Fender American Design Experience

[ShoeManiac]

I love Fender and they are all I play but if you piece together an american standard bass on the ADE then it should reflect the same price. That is where my negativity for the program stems from. Also, they should offer the options of an American deluxe neck and body since the ADE basses are the same price as the American Deluxe.

As a Fender customer I get where you're coming from. But in an attempt to look at it from the standpoint of Fender? I have to imagine that their production process for American Standard instruments is fairly streamlined. It's a production line, but they're building guitars and basses.

But with the American Design Experience? You've got either an individual or team who now have to source all of the specific parts that a customer has ordered. That adds time & labor to the process. I have a difficult time imagining that someone would put together an American Standard bass via the ADE, as it seems a little counterintuitive.

 

[Stranger Danger]

i totally disagree. fender is offering two options for customization. in their custom shop you can get anything under the sun - much like the vendors/brands you are referencing. in their ADE shop you can make little tweaks to make a semi-standard american fender your own for a much lesser price than the custom shop. want a full on menu of options? go custom shop. want a little tweak on a classic? go ade. dont want either? come on talkbass and complain

if you actually search on the ade thread you'll find many happy customers that have actually ordered one - especially lefties. just like every brand, program, vendor, etc youll find happy customers who like it and just as many unhappy talkbass people who have never tried it. it is talkbass after all

Actually they offer 3 options. You can buy bodies, necks, pickups, bridges, strings, etc and put together your own bass too.

 

[GregC]

Actually they offer 3 options. You can buy bodies, necks, pickups, bridges, strings, etc and put together your own bass too.

I wish they offered MIA-built Tele-bass style necks. Or that the ADE had an option to put together a '51 or '54-style P. (There ain't no way I'm shelling out $4320 for the Custom Shop version.)

 

[awilkie84]

i totally disagree. fender is offering two options for customization. in their custom shop you can get anything under the sun - much like the vendors/brands you are referencing. in their ADE shop you can make little tweaks to make a semi-standard american fender your own for a much lesser price than the custom shop. want a full on menu of options? go custom shop. want a little tweak on a classic? go ade. dont want either? come on talkbass and complain

if you actually search on the ade thread you'll find many happy customers that have actually ordered one - especially lefties. just like every brand, program, vendor, etc youll find happy customers who like it and just as many unhappy talkbass people who have never tried it. it is talkbass after all

Fender's CS is not competing with Warmoth or USACG, though. To get the same options via Warmoth or USACG, you're paying 1/3rd of the price you would to go Fender CS. Fender really needs to keep this in mind. The Fender name, IMO, isn't worth tripling the price of a bass.

 

[I am Soma]

Fender's CS is not competing with Warmoth or USACG, though. To get the same options via Warmoth or USACG, you're paying 1/3rd of the price you would to go Fender CS. Fender really needs to keep this in mind. The Fender name, IMO, isn't worth tripling the price of a bass.

i respectfully disagree. say i wanted to customize a mustang and ford offered a customizing program. their price will surely be 3x the price for actual ford/mustang parts vs buying offbrand. to some people it really is worth it. i dont think fender is looking to compete with warmouth as it has no need to based on resale alone. from what i see/hear their custom and ade programs are doing quite well. i honestly have no interest in either the ade, custom, or warmouth/other brand type of bass. just my opinions of course

 

[Rocky]

I think this is a great program for lefties. Choices are always welcome as far as I'm concerned

 

[Feral Feline]

Due to an unfortunate accident as a child, I play righty, but should be playing lefty, so I'm with Rocky ^ on anything that helps south-paws out. Is there an upcharge on lefty models as per many companies' policy?

... say i wanted to customize a Mustang ...

But the Mustang isn't even offered on the ADE, and surely Ford has better things to do with its resources than to divert some of them to tooling up to build basses. Ford shood stik t' billding kars 'n' lite-dootee pik-me-up-truks.

... in their custom shop you can get anything under the sun ...

Not quite "anything". Apart from Tye Zamora's "The Oar", I've never seen anything that came out of the Fender Custom Shop that wasn't some derivation of standard issue Fenders. Custom, and very-well built to be sure, but still well within the safe confines of Fender's tried & true narrow homogenised parameters of Leo's designs - I could hardly classify that as "anything under the sun".

I like Fenders, and I think the ADE programme is a great idea, but I still found the options too limiting. Doesn't matter where Fender draws the line, though, there will always be people who would be happy with "a little bit more", like me, and yet others who would want "more than that little bit more", like me. I was hoping to ADE my own Jaguar with lollipop-tuners.

Also, like many, I'd like a Telecaster neck (though, maple unlined fretless), but without having to get it from the Custom Shop. Actually, if the Custom Shop sold me just the neck, I might consider it. TTBOMK, FCS only sells complete basses.

I just tried ADE again, haven't in months. Tried to build a lefty with an early neck but it won't recognise my hardware choice, the programme is hung up on that, as well, the ADE (attention deficit engine) confuserator has swapped out my late '50's maple neck for a 63 rosewood. Okay, just found out why the programme hung up: where there is only ONE option (chrome hardware) and therefore NO option, you still have to MAKE a choice. That is simply unintuitive, counter-intuitive even, and the only build-your-own bot I've come across that does that.

You want to see a great configurator, check out Fbass (though Fbass does upcharge lefties – nobody's perfect).

It may work well for others, but for me FADE's appeal faded more quickly than a Motown Hit's fade-out on AM radio, it is not an experience worthy the price of my admission until more options are offered, perhaps midway between where it's currently at and full-on FCS.

Meanwhile, I'll Frankenstein the Jaguar I want for substantially cheaper than going FCS...

 

[Doug Parent]

Am I incorrect In the assumption that war mouth ships you a bunch of parts to assemble yourself?

No you are correct. Warmouth sells only parts.

 

[Doug Parent]

Well yesterday I talked to a very reputable dealer who informed me that this whole American design experience is a test bed to eliminate dealers and sell direct to the public! There is a meeting that will take place at Fender Corporation on August 4 to discuss this and they invited 50 of their top dealers to attend to get their input. Personally I think this idea sucks! 1) There will be no reduction in Price! Fender is simply going to profit more by eliminating dealers. 2) forget about customer service. having to deal directly with Fender in my opinion is going to really suck! 3) regardless of what ever marketing BS they put out who is actually going to be paying for the shipping? My guess is it will be incorporated in the price. 4) having to order directly from Fender means I will not be able to try out a bass until after I pay for. 5) no more deals from the store you might have a good relationship with. Fender is not going to give you any break. 6) many dealers will go out of business because of this. more jobs flushed down the toilet due to corporate greed!
Hey Fender if you're reading this I absolutely despise this idea,

You make good points but there may be some valid perspectives for Fender as well. Who knows how many instruments that don't sell or get returned that get damaged or blemed hanging around at a Guitar Center? I'm not sure the number is high or low, I'm just spitballing here. Maybe the Squires out sell the "Fender" line to the point that it makes more sense to try and sell direct? Hard to say.

 

[Rocky]

We will find out soon the meeting was today

 

[Rocky]

For everyone watching this thread I should have some more information on the seventh or soon after.

 

[alexgeddy]

Another thing to keep in mind... Anything you buy from the Fender design is not returnable for any reason.. That is what I was told by fender... If there is a problem you have to go to a service center.... So be careful what you order!!

Bill

 

[Fletz]

^ not true. Read the return policy on the site.

 

[ModuMan]

If there is a problem you have to go to a service center.... So be careful what you order!!

Speaking of which... my P-bass is now at the local GC service center. The G string nut slot is likely too low and I was concerned about the neck pocket as well.

When I spoke to my ADE rep (Brad Shelton) he assured me that we weren't under a time limit so hopefully everything will get sorted out.

 

[kzr750r1]

Well hope your GC isn't run by a bunch of idiots lie they are out here... Kind of surprised Fender considers GC worthy for service.

 

[ModuMan]

Well hope your GC isn't run by a bunch of idiots lie they are out here... Kind of surprised Fender considers GC worthy for service.

I could be quite mistaken about this but I think the Service Center handles their own business. In my case, I've worked with the Tech there on other instruments and I'm very confident in his abilities. If it wasn't warranty work I wouldn't even think twice about it. Since it is warranty work then there's a lot of paperwork which is (fortunately) not my problem. My ADE rep wants all communication directed to him that should streamline the process... I hope.

 

[Slpbass81]

I used to work at a few different Guitar Centers. That is the last place I would take any instrument to. If I paid that much for basically a glorified American Standard I would have them pay for it to be sent back to the Fender shop and correct their mistakes. At least companies like Ampeg do their research and only certify quality repair shops (at least where I am, and GC is not one of them lol).

 

[ModuMan]

I used to work at a few different Guitar Centers. That is the last place I would take any instrument to. If I paid that much for basically a glorified American Standard I would have them pay for it to be sent back to the Fender shop and correct their mistakes. At least companies like Ampeg do their research and only certify quality repair shops (at least where I am, and GC is not one of them lol).

I called Fender first, this is how they handle it. That's not to say it won't make its way back to California if need be, but it goes to a Fender certified repair tech first and that's the closest. If it's just replacing the nut, no biggie. But the neck pocket may warrant a return trip, we'll see. In any event, it was disappointing to see it on this instrument.

 

[Slpbass81]

That's a great color but wow that gap in the neck pocket is bad. Send out some full pics when you get a chance. If they provide that color option in the American a Standard I may have to get one.

 

[Mastermold]

I called Fender first, this is how they handle it. That's not to say it won't make its way back to California if need be, but it goes to a Fender certified repair tech first and that's the closest. If it's just replacing the nut, no biggie. But the neck pocket may warrant a return trip, we'll see. In any event, it was disappointing to see it on this instrument.

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That gap might just be the neck shifting during mailing. Sometimes happens with bolt on necks, and you just need to loosen the bolts at the neck plate and adjust it back and re-tighten.