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I LOVE/HATE - CAN'T STAND/CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT A FENDER

How Do You Feel about Fender

  • I wont play anything Else

    Votes: 52 7.9%

  • I Like them and I own and play at least one

    Votes: 418 63.8%

  • They're okay but not my favorite

    Votes: 61 9.3%

  • Not that crazy about them, but If I found a good one at a good price, I'd own it

    Votes: 39 6.0%

  • Dont' Like them but I'd play one if I had to in a pinch

    Votes: 30 4.6%

  • I hate them and would never own or play one

    Votes: 13 2.0%

  • I Like Carrots

    Votes: 34 5.2%

  • I Hate Carrots

    Votes: 8 1.2%
  • Total voters
    655
#21
I had a p bass back around 96 and had a fretless Jazz I bought and sold last year. Both 4 strings(I've never played a single fender 5 I liked) To me fenders are decent. They definetly look great, last forever, and are a good value. But I have complaints also.

The downside I have with fender is they'll regurgitate the same old designs over and over and over and over and over and over and over again with very little real options or upgrades. why can't fender make say 8 string or a fretless 5 string or just better 5 strings in general for that matter? other companies that build fender clones don't seem to have an issue with it. The signature basses are kinda Meh... Normally just a standard with a different pickup and or finish. I honestly feel like fender spends absolutely zero money on R&D anymore. It's always funny to me when I'm talking to someone and they tell me they hate 5 strings, I'll ask them what kind of bass they play and they say fender, makes me think "no wonder"

Another big complaint is custom shop prices. Fenders custom shop is an absolute joke. Musicman will build you a bass made to order for you for not much more than their production basses. Fenders are also "parts" basses. There's absolutely no reason for custom basses "parts" basses to be so expensive.

I did enjoy the two owned. They were great basses particularly for the money I spent. I'm not saying fender is garbage. But you asked
 
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#22
I had to use some guy's pre-CBS Fender at a gig when my backup bass crapped out.

He was so stoked on it and it's reverse tuners that when he excitedly asked me upon returning it "How'd you like it!?" I had to smile and nod and probably even said some gushy nonsense like "Wow, what a great bass."

What I didn't tell him was how unplayable I found the thing, how worthless I thought its tone was, how frustrating those damn reverse tuners were, and how visually ugly I thought the body shape, headstock, and paintjob were.

Next time I'm in a situation where the only choice is to play a Fender, I'll whip out a knife and cut open my palms and finger tips and say "Sorry, looks like I can't play bass today."
 
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#23
I am not exactly a Fender fanboy, but I like, own and play their stuff, but I am not going to say nothing else is worth a hoot. They build good instruments, and IMHO, great amps. YMMV.

Read my sig line to find out about what I am rockin'... Again not a fan boy, not a hater. They are a good tool for the job.

With the Ibanez soundgears I fell in love with the slimmer necks, and with the Jazz Bass I get that, and a completely different character of tone than a PJ layout... There is a certain ergonomic quality that fits me so extremely well. I am not allergic to the idea of a Jazz body and neck with P pickups either...
 
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#24
Been a Fender guy for years. I've also been trying to get away from them for years but keep coming back.

They just work for most things and there's a comfort in that. I can show up to almost any gig and my Precision will sound good, look good, and no one will question my gear choice.
 
#25
Gaolee said:
The cover band likes it better when I play the Ric...
Click to expand...

I know Rics aren't as common as Fenders, but I feel like the lovers vs. haters divisiveness is much greater with regards to Rics than it is with Fenders. Just my (possibly 100% incorrect) observation.

petrus61 said:
It took me a while to appreciate Fender and specifically the Precision Bass for what it can do. 20 years ago, I thought that "more" was what I was looking for: more frets, more electronics, more strings...it took me buying a Precision on a whim and playing it in a band to understand that "more" wasn't what I wanted after all. I always stayed away from the Precision because I had never tried one in a band setting, but when I did it was an epiphany.

Now I suddenly had "less". Less electronics, less fancy wood, less fussing with eq and less desire to play anything else. The Precision just worked for me and I suddenly found myself not worrying about my tone or being able to hear myself the way I envisioned...it was all right there. Stripping away the bells and whistles allowed me to focus on the music and actually allowed me greater control of my tone and its nuances. I do like and am open to trying other basses, but very few come close to the utilitarianism and practicality that a Precision affords me, so my forays into trying to use other bass guitars are always short lived.

They work for ME better than anything else I've used so far and that's really all there is to it. Other basses aren't better or worse, they just aren't a Precision Bass.
Click to expand...

I had a similar experience, although I started out on Fenders (both Ps and Js.) I got to a point in the 90s where I had multiple basses--some pretty fancy stuff, and I had moved (at the time I thought I was "evolving") from simple to more complex and (in my mind) "versatile."

Well, I wound up with 5 and 6 string active basses (and now would never care to own another active bass, though I do like MM stuff), all kinds of EQ, effects, modelers, effects pedals, more offboard gear than you can shake a stick at, all kinds of ways to nuance sounds and adjust amp rigs. Ended up spending long periods of time just dialing in tone.

It dawned on me finally that essentially what I was doing was going the long/most expensive way round just to get back to the sound of a passive 4-banger P bass. Once I went back to just a P through a decent amp rig with maybe one or two FX pedals, I felt like I had come home again.

Like you say, this is what works for ME, and is just my experience/opinions.

There are many other basses out there that I dig and wouldn't mind owning in the least. There are other sounds I enjoy. I am glad there are so many options for players. There is no right and wrong" in this--it's subjective, personal taste, etc.

As fuzzychaos indicated--there are even makers who have "out-Fendered Fender" in some regards...Lakland, Sadowsky, G&L in some ways...but I'll echo the chorus of people who feel as if they always want a decent Fender P in their stable and go further and say if I could only have one bass, it'd be some model of Fender P.
 
#26
I didn't vote because none of the answers were right for me... I started on Fender but moved on for more options, and unlined fretlesses above 4 strings (WTH Fender?)... Though, I am GASing hard for a 5 string, unlined fretless P Bass, which will likely be a Fender P Bass V body but a Warmoth neck, because Fender doesn't do that...

If they had more options where almost any bass could come in 5 string variants and any bass could come with a fretless neck, I likely wouldn't have felt the urge to look elsewhere.
 
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#27
They work great for me. It took a while to find the right ones but I did and they fit me well. I still love my SG and my SR1205 but the Fenders are the ones that make me the most happy sound-wise and they also just feel comfortable to me, especially my Precision.
 
#28
Moving Pictures said:
They work great for me. It took a while to find the right ones but I did and they fit me well. I still love my SG and my SR1205 but the Fenders are the ones that make me the most happy sound-wise and they also just feel comfortable to me, especially my Precision.
Click to expand...

I love your sig line!!
 
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#31
I am exclusively a Fender guy. Thats not to say I wouldn't be open to something else, but not sure what that would be without trying it. I'm not gassing for anything else. I've owned 4 Rics, 3 Gibsons, 2 Arias, 3 Ibanezes, a few G&Ls, a MM Sabre, a Robyn, and a few others I can't recall over the years. For one reason or another we didn't get along. I'm not going to bash them and would actually like another G&L or MM Sabre someday. Fenders are what work for me and are what I sound like. They are what I am fluent in. Thats it.
 
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#36
It isn't so much that I won't play anything else, it's more that every time I do play something else I always come back to my Fenders. I've owned somewhere in the ballpark of 50 basses over the years...many of them Fenders, many something else, and right now I'm down to two: A Precision and a Jazz. Nothing feels more comfortable in my hands or against my body than a Fender. I actually wish it were otherwise, but Fenders just do "it" for me.
 
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#39
Nephilymbass said:
I had a p bass back around 96 and had a fretless Jazz I bought and sold last year. Both 4 strings(I've never played a single fender 5 I liked) To me fenders are decent. They definetly look great, last forever, and are a good value. But I have complaints also.

The downside I have with fender is they'll regurgitate the same old designs over and over and over and over and over and over and over again with very little real options or upgrades. why can't fender make say 8 string or a fretless 5 string or just better 5 strings in general for that matter? other companies that build fender clones don't seem to have an issue with it. The signature basses are kinda Meh... Normally just a standard with a different pickup and or finish. I honestly feel like fender spends absolutely zero money on R&D anymore. It's always funny to me when I'm talking to someone and they tell me they hate 5 strings, I'll ask them what kind of bass they play and they say fender, makes me think "no wonder"

Another big complaint is custom shop prices. Fenders custom shop is an absolute joke. Musicman will build you a bass made to order for you for not much more than their production basses. Fenders are also "parts" basses. There's absolutely no reason for custom basses "parts" basses to be so expensive.

I did enjoy the two owned. They were great basses particularly for the money I spent. I'm not saying fender is garbage. But you asked
Click to expand...

The two custom shops are not even comparable. Fender's Custom Shop will do literally anything you want. Ernie Ball's Custom Shop will tell you to shag yourself and buy something off the rack.

Fender Custom Shop prices are also not out-of-line with their competitors. Go price out a Sadowsky if you do not believe me.
 
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#40
Not my thing really... I personally favor boutique-y five-string actives.

That said, I recently bought a Squier Affinity P offa' the local Craigslist and it's a fantastic value... an all-around decent working bass. I wish there had been basses that nice of quality 20 years ago that were that affordable.

* also of note, I'm actively looking for a Squier Telecaster... (guitar)
 

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