just got the fender duff today

i got the fender duff sig bass today. i could be wrong, i may be one of the few americans i know with one so far??? i think the major chains (both brick and mortar and online) are backordered until feb-april 2008.

not to tease.. i will have pic and review once i get settled.

1st impressions some pluses and minuses.

mm

Invalid Link Removed here are the specs via fender

$799 is the internet sales price. it's on a few U.S. sites if you search. in the uk approx. 500-800 pounds. some sites say bakordered, some say pre-order.


here is my review. i will go in further depth later if needed:

i really like GnR, but not to the point where i got this bass on the 'Duff factor' or anything, but it is nice to add to the stable of a half dozen other fender basses i own. after giving up on getting this bass before the end of the year due to lack of availability at USA stores and online (i've kind of been in the market for a PJ bass), i was able to get one via a fender rep. like i said i don't know ayone else who has one stateside, if so.. chime in.

i did once own a MIJ 80s p bass (all black neck, headstock, hardware w/o pickguard, side-jack, etc.) similar to the bass the duff sig. is modled after, and i have recently played several of the original MIJ PJ basses (jazz specials, power jazz, etc.) so i have a good grasp on what the original 80s basses are like in sound and feel versus the signature.

the finish is not the stark white, but a sharp looking pearl white with a bit of sparkle in there as you look closer. very nice. i love the color and the black hardware and no pick guard! i will soon add black strap locks to complete the look.

the feel isn't that bad for a MIM. the duff sig is MIM, which usually means a bit below the craftmanship in US models and some MIJs, but not as bad as some squires. I have found fender QC is bass to bass different regardless of orgin. the bass is light and i like the familiar p-body and modern jazz neck which are both easy to play. the set up was good in fret finish and intontation-wise, but the neck relief was tad bit off, but i am forgiving to a bass that is shipped and don't expect it perfect.

i was dissapointed that the thrus rod adjustment was at the heal of the neck (visable, but still hard to get all the way at for adjustment without loosening the neck) so i already have a small crack in the finish where i tried to make a small tweak and the hex wrench got to close to the body. fender! put all thrus rod adjustments at the headstock!!!

bad news- in the cavity there is also zero shielding. no paint, no foil...hum city! the tbx control sounds NO different that a tone knob. the treble (jazz) PU is supposed to be a SD stack, but it hums when soloed and sometimes in conjuntion with the P Pick up. the PUs were set up at crazy hieghts and weird slopes, so i had to fix that. the fender super bass strings are aweful too, so they are going.

the highlight (besides look and feel) the stock p sounds great, and when ingnoring the humming the PUs sound great in conjuction or soloed. so i know a good sound is in there.

overall, a great looking, good feeling bass that sounds so-so (sort of like the original MIJs did). i will be putting EMGs in this bass very soon, get it set-up and add some better strings, and it will be the (noise-less, toneful) monster it should be, and could be my main live 4-string player after that.

mm

yall will have your pics this afternoon.
i wanted to not use the camera phone to take a pic.
my good camera got nicked at a recent gig, and i held off on buying one thinking that a family member may get me one for xmas, but no go. so you will get some nice grainy camera pic ones.

off to the dentist.. yeah!

pics will be up later. promise

mm

here's your pics.

not to dig up my old thread...but

i put EMGs in my duff bass today, got it pro set up, new strings (DR hibeams, i usually use XLs, but thats what they had, not bad). feels much nicer now.

it's totally different sounding bass now. not neccesarily better with EMGs, but different. the EMGs in the duff sound different versus the JJ set in my Geddy or my EMG P basses (Maiden and 1977).

the bass sounded great before, but it was really humming loudly, the total lack of shielding from the factory was so sad, but what i heard if i ignored the hum was good, sort of quacky with the SD J-stack (liked it better than the SD 1/4lb Js I've heard) and nice and solid tone with the Fender stock passive P, but I would of had to buy stock in copper futures to have enough to sheild that bass from that hum.

now the bass sounds really clean, dead quiet!!!, but the agression has been removed with the EMGs in there. as were the stock pick-ups had a radically difffernt sound from P to J, the EMGs are subtle between. i did replace the TBX with a regular tone knob, but the TBX with the passive pick-ups seemed to do nothing different. In the end, i'm happy, every bass is a new pallet.

there you go...and yes you can buy an 80s MIJ for cheap and do the same mods, but this bass wasn't my money, so i couldn't refuse.

yeah, i can't get over how crystal clean sounding this bass is right now. sort of like when you play hatke (at low volume) for the first time. maybe its the DR hibeams?, but my usual XL170s are pretty sparkly out of the box. like i said, totally different p sound in comparsion to my EMG loaded p basses and J sound compared to my EMG loaded J basses.

I'm fine with it. I'm the guy who wants clanky bass and i use the passive tone knob to tame it, versus the guy who has a muddy tone and adds treble. I'd rather take away, then add it in.

i aggree... the J bridge PU's placement (closer or farther from birdge) is i think a major difference between the jazz bass sound from era to era.

i like the J PU closer, and i do wish that fender would have some basses with the reverse position of it's p-pickup sort of how spectors are, and how lee sklar and mark hoppus are doing.

I'm still wanting and waiting for fender to please reissue an double-P PU updated P-bass elite (24 frets, seperate tones (like 62 jazz) would be nice too).