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Fender love?

Kronos

Kronos

Dec 28, 2005
1,430
6
Philadelphia, PA
www.myspace.com
#1
No, I wasn't planning on this to be a thread expressing my love for fenders. Exactly the opposite.

I wanted to know why most bass players love Fender basses? I've played both a P and a J, and I really don't like any of them. They're ok, but I just feel that there's more to the bass world nowadays than the Fender. :hiding:

Please explain your love here, and what makes them good in your eyes...
 
#5
There is a lot more than just fender out there. That is what makes the music world so much fun. It's all about options. 2 of my three basses are fender. A P, a J, and then the oddball, the Conklin. I like them all, and for different reasons.
 
#6
For me, my first bass was an American Standard Jazz Bass. The Jazz Bass was also the one electric bass I had played before (a few lessons on the school Jazz Bass with my orchestra teacher - a great bass player, upright and electric). So, from the start, I've had a love for the Jazz Bass. It's probably a nostalgic thing - if I had started on a Precision, I'd probably be in love with that instead.

For me, I've always loved the aesthetics, the thin and narrow neck, and the tonal variety I can get from the simple-yet-versatile V-V-T setup. I love the simplicity of my Jazz Bass - and yet, in spite of this simplicity, I can do so many things with it. Lately, I've grown to have a new-found respect for the Precision bass and GAS very hard for one to match my Jazz. I dream of having a "matching pair" of Jazz and Precision basses.

Now, if I had started on a StingRay, I'd probably have been a StingRay devotee from the start. Same goes if I had started on a five-string. Now, however, I do own a StingRay5 and though I'm not sure the fifth string is still for me, I love the bass. It does other things my Jazz cannot - yet my Jazz also can do things the Ray cannot. They compliment each other in my book and I will always have a love for Jazz Basses, but I agree - there are a world of other basses out there, many with their own unique tone, so there's no need to restrict yourself to "just Fender basses."

I could, however, probably live with "just" an assortment of Fender and MusicMan basses (4s and 5s; fretted and fretless; Jazz, P, single-H, dual-H - all the combinations). I'd be a happy boy then.
 
#7
I used to not be a Fender fan, I thought they were overpriced and outdated and I was all about brands like Ibanez, ESP and such. But it was based more on ignorance rather than experiance. Then one day, I decided to stop being a naive kid just going by what I had "heard" and I actually sat down and played some Fenders. Jazz bass Reissues, 70's vintage Precisons, strats, teles, etc. Almost overnight I had caught Fender fever and realized what great timeless instruments they are.

The fact is that Fender instruments have a style, feel, tone, and even a culture all their own which none of the haters can overshadow.
 
#8
Trevorus said:
There is a lot more than just fender out there. That is what makes the music world so much fun. It's all about options. 2 of my three basses are fender. A P, a J, and then the oddball, the Conklin. I like them all, and for different reasons.
Click to expand...

Lol, your bass situation is exactly the same as mine. 'cept my jazz is fretless.
 
#9
I don't care much for Fender either, but I don't knock those who do, some of my favorite artist play them.
I've been around a while so I still have an attitude toward Ibenez, when I was younger they did nothing but copy other peoples stuff. I understand they make good basses, I just still can't get past that.
 
#10
I had played a kubicki(fender custom shop)for years---pickups ahh,
not the best ,but it always felt comfortable and played itself,before that it was an ibanez roadstar2,(fenderish)but it's not the fender name as a whole,it's certain models that bind to my playing style.
 
#11
I play an Ibanez RJB as my first bass, which is Ibanez's answer to the P/J bass and love love love it, it has the DM pickups, the high end maple P style thick neck. But as I got more into getting a certain "sound" I realized that owning a true P Bass is something I have always wanted, even though I never have wanted to drop the money on a product who's name was the reason for the cost.

But this last week I finally broke down and bought a P bass.. which arrives on Wednesday. :hyper:

Even though the next thing I'm going to save up for is a StingRay, I'm all about having different sounds and different feels because to me playing is a mood thing.
 
#13
I always loved the shape and construction of Fender basses. The simple shape of a P bass allow so many different tones from the any versions of P basses and the different manufacturers take on them. I only recently discovered my enjoyment for a p with active electronics. And Jazz basses are just incredibley versataile on their own. They help create many era's sound from funk to jaco's tone to Joe Osborn's own version of a Lakland J bass as well.
It may not be the original sound that kills me but the simple yet near perfect body shapes and designs of both allow for creation (by fender and others) of almost anytone you want.

You can get a funky slap tone out of a J style bass by simply replacing the bridge pickup with a more mid-scooped one or a humbucker. The neck pickup can be used to get a nice meaty yet round tone.

A p bass can give you great thump with flatwounds and a roll of the tone knob and it can give you a mellow tone with tons of sustain with rounds and okay pups.

I guess to some the way people think of the J bass as the bass with 2 single coils and the p as the one with a split coil is the only thing I don't like about a fender.
To me a good a good P has a nice jazz bass pickup too and a Thick neck thats great for the "staightforward" bass lines. And a nice "Jazz bass" has an underwound single coil in the neck position and and a humbucker in the bridge or one of many other combinations and a thin neck better for chording and harmonics etc.

all IMO.
 
#14
im gonna go out on a limb here, so no one get offended.
fenders are like the oreo cookie. it's a classic that most everyone still likes. sure they've come out with oreos with extra filling and stuff like that(amer. dlx basses maybe?), and those are great but every still loves the original oreo cookie. if it ain't broke don't fix it.
 
#15
scuba steve said:
im gonna go out on a limb here, so no one get offended.
fenders are like the oreo cookie. it's a classic that most everyone still likes. sure they've come out with oreos with extra filling and stuff like that(amer. dlx basses maybe?), and those are great but every still loves the original oreo cookie. if it ain't broke don't fix it.
Click to expand...

Hell yeah!!(in Joe Dirt accent)
 
#16
Fenders RULE!!!...if your a fulltime gigging bassist you gotta have one in your arsenal. They're practically indestructible and 100% reliable.(In my experience)..my jazz has been through every known catastrophe (dropped, kicked, fallen out of band van etc..etc...) and the damn thing keeps on ticking.

I do a lot of session dates and for a while I would bring a selection of basses to each session until I realised I only needed the jazz...plug in...play..Bobs your uncle.

I recently did some work with a signed "artiste" type and for the live gigs I used a late 70s stingray (great bite and presence for the material) however when it came to the studio session my Fender jazz beat it hands down, it just seemed to sit better in the mix...(I'm not denigrating stingrays..just in this instance the jazz did the business).

Fender Basses...Simple, reliable and you can use them to beat the head off unruly punters or stage invaders.....and the damn thing will still play in tune.. :D
 
#18
Fender Basses...Simple, reliable and you can use them to beat the head off unruly punters or stage invaders.....and the damn thing will still play in tune.. :D[/QUOTE]


I have to Doubt that--> I've owned 7 fenders and with the big neck gaps that you find in ALL fenders if you bang the neck on either edge the neck moves and the whole bass goes outta tune--> grap any fender bass and reach down grap the neck and pull up on it and you will hear it creak meaning it just moved....

now the vintage up to the early eighties basses where built tight and very very nice quaility but these newer ones with the GEIGH S1 switchs are garbage.... I currently play musicmans but I'm still looking for an older P-bass with a A or B neck to ad to the list.
 
#20
My 2 cents on why people love Fender.

Well, its really the meat and potatoes of most instruments. Fender was a damned genius at putting his stuff together. Sure the orginal Fender works might not be able to stand up against their updated counter parts(i.e. Stingray, Sadowsky, you get the picture), but they still hold their own. You can personailze them to the point where it might not even resemble a Fender anymore, but that's part of the beauty of the line. You can make it your own with ease. Throw on a Badass II, swap out the neck for graphite, throw in a J-Retro, some Barts, you have yourself one hell of a bass. Plus, to a good amount of people, they just sound good. Can't argue with a happy bassist. Sure, Fender's had their ups and downs, but what company hasn't? Fender's may be good, they may be ****, but it doesn't change the fact that they have a solid foundation, and they plan to stick around for quite a while.
 

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