Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Explain me the 'Fender is God' thing
- Thread starter Drunk Heffalump
- Start date
- Status
It strikes me as odd that you would go on and on when you obviously don't know what you are talking about.
Originally Posted by pyrohr
Look around when you go to concerts, no one is playing an Ibanez!
So that automatically makes Ibanez basses pieces of crap?
As previously stated it could very well be an image thing.
I'm also thinking a lot of these players get endorsement deals too so that Fender is advertised to all the influential kiddies that go to concerts, even adults. Newbs and kids are so influenced by whomever their idols are that when they see their faves playing a Fender, Ibanez, or whatever brand they are playing, they have to rush out and get one because they'll sound and play just like their influence. Fender knows this and its a great marketing strategy to sell more of their product and giving them more of that "god like status."
For the record, I go to very good amount of shows and sad but true I don't really see too many people playing Fender basses at them.
Most of the basses I've seen played are Warwick, Spector, ESP, MM's, and Laklands.
The only times I see Fender being played live is at the pop culture type stuff with the emo type bands you currently hear all of the radio.
Edit: You never really see Carvin played live but they are quite good basses, even if they aren't my cup of tea tonality wise.
Look around when you go to concerts, no one is playing an Ibanez!
So that automatically makes Ibanez basses pieces of crap?
As previously stated it could very well be an image thing.
I'm also thinking a lot of these players get endorsement deals too so that Fender is advertised to all the influential kiddies that go to concerts, even adults. Newbs and kids are so influenced by whomever their idols are that when they see their faves playing a Fender, Ibanez, or whatever brand they are playing, they have to rush out and get one because they'll sound and play just like their influence. Fender knows this and its a great marketing strategy to sell more of their product and giving them more of that "god like status."
For the record, I go to very good amount of shows and sad but true I don't really see too many people playing Fender basses at them.
Most of the basses I've seen played are Warwick, Spector, ESP, MM's, and Laklands.
The only times I see Fender being played live is at the pop culture type stuff with the emo type bands you currently hear all of the radio.
Edit: You never really see Carvin played live but they are quite good basses, even if they aren't my cup of tea tonality wise.
I'm going to disagree with you that what he said was rubbish. I don't even need to search the net or library for references.
I started playing bass in 1986, and even in the years before that the market for basses was very limited. Your other options for a quality instrument for the most part, were very limited, brands like Hondo, Palmer, Cort, Dean, to name just a few. It wasn't really until the 90's that I can remember actually seeing a better option of bass guitars other than Fender.
I think that's the precise point being made.
There were quite a few professional grade options for decades prior to when you came on the scene as well but none were really considered "better" than Fender save one.
Some notables were Rickenbacker, Gibson EBs, Thunderbird, Ripper, Grabber, G3, RD, Les Paul Signature, Les Paul Recording, Victory; various Epiphones, Peavey, Ovation Magnum, Musicman Stingray, Sabre and Cutlass; Guild Starfire and their various solidbodies; Hofner, and the one that was considered by many to be better than Fender...Alembic, but Alembics were very expensive customs.
Ned Steinberger's little gem closed out the '70s and shook things up a bit.
Gibson made EXCELLENT basses starting in the 70's. The Ripper is a great sounding and great playing bass. So are the Artist series. The short scale Gibson EB's, though kind of a cool niche, didn't have the tonal flexibility (or clarity) of Fenders.
The Rickenbacker 4001 goes back to at least 1966 and it's a great bass. I guess I'd argue that the Ric (long scale, tonal variety, good tone) was the best competition Fender had until the 70's.
Fender had competition. The players used Fenders because they chose them. Fender made great basses and beat back the competition fair and square because players chose them.
The Rickenbacker 4001 goes back to at least 1966 and it's a great bass. I guess I'd argue that the Ric (long scale, tonal variety, good tone) was the best competition Fender had until the 70's.
Fender had competition. The players used Fenders because they chose them. Fender made great basses and beat back the competition fair and square because players chose them.
- Jul 15, 2003
- 901
- 65
- Disclosures
- I am a determined follower of Jesus Christ and am a Mormon.
Basses off the top of my head in direct competition with Fender.
I will leave out the cheaper stuff here.
Travis Bean
Rickenbacker
Guild
kramer
Steinberger (or whatever)
Carl Thompson
Ibanez
Alembic
Aria pro II
B C Rich
Carvin
ESP
G&L
Music Man
Ken Smith
Ovation
Sadowsky
You must remember in the late 70's early80's when most fenders sucked all Fender had was a p-bass and a jazz. 1981 the p-bass special arrived with Fender's first attempt at an active bass. Fender didn't start making different models until late 80's once the flood gates had already opened!
hate to burst you bubble buddy but Danelectro built Silvertone and Airline brands as well as various Store brands and worked as a jobber for other companies making replacement parts...read your history books....
had they spent more time on their own products they might have survived....
I think mongo2's point was/is .....yes they did make guitars for everyone else,
but the SAME way they made their own. Crappy.
I can't speak for mongo2 though.
oh please...I'll let history do the talking
Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones
Roger Waters of Pink Floyd
Fred Turner of Bachman Turner Overdrive
Paul Simonon of The Clash
Timothy B Schmit of The Eagles
Chris Squire of Yes
Michael Rutherford of Genesis
Peter Quaife of The Kinks
Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy
Lemmy of Motörhead and Hawkwind
Geddy Lee of Rush
Greg Lake of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Roger Glover of Deep Purple
Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple
Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees
John Entwistle of The Who
John Deacon of Queen
Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath
Allen Woody The Allman Brothers Band
Paul Simonon of The Clash
Paul McCartney of The Beatles & Wings
Steve Priest of The Sweet
Rick James
Graham Gouldman of 10cc
Bruce Foxton of The Jam
Dano wasn't the only company making stuff for other companies. Rowe DeArmond used to make pickups for Gretsch in the '50s, the Dynasonic (looks like a little Dark Star and the poles adjust the same way). Anyhow, DeArmond was also making a lot of pickups for Harmony and Silvertone at the same time.
Gretsch didn't like that since their guitars cost a whole lot more than the Harmony and Silvertone guitars and didn't want theirs to have pickups made by the same company, so they requested DeArmond stop making pickups for the cheaper guitars. Since DeArmond sold much more pickups to Silvertone and Harmony they said no and Gretsch started making their own.
Dano didn't hurt themselves at all by making stuff for Sears. They made some very cool guitar amps too.
Gretsch didn't like that since their guitars cost a whole lot more than the Harmony and Silvertone guitars and didn't want theirs to have pickups made by the same company, so they requested DeArmond stop making pickups for the cheaper guitars. Since DeArmond sold much more pickups to Silvertone and Harmony they said no and Gretsch started making their own.
Dano didn't hurt themselves at all by making stuff for Sears. They made some very cool guitar amps too.
agreed they were pretty crappy overall, but when you go from making a solid body instrument to making one out of plywood and masonite and slapping a different name on it....then IMHO you have made a crappy knockoff of your own product...
had they spent more time devoted to their own line instead of trying to produce a low cost alternative instrument faster and cheaper thay might have stuck around....point i was trying to make...
OK, I dig Rics, and some of those guys played Rics for a long time, but:
Wyman? For how long?
I thought Waters was pretty much a P bass guy.
Simonon only played a Ric for a very short time before going to a P bass.
Everytime I've seen Lynott in a clip, he's got a P.
Entwistle, really? Never saw it, it must have been quite the rare occasion.
Deacon played a P quite a bit.
Some of the others, I don't know enough about to say.
Even their own brand were made out of plywood, vinyl and masonite. And lipstick tubes purchased from a lipstick tube manufacturer. They were always produced cheaply, and that was their niche.
ok i'll address each one....
Entwistle started on Fender and moved to Rickenbacker basses in the late 1960s, Alembic's basses in the 1970s, Warwick in the 1980s, and Status all-graphite basses in the 1990s.
Wyman played a number of basses including a Framus Star bass, a Vox Teardrop bass, a Fender Mustang Bass, two Ampeg Dan Armstrong basses, a Gibson SG Bass, a Rickenbacker 4005 and a Travis Bean bass, and then Steinberger basses...
Lynott Started on Ric's and them moved to the P
Deacon recorded and played live with Ric's until 72' at which time he stated that he had trouble with his 4001 and switched to 67' P bass from roughly late 80 to 85 he played a custom Kramer and eventually went back to Fender
Entwistle started on Fender and moved to Rickenbacker basses in the late 1960s, Alembic's basses in the 1970s, Warwick in the 1980s, and Status all-graphite basses in the 1990s.
Wyman played a number of basses including a Framus Star bass, a Vox Teardrop bass, a Fender Mustang Bass, two Ampeg Dan Armstrong basses, a Gibson SG Bass, a Rickenbacker 4005 and a Travis Bean bass, and then Steinberger basses...
Lynott Started on Ric's and them moved to the P
Deacon recorded and played live with Ric's until 72' at which time he stated that he had trouble with his 4001 and switched to 67' P bass from roughly late 80 to 85 he played a custom Kramer and eventually went back to Fender
Wrong.
Airline instruments and amps were made by Valco during the late '50s and '60s. Prior to that Harmony made guitars for Wards. Nate Daniel made amps for Wards and Sears in 1948. Within a year he was exclusive to Sears. He didn't start making instruments until 1954 through agreement with Sears he also marketed them through Danelectro.
Do you mean "Guitars form Neptune" by Paul Bechtoldt and Doug Tulloch? I got my signed copy ryecheer.
I grew up a mile away from a Wards, and a town away from a Sears and two Danelectro factories. Danos were all over around here, sold through local music stores (one of which I worked at), but they were not for sale in Wards.
I still see them at local garage sales from time to time.
Mongo I'm not going to argue the point....I have a book sitting in front of me that details the history of the bass guitar and under the Danelecto chapter it clearly states that throughout the late 1940's and 1950's the Danelectro company produced amplifiers for Sears, Roebuck and Company and Montgomery Ward. In 1954, Danelectro started producing the Danelectro lines of solidbody electric guitars and amplifiers, and also worked producing guitars and amps by contract, that were branded not with the Danelectro name, but with the names of various store brands, such as Silvertone and Airline.....
Of course you won't argue the point, you're wrong.
Dano supplied amps to Wards for a short period, Dano didn't supply instruments to Wards.
Which book is that? I probably have it and if it actually says Danos made Airlines I'd like to see it since it conflicts with the other accounts I've read.
From "Guitars From Neptune" pg 6:
"...by 1947 Nate was building amps for Montgomery Ward and Sears by 1948. In 1948 Nate was the exclusive supplier of amps to Sears and was distributing Danelectro amps through various jobbers, such as Targ and Dinner of Chicago."
That was amps not instruments.
More from "Guitars From Neptune" pg 6:
"...In 1954 he put into production his solidbody guitars for Sears by mutual agreement and also began marketing them under the Danelectro name."
No mention of instruments going to Wards or any other house brands.
- Status
