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Does anyone find this suspicious?

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Dbt25677

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Jun 9, 2013
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#1
(Pretty recently), Fender started putting Custom Shop pups in their American Standard basses (both Jazz and Precision). Does anyone find this kind of suspicious seeing as they haven't done this with Mexican models?
Does anyone see this as insecure that the Mexican models are of equal quality to their American counterparts?
 
#2
I haven't played enough MIM or MIA Fenders to say if they're of equal quality. I see it as product differntiation, trying to portray the MIA 'Standards' as more of a premium instrument compared to the MIM Standards, Modern Player, Classic Vibes, Vintage Modified etc. Fender's putting out a lot of good instruments at low prices so I suppose they do need to try a little harder with the MIA range. Better hardware is one way of showing it's not just the same bass made in a different country.
 
#3
No, I don't find this the least bit suspicious. There are only two reasons for a manufacturing company to make product changes: to increase sales or to increase profit margins. Either one or both could be the reason behind this change. To my eyes and ears the top end of the MIM line is quite close in quality and desirability to the bottom end of the American line just as the top end of the Squier line is quite close to the bottom end of the MIM line and the Modern Players just confuse the issue even further! Fender is doing a lot of interesting things just now and I don't find that suspicious, I find that wonderful!
 
#9
I have a 2012 Precision with the supposed "custom shop" pickup, and as far as I'm concerned, it's just marketing.

It's a great sounding bass. If they didn't advertise it as "custom shop pickups", it would still sound great.

If it's a generic Fender Custom Shop pickup, without any other specifics (ie. it's not a '59, 62, some kind of special wind, etc), then what really separates it from a regular production American Standard pickup, besides the fact that it was simply wound in the custom shop? When I play that bass, I don't say to myself, "Wow, does that ever sound like a custom shop Fender pickup".

Aside from the fact that they can market it as 'Custom Shop' for a nice sales pitch, I'd say there is no discernible 'custom shop' quality about this pickup. Hell, I don't even know what 'custom shop quality' I should even be listening for lol. I know the really high end Custom Shop basses have pickups that are wound to certain specs, etc, but as far as I know, the current Am Stds don't fall into that category.

A good instrument is instrument, regardless of anything else. But a good instrument with a marketable name or sales pitch is even better :hyper:
 
#10
I don't think so, even though the MIMs are my favorite Fenders I see them as a sort of base model. Good solid chassis so to speak but all the components are fairly cheap but function. But the stock ceramic pups that they come with are basically the same as in Squires and really lack in harmonic richness compared to a quality Alnico, IMO
 
#11
Whenever you can lower the amount of something you are producing (like eliminating the 'regular pickups' and using the 'custom shop' ones) you save money. Looks good on paper, simplifies/reduces number of lines manufactured, so win/win.
 
#12
I've played a couple Mexicans and a couple usa models and found the tone of the Mexicans a little inferior, while still good. Prob the pickups.

I've never thought they were on par.

Prefer affinity jazz tone amplified to Mexican, from my own very limited tests... where affinity jazz v I owned had a tone I liked better, although not as hifi as the Mexican.

To me the Mexican ones, while fine on their own of course, sound like a slightly less full range, slightly less aggressive version of the usa basses.

I'd be happy playing any of them since they all sound good.

fender custom shop as a product line means, literally, nothing. They have thrown that title around so much that it has lost significance imho.... which is sad for those people who own truly custom made fender basses compete with the great quality and high price tag.

Imho, iirc, ymmv, etc
 
#14
I wouldn't be suspicious of Fender for this, but I will speculate as to why they've made this decision.

Fender can probably manufacture these "custom shop" pickups at a lower cost if they produce lots of them. Pickups are pretty simple, but one thing that drives up manufacturing costs is the setup of the manufacturing process.

Set up machine X: costs time and money. If you make 100 pickups, each pickup is expensive to produce. If you make 100,000 pickups instead, then each pickup has a lower production cost.

Fender needs to stay competitive:

1. These premium parts will make their American models stand out from their Mexican models, which in some cases don't seem any different, feature and quality wise.

2. These premium parts will help the American models compete better against similarly priced competition.

3. Lower cost of these pickups (from larger scale production) will yield a slightly higher profit margin on their actual custom shop models. When you see a new fender custom shop PBass going for $3500, you may think that Fender is making a ton of profit. When you factor in the retailer's profits, (and in some cases, a wholesaler as well), $20 saved in manufacturing cost goes a long way.

Some may argue that this may hurt Fender's high end Custom Shop sales. I would not disagree with this. But Fender only sells a handful of CS models compared to the large number of American Standards, and the vast quantity of import models.
 
#16
SoVeryTired said:
I haven't played enough MIM or MIA Fenders to say if they're of equal quality. I see it as product differntiation, trying to portray the MIA 'Standards' as more of a premium instrument compared to the MIM Standards, Modern Player, Classic Vibes, Vintage Modified etc. Fender's putting out a lot of good instruments at low prices so I suppose they do need to try a little harder with the MIA range. Better hardware is one way of showing it's not just the same bass made in a different country.
Click to expand...


Yup.
 
#20
Dang right to be suspicious! They are gov't designed listening/monitoring devices purely for national security. If you have them already, keep the whole bass wrapped in aluminum foil at all times!!!! And wear that foil hat too!!!
 
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