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Does liking Fender instruments make you Unoriginal?

#121
I like fenders but I won't buy them.

The best ones I've played 63 Jazz belongs to a friend of mine who bought it new. He also has a 60 p and 66 fretless jazz (not the original neck of course) and they are imaculate. I haven't played any newer fenders that are as good in terms of playability, tone, output etc. And I don't want to pay ridiculous prices for the old ones.

I do enjoy playing them though. He also has a mint 1960 Gibson 330 that is just simply amazing.
 
#122
Originality is of limited value.

Western music has 12 notes. People have been hammering on them for years. Not surprisingly, there are common, standard chord changes, harmonies, rhythms, and melodies that will land you in a lawsuit for sounding like other melodies.

Selecting a non-Fender bass isn't going to be the thing that will make your music successful, based on that fact alone.

Pick the instrument you like the sound of and which enables you to create and perform.


Tyler Durden:
You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive.
 
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#123
Some of the very most original bass players have used Fender. So have lots of wanna be hacks.
As others have said, it's just an instrument.
Ernest Hemingway used a Smith Corona typewriter, so did a million other unpublished wanna be writers.
Michael Jordan wears Nike's, so do half of the guys down at the neighborhood park.
One of the things I hate the most about Talk Bass is this never ending "Why Fender is best/worst" issue.
And now I feel like a complete idiot for getting sucked into it... again!
 
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#124
I haven't read through all 6+ pages of posts here, but wow, two extremely different questions between the title and first post. As for the title, I'll go a few steps further and ask if it is unoriginal to even play an electric bass?? Even if it's a one-of-a-kind? How many of us are there in the world? So, I'd say probably. Anyhow, remember that anything made for the masses is technically unoriginal. Why worry about it? That being said, TB's opinions of Fender instruments are as varied as blades of grass. Many are similar but no two are quite the same; and there's always a few weeds thrown in for good measure. Perhaps without realizing, your first post pretty much answers/addresses your question. Many folks like them, and many don't, and often for the same reasons.
 
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#133
Slow day in TB land, though I am not surprised - we ran out of new stuff to talk about years ago.

Basses.jpg
 
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#139
Clark Dark said:
Most copied instruments on the planet. every boutique maker on the planet serving up dual pickup basses whether single coil, soap bars, or hum canceling all fall from the Jazz bass' lineage. Some boutique builders will offer a P bass version but the variety of P's is no where as large as the variety of J's. Recently I read that studio engineers prefer P's and J's, but would that apply to Stanley Clarke, Mark King, Nathan East, Fred Hammond or any of the many, many, pros that have invested in boutique rather than vintage? As to liking Fender instruments, if imitation is the highest form of flattery, they are loved!
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Like the crew in my band has said for years - there are guitars made by Fender, and then there are other guitars. Fender is king for a reason.
 

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