Fender American Design Experience

[Addison]

I don't understand why a natural finish isn't an option. It's surprising to me that it's not an option with most companies. It's not as if it's a more complicated finish to apply.

I was confused as well, so I called someone who does amazing finish work and this is what he told me.

It's not more complicated to apply, but it's a lot harder to find a good body to apply it to.

The body takes a lot more time to sand and prep and imperfections and inclusions in the wood can't be hidden underneath a natural finish, so you need to be a lot more careful when selecting body woods.

You also usually only want to do a 2-piece body at the most, since it looks the best... solid color bodies are as many as 3 or more, simply because it's less expensive.

 

[fourstringdrums]

I was confused as well, so I called someone who does amazing finish work and this is what he told me.

It's not more complicated to apply, but it's a lot harder to find a good body to apply it to.

The body takes a lot more time to sand and prep and imperfections and inclusions in the wood can't be hidden underneath a natural finish, so you need to be a lot more careful when selecting body woods.

You also usually only want to do a 2-piece body at the most, since it looks the best... solid color bodies are as many as 3 or more, simply because it's less expensive.

Makes sense. That would explain why some builders have an upcharge for natural bodies.

 

[metron]

Sorry for the late reply..

Sloppy wiring grindy wobbly tuners, a wonky strap button pointing away from the bass:View attachment 443854

And a deeply recessed truss rod. Not good:
View attachment 443855

Yikes, thats not good. Thanks for the info! Hiw long did you wait for that build to be delivered?

 

[Matt R.]

It was pretty much right at 90 days. I have no idea how long my replacement will take.
My PBass should ship in the next couple weeks or so

 

[Mastermold]

It was pretty much right at 90 days. I have no idea how long my replacement will take.
My PBass should ship in the next couple weeks or so

Bummer. You'd think with so many people watching this new ADE thing they'd be extra on top of QC. My guess however is your replacement will be well inspected before it ships and you'll be happy.

 

[ModuMan]

What did you order? I probably missed it.

It's a few pages back by now but I got a straight-up American Standard (I prefer the neck) in CAR with a tort guard and the normal AS pickup. Yep, I'm pretty much paying for the color and guard but I really do prefer the CAR to the Mystic Red.

I'm also looking at this as a sort of "test-run" to see if I want to do something in the future with a Jazz through the ADE.

For anyone who is interested, I did a sound comparison between the '58 pickups that came on my p-bass to the "Custom Shop '62 Precision" pickups that they were kind enough to send me as a replacement and here are the results...

I am WAY happier with the CS '62 pickups... they sound absolutely friggin' amazing.

For whatever reason the clip wouldn't play for me but I am glad to hear about the comparison. I have only been able to try an AS and the '63 AVRI in person. It was close but I preferred the AS which - I believe - are the '62 Custom Shop pickups? I wasn't sure what to pick for my bass so I went with what I knew.

 

[SpruceGoose54]

I wonder if they got swamped with orders quicker than they expected. They underestimated the fury and demand of all the lefties.

 

[Matt R.]

My guess however is your replacement will be well inspected before it ships and you'll be happy.

It damn well better be haha

 

[Shovel]

http://s1324.photobucket.com/user/S..._bg1_1366x768_zpsd040303b.png.html?sort=3&o=0
Here's the one I designed. I like the look of it but for the price I'd probably just get a Carvin. Either way I think this a step in a good direction for fender, this opens up a lot of possibilities.

 

[Matt R.]

Nice design!

 

[7dollarbologna]

for this to really work Fender needs to open all options in any configuration.

 

[Sleeq]

Call me plain, but I really wanted a Honey Burst Highway One. This is the closest I can get:

 

[Addison]

for this to really work Fender needs to open all options in any configuration.

Fender is already doing this.

It's called the Custom Shop.

And you're right... it's working pretty well for them.

 

[Bob Rogers]

How has the customer advice been? Mines been awesome.

Mine was terrible. Emails never returned. Phone never picked up. Voicemail never returned.

 

[petrus61]

Bummer. You'd think with so many people watching this new ADE thing they'd be extra on top of QC. My guess however is your replacement will be well inspected before it ships and you'll be happy.

I think they do what they can before it goes to market and go from there. I seriously believe the hype around the AV line caused a rush to market, and that resulted in some real turds. This is a little different, as there's no real way to have definitive parameters for "custom" builds, aside from what is already established as the company standard...which happens to be "some bad ones will make it out the door"

 

[Rocky]

I seriously believe the hype around the AV line caused a rush to market, and that resulted in some real turds.

Are you saying that because Fender was concentrating on the AV line of basses that they somewhat ignored QC on the rest of their line? If thats what you meant I find it hard to believe. It seems to me that its just some basses are better than others when it comes to QC, but probably still fall in Fenders QC parameters. Whatever the reason customers still deserve the best quality available at the price point paid, and if they are not happy wih an instrument a replacement or refund should be an option..

 

[Addison]

I think there's something to be said for the number of competent dealers out there who correct issues from the factory before they ever hit the sales floor.

It's possible they simply haven't adjusted to the "straight to customer" level of QC that is necessary when you're doing that type if business.

This isn't exclusive to Fender either... I worked MI retail for several years and I was astonished at some of the imports I saw.

 

[Rocky]

I gotta say that my AV 58 was setup perfect from the factory. I opened the shipping box at my dealers so I know he didnt touch it at all. I found this to be so unusual that I had to ask him if his rep did him a favor or if the bass had been a return. He assured me it was not. I must have gotten lucky as the body also appears to be one piece. Its an ash body with a white blond finish, and I cant find any seams, but the setup was perfect for me which was more than likely just plain luck.

 

[petrus61]

Are you saying that because Fender was concentrating on the AV line of basses that they somewhat ignored QC on the rest of their line? If thats what you meant I find it hard to believe. It seems to me that its just some basses are better than others when it comes to QC, but probably still fall in Fenders QC parameters. Whatever the reason customers still deserve the best quality available at the price point paid, and if they are not happy wih an instrument a replacement or refund should be an option..

Not at all. If anything, the ramp up of the line expansion across the board (introduction of more new models in a shorter period then ever in their history) probably had the opposite effect, taking focus off what had been a stellar run of QC for US instruments, particularly AmStd's, beginning in '08. When I said "rush to market", I was speaking primarily of the AV line. The release date had been suddenly cut by a few months after news leaked out before they even hit NAMM. I think this resulted in a higher than average (considering the up until then track record since '08) number of bad apples. A handful of TB'ers were among the first to snatch up that first limited run that went to market, and there was a good share that just sucked. Of course, I'm only hypothesizing based on evidence of my own and a few others experiences here.

It can certainly be argued the good/bad ratio of their output of that run simply matched their typical average of QC. None if this really relates to the topic though. But yes, I think attention to providing a quality higher ticket instrument lagged and struggled under the weight of their other lines, regardless of country of origin.

I think Fenders current QC isn't either terrible or amazing at this point, considering their scale. It's still probably much better across the board than it was 20 years ago.

I'll also add that Fender offered to fully cover all shipping and repair charges the two times I had to contact them about QC. The first was an AV 58 that was replaced (dead neck) and the other was a 50's Classic that I decided to make into a project bass. I totally wasn't expecting that.

 

[Fletz]

The customer service I have received for my ADE has been stellar. I will admit, at one point I was dissatisfied with the lack of response I was getting from the company about updates on production of my bass. Then, due to a miscommunication I was told it was shipping and it didn't. I expressed my extreme dissatisfaction with that mix up and they have come through in flying colors. They expressed their apologies for the miscommunication by sending me a second upgraded case and a box of 5 sets of strings. They even featured my unboxing video on their site.

This, I am sure, is not the norm. But what it shows me is that they are committed to the ADE and want to ensure customer satisfaction. That says this is a long term business approach and could be the future of the biz. No product is perfect and, as a company that puts thousands of products in the hands of musicians a year, there are bound to be occasional missteps. These are guitars that are made of wood and metal and QC can change as it leaves the floor.

I imagine for every complaint (from the perfectionists we all are on this board) there are hundreds of satisfied customers. It is great to know that those of us who have had a problem and gone to FMIC instead of complaining here have gotten satisfaction. Fender seems to be going in the right direction and I am enjoying watching how they navigate this brave new world of retail vs direct.