How Is Fender USA Quality Control Soooo Horrible?

[Geri O]

This thread can actually be very useful.

Make a list of everyone who can't see (or refuses to care about) the defect, then when one of those people either sells something on here (or builds something for sale), you can weigh their level of attention to detail and take that into consideration when they describe something as "perfect" or "mint", etc.

Ahhh, being judgmental of the TB participants. Nice. And inevitable, it would appear.

One more for the ignore list….

 

[FunkHead]

Absoluely true.

here's how a Sandberg fits, for similar money:

View attachment 5472454

Yeah but they have that nasty cheesy Zero fret.

 

[Geri O]

If price isn’t a factor, Mike Lull basses are the cream of the crop.

Done and done.

The end….

 

[conttador]

Me either - not a single one in over 30 years.

Precision basses have a warp in the pickguard (usually either the top side above the neck - inviting a place to store spare picks - or near the output jack).

Jazz basses have a pickguard that never meets the control plate correctly.

It's the Fender way.

The cheapest, most replaceable part goes awry.

I presume that the body gets drilled for the pickguard, according to a template : and the pickguards themselves are drilled in large batches, but are prone to shifting, warping, and shrinkage - so the two never marry up perfectly.

Fender is a utility brand, not a boutique brand.

Consequently, there's a right way, a wrong way, and the Fender way.

It took me 30+ years to finally give in, and buy a Fender (Am Pro II Precision), and you just have to embrace all their quirks.

For example, I'm primarily a StingRay player, and if you look at how Leo Fender did things at Music Man, compared to Fender (things which Fender has steadfastly clung to, for whatever reason) :

Translucent Finishes

Fender will mostly make their bodies from three pieces, with no attempt to match the grain - it's as if they consider it a point of pride that they've successful glued three pieces of Alder together.

Music Man will mostly make their bodies from two pieces, and the grain will be so well matched, the join will barely be visible.


Poly Finish Robustness

If you so much as look at the finish on a Fender, it will develop swirls, and minor surface scratches.

Music Man finishes are about as robust as one can reasonably expect.


Tuning

The combination of the 3+1 headstock design, and the location of the string tree (A & D) on a Music Man, means the a 1/8 rotation of any of the tuning keys, in either direction, results in an equal change of pitch, sharp or flat.

On a Fender, the 4 in a row, and the string tree location means that if you need to decrease the pitch of the D or G strings, to bring them in tune, you have to significantly slacken them, until they slip under the string tree, before bringing them back up to pitch, with a completely different degree of rotation of the key.


Maple Finger Boards

Since both companies have done away with skunk stripes, and rear mounted truss rods - instead mounting the rod from the front, and then glueing the finger board on :

Fender will will glue a maple finger board on to the neck, with the join clearly visible.

Music Man remove the front of the neck, install the rod, and then glue the exact same piece of wood back in place, to make the finger board with perfectly matched grain, and no visible join.


These are just some of the reasons why I remain primarily a StingRay player, and why Music Man instruments are more expensive than Fender...


But...

A Music Man StingRay is not a Fender Precision.

A Rickenbacker 4001 is not a Fender Precision.

A boutique / custom Precision style bass is not a Fender.


Whilst my Fender Precision may not be absolutely perfect in every single way, it is what it is - which is why we like them in the first place - and I could hardly be happier with it it.

Embrace the Fenderness of their instruments, and the quirks give them character.

Hard pass for me

I guess this is why the two fenders I do own are vintage…

 

[Ian774]

I’ve just received a Mod Shop Pbass, which is pretty much a “customised” Am Pro 1 (specs wise it’s closer to the Pro 1 than Pro 2) and it is pretty much perfect in every aspects. I can’t fault it in any way.
I guess it’s like the lottery. I did have an Am Pro 2 with a badly finished fretboard, one of the edges was butchered.

 

[_Tay_]

Played a gig last saturday and the bass player in the band after had a new custom shop P bass. As he was tuning it onstage he said the G string tuning peg had something fall out and he couldn't use the g string! Wow i have never witnessed this happen, let alone a custom shop bass!

 

[bwoodman]

I agree, Fender really should consider updating their pickguard template. But don't feel too bad, here is a Spitfire Guard that might be worse - missed on both sides.

View attachment 5472230

That's a good example, but IMO a lot of J style basses have this problem. I'm guessing that the control plate hasn't changed since day one as long as they're being stamped out correctly to spec. It's probably a pick guard spec problem, but QC should have flagged it and that should have also triggered a J pickguard template check - or check specs with whomever is making them - in house / not?

 

[bwoodman]

I don't know that I've ever seen a Jazz where they were the exact same width.

Yeah that and sometimes there's a gap - like in the photos in the post a few posts up.

 

[KenD]

The Devil made them do it.

 

[JRA]

I guess it’s like the lottery.

---

to be fair, i think it's a crap shoot no matter the logo, but: lots of logos make better fenders than 7ender.

 

[Geri O]

Ouch. Not cool. I agree with the OP here.

I can (kinda) agree with the OP’s premise.

But I could do without the circle-jerk dog & pony show that came with it.

 

[bobalu]

Me either - not a single one in over 30 years.

Precision basses have a warp in the pickguard (usually either the top side above the neck - inviting a place to store spare picks - or near the output jack).

Jazz basses have a pickguard that never meets the control plate correctly.

It's the Fender way.

The cheapest, most replaceable part goes awry.

I presume that the body gets drilled for the pickguard, according to a template : and the pickguards themselves are drilled in large batches, but are prone to shifting, warping, and shrinkage - so the two never marry up perfectly.

Fender is a utility brand, not a boutique brand.

Consequently, there's a right way, a wrong way, and the Fender way.

It took me 30+ years to finally give in, and buy a Fender (Am Pro II Precision), and you just have to embrace all their quirks.

For example, I'm primarily a StingRay player, and if you look at how Leo Fender did things at Music Man, compared to Fender (things which Fender has steadfastly clung to, for whatever reason) :

Translucent Finishes

Fender will mostly make their bodies from three pieces, with no attempt to match the grain - it's as if they consider it a point of pride that they've successful glued three pieces of Alder together.

Music Man will mostly make their bodies from two pieces, and the grain will be so well matched, the join will barely be visible.


Poly Finish Robustness

If you so much as look at the finish on a Fender, it will develop swirls, and minor surface scratches.

Music Man finishes are about as robust as one can reasonably expect.


Tuning

The combination of the 3+1 headstock design, and the location of the string tree (A & D) on a Music Man, means the a 1/8 rotation of any of the tuning keys, in either direction, results in an equal change of pitch, sharp or flat.

On a Fender, the 4 in a row, and the string tree location means that if you need to decrease the pitch of the D or G strings, to bring them in tune, you have to significantly slacken them, until they slip under the string tree, before bringing them back up to pitch, with a completely different degree of rotation of the key.


Maple Finger Boards

Since both companies have done away with skunk stripes, and rear mounted truss rods - instead mounting the rod from the front, and then glueing the finger board on :

Fender will will glue a maple finger board on to the neck, with the join clearly visible.

Music Man remove the front of the neck, install the rod, and then glue the exact same piece of wood back in place, to make the finger board with perfectly matched grain, and no visible join.


These are just some of the reasons why I remain primarily a StingRay player, and why Music Man instruments are more expensive than Fender...


But...

A Music Man StingRay is not a Fender Precision.

A Rickenbacker 4001 is not a Fender Precision.

A boutique / custom Precision style bass is not a Fender.


Whilst my Fender Precision may not be absolutely perfect in every single way, it is what it is - which is why we like them in the first place - and I could hardly be happier with it it.

Embrace the Fenderness of their instruments, and the quirks give them character.

+10 on your comments, and EBMM construction and quality control. I currently have Fender, RIC, EBMM and Yamaha. Have have also owned Ibanez and Squier. EBMM is impeccable.

 

[Mister Magic]

Someone mentioned Ernie Ball as a better alternative for the money. Well, maybe. But...

I bought 3 (THREE) EB BFR basses and returned all of them because of bigger issues than a pickguard 2mm too narrow.

Spare me all of the "Get a ____ bass. You won't have this problem". That is rather shortsighted.

 

[J-Bassomatic]

It is normal for Fender Jazz Bass control plates to be wider than the part of the pickguard they align with, check their product images on their website.

The issue here seems to be the placement of the control plate, it should have the same margin on both sides, not be aligned with one edge of the pickguard.

Here's my 2016 MIM, an excellent specimen in all aspects. For some reason they got it exactly right on this bass. Maybe I got lucky but all things considered this bass is so 'right' I wouldn't care if it was a little mismatched.
It seems they should be able to do it on all of them though.

 

[Ellery]

I can (kinda) agree with the OP’s premise.

But I could do without the circle-jerk dog & pony show that came with it.

Haahaha come on you gotta let the guy vent!

 

[Mister Magic]

+10 on your comments, and EBMM construction and quality control. I currently have Fender, RIC, EBMM and Yamaha. Have have also owned Ibanez and Squier. EBMM is impeccable.

EBMM is NOT impeccable. See my post above. I returned 3 of them because of "quality control" issues.

 

[DwaynieAD]

Meh

Sounds like you need some actual problems in your life

 

[IPA]

Alright I went and grabbed my Jazz bass... please, give it to me straight, how bad is it? Is it unplayable like the first example? Should I get my feeler gauge and loupe?

 

[Wood and Wire]

Hard pass for me

I guess this is why the two fenders I do own are vintage…

But it's not a new development ; many of the Jazz basses that I've seen this same mismatch between the pickguard, and the control plate, have been vintage Fenders.

It's one of the things that has always bothered me about Jazz (and Mustang) basses - and one of those Fender quirks that you just have to learn to embrace.

 

[Geri O]

Haahaha come on you gotta let the guy vent!

Absolutely!...