Fender Player Series bass has the wrong pickup

[ThingsAbove]

So I was curious why my new Fender Ocean Turquoise Player Series bass that is advertised to have Alnico 5 pickups was only measuring 5,000 ohms DC resistance.

I decided to measure the pickups directly and when I pulled them out found that they are appear to be Ceramic magnets, not AlNiCo 5. I put my serial number in Fender's instrument registration and it does come up as a Player series bass...

So why does it come with the older model pickups...

I've emailed Fender customer support but my expectations are quite low.


EDIT: For the sake of those starting on this thread let me add some information that came in later from a online chat with Fender support...

 

[mikeswals]

I didn't look underneath, but my son's LE OT has those same silver pickup poles. I knew that wasn't alnico.

 

[ThingsAbove]

I didn't look underneath, but my son's LE OT has those same silver pickup poles. I knew that wasn't alnico.

Well then it's false advertising...

 

[davesultra]

Most likely liquidating old/obsolete parts. I'd heard that some of those P-Basses had the old leftover Standard series necks.

 

[mbell75]

There is a thread I started on this a few weeks ago. The pickups in these sound different indeed and this confirms it. I wonder if they are all like this...

Fender using different pickups in limited editions?

 

[CryingBass]

String up Leo!

Either a crap job at specs writing, or outright fraud. Class action I say!

 

[ThingsAbove]

Fender emailed me back and said I would need to send it to a certified service center for evaluation.
So I just returned it to GC for a full refund. Not my problem anymore.

 

[Floppystrings]

Guitar center had both a "Standard" for $499, and a "Players" $599 series bass online at the same time not long ago and they were identical, tort, maple fretboard, limited edition "ocean turquoise" finish.

I think Fender is doing some shady things with this specific bass. If the pickups are wrong, and the serial number checks out, that is false advertising.

 

[SJan3]

I have a 2017 MIM P Bass.
The pups are the weak spot so I put Dimarzios in and what a huge difference. I think the Performer bass is identical sans Fender Logo. I really dig mine after the pup upgrade.

 

[nostatic]

Did it sound good?

 

[ThingsAbove]

Did it sound good?

I couldn't get the tone control to respond like I expected. I couldn't get the mids to be even half as present as my Jazz with the neck pickup soloed. I like furry mids.

I tried different strings and that helped some but I never could get anything but a scooped, "modern" tone out of it to my ears, both direct and through my Markbass.

I figured I could throw pickups and new controls at it but after I found out it was mis-advertised that was the final nudge to return it .

On the plus side, it did have a very nice neck and balanced beautifully, but that would be the same for any MIM P-bass.

 

[The Bass Clef]

It sure appears as if Fender just threw in some older, much lower quality, cheaper made pickups that they needed to get rid of. If that's the case it's despicable and they probably figure that the average Joe wouldn't notice (which most probably won't). That's some shady crap, especially for the price point of the Player Series. I've said it before and I'll say it again... I love Fenders, but Fender not so much.

 

[Maxdusty]

Fender emailed me back and said I would need to send it to a certified service center for evaluation.
So I just returned it to GC for a full refund. Not my problem anymore.

You did the right thing there. Why send it probably at your own expense and have this "evaluation" process drag on when you don't need to?
Sounds like they're using up their old stock pickups-makes you wonder how many of such basses they've sold with this and the customers aren't aware of it yet.

 

[rashrader]

It's a Fender.

Nuff said.

 

[roller]

I've noticed errors on Fender's website before. Oh well, some companies have great websites... and some don't.

 

[mbell75]

It sure appears as if Fender just threw in some older, much lower quality, cheaper made pickups that they needed to get rid of. If that's the case it's despicable and they probably figure that the average Joe wouldn't notice (which most probably won't). That's some shady crap, especially for the price point of the Player Series. I've said it before and I'll say it again... I love Fenders, but Fender not so much.

Yep, I agree and I returned mine too. The thing that bothers me most is these cost $200 more than the old Standard version but it has the same pickups?

 

[The Bass Clef]

Yep, I agree and I returned mine too. The thing that bothers me most is these cost $200 more than the old Standard version but it has the same pickups?

Yeah, that's not very good business. Mistakes happen, but this is obviously not an isolated case. Who is putting crap pickups in these basses? Is it one bad employee?.. bad management? Someone in the factory is making the decision to not put the correct, advertised (and touted) Alnico 5 in there.

 

[2F/2F]

Fender emailed me back and said I would need to send it to a certified service center for evaluation.

That's the same thing as getting warranty work done. How else were they supposed to address the problem for you?

 

[secondbestcody]

I'm sure someone has said this already, but they have those exact basses as MIM Standards and Player Series. My MIM Standard came with the F stamped neck plate and the Alnico 5 pickups in it but has the MIM Standard Fender logo on the headstock.

It seems like the turquoise P's are a hodgepodge of Standard and Player Series parts. Either way, I'm happy with mine. It's light and now has a set of cream Model P's in it.

 

[40Hz]

Possibly another "exclusive edition" made just for GC? Fender has done "special" runs for GC in the past.