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Fender fanned fretboard. Bets accepted...
- Thread starter Avezzano
- Start date
The Fender Bass V was tuned E to C, but didn’t have more range than a 4 string - it only had 15 frets, and given the short neck, it had an elongated body. I have seen one in the flesh, and it was different - they tried something, and apparently it didn’t sell. They weren’t that far from a good idea; if they’d stuck with it and adapted, they might have gotten somewhere with it. The difference between innovative companies and risk averse ones is that innovative companies is that the innovative ones don’t stop when something flips; they adapt it and iterate their way to success. Risk averse companies bail after a flop.
Fendee is handcuffed by their success and their risk averse behaviors. So long as P’s and J’s are viable products, they’re good, but if someone truly innovative comes up with something that obsoletes the basic designs Fender makes, they could be history in no time - their inertia is a blessing until it’s a curse.
As cool as fanned fret designs are, they’ve been around long enough to test the market’s acceptance, and they’re still a niche thing. Given that, I highly doubt Fender is interested in dipping a toe in that area.
Fendee is handcuffed by their success and their risk averse behaviors. So long as P’s and J’s are viable products, they’re good, but if someone truly innovative comes up with something that obsoletes the basic designs Fender makes, they could be history in no time - their inertia is a blessing until it’s a curse.
As cool as fanned fret designs are, they’ve been around long enough to test the market’s acceptance, and they’re still a niche thing. Given that, I highly doubt Fender is interested in dipping a toe in that area.
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They're not stupid. They are a huge company and can afford to sit back and wait to see which technologies stay in the niche and which ones get heavily adopted before they dive in. That's not to say they get it right all the time and, as someone who owns an Elite, I agree that removing the truss rod wheel was a downgrade. But I also know that "Fender Certified" techs looked at my bass and said "W-T-F?" so they probably got a lot of pushback on that.
The reality is that most people are slow to adopt new technologies and the innovations always come from small companies who push forward and take chances. Fender was a small company once, and they used to do that, too, but they are not that company today.
Big companies play it safe and figure out where the rewards lie later.
The reality is that most people are slow to adopt new technologies and the innovations always come from small companies who push forward and take chances. Fender was a small company once, and they used to do that, too, but they are not that company today.
Big companies play it safe and figure out where the rewards lie later.
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This. And as previously observed, plenty of others are providing multi-scale basses.
Maybe fender goes fan fret on a fiver… but imho the real benefit of ff is clarity on lower notes… and much of that stereotypical player population looking gor that are not looking for a classic looking bass like a fender. Mind you… the fender market is pretty large… but i still think it is outside what their typical customer bass wants. You dont buy a fender to be revolutionary. You buy one to be traditional.
I just don't see Fender doing it. It just....I dunno....a fanned fretboard is just not Fender.
The Bailey one doesn’t look half bad. It’s actually nice. Although strange that it has frets. The Zamora one looks really odd and non-Fenderish. It strange to see a Fender logo on the headstock.
Agree 99 per cent: fanned frets basses are coming more and more accepted and diffused. Look just at how many models Ibanez have in the catalogue currently...
And you tell me: why not? Sooner or later they do metabolise the new technical stuff (5 strings, 4+1 headstock, preamps, massive bridges) only that they do it very very slowly. In addition, they actually do try new shapes, models. So they are not an elephant. And trying new technical stuff does not mean that a trusty passive Precision will be dropped from the catalogue...To answer the OP question: I hope never.
Why should they?
To be coherent, actually a reverse headstock would be 2+3!Fanned-Fret-Fiver Meteora (with reverse 3+2 headstock?)
Because they don’t have to. Plenty of other brands that make them. Fender guys don’t care for fanned frets.
Let them make more 22 fret J and P basses first.
