Fender Player Meteora Bass

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Saw this today on Reverb:

View attachment 4613430

What do you think?

I am not wild about the shape. A Jazz is hard enough to keep on a stand or next to an amp...

I'd prefer humbuckers to pairs of jazz pickups nailed together, although I have so many spare jazz pickups maybe I should do it myself. Depends on the pickup routing options. But I'd be looking for replacement pickup covers.

Perhaps I should applaud Fender for doing something different, but I'd like different and ergonomic. Maybe it hangs well on the body.

 

[jd56hawk]

Finally something fresh from Fender that will make people forget all about the failures of the past.
For all those people tired of being asked "Is that your uncle's bass?" when they see you playing a P bass or a Jazz, you can hold up your head once more.
These things not only look modern, but they sound modern, too...but you can still dial in that classic P or J tone, too.
I don't know if Fender updated their preamp, or they simply found the perfect match with the new Fireball XL-5 pickups, but believe me, once people get their hands on these things we're going to see a lot of "Definitely my favorite Fender" and "Best Fender bass of all time!" posts.
Forget all about those old-fogey Fenders...think Musicman Big AL and G&L L2000 all rolled into a modern package for the modern bassist...Fender didn't forget you!
And even if you are old and gray, Fender is thinking of you, too, because for some strange reason they decided to offer the Meteora in Black-and-Gray Burst and Two-Color Burst, instead of Cosmic Jade or Fireball Burst or Deep Space Blue.

 

[BassDaddy77]

A Fender that isn't a P or a J. Let's start the pool on when it dies. I give it about a month - I have dibs on April 11th, 2022. The 9 AM hour.

P.S. I'd really like to be wrong - I'd like to see Fender stick it out for a while on a different kind of bass. And yes, splits on the pickups would be a good thing - chosen so that, if you split both, the combination is hum cancelling.

Oh, I forgot - everyone gets one free gripe. It's missing a string.

Lol, I'd also love for you to be wrong.....but we all know how this "Not a P" or "Not a J" story ends. The Fender bass buying community is a perplexing realm.

I guess I already voiced my gripe: I wish it weren't active. (But would be cool to have coil splits!)

 

[defdog99]

Good for the collector. Next to the Reverse Pawn Shop, Cabronita, Rascal, Dimension triplebucker, Dimension active, Starcaster, and Coronado.

 

[GreyBeard]

I predict this will go the way of the Dimension, the Cabronita P, and the Reverse Jaguar. Translation: it doesn’t matter how good or cool it is, it’ll get discontinued because it’s not a P or a J.

However - I think it would look awesome with a trans blonde finish and black pickguard, or a trans grey or white finish. Or trans black! For whatever reason I think some alder wood grain showing through, yet not in a burst, would be really cool.

As soon as the Meteora guitars came out, I thought it would make a great body shape for a bass. I suspect the offset body will balance out any neck dive issues. I like these and will be cheering for them to survive. Maybe I’ll get one in a year or three.

I agree completely. Fender is so over the top with their Precisions and Jazzes that there just isn't much room for anything else.

 

[bigthemat]

if I can get this as a 5 string passive jazz.... then we're talking. I LOVE that body shape

 

[mikewalker]

Would love to see a short-scale version with a Starcaster headstock.

When the Meteora guitar first came out, I was inches away from building exactly that, but ended up putting the Starcaster neck on a strat body instead. It's my go-to flats bass, now!

(Pics at Special Edition Build-Off: RePsycheldelic'd Starcaster )

 

[Sam Dingle]

I can predict these won't sell well, and will be twice the value used when they're discontinued.

 

[40Hz]

Too much distance between that upper horn and the 12th fret (where things would tend to balance better). Neck dive, neck reach, to the 1st fret, a pain in the neck waiting to happen. No functional reason to make it the way it is, just some designer's plaything. "Well isn't that ... stylish ..."

Thx! Be interesting to see how much of that actually plays out once I get one in my hand. Assuming I can find anyone who is locally carrying one. That was the problem with the Dimension series. Despite endless assurances of “we’ll getting some in soon,” none ever seemed to appear.

 

[emal]

..this may be the first bass I buy once released, it's SO different I have to try it, AND I m a sucker for offset bodies...

 

[Discount Bassy]

Meh.

 

[deff]

Four words
Long
Reach
Neck
Dive

It's a 34 scale bass so it depends where you fit the bass to your body, like most exploder and offset types, the position is typically middle or neck toward the middle of your body, so while it might look like that. It isn't a long reach. Secondly the assumption that there will be neck dive, (which is the most overwrought tempest in a teapot issue ever) could simply be fixed by moving the bottom strap button.

 

[H K]

Might be interesting if we can split those pups.

The details are on the site. I dont remember if you can split them, but theres active/passive mode atleast.

As for neck dive, I doubt it! That thing is THICC.

I'm definitely picking up one, maybe two.

 

[Lesfunk]

Buy one and tell us how it is.
It’s cool looking

It's a 34 scale bass so it depends where you fit the bass to your body, like most exploder and offset types, the position is typically middle or neck toward the middle of your body, so while it might look like that. It isn't a long reach. Secondly the assumption that there will be neck dive, (which is the most overwrought tempest in a teapot issue ever) could simply be fixed by moving the bottom strap button.

 

[DJ Bebop]

Four words
Long
Reach
Neck
Dive

 

[mongo2]

What's up with the flourishes/accents on either side of the headstock logo?

Those flourishes were originally used on the Jazzmaster guitar starting back in the late '50s.

I noticed them right away and they're the only thing I actually like about that bass.

 

[SleepyShark]

Typical TB response, "Cool, Fender is stepping out of their comfort zone with a new design! Now, if it were just a P bass, it would be perfect."

Seriously.

This thing is a really cool concept! So was the Dimension.

I think Fender's lane in the market is just so heavily entrenched that people default to other brands for things outside of the P and J space. The other thread on these had a similar vibe. We also have to acknowledge, and I mean no hate by this, that your average TB poster is over 40 and their opinion of what Fender is and should be is pretty set in stone. For decades it was only the P and J in the product lineup, and anything that breaks beyond that, or a classic guitar framework like the Jaguar, is just a non-starter for them.

I hope Fender keeps putting whacky stuff out there. The P and J are here to stay, and we love them, but new is cool too. But please, for the love of all that is sacred, stop throwing mint green on everything. It looks awful on that promo shot with the 4 colorways.

 

[TyBo]

Seriously.

This thing is a really cool concept! So was the Dimension.

I think Fender's lane in the market is just so heavily entrenched that people default to other brands for things outside of the P and J space. The other thread on these had a similar vibe. We also have to acknowledge, and I mean no hate by this, that your average TB poster is over 40 and their opinion of what Fender is and should be is pretty set in stone. For decades it was only the P and J in the product lineup, and anything that breaks beyond that, or a classic guitar framework like the Jaguar, is just a non-starter for them.

I hope Fender keeps putting whacky stuff out there. The P and J are here to stay, and we love them, but new is cool too. But please, for the love of all that is sacred, stop throwing mint green on everything. It looks awful on that promo shot with the 4 colorways.

Considering that most of the negative comments on this bass had nothing in particular to do with its Fender lineage, but rather have had to do with its ergonomics, this post seems to miss the mark.

 

[defdog99]

Fender sure has a lot of micro-amp boards in the warehouse, now don't they?
Sticking them into every guitar and bass and line.

 

[SleepyShark]

Considering that most of the negative comments on this bass had nothing in particular to do with its Fender lineage, but rather have had to do with its ergonomics, this post seems to miss the mark.

That could be.

Admittedly I'm just going off of historically what has happened with other new Fender concepts.

We on TB aren't a perfect reflection of the bass playing population either. Maybe once these things are on the wall in Guitar Centers they'll be a smash hit with a younger crowd, etc.

I would love to be wrong. This thing looks wicked.