Dealer: Fender Ultra to replace Elite

[Sparkl]

Fender and Fender dealers dropped the price a few hundred dollars for new Elites recently, there hasn't been stock on the Fender site for Elites for a while. I love my two Elite J5's. They're my main players and they're amazing. Sad to see the truss wheel go, but if they're anything like the Elite series they'll be great. Hoping they come out with some new colors!

There was the name Ultra thrown around in around the late 90s with Fender. Pretty much what the Deluxe/Elite series were to the 2000's.

Exactly this! I don't care for a hyper mega ultra jazz brand name. My Elite V is one of the best jazz basses I ever played. Sure, Custom shops are mesmerizing in every aspect but those are in a completely different pricing level.

What I would also like to see is some colors, man. Like you can only choose between a couple colors and that's it. Boy what I would give for my elite to be wine red with a matched (!!) headstock.

Looks ridiculous when you check the Squire line and you could get one for a couple hundred $, go over to the 2000$ Elite line and only be able to bask in the presence of a natural finish or perhaps a 3TS and some other basic colors (jade pearl, satin, black). I'd love to have a USA blue Jazz Bass with sparkles in it. Nope.

Matched headstock? Forget about it. Pearl inlays? Not below Elite price level. Maybe there are special occassions with special series but in a general basis... nope.

I love my Elite in natural finish (one of my favourite) but it is not the end of the line for my taste.

 

[CryingBass]

Fendominator Deluxe.

 

[Jughead6]

Reading this thread has given me a kind of Gibsony feeling inside.

 

[selowitch]

But, but ... I love the truss-rod wheel! After all, it's one of my favorite features on my EBMM StingRay.

 

[Jeff Scott]

But, but ... I love the truss-rod wheel! After all, it's one of my favorite features on my EBMM StingRay.

Apparently, it was not implemented very well on the Fender.

 

[selowitch]

Apparently, it not implemented very well on the Fender.

How hard can it be for the largest manufacturer of guitars/basses in the world???

 

[Jeff Scott]

How hard can it be for the largest manufacturer of guitars/basses in the world???

Good question, that is answered in some posts, above.

 

[Chrisk-K]

Fender needs to put an end to name changes. How about the Alpha Omega Bass?

 

[RumbleMan3]

Well hopefully the elite will drop a bit in price once the ultra hits the market...

On second thought, it probably won’t! This is Fender we’re taking about

 

[RumbleMan3]

Fender needs to put an end to name changes.

Agree. It’s bad business decisions on fender’s part.

I mean, changing the name from American standard to American professional just doesn’t even make sense.

And Mexican standard to player series. They just confuse the buyer.

Upgrade the range, sure, but why change the name?

And I do agree removing the truss rod wheel is a bad move. They’re taking away reasons for people to buy it. No other fenders have that feature, and a lot of people like it.


Sometimes fender hits the nail dead on the head with something... other times, theres all this fluff.

 

[Gunga Din]

Speaking of truss-rod adjusters, is the side-of-neck Allen nut that Warmoth use patented? I thought that was a great idea

 

[Leonid Nidis]

The truss rod wheel on the Elites kinda suck. They are not like the truss rod wheels on MM basses where you can put a nail all the way through. With Fender’s implementation you have to use a 1/8” rod, not supplied and I just bought a punch at Harbor Freight. If you use an Allen wrench or something it can stretch out the hole. I like truss rod wheels, but not Fender’s implementation.

I had an elite and the tool supplied fit perfectly in the wheel.
The real question is why the wheel is even and issue,how often do mess with the truss rod.
In any case I prefer the old school screw type truss rod as it will not gather dust and gunk.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

I've been playing bass for five decades and never heard of the truss rod wheel???? Where have I been?? I just googled it and found a bunch of pictures and stores that sell truss rods with wheels. I'm not that deeply into modification so I would like a neck that had the truss rod wheel built in.

It seems like a really great idea! No more stripped out hex wrench truss rods. Honestly if MusicMan made an 8 pound bass I would buy one. I've gotten so spoiled by the superlight and hot rodded SR's I have two of them and they are my main basses.

I have looked at the new Fenders and they look nice.

 

[Isaac J]

Hey, guys. A local long-time Fender dealer told me yesterday that Fender's replacement for the Elite series will be called the Ultra series.

Interesting - Looking at the way in which Fender has been gradually changing their model lines, I would have expected the Mexican Deluxe series to be replaced next (as the US Deluxe became the Elite).

the truss rod wheel of the Elite will be eliminated.

I must say I wasn't keen on the look of the Elites, how the wheel was incorporated into the neck - I'm all for the wheel, but I think the MusicMan style wheel where it is at the end of the neck, rather that "inside" the neck, looks a lot tidier.

the basses will feature another upgrade of the noiseless pickups.

I would hope for split single coils as is the case for the SD Apollos, Fender Super 55s, Nordstrand NJ4s, etc. rather than the stacked single coils - I heard stacked singles, in theory, shouldn't even cancel hum? (as both coils share the same magnets therefore the same north and south poles)

He said the necks are superb.

I know they won't, but we can always hope they follow in EBMM's footsteps in introducing stainless steel frets. As for the board, I'd like to see Pau Ferro - much more sustainable than rosewood and ebony, and I personally really like the more orange-brown look, I think it highlights the grain more. I also prefer the more subtle aesthetic of the dot inlays without binding, but I can accept they need it to differentiate between the lesser and more premium models.

It will be available after the first of the year.

Let's also hope it'll be available LEFT HANDED!! They did it for not the latest, but previous American Deluxe models so I'd like to see it done again.

 

[nilorius]

Elite is too good to be changed as a series, most likely they will add Ultra models, they can afford it.

 

[Cage]

Discontinue the wheel adjuster eh? Sounds like the bean counters are alive and well at Fender.

?what?

 

[TheReceder]

I guess fender needs to keep up with Musicman. Confuse the customer with enough versions of the same bass and they'll never know what they're buying.

Eventually they'll just refer to TB before they buy anything.

 

[BobKos]

Honestly if MusicMan made an 8 pound bass I would buy one. I've gotten so spoiled by the superlight and hot rodded SR's I have two of them and they are my main basses.

Considered the Stingray Special? Supposed to be consistently in the 8 lb range.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

I never get the names they come up with.. After I heard they changed the "American Standard" to "Professional", and the "Standard" to "Player", I thought the Squiers would become the "Amateur Series". Ultra sounds like a car model in a bad way not like the Mustang or Jaguar IMO. Did they hire a guy from Honda as their marketing person?

 

[eastcoasteddie]

Hey, guys. A local long-time Fender dealer told me yesterday that Fender's replacement for the Elite series will be called the Ultra series. The dealer said the truss rod wheel of the Elite will be eliminated, and the basses will feature another upgrade of the noiseless pickups. He said the necks are superb. But overall he said the new series isn't a radical change. It will be available after the first of the year.

The dealer said he heard this from a Fender rep. I got the idea he may have seen one in the flesh, but I'm not sure.

Anybody else hear anything along these lines?

This is exactly what I expected...I wrote it in the first “Elite series discontinuation” thread. Probably a new version of Noiseless pickups and a few little tidbits, nothing new.
But the removal of a good idea (truss wheel) is just lame...like the proposed name...