Biggest Fender Gripe

[thmsjordan]

I would say price but a 1962 fender went for between $230-$240 and adjusting for inflation, it would cost around $2,300 in 2023 so they are comparably less when you make that adjustment.

The inconsistent build quility really irks me. Fender has had plenty of time to figure out how to do this right but when you shop for a Fender, you still have to sift through several 'meh' examples before you find an exceptional bass. I don't find that to be the case with a brand like Yamaha, or G&L and they are both assembly line basses like Fender.

 

[koppinjo]

The dead spot/s on the G. Even my American Pro II Jazz is dead on the G at frets 4-8...I don't play a lot of long-sustained notes right there (not sure why...chicken/egg situation I'm thinking) but if I did, I would probably sell the bass. Other than that the thing is pretty damn excellent.

 

[FRoss6788]

Yep....

To be clear, the dead spot phenomenon is not unique to Fender. The worst I've ever experienced was on a Ric, go figure...

The dead spot/s on the G. Even my American Pro II Jazz is dead on the G at frets 4-8...I don't play a lot of long-sustained notes right there (not sure why...chicken/egg situation I'm thinking) but if I did, I would probably sell the bass. Other than that the thing is pretty damn excellent.

 

[thmsjordan]

My biggest Fender Gripe is that everyone expects the bass player to show up with one,
if not then heaven help the bass player

I worked professionally on the East coast for most of my adult life and I found this to be the case. This is why Roger Sadowsky makes FSO's by his own admission. It seems there was a good reason (at least for a time) though. I tried using other basses and they didn't seem to work as well. This was not only my experience but the experience of a lot of different players. With the advent of FSO's like Sadowsky etc. this is no longer the case but it definitely was the case for a long time. I am glad it is getting a bit more eclectic now. I am sorry to hear that the pressure to use a Fender still exists in some corners.

Back in the day if you got a call to play "bass" at union gigs in the casuals or theater/show world, it was assumed you played upright bass and the only other options (double) you could call in the union rules book were tuba or "Fender" bass. I came of age when that was just starting to change.

 

[logdrum]

If you live in New Mexico and you have a swamp or evaporative cooler, it does not matter if you have a higher end bass, they will have fret sprout until the wood acclimates.

Let me explain. This is a very dry state. In the summer those evaporative coolers introduce moisture to the house. And your moisture deprive instrument will soak all that.

Anyway most of my instruments have acclimated. But when I buy online, I have to budget a setup and a trip to the luthier, who tells me that I need to let it sit out with him for 2-3 weeks. One instrument needed 2 years of this process.

My gripe with Fender is they have a hold of our collective psyche.

 

[creaturegods]

My main gripe with Fender is that they are too ubiquitous and popular, which leads to billions of "the thing I don't like about Fender...." and "is this a real Fender?" posts.

I like their products though

 

[biggredd]

No PJ 5ers.

 

[OptimalOptimus]

As a decades-long bass player and an industrial/product designer, for many reasons, I always wonder what people have in mind when they say this.

when they try something new like a 24fret jazz bass, 6 strings jazz bass or whatever they tried it fail hard. People want plain J and P like they did 60 years ago. People doesn’t want them to make them better they want thé same thing even tho many brand manage to do better. Like the truss rod ajustment it is still crappy they still have the dead spot at the same place etc…

 

[Grinderman]

If I said it, I’d mean that the market is very conservative and doesn’t buy enough of any new design out of Fender to make it worth their while to keep producing them.

Maybe, but I don't see strong evidence of this, beyond simple correlation, essentially a large assumption, and I still don't know any more about what people mean or what they when they use words such as evolve or innovation in the context of musical instruments. If you want it, you have to name it to claim it, specifically.

Since about 1957 the core of innovation with bass guitars has been in strings.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I don't have a problem with Fender basses per se, but the regular repetition of "All you need is a Fender P-Bass" from.... wait for it... P-Bass owners, gets a little old on TB. The implication being that since it was the first commercially successful, mas-produced bass, and therefore ended up on a lot of recordings because that's what was available, some how made it the apogee of bass guitar tech. I like the look of a P-Bass, but find the tone uninspiring, and the necks clunky and slow. Does that count as a Gripe?

 

[alex1fly]

I'm trying to figure this out;
If fret sprout happens more than once or twice, wouldn't that mean the neck/fingerboards is continuing to shrink and becoming more and more narrow over time? How old are these instruments?

Did OP ever respond to this? This was my question too. I made it through three pages and decided to quit.

 

[Snarf]

Fender isn’t allowed to evolve. Everytime they try, it is a failiure…

It's not that they're not allowed, it's that their original designs are absolutely iconic, and most players don't see a need for change. The market won't support radical design changes from Fender. It's particularly true of basses, because there isn't a company out there that figured out the bass the way Fender did. Gibson is the biggest competitor in terms of design, but that's all on the guitar side.

 

[Grinderman]

when they try something new like a 24fret jazz bass, 6 strings jazz bass or whatever they tried it fail hard. People want plain J and P like they did 60 years ago. People doesn’t want them to make them better they want thé same thing even tho many brand manage to do better. Like the truss rod ajustment it is still crappy they still have the dead spot at the same place etc…

What does that mean to you? Please describe what a truss rod adjustment that you consider not to be crappy.

Other than that, there's nothing in these things that are specifically unique to Fender. Fenders, same as other brands of bass guitars, don't even consistently have obvious or easily recognizable dead spots.

 

[May Cassidy]

I don't have a problem with Fender basses per se, but the regular repetition of "All you need is a Fender P-Bass" from.... wait for it... P-Bass owners, gets a little old on TB. The implication being that since it was the first commercially successful, mas-produced bass, and therefore ended up on a lot of recordings because that's what was available, some how made it the apogee of bass guitar tech. I like the look of a P-Bass, but find the tone uninspiring, and the necks clunky and slow. Does that count as a Gripe?

I see what you mean. I don't necessarily dislike P-Basses, but they aren't the only bass that can "do it all" by any means. I feel like that depends on the player. For the way I play, my "do it all" bass is a StingRay, for some people it's a P-Bass, and for some it's a Jazz, or any variety of the different basses out there now. They all have different sounds that facilitate different kinds of note choices and really work for certain playing styles. That said, it's all really up to you, the player, and what you do with the instrument. These things are just tools, and the only hard rule in my book is to have one that you can make your best music with.

 

[Grinderman]

Fender isn’t allowed to evolve. Everytime they try, it is a failiure…

This is all ambiguous.

I'm still not clear on what expectations are meant by evolving in this context.

What's not allowing Fender specifically to evolve and how is that different from any other maker of bass guitars?

 

[FRoss6788]

I see what you mean. I don't necessarily dislike P-Basses, but they aren't the only bass that can "do it all" by any means. I feel like that depends on the player. For the way I play, my "do it all" bass is a StingRay, for some people it's a P-Bass, and for some it's a Jazz, or any variety of the different basses out there now. They all have different sounds that facilitate different kinds of note choices and really work for certain playing styles. That said, it's all really up to you, the player, and what you do with the instrument. These things are just tools, and the only hard rule in my book is to have one that you can make your best music with.

Very well said.

For years I only played my J and a Warwick Vette. Currently, however, I'm really digging my P. For the band I'm in it just fits the bill.
Play whatever inspires you.

 

[FRoss6788]

This is all ambiguous.

I'm still not clear on what expectations are meant by evolving in this context.

What's not allowing Fender specifically to evolve and how is that different from any other maker of bass guitars?

Market forces.

It's not like they haven't tried different designs. Like Harley Davidson, the lions share of their customers only want the classic design.

We'll see how lon the Meteora lasts...

 

[Grinderman]

Sadowsky is what Fender should be but never will be.

People want a Sadowsky's for Fender American Standard prices (even better MIM or Squier) and people in hell want ice water.

 

[May Cassidy]

This is all ambiguous.

I'm still not clear on what expectations are meant by evolving in this context.

What's not allowing Fender specifically to evolve and how is that different from any other maker of bass guitars?

I think the idea is that Fender is becoming a bit of a legacy company in certain ways, lots of signature models and vintage reissues. But IMO Fender isn't really "not allowed" to innovate, from what I've seen their more out there models seem to only get appreciation after they've gone out of production/ get rare, which I think says more about us bass players and consumers in general than it does Fender.

 

[Grinderman]

Market forces.

It's not like they haven't tried different designs. Like Harley Davidson, the lions share of their customers only want the classic design.

We'll see how lon the Meteora lasts...

If the market doesn't want something what is that really a reflection of?

Motorcycles and bass guitars do very different things and therefore make for poor analogies.

Fender's Meteora is an example of a functional evolution or innovation; that's a styling exercise.