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Fender Rascal Bass gone?
- Thread starter BassmentPlayer
- Start date
It all may be just a web upgrade page error. I get redirected to the Canadian site when I put in this US URL.
shop.fender.com/en-US/electric-basses/other/classic-player-rascal-bass/0140110308.html
Once I started looking around, the Canadian site is brand new looking (from this afternoon) and has the Rascal under Classic and Special Edition bass filters. (There is no Classic Player filter anymore)
I can't believe I fell for the old 'Fender Web Site Upgrade Trick'. :*(
It's hard being Fender. People gripe because you have so man derivitive products and gripe that your different products aren't what they want. I wasn't interested in yet another P or J sig bass in modern vibe classic pawn player guise but then Insaw a Starcaster in person.
Lots of folks don't like it. I loved it and bought it. Just how it goes
Lots of folks don't like it. I loved it and bought it. Just how it goes
It looks like something I'd at least like to check out. I'm disappointed I may never get to try one and at least decide for myself if I like it!
Never had the chance to try one but I do have a Squier VI and I love the tonal options of that bass so I cannot imagine being disappointed by the Rascal. I don't care how a bass sounds unplugged, I never play them that way. The Rascal has been all but invisible on the Fender website since they revised it two years ago, or maybe it was just a year ago. The only way to find it was to search on it by name and of course for those people whose reaction to this thread is "Fender made a bass called a Rascal?" the chances of that happening were zero, were they not? Exceedingly clever marketing on Fender's part!??? I emailed them to point this out to them but that went nowhere. I like the layout of the VI, the layout of the Rascal was pretty much the same so no problem here.
But I would say that the Rascal is no longer in production. If a Fender bass is in production there will generally be both green Buy Now and Play One buttons on its product page. If there is only a Play One button as on the Rascal page it usually means the bass is out of production and it is appearing on the web site only to support dealer sales while the remaining stock is sold. Of course that can't be very effective in the case of the Rascal since you can't find it easily on the web page.... I'd have bought one if I could have afforded it while it was available but now I suppose I will have to convert a VI to four strings or put a D C Kunkle bass IV neck on a Strat.
But I would say that the Rascal is no longer in production. If a Fender bass is in production there will generally be both green Buy Now and Play One buttons on its product page. If there is only a Play One button as on the Rascal page it usually means the bass is out of production and it is appearing on the web site only to support dealer sales while the remaining stock is sold. Of course that can't be very effective in the case of the Rascal since you can't find it easily on the web page.... I'd have bought one if I could have afforded it while it was available but now I suppose I will have to convert a VI to four strings or put a D C Kunkle bass IV neck on a Strat.
That switching system is 10/10. The bridge placement seems more aesthetic than ergonomic, but I'm mostly a pick player and so can easily forgive poor bridge placement. The premier guitar demo really made me want one but between my Gibson sg bass and my gretsch junior jet my short scale needs are filled.
A long scale revisiting of this general look and feature set though, that'd be dangerous.
A long scale revisiting of this general look and feature set though, that'd be dangerous.
I found the Rascal on the fender site in like 15 seconds....not sure of the issue.
Invalid Link Removed
>>not sure of the issue.
You are on the US site.
International Fender site for Canada, it is gone. When I found it on a search I was directed to the US site.
Invalid Link Removed
As khutch points out, on the US site you are not given the option to buy one so it would seem to be out of production.
You are on the US site.
International Fender site for Canada, it is gone. When I found it on a search I was directed to the US site.
Invalid Link Removed
As khutch points out, on the US site you are not given the option to buy one so it would seem to be out of production.
These are on SUPER SALE at Adorama right now, and after watching the demo above, I ordered one. I should have read more from the gurus here.
It's Heavy, it's nearly full size due to bridge placement, and the deal killer for me - the bridge requires the use of hard to find MEDIUM SCALE strings. I got rid of all my Mustangs for that same reason.
Canceled the order. Too bad. Too many ideas in one bass - kinda like the car that Homer Simpson designed!
It's Heavy, it's nearly full size due to bridge placement, and the deal killer for me - the bridge requires the use of hard to find MEDIUM SCALE strings. I got rid of all my Mustangs for that same reason.
Canceled the order. Too bad. Too many ideas in one bass - kinda like the car that Homer Simpson designed!
When the Rascal first came out I thought it was an ugly ill conceived bastard Fender concoction. I love 30" scale basses but first my inclination was to hate this thing and I really tried to. But after playing three or four Rascals the variety of sounds and the general feel started to sell me on it. The paint never did though and the weight was a bit of a put-off so I never got around to pulling the trigger.
A couple of months ago it occurred to me I hadn't seen one for a while and when I checked and discovered they were out of production I kinda kicked myself for not buying one. Seeing Adorama had them on for cheap really got me thinking but when I decided to go for it the price was back to what everyone else was selling them for. Dang! So that afternoon I stopped in at Long & McQuade to see if they still had any. Over seventy stores in Canada and there was one left....so I ordered it.
And when it showed up it was exactly what I'd remembered it being. I'm still not crazy about the paint but everything else is just fine. Even the weight of the dense body is something that I'm digging as it gives a distinctly different sonic thang than the quintessential Dano sound I get with my Dave Reimer "Dave-O" which is a superb Danelectro type bass I play a lot. (Dave could easily be the successor to Jerry Jones if he wanted). The neck feels great and the fact it gets a wide variety of usable sounds but still manages to stay its own unique self really really does it for me. I've owned dozens of basses and don't recall any passive instrument being this versatile. It's one I bet I end up using a lot.
Ok, I gotta say don't really understand what the fuss is with the bridge placement. Between the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints most people have enough mobility to move their hands back and forth a couple of inches so what's the issue? No instrument is ever gonna be perfect and if it's got the sound I'll accommodate my technique to it...not that I've felt I had to on the Rascal. I'm not hacking on anyone here because lord knows I've played enough basses that felt ergonomically awful and turned me off within seconds but this one just doesn't seem to be that a big deal.
As far as strings for the Rascal go I've owned at least ten short scale basses and the only issues I've ever had using 34" scale strings have been the tiny posts on the guitar tuners you see on Dano type basses and really stiff flat wounds like LaBella 0760's where the E can break when the fat part of the string past the silk goes around the tuner post. Heck, the strings the Rascal comes with are steel rounds with no silk, no taper showing and could easily be 34" scale. I've got a set of old long scale TI flats on right now that are working fine wound onto the post past the silk.
edit. I just had a look at the stock strings and they are tapered and definitely long scale.
A couple of months ago it occurred to me I hadn't seen one for a while and when I checked and discovered they were out of production I kinda kicked myself for not buying one. Seeing Adorama had them on for cheap really got me thinking but when I decided to go for it the price was back to what everyone else was selling them for. Dang! So that afternoon I stopped in at Long & McQuade to see if they still had any. Over seventy stores in Canada and there was one left....so I ordered it.
And when it showed up it was exactly what I'd remembered it being. I'm still not crazy about the paint but everything else is just fine. Even the weight of the dense body is something that I'm digging as it gives a distinctly different sonic thang than the quintessential Dano sound I get with my Dave Reimer "Dave-O" which is a superb Danelectro type bass I play a lot. (Dave could easily be the successor to Jerry Jones if he wanted). The neck feels great and the fact it gets a wide variety of usable sounds but still manages to stay its own unique self really really does it for me. I've owned dozens of basses and don't recall any passive instrument being this versatile. It's one I bet I end up using a lot.
Ok, I gotta say don't really understand what the fuss is with the bridge placement. Between the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints most people have enough mobility to move their hands back and forth a couple of inches so what's the issue? No instrument is ever gonna be perfect and if it's got the sound I'll accommodate my technique to it...not that I've felt I had to on the Rascal. I'm not hacking on anyone here because lord knows I've played enough basses that felt ergonomically awful and turned me off within seconds but this one just doesn't seem to be that a big deal.
As far as strings for the Rascal go I've owned at least ten short scale basses and the only issues I've ever had using 34" scale strings have been the tiny posts on the guitar tuners you see on Dano type basses and really stiff flat wounds like LaBella 0760's where the E can break when the fat part of the string past the silk goes around the tuner post. Heck, the strings the Rascal comes with are steel rounds with no silk, no taper showing and could easily be 34" scale. I've got a set of old long scale TI flats on right now that are working fine wound onto the post past the silk.
edit. I just had a look at the stock strings and they are tapered and definitely long scale.
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I had one of these last year and it was a nice little bass. As others have mentioned, it was a very heavy bass for it's comparative compact dimensions, mainly due to the massive body. The switching system was very clever and had a huge amount of tonal variation for a passive bass. I personally found that the odd way they'd achieved the short scale (by pulling the bridge way up the body) made for a nice overall dimension, but you quickly found that your right hand was in completely the wrong place. Not a natural playing position at all.
It readily found a new home, anyway.
Talking of short scales, I'd really like to get a closer look at that new P&J Mustang...
It readily found a new home, anyway.
Talking of short scales, I'd really like to get a closer look at that new P&J Mustang...
