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Fender USA - Your QC is Shameful

markbmbass

markbmbass

Apr 19, 2012
382
544
#1
Apologies in advance for the rant. I've never made a post like this, but I feel it's necessary given the recent experiences I've had with Fender USA products.

I'm going to preface this by saying that I recently grabbed a Player II Jazz Bass - black w/maple board. I wanted a decent passive 4 string Jazz and it's great. Fit and finish is absolutely excellent, the neck feels awesome and the pickups are perfectly fine. It's a damn good bass, MIM or not. I was totally prepared to have to do some refinement on the setup and maybe even some fretwork. However it needs none of that and it's a bass that I would have been glad to pay $1k+ for, had that been the asking price.

In the past few weeks have had two American Pro II Jazz V's sent to me and both are on their way back. In the past 18 months, I have also ordered and sent back two American Pro II 4 string Jazz basses. I am absolutely blown away at how poor the fretwork is, how impossible it was to get playable action (the Player II is fantastic in that regard as well) and how much these basses just buzzed like crazy. On both of the Jazz V's, the saddle for the B string was already completely bottomed out and I could barely achieve 3-3.25mm at the 12th fret without totally unacceptable fret buzz from the first fret to the 12th. The other wasn't much better, and the overall balance and neck dive was horrendous.

I have an American Elite PJ as my main workhorse and it's amazing. I also recently sold an American Elite Jazz V (regretfully now) that was perfect in terms of playability, just wasn't in love with the sound of it. In hindsight, I could have made some changes in electronics or the preamp and made it a keeper.

My next move was about to be an Ultra II V , but after this headache I think I'm officially done with new Fender USA basses. I really think that paying almost 2k after taxes for a brand as popular as Fender totally unacceptable and their QC just seems to get worse as time goes on. How they can let their premium products leave the factory in nothing less than perfectly playable is mind blowing to me, let alone sending them out the door in the kind of condition I received them.

I'll close this out by saying I've owned and still own basses by Lakland (Skyline), Sandberg, Yamaha, Anaconda, Squier (Chinese-made 60's Classic Vibe J Bass), EBMM, Spector, etc. and they all blow these newer Fender instruments away. It's not even close either.

Anyone else had this experience with newer Fender products?
 
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#2
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#8
markbmbass said:
Apologies in advance for the rant. I've never made a post like this, but I feel it's necessary given the recent experiences I've had with Fender USA products.

I'm going to preface this by saying that I recently grabbed a Player II Jazz Bass - black w/maple board. I wanted a decent passive 4 string Jazz and it's great. Fit and finish is absolutely excellent, the neck feels awesome and the pickups are perfectly fine. It's a damn good bass, MIM or not. I was totally prepared to have to do some refinement on the setup and maybe even some fretwork. However it needs none of that and it's a bass that I would have been glad to pay $1k+ for, had that been the asking price.

In the past few weeks have had two American Pro II Jazz V's sent to me and both are on their way back. In the past 18 months, I have also ordered and sent back two American Pro II 4 string Jazz basses. I am absolutely blown away at how poor the fretwork is, how impossible it was to get playable action (the Player II is fantastic in that regard as well) and how much these basses just buzzed like crazy. On both of the Jazz V's, the saddle for the B string was already completely bottomed out and I could barely achieve 3-3.25mm at the 12th fret without totally unacceptable fret buzz from the first fret to the 12th. The other wasn't much better, and the overall balance and neck dive was horrendous.

I have an American Elite PJ as my main workhorse and it's amazing. I also recently sold an American Elite Jazz V (regretfully now) that was perfect in terms of playability, just wasn't in love with the sound of it. In hindsight, I could have made some changes in electronics or the preamp and made it a keeper.

My next move was about to be an Ultra II V , but after this headache I think I'm officially done with new Fender USA basses. I really think that paying almost 2k after taxes for a brand as popular as Fender totally unacceptable and their QC just seems to get worse as time goes on. How they can let their premium products leave the factory in nothing less than perfectly playable is mind blowing to me, let alone sending them out the door in the kind of condition I received them.

I'll close this out by saying I've owned and still own basses by Lakland (Skyline), Sandberg, Yamaha, Anaconda, Squier (Chinese-made 60's Classic Vibe J Bass), EBMM, Spector, etc. and they all blow these newer Fender instruments away. It's not even close either.

Anyone else had this experience with newer Fender products?
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This is not my experience with newer USA fenders, because I stopped buying them for exactly the reasons you describe.

My experience with MIM Fenders is also the same, they're fine instruments. As is my experience with Squier. Two of my main basses are Squier CVs.

I don't buy Fender branded basses anymore because the quality is a crapshoot, and I think they are ignoring the trend toward lighter weight instruments.

Whatever the reasons, I think Fender quality is cyclical; this year they're crap, next year they might be great. I've never played a Fender that I thought was awesome in the way a Sandberg is.
 
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#9
I would tend to agree that it is the luck of the draw, out of the 1000s of units that crank out, law of probability rings true. I have been on both sides of this. the first Fender Ultra Jazz V that I got, had a bad truss rod, so the dealer got a new one, and set it up for free for me since I had to wait an additional month to get it the second one was perfect, and has been since. when I got an Ultra P, i played it before hand at a local store, and it was great, therefore I took it home. and my last one an AVII Jazz 66 was perfect but one of the string saddles totally busted, and ended up replacing the whole bridge with a Bad ass Bridge that I had spare. But I have seen plenty on their whole range that was like WTH happened. Manufacturers need to be held accountable, but I think that the dealers/Retailers need to as well. like you just take it out of the box and hang it. nothing else. come on. I would not hesitate to buy one from some place like Empire Music or Sweetwater because they inspect it before shipping it.
 
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#10
bdplaid said:
This is not my experience with newer USA fenders, because I stopped buying them for exactly the reasons you describe.

My experience with MIM Fenders is also the same, they're fine instruments. As is my experience with Squier. Two of my main basses are Squier CVs.

I don't buy Fender branded basses anymore because the quality is a crapshoot, and I think they are ignoring the trend toward lighter weight instruments.

Whatever the reasons, I think Fender quality is cyclical; this year they're crap, next year they might be great. I've never played a Fender that I thought was awesome in the way a Sandberg is.
Click to expand...
Yes, I'll be right there with you. If I can't play it first, it's an absolute "No Way" for new Fender USA products. That said, there are so many brands that far exceed the lackluster QC as of late, that the new stuff is almost not even worth bothering with. I should have gone in another direction altogether. The only reason I didn't is because of the Elites and how great they are, in most cases.
 
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#11
Ibycan said:
I would tend to agree that it is the luck of the draw, out of the 1000s of units that crank out, law of probability rings true. I have been on both sides of this. the first Fender Ultra Jazz V that I got, had a bad truss rod, so the dealer got a new one, and set it up for free for me since I had to wait an additional month to get it the second one was perfect, and has been since. when I got an Ultra P, i played it before hand at a local store, and it was great, therefore I took it home. and my last one an AVII Jazz 66 was perfect but one of the string saddles totally busted, and ended up replacing the whole bridge with a Bad ass Bridge that I had spare. But I have seen plenty on their whole range that was like WTH happened. Manufacturers need to be held accountable, but I think that the dealers/Retailers need to as well. like you just take it out of the box and hang it. nothing else. come on. I would not hesitate to buy one from some place like Empire Music or Sweetwater because they inspect it before shipping it.
Click to expand...
Glad you have some keepers from the higher-end series. And the Player II I bought was from Anthony and Empire. It really is a great bass for $700 and even higher in this case. I buy a good bit from Sweetwater as well, they're always awesome to work with.

If it's luck of the draw, I guess mine sucks! :laugh:
 
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#14
markbmbass said:
Maybe I should have sold them to you then :laugh:
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Nope.

As I said, I expert flaws coming though human involvement in manufacturing regardless of the name on the label. I don't have to keep them though. So I act accordingly, looking for possible flaws.

If I limited my searching because of a perceived level of quality, I could disappoint myself over and over again. However when I don't find any flaws, I am happy. If I find one or even some, I can deal with on my own, fine. If not it goes back.

Most of the time on big-ticket items, I try to buy in person or if I must order over the interwebs I make sure there is a liberal return process, because remember, I expect flaws because of the human intervention in the manufacturing process. Don't leave yourself open to disappointment because of the names on the headstock.

I'm not saying we shouldn't expect quality from a manufacturer, that is their goal. But because time and unexpected events overtake us all, I try to expect them. Even though it still can be frustrating, I try to default back to my original position.

I know I can make mistakes, I expect it from others as well.

😄
 
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#17
markbmbass said:
Glad you have some keepers from the higher-end series. And the Player II I bought was from Anthony and Empire. It really is a great bass for $700 and even higher in this case. I buy a good bit from Sweetwater as well, they're always awesome to work with.

If it's luck of the draw, I guess mine sucks! :laugh:
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Believe me the fact that I had to wait 3 weeks to get the first Jazz V to arrive to then have a broken truss rod, I was beyond pissed. and this was right after covid so supply was crazy low, I had to settle for a different color cause they didn't know when they will have the Olympic white and maple, in stock so I went with the ultraburst and rosewood, and i'm glad I did.
 
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#18
DJ Bebop said:
Nope
As I said, I expert flaws coming though human involvement in manufacturing regardless of the name on the label. So I act accordingly, looking for possible flaws.

If I limited my searching because of a perceived level of quality, I could disappoint myself over and over again. However when I don't find any flaws, I am happy. If I find one or even some, I can deal with on my own, fine. If not it goes back.

Most of the time on big-ticket items, I try to buy in person or if I must order over the interwebs I make sure there is a liberal return process, because remember, I expect flaws because of the human intervention in the manufacturing process. Don't level yourself open to disappointment.

I'm not saying we shouldn't expect quality from a manufacturer, that is their goal. But because time and unexpected events overtake us all, I try to expect. Even though it still can be frustrating, I try to default back to my original position.

I know I can make mistakes, I expect it from others.
Click to expand...
I don't disagree with this perspective. However, the price commands quality and quality is (and should be) expected by the buyer of these instruments. These issues shouldn't be as prevalent as they are with their "Premium" products. Fender doesn't do anything innovative anymore that other brands haven't been doing for years. Perhaps this is because they rely on their reputation of being the OG in the industry, or maybe they just "think" they don't have to fix something that they don't see as "broken".

I've had, and am sure that many of us have had to do work on instruments on the more affordable products that the manufacturer could have done a better job with, during production. It's much more acceptable to put time and money into something with a price tag that's 80% lower than what "quality" costs.
 
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