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Are Fender Custom Shop Basses really worth it?

#21
A CNC is just faster than a guy using jigs and a band saw and hand router. There really isn't anything romantic or special about the way Fender made their early basses, IMO. It was just the technology of the time, and they were still assembly line produced. CNC machines aren't heartless robots that have replaced human being, they are just a bigger, cooler power tool.

On the other hand, I appreciate the idea that a bass might gain "character" through the years, like a well worn old desk or coffee table. We have an old piano that my wife carved her initials in to when she was young and bored with piano practice. :)
 
#22
I'd also add that stuff doesn't come off the Cnc 'finished', it's generally just very rough cut and still requires a hell of a lot of hand loving.

Cnc machines are not necessarily the magic 'plonk wood in one end and finished guitar pops out the other end' machine people think they are.
 
#23
I had a 58 CS. If you dig through the classifieds you would find it. Pretty rare, made just for NAMM etc. It was priced LOW and it took over 2 months to move here. I let it go cheap and it was in perfect shape, factory relic but no wear added.

I though the bass was a dog to , I didnt like it at all. The new owner did tho.
 
#24
They are good and beautiful and tempting, but overpriced. At the same time, there are people willing to buy overpriced basses=a market exists. That does not mean the basses are worth it, only that it is worth it for Fender to continue to produce them.
I've had the good fortune to own a '62 P for a time, thus I know what arguably "the best" Fender bass is supposed to feel like. Now I own a MIM Road Worn, and I am not exaggerating when I say that I would not be able to tell the two apart in a dark room. My lesson from this: there is a limit to how 'good' a basic Fender P bass can get; IMO, pretty damn good. But you don't have to spend more than the price of a Road Worn to attain that outcome.
 
#25
Never owned a Masterbuilt instrument but I have owned a few CS basses including two Pino Precisions. My view is that they are overpriced and not immune to 'normal' imperfections such as neck hump at the join. The necks do 'feel' lovely and worn-in to play if the profile is the right one for you.

Eventually I decided to build a 'parts' P bass using my own specs and sources and had a local luthier make me a P neck with a fingerboard from his stock of Braz Rosewood. It has a 'musicman-style' truss rod I can get at without having to take the neck off. It has lightweight tuners, Tusq nut and currently rocks a Babicz bridge and Fralin pickups. Strung up with La Bella 760FS.

There is no logo on the bass. I've never been happier... and I can experiment with parts without the guilt associated with dismantling a Fender.

I do like the 'faded' finishes Fender have started offering now though. Visually I do love the look of vintage nitro on sunburst. When they get the tort pickguards looking right the prices might be a little more justified.
 
#26
I recently took a beautiful '63J and a Cunetto era CS to a rehearsal. The band were all wowed by the looks of the '63 but the CS won hands down on playability and feel. Tone was very different between the two but the Cunetto came close to nailing the '63 whilst the original couldn't match the range of the CS.

I've played a lot of vintage Fenders and a lot of CS basses and, in very broad terms, the CS instruments are more consistent in feel and build quality. Some of the most recent ones I've played have been outstanding.

I find the difference seems to be more pronounced in P's than J's. I've played some real dogs of vintage P basses whilst every CS P I've played has been good.
 
#27
I wouldn't consider a Fender CS for even one second, considering the incredible build quality you can get from MusicMan and G&L for under $2k. I have two U.S. Fenders (a Jazz and a Precision), and they're good enough for me. But like others have said - they must be selling at those prices, or Fender wouldn't continue to make them.
 
#28
To all who say CNC is same or better quality than the pin router I respectfully disagree...Ive owned Fender Basses from every decade they were produced and owned 3 from the 1950's and I've owned or played plenty of modern ones and theres no comparison IMHO....The reissues or CS editions are not even in the same league as the originals....body thicknesses, contours, neck profiles not even close to me. To those who have never played a genuine vintage '57 P bass neck, I pity you...they were the best necks ever made! Also any neck made by the late great Tadeo Gomez are pure magic in your hands!!!! As for reissues...The best ones and the closest to the originals were the Fullertons IMO....they were great instruments and stand up today. I totally understand a CNC machine does not cut an instrument to exact specs...I know most get close then they do hand sanding to finalize them but to me they don't even get close. The contours on my Pino Bass were not even close to a real '60s Bass. The neck and contours on any Corona reissue Ive owned were never close to the real thing and I accept that and I understand the reissues are not supposed to be even reissues...Thats why Fender doesnt even call them that...They call it The American Vintage Series so I'm ok with it but I just don't put them in the same category as a true vintage instrument. As for the Vintage being rolled off an assembly line as if there was no care given to them, I trully doubt that...I think more care was given to those instruments in the 1950's and early '60s as compared to now.I bet more human hands were on those instruments back then . I believe they recieved more attention back then than they do now...now they are more cookie cutter guitars....so if anything now its more impersonal. Thats just my feelings on the subject. I think both have the ability to be great and none are automatically better....theres probally good and bad in both the more I think about it. The CS is great at what they do but I just don't believe they are any better.
 
#29
I've got a CS Jaco fretless jazz. Bought it 2nd hand a few years ago. It wasn't cheap (about 3k €) but cheaper then some of the other ones (non-Fender) I tried. The neck is just incredible. I didn't really bother for the "distressed" relic look: I actually think it's a bit ugly or stupid and think about refinishing the body. I didn't buy it because it's a JP model or because it's a Fender, but because it's the best fretless I've ever come across. I tried many, many other fretless basses - cheaper and more expensive - but this just was the right one for me. So if an instrument is right for you, then the price is worth it. Actually we're quite lucky to play bass. Imagine having to buy a good violin (or double bass)... Those prices are in another category. In the end: if it really feels good or right for you, then price shouldn't be an argument.
 
#30
You make a point there but unless you've played a real '57 dont knock 'em...I've owned 3 in my lifetime and they were the best basses I ever played...best neck especially! What can be said about CS is they are a cookie cutter guitar biz that are overhyped and never appreciate in value...at least with a vintage instrument you can at least get your money back...where as a CS you always lose your money.
smcd said:
Because the CS bass is better built than the vintage bass. I was going to say "almost certainly better built", but that would not be true. An actual '57 Precision was thrown together by assembly line employees and rushed out the door. The CS bass is carefully built by experts who spend a LOT of time choosing the right components and building a CS bass.

With all the vintage guitar fetishizing, many people forget that Fender, back in the so-called day, was an assembly line business selling a mass produced product.








They always sell for less. Just like every other new bass on the planet. No one is going to spend anything close to street price for a bass they can buy themselves.
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#31
Lowbrow said:
They are good and beautiful and tempting, but overpriced. At the same time, there are people willing to buy overpriced basses=a market exists. That does not mean the basses are worth it, only that it is worth it for Fender to continue to produce them.
I've had the good fortune to own a '62 P for a time, thus I know what arguably "the best" Fender bass is supposed to feel like. Now I own a MIM Road Worn, and I am not exaggerating when I say that I would not be able to tell the two apart in a dark room. My lesson from this: there is a limit to how 'good' a basic Fender P bass can get; IMO, pretty damn good. But you don't have to spend more than the price of a Road Worn to attain that outcome.
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Great point about the CS basses and the price...thats what I believe and I aggree with you about the Road Worn Basses...ive owned both the jazz and P bass and both were amazing for the $....they were the best modern era Fender basses I ever had and may be replacing them because since I sold them I miss them. They were better than the Corona Reissues Ive owned and even CS i had.
 
#32
I recently bought a CS '61 Precision NOS and it 's the best precision I've played aside from a Pino. The only thing better on the Pino is the broken in neck. It has a thin neck from front to back and it holds it's own against Lakland, any day of the week. It's every bit worth the money. I also own a Roadworn and while I absolutely love it, it's no CS. It's funny ,though, I didn't think gigging with it would cause concern. I guess it hasn't because I , just like the last owner , don't want to take it out of the house !
 
#33
DriesG said:
I've got a CS Jaco fretless jazz. Bought it 2nd hand a few years ago. It wasn't cheap (about 3k €) but cheaper then some of the other ones (non-Fender) I tried. The neck is just incredible. I didn't really bother for the "distressed" relic look: I actually think it's a bit ugly or stupid and think about refinishing the body. I didn't buy it because it's a JP model or because it's a Fender, but because it's the best fretless I've ever come across. I tried many, many other fretless basses - cheaper and more expensive - but this just was the right one for me. So if an instrument is right for you, then the price is worth it. Actually we're quite lucky to play bass. Imagine having to buy a good violin (or double bass)... Those prices are in another category. In the end: if it really feels good or right for you, then price shouldn't be an argument.
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Amen bro....your last sentence sums it all up there...good for you finding a bass you love too :)
 
#34
ronlitz said:
I wouldn't consider a Fender CS for even one second, considering the incredible build quality you can get from MusicMan and G&L for under $2k. I have two U.S. Fenders (a Jazz and a Precision), and they're good enough for me. But like others have said - they must be selling at those prices, or Fender wouldn't continue to make them.
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Yeah CS think they are Gods jacking up prices because they have a Big special name/"Masterbuilder" (Whooooo) attached to the particular model they are making...Oh Please.....its nauseating...they couldn't come close to Tadeo. I never played a G&L but if I ever have a bass built by someone I think I will go to them before the CS....I'd Love to try one.
 
#37
when you talk about worth, I imagine you're referring to a few things:

1.) Sound

2.) Playability

3.) Craftsmanship

4.) Resale value

Custom Shop (not master built) basses run what, about 4k USD? Then you'd have to compare them to other basses in that price range in the aforementioned categories to answer your question.

For me, it's a tough call. I've played this bass Invalid Link Removed, and I can honestly say it's one of the best basses I've ever played.

Then again I've played other CS shop instruments, like the Pino signature, and I feel that they are no different than a well cared for American Std.
 
#38
basschanges said:
when you talk about worth, I imagine you're referring to a few things:

1.) Sound

2.) Playability

3.) Craftsmanship

4.) Resale value

Custom Shop (not master built) basses run what, about 4k USD? Then you'd have to compare them to other basses in that price range in the aforementioned categories to answer your question.

For me, it's a tough call. I've played this bass Invalid Link Removed, and I can honestly say it's one of the best basses I've ever played.

Then again I've played other CS shop instruments, like the Pino signature, and I feel that they are no different than a well cared for American Std.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'd say those categories....basically what I'm asking in a nutshell, is it worth paying all that $ for a "teambuilt", "masterbuilt" or whatever other kind of built clone than putting that $ towards the real deal...I have a very limited experience with CS basses...I only owned a Pino but then sold it to get another Vintage that came up....I've played the '59 CS in store as well...The main point of this thread is to hear people out as to what drives them to pay the high dollar for a CS clone over the real thing when often the real thing is only a little more or same price or in some cases less than the CS prices! I was just curious and bored on a long busride so I started this thread and I'm enjoying all the responses so far. Theres no wrong answer here...basically what it comes down to is if your happy than thats all that matters....I was just curious as to what peoples motivations were for paying all that money for clones over real vintage.
 
#39
D Bopp said:
I love the Custom Shop Fenders. My current main bass is a 59 CS Relic P in blonde. It's perfect in every way.
I think they are worth the extra money.
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I Played a CS shop '59 relic in a GC once...it was a white see-thru blonde with rosewood fingerboard and goldguard...beautiful bass....just wasnt crazy about neck profile.
 

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