend that I really liked. I almost walked out with it.

If I played 50 other ones, I probably would not find another. So should I say that Rays are great? Should I say Rays are horrible? I should probably say that I ran into one I liked.

We humans seem to need to make generalisations and put everything in neat compartments. But I think it is a mistake to do that about basses. Just like us, they are individuals.

John