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Fender American Ultra Series - ???

#81
Huw Phillips said:
I believe the metro Sadowsky’s to be a far better buy, as above the truss rod wheel seemed to be awesome, maybe it was too expensive to do for mass market
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Yup... the Sadowsky Metro Express is a much better deal... but they're having a hard time getting them out the door. Lots of issues with people quitting at the manufacturing facility apparently.

A lot of dealers have been waiting over a year to get orders.

I'm not sure if this is true - so take it with a grain of salt - but I spoke to one dealer who told me that Roger may be planning to stop production for a while and refund stores that have made orders until things get fixed.
 
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#82
DanGroove said:
So the "Big News" was in fact the announcement of the American Ultra. Doesn't look like they made many changes from the Elite other than getting rid of the truss wheel (I like the truss wheel). It claims a redesigned preamp so maybe that is improved. And the new Ultra Noiseless pickups. Could be hit or miss.

The thing I really can't get though is the color choices at launch. For the jazz you get Natural or Sunburst. Not a lot of options there. The precision is worse though. 5 color choices, and 3 of them are bursts. You get Natural, Sunburst, Ultra burst? (dark sunburst), Cherry Burst or something like that, and Olympic White. So they released it in 5 finishes, and all but one are a wood grain finish. No interesting colors at all. Poorly chosen IMO.
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Today was the first time I saw one online... The one I saw looked just like my Elite except it came with the pearl pick guard that I can’t find. About everything I read seemed like it was the same.
The Elite has noisless pickups.
 
#86
Ehh..., I stopped trying to keep up with the ever changing nomenclature and slight spec changes years ago. I would advise people to look for used American Standard models that they made for many years and go from there. There should be plenty of used ones out there in mint condition.
 
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#89
phillipkregg said:
Yup... the Sadowsky Metro Express is a much better deal... but they're having a hard time getting them out the door. Lots of issues with people quitting at the manufacturing facility apparently.

A lot of dealers have been waiting over a year to get orders.

I'm not sure if this is true - so take it with a grain of salt - but I spoke to one dealer who told me that Roger may be planning to stop production for a while and refund stores that have made orders until things get fixed.
Click to expand...
I see them from time to time in NYC but you have to have the will to buy there and then.
 
#90
I was sincerely hoping that they would offer an active five string Precision with this update. That would have had me considering a buying a new Fender. Guess I’m sticking with the five Precisions that I already have.
 
#91
It appears the “you’ll never play a Fender the same way again” only applied to guitarists. The guitars at least got a nice new neck sculpt, all the basses got were downgrades. No more truss wheel, crappy fender high mass bridge with no more string thru.

IMO the most innovative design they ever did to their basses was when they made the “Fender American Deluxe” jazz and precision’s with the 22 fret necks. Really wish they’d bring those back.
 
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#93
The Ultra makes me look genius for paying much less for a brand new Elite last month. Did you notice string through body is gone on the Ultra? Top load only. Backwards on the trust rod adjuster. No ebony fretboard like my Elite. Horrible colors.

Here's my Elite in comparison

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pj04.jpg


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#94
Hey, I told them to do a bass version of this but to skip the boring colors and go with some hot metallic ones with matching headstocks.
I told them to keep the price under $1,500.
I told them to use the Eric Cartman strategy.
Talk about grateful?
They asked me "How did you get in here?" and had security escort me out!

 
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#95
Eehh - redesigned preamp, could be something. The rest just looks like a re-hash. Proof will be in the playing. Hope they’re amazing. Fender makes a good bass. Maybe the urge to endeavor lessens when you have a proven well accepted product. - Ain’t broke don’t fix it kinda thing. Sure doesn’t explain the abundance of vanilla pudding-like color choices.
 
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#97
Coolidge said:
The Ultra makes me look genius for paying much less for a brand new Elite last month. Did you notice string through body is gone on the Ultra? Top load only. Backwards on the trust rod adjuster. No ebony fretboard like my Elite. Horrible colors.

Here's my Elite in comparison

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So freaking gorgeous... I might have to snag one as well.

-ScottM
 
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