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Is there something wrong with me, or is there something wrong with Fender?
- Thread starter LaklandMike
- Start date
I disagree that the quality of Fenders lately is down. I'm just not seeing it.
But if you're also seeing that the quality of CV and VM series is outstanding (which it is) then what's the complaint? You're getting a great bass that will make you happy for less money... were you hoping to pay more?
But if you're also seeing that the quality of CV and VM series is outstanding (which it is) then what's the complaint? You're getting a great bass that will make you happy for less money... were you hoping to pay more?
HaHa I love to see the Fender Fundimentalists getting their panties all in a bunch- best troll thread ive read in weeks! Good job, sir.
LEO Fender basses were made from 1951 to 1964, then again for Musicman til Ernie Ball bought em, then again at G&L til he died.
LEO Fender basses were made from 1951 to 1964, then again for Musicman til Ernie Ball bought em, then again at G&L til he died.
To phender6 and to anyone else who makes judgments on the overall quality of any product line based on a small sample: if you've played 10,000 or so new Fenders (or any other brand) your assessment may carry some weight. Otherwise it's all just IMHO.
I know this has been talked about in several threads before, but now that I have firsthand experience, I just can't help myself and I have to chime in.
I had some extra time today so I decided to go to the local GC and play as many basses as I could just to get a feel for what's out there. Of course, the brand selection was limited to mainly Fender, Ibanez, EBMM, and Schecter and was completely lacking in what I really wanted to play, Laklands and MTDs. So, I decided I would spend most of my time with the Fenders.
I played every J and P that they had, 5 string and 4, American, Mexican, and Squier, and this is what worries me... HANDS DOWN, the Squiers felt the best to me! Without even taking tone into account, the quality of craftsmanship on the Squiers just felt altogether superior to the MIMs and MIAs. ALL of the MIMs and the MIAs had rough frets, sticky feeling neck finishes that were uneven (some spots sticky, some not), some had scratchy pots, and one of the MIMs actually seemed to have the bridge attached crookedly. Some of the MIM Ps were much heavier than others, but the MIAs and the Squiers were all about the same.
Fow what it's worth, none of the Fenders came close to the feel of my MTD Heir 5, but that is of course IMO.
So...
What's the deal? Is it me? Is it really that Fender's QC is lacking that badly? Could it be that GC had an unusually crappy shipment and I was there at the wrong time?
I was truly stunned. I played over 20 basses while I was there, and I would take one of the 3 Squiers I played over the others any day of the week.
I only ever hear this about Fenders at GC for some reason. My experience with Fenders versus anything else has been very good - EBMM's I find are excellent, and the Squiers are good for the money, but have never had a problem with a Fender in a store around here. Maybe it's purely a volume thing?
Had a thought. The MIM's are more "mass-produced" than domestic. In order to support that kind of production and keep some reasonable quality takes a lot of automation. Automation takes out some variables and produces consistency. So you get a product that is the same from one to the next. This versus an MIA where perhaps someone actually fits the neck to the body and makes some adjustments. Would you want a neck that came from the factory with the truss rod maxed out to keep it straight? Maybe they ship without tension on purpose - I don't know for certain.
Comments above about woods, etc. might also hold true. So over time the MIA's may retain more playability than the MIM 2nd cousins?
Comments above about woods, etc. might also hold true. So over time the MIA's may retain more playability than the MIM 2nd cousins?
Very interesting thread, I think its inexcusable that a bass can leave a factory only to require a set up when it arrives at the shop, Fender is the biggest name in bass and guitar so they should have a strict QC system, I know necks can go out slightly and require a bit of a tweak but everything else should be perfect, I have got two Ibanez basses and both were 100% perfect out of the box and the set up from the factory very precise, do the far eastern makers have much better QC or a more diligent work force ?
I think another point to this may be that the more experienced players know what they like and are more fussy and expect a bass to feel a certain way and first time players would simply pick up what they like the look of and learn to adapt to the way it plays ?
I think another point to this may be that the more experienced players know what they like and are more fussy and expect a bass to feel a certain way and first time players would simply pick up what they like the look of and learn to adapt to the way it plays ?
I want to agree with the original post. I am very sensitive to fret sprout,poorly finished frets ect. The only current production fenders that dont seem to have it are the roadworn series. All the MIA basses that I have played recently have been poor in this regard. It just seems wrong to pay over one thousand dollars for a bass that needs fret dressing. I recently bought a cheap beatle bass clone(Epiphone). The fret ends were perfectly done. Adjusted the truss rod to taste and it was a done deal. Not bashing. I have 3 jazz basses, but they have all needed help in the fret dept. So, to the original post. It's not just you. There are at least 2 of us who feel this way.
Fender seems to have become like Detroit cars have been for decades. Getting by on the brand name, and don't buy one made on Monday or Friday...
I have a friend that worked for Fender for several years and he told me that QC in some lines is just bad. Does other brands manufactured by Fender on the same facilities have the same QC issues? SWR, Takamine, Jackson, etc. What about the Fender guitars do they have same inconsistency?
lucas vigor said:
Well, although I am not rich, budget does not keep me from buying what I want. I recently got a Squier CV precision and It's a good Bass full stop. While I have to agree that generally you get what you pay for, often There isn't a big gap between basses priced 400 $ apart. Don't knock all Squiers. The cc pbass I got shows they can make great stuff if they set out to do that, with only a small price increase.
One of the several reasons I gave up fretted. In fact, the only bass in memory I ever played brand-new that _didn't_ have goofed up frets out of the box was my current Rick 4003. It's fretwork is virtually perfect.
On all my other fretted basses I usually ended up finding something that needed done. Usually the jagged edge thing, but from time to time deal with a low fret here and there or they weren't crowned quite right, etc.
But I will say that the last fretted bass I picked up was, oddly enough, an MIA Fender Jazz at a GC about 2 years ago (a 2008 model). Its fretwork didn't strike me as any worse than anything else on the wall, tho it was hard to tell with the mile-high action. I thought the build quality was quite fine, but it wouldn't have surprised me if it had ended up needing some kind of fretwork to get it spot-on if I'd been its buyer....
LS
Fender QC has always been hit and miss, the good ones go first. You probably were playing the leftover MIA's. I was at GC last weekend and they only had a couple American Fenders left, and I was playing one that was marked on clearance even though it was new. Perhaps Fender is ready to bring in new updated MIA's?
Overall I'd agree with the general concensus that GC doesn't go to great lengths to keep their inventory maintained, that they just taked 'em out of the box & hang 'em on the wall. I can't exactly blame them since there are so many different preferences in what a 'good setup' is. Set a bass up for heavy metal - Heavy guage strings & a higher action to withstand the pounding - and a finger-style jazz player will pooh-pooh it. Set it up for a light touch with a super low action & light guage flatwounds and none of the alt rockers will touch it. They tend to have a much larger inventory to keep up with, plus they can charge for a setup & new strings with every sale, or throw it in as a freebie to help close the deal.
But if the high $ MIA's and the cheap Squires are both just unpacked & hung up without any tweaking then as a shopper you're comparing them on an even playing field. It still answers the question of which ones come in better playing shape from the factory. The point made earlier about more automation in the Squire manufacturing process is also valid. Whatever quality the CNC machines are producing is more consistantly repeatable, leading to less variation in quality of the line.
But if the high $ MIA's and the cheap Squires are both just unpacked & hung up without any tweaking then as a shopper you're comparing them on an even playing field. It still answers the question of which ones come in better playing shape from the factory. The point made earlier about more automation in the Squire manufacturing process is also valid. Whatever quality the CNC machines are producing is more consistantly repeatable, leading to less variation in quality of the line.
I can't figure out why every time some folks walk into a GC, they feel obligated to complain about the perceived quality control problems with Fender basses. If you don't like them, don't buy them...it is as simple as that. If you go to the grocery store and notice some over-ripe tomatoes, do you buy them? Of course not. Do you talk to the produce manager and try to wangle a discount? Of course not. Do you run home and post on TalkTomato.com? I hope not. I hope you carry on with your life. Life is too short to get your undies in a twist about Fender fret sprout or GC set-ups.
I know this has been talked about in several threads before, but now that I have firsthand experience, I just can't help myself and I have to chime in.
I had some extra time today so I decided to go to the local GC and play as many basses as I could just to get a feel for what's out there. Of course, the brand selection was limited to mainly Fender, Ibanez, EBMM, and Schecter and was completely lacking in what I really wanted to play, Laklands and MTDs. So, I decided I would spend most of my time with the Fenders.
I played every J and P that they had, 5 string and 4, American, Mexican, and Squier, and this is what worries me... HANDS DOWN, the Squiers felt the best to me! Without even taking tone into account, the quality of craftsmanship on the Squiers just felt altogether superior to the MIMs and MIAs. ALL of the MIMs and the MIAs had rough frets, sticky feeling neck finishes that were uneven (some spots sticky, some not), some had scratchy pots, and one of the MIMs actually seemed to have the bridge attached crookedly. Some of the MIM Ps were much heavier than others, but the MIAs and the Squiers were all about the same.
Fow what it's worth, none of the Fenders came close to the feel of my MTD Heir 5, but that is of course IMO.
So...
What's the deal? Is it me? Is it really that Fender's QC is lacking that badly? Could it be that GC had an unusually crappy shipment and I was there at the wrong time?
I was truly stunned. I played over 20 basses while I was there, and I would take one of the 3 Squiers I played over the others any day of the week.
It's not just you. I've encountered......experienced the same thing in my area. Not just in GC, but in SA and several other stores. But I don't find the Squiers all that appealing, either. It's extremely difficult to find a new Fender bass guitar that feels right in my hands and plays well. It's not a setup problem. I can tell when a bass simply needs a good setup. That hasn't been the problem.
This is about design, build and quality control.
I've never played a MIA Fender that was on the downside of a Squier and I've been playing for 37 yrs.
I have...several times. I've been playing over 40 years.
Alkali Ike
Gold Supporting Member
- Jan 1, 2011
- 2,847
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In my admittedly VERY limited experience, the Fenders at the local GC are basically trashed, at least when held to the standard of "Hey, these are supposed to be brand new!" The ones hanging on that wall take a LOT of abuse. And that's basically their entire inventory.
OTOH, I recently bought a new MIA Precision online. It was in the sealed factory box. Perfect condition, a thing of beauty. Yes it needed a setup. I don't know how one of these can be expected to survive shipping etc. and not need some setup. But the instrument is gorgeous. The attention to detail including fretwork is impressive. I also just got a new MIJ Mustang and I can tell you the fretwork on the Mustang is very inferior to the MIA P.
Just one person's experience.
OTOH, I recently bought a new MIA Precision online. It was in the sealed factory box. Perfect condition, a thing of beauty. Yes it needed a setup. I don't know how one of these can be expected to survive shipping etc. and not need some setup. But the instrument is gorgeous. The attention to detail including fretwork is impressive. I also just got a new MIJ Mustang and I can tell you the fretwork on the Mustang is very inferior to the MIA P.
Just one person's experience.
