I didn’t know what to call this thread. ‘Dear Fender’ was an option but I thought about it and came to the realization that if anybody from Fender actually read this thread they wouldn’t give two hoots about it anyway. So it is what it is, today I sold my last Fender. Finally, and it gives me much joy and satisfaction to declare that I have gone Fenderless. Allow me to elaborate, and - disclaimer - I may upset some Fender fans here.
When I began my bass journey it was clear. I needed a Fender. The Precision Bass. The Jazz Bass. What more could I ever need? My first was a Mexican made Precision. It sucked, big time. The finishing was horrible, the sound was lame. Ok, fine, I’ll try an American made instrument. The Performer series came out. I bought a beautiful Lake Placid Blue Performer PJ. It arrived and I drooled over my American Fender. I plugged her in. No sound. Nothing. Not a peep. Returned it to the store who refused to change it but said they’d let their tech fix that up for me. A few days later she came back home. Nice P sound. Nice fretboard. I like it. I tried the J. Disappointing. Very disappointing. Unusable. Ok, next I’ll drop a few more coins and go for the Pro model. Hmm. Not bad despite the bridge/pole pieces/strings/neck not being aligned. It actually sounded fine. But no, my OCD can not deal with this. If I carry on like this describing every issue with all of the 11 Fenders I’ve had, I will bore you to sleep.
I’m trying to be brief. Seriously. 11 Fender Basses:
1 Mexican made Mustang
2 Mexican Made Precisions
1 American Performer PJ
2 American Professional ii Precisions
2 American Vintage ii Precisions
1 American Professional ii Jazz Bass
1 American Vintage ii Jazz Bass
1 CIJ Jazz Bass
Now to be fair, the CIJ Jazz was very nice. The tone, the growl, the construction, fit and finish. It was just a boat anchor. Even so, it’s the only one I was sad to let go. Two of the Am Pro ii units were kind of ok - if they retail at around 500 bucks, which they do not.
Perhaps the most disappointing were the American Vintage ii units. Given the price tag I would expect a LOT better than what I got. I kept my first AVii Precision for a few weeks and could not deal with the QC issues, although I loved the tone. So I got another. SSDD. The biggest ill fitting neck pocket I have ever seen in all my days. I got the Jazz. Heartbreaking. How can this company allow instruments to leave their low paying mass producing factory in such poor condition? Seriously, pay people enough to actually give a damn what they send out the door. I could go on and on. I could cry and bitch and moan all day long. What good would it do? You know what Fender? There is a company called Reverend (my saviors) that do give a damn what goes out the door. Reverend make quality instruments with a very reasonable price to match. Sire is another company. I would say from vast experience that the American line of Fenders should be at a Sire price point. And Reverend is custom shop all day long. Yamaha is another great example of a company that make fine quality instruments without having to remortgage your house to finance the purchase.
Yesterday I sold a barely used AVii Jazz for a thousand bucks. Today, a barely used AVii Precision for less than a grand. I feel guilty that I have ripped the buyers off.
Seriously Fender. You suck. You suck big time.
For those of you that own the perfect Fender I am truly happy for you, but I feel those people are very few and far between. This is not a debate, I just wanted to get this off my chest in the hope the pioneering company of the electric bass realizes that their legacy is in serious danger of dying out and do something about it. Unless it’s Japanese made, I will never consider another Fender. Gullible consumers and future rock stars beware of these frauds.
Like I said, I sold my last Fender today. Today was a good day.
First, the player makes the instrument sound good or not; it isn’t the other way around.
Why are Fender basses pretty much still the standard? Couple of aspects there:
a) A vast majority of the popular music base, which gets covered on gigs, was recorded with a Fender, and that is the sound audiences are used to
b) Fellow non-bass musicians are comfortable with a Fender bass in the ensemble, because of a); so, Fender on the headstock is a safe way to appear at auditions.
I happen to have a “vintage” Fender, which came out of a pawn shop in 1987 in difficult condition, and was rehabbed by Bryan Galloup at the Guitar Hospital. At one point, Bryan told me that the great thing about Fenders was that they are like motorcycles, and readily repaired / modified by knowledgeable tech work. That comment stays with me these years later, as I have found it to be true across a variety of instruments…with two notable exceptions: weight and “dead” spot on the G string. Fenders suffering either of those issues are best sold at the first opportunity; or, better yet, not purchased at all. Any other “issues” can generally be addressed by just a bit of knowledgeable tech work.
The company is a big company, focused on profit. Nothing new there; Leo was the same. We spent 11 years in PHX; and Fender is pretty much headquartered in Scottsdale. In that time we there, they did one really cool thing; which was to host a James Jamerson Memorial concert at the Tempe Center for the Performing Arts. Annie Jamerson was there. Bob Babbit was there, and did some playing. It was a nice moment hosted by the big company.
Otherwise, I had three VERY negative experiences trying to interact with the Custom Shop; and simply wrote them off. NOT customer friendly, and apparently pretty arrogant, IME.
As a bit of a gag, I acquired a used Am Pro I Precision for a possible 50th HS Reunion that never materialized. The intention was to flip it after the reunion that didn’t happen. Joke was on me, as that instrument has subsequently been extremely useful on multiple gigs. Yes, it is kind of not special, bordering on POS; but, it still works just fine. In fact, I’m coming around to agreement with my wife that all of my basses, Fender and non-Fender, “sound like a bass.”
As I stated, the player matters much more than the instrument. FWIW.
