Is there something wrong with me, or is there something wrong with Fender?

[Joe Nerve]

I bought a MIM Precision new in the box, sight unseen, 20 minutes out of the box with a basic set-up, including touching up the nut, I have a bass I can gig with, travel with, warrants a HSC, will record well, and punches through in the mix with little-to-no sound processing.

That's what my Fender love is all about.

I had a MIM P deluxe. 20 minutes out of the box I was in love. 2 gigs later the neck had to be re-adjusted twice, pickups swapped, and it still sounded boingy and thinner than any of my other 20 basses. 1 gig after that I sold it and never looked back.

 

[Gomeztool]

IMO, CV Squiers are up there with MIMs in feel and beat the latter with a better price. They can sound and play almost as good as MIA STD (not those poop Specials) but the Corona Fenders have certain features that set them apart from the budget line. I love the rolled f/b edges and semi gloss neck finish. And of course, MIA STDs stock electronics are GTG OOTB and will last a lifetime for most of us.

 

[electracoyote]

I had a MIM P deluxe. 20 minutes out of the box I was in love. 2 gigs later the neck had to be re-adjusted twice, pickups swapped, and it still sounded boingy and thinner than any of my other 20 basses. 1 gig after that I sold it and never looked back.

Well, I didn't mean I've only played my MIM P bass for 20 minutes. 6 months later, none of the symptoms you report. Indeed, your account is usually the rare exception.

Lemon?

 

[Reggie Hamilton]

Maybe it's not MIA is better than MII or vice-versa.

I don't like the smaller radius necks so that colors my opinion of the MIAs and I am not favorably impressed by them - not to the point to drool on one or sell my car to buy one.

I absolutely disliked the Marcus Miller for the neck and even though the finish was very good - great in fact - the neck killed the deal for me. Beautiful and I WAS drooling over it - but in hand it wasn't what I wanted.

But - and here's the caveat - maybe one could confuse one's own desires and the failure of a certain country of origin as the problem when it's just a personal perception.

That said::: I am still jonesing for a Reggie Hamilton, but I guess not the Custom Shop one since it has that same neck as the MM.

As it is - I truly like my four Indonesian Squiers and I also like my Deluxe MiM Jazz and even my Affinity P - but they fit me and that's the biggest qualifier to me.

FYI-The RH CS IV is a copy of my '67 jazz neck but with 21 frets. In 2000, I sat with Michael Braun, Dan Smith and Alan Hamel and we measured the neck. The RH CS V is asymmetrical. The great Mark Kendrick was the designer of that neck. Thought that you'd like to know.

 

[SurferJoe46]

FYI-The RH CS IV is a copy of my '67 jazz neck but with 21 frets. In 2000, I sat with Michael Braun, Dan Smith and Alan Hamel and we measured the neck. The RH CS V is asymmetrical. The great Mark Kendrick was the designer of that neck. Thought that you'd like to know.

So THAT'S what's wrong with it! It just felt foreign and very uncomfortable to my lil hands.

Wow! I got a reply from Reggie Hamilton!

I can't wait for my local GC to get me a copy so I can get to know your bass (in a biblical way) if you follow me here.

 

[nocontrols]

I had a MIM P deluxe. 20 minutes out of the box I was in love. 2 gigs later the neck had to be re-adjusted twice, pickups swapped, and it still sounded boingy and thinner than any of my other 20 basses. 1 gig after that I sold it and never looked back.

I don't understand the "thinner" comment (never experienced "thin" tone with a Fender) but I had to laugh at "boingy".

Isn't "boingy" what EB Music Man players love so much? That springy, elastic tone that's identifiably EBMM? In fact, don't they have a bass called a Boingy?

 

[pocketgroove]

This always happens to me, and it could very well be a GC thing. Guitar Center is just awful. Any Fender Standard MIM bass I've ever played there has had a bad feel to it and sounded really dark and indistinct. With the more expensive Fender stuff, the action is usually set too low to the point of fret buzz and clanking, and they don't sound dynamically right. However, most of the Squiers I've played have sounded fine and they were set up nicely. This has almost made me want to pick up a Squier so I'll have a cheap, decent quality Jazz Bass to mod. Probably that's just guitar center though.

 

[SurferJoe46]

If all Corvettes are red, then are all red cars, Corvettes?

Nope.

GCs are not all the same. It's a myth. You may have a bad one and there may be one or two more that are leaving something to be desired in the mystical art of lutherie - but a broad brush does not fit in all cases.

(Gack! My spell-checker wants to correct 'lutherie' to either 'lurid' or 'Lutheran' but somehow I don't understand that algorithm.)

 

[Calaverasgrande]

Funny, I was at Starving Musician in Berkeley today. Played a Jazz bass that knocked my socks off. Great neck, awesome tone. Very comfortable. MIM.

 

[SurferJoe46]

Wow - good things happen in East Oakland too. Amazing.

But seriously - good is where you find it and I guess East Oakland isn't exempt either.

 

[3rdcurve]

Actually I did buy it to mod, something inside me won't allow for a stock axe in my arsenal. The mods to the electronics are a must due to the buzz. The pickup.....just because. I guess what I was happy with was the overall feel of the bass, how it felt in my hands. I have other basses that look beautiful and sound amazing, but just can't get comfortable when playing. I have a Thunderbird for sale just for that reason. So, if it has the feel then I have no problem during a few relatively inexpensive mods to make it perform how I want. All said and done I will still have less in this bass than a new MIM P and less than half of an American P. The only thing the MIA will have on my bass will be resale.

What? One sentence doesn't seem to go with the other... you seem to be really happy with the wood and the bridge, not so happy with most of the rest of the bass. To each his own, of course, and more power to you, but I, personally, don't like the idea of buying an instrument just to gut it. Strings and tweaking, yeah, that's a given, but those are some serious mods you're talking about, for a bass you're really happy with.

On the other hand, I guess I do understand if that's exactly what you bought it for. ^_^

On the original subject of the thread, has it occurred to anybody that Fender might be sending all their sub-standard instruments to GC after picking and choosing the best ones to send out to the more reputable (smaller/boutique) shops? Maybe there is good quality control at Fender, and this is the result.

 

[BluesBear]

I've never played a MIA Fender that was on the downside of a Squier and I've been playing for 37 yrs.

To each his own.

AMEN (+1) and I've been playing for 41 years.

I got my first Fender in 1970 and my first Squier in 1992.
I've owned sever really, really nice Squiers but never seen one better than a US made Fender.

However at one time I did own a MIM Precision Special (Cowpoke) that I considered to be just as good as MOST US Fenders.


I guess it really boils down to the simple fact that there are those amongst us who honestly cannot tell the difference.

Don't forget there used to be many people in the USA who actually dreamt of driving a Yugo or a Daewoo.

 

[Fendbassfan]

I've never played a MIA Fender that was on the downside of a Squier and I've been playing for 37 yrs.To each his own.

Totally agree!!. In fact, I play the most expensive basses in Guitar Center and I've yet to find one that compares feelwise to my '73 P Bass or '64 Custom Shop Jazz Relic. Also, the kid down the street asked me what Bass I should get and I told him for $100 he could get a Rogue Bass that plays and sounds great (I bought one for my, 'don't care if it sits in a hot car all day' bass. He bought a Squire P Bass instead and it's horrible!

P.S. My basses can't compare to the '64 Fender P bass I sold for $200 (what I bought it for) in 1976.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

On the tangential subject of comparing Squiers to real Fenders...

I've picked up many, many Fenders in stores over the years. I've picked up several, but not "Many" Squiers. I can honestly say that about 50% of the Fenders I've picked up were just "okay", 30% were awful (largely based on lazy store setup/abuse/dead strings), about 15% that felt "Nice" - as in I'd consider owning it... and about 1 in 20 (or less) was "Wow, this bass *works*. I want it!".

Squiers? I've played one - a single one - that I thought was worth owning. It was a fretless J that was a "higher end" squier. It was really nice. The rest I've played ranged from decent to absolute firewood.

The problem, as I've often stated, is that a Fender is not a Fender is not a Fender - as the same can be said for Squiers. To many "sub lines" in the lines to tell good from bad without determining if you're playing a MIJ, MIM, MIA, "Affinity", "Classic Vibe", "Fullerton Special", etc etc etc.

But if I had to generalize based upon my experience, it's pretty clear to me: On average, real Fenders are superior to Squiers.

 

[number11]

People who have dropped big money on an MIA Fender are not going to agree that a cheap Squier can be as good.

I've had all manner of MIA, MIJ, MIM and Squier Fender basses, and some have been good, some have been poor. Regardless of where they're made.

For what its worth, my VM Jazz wasn't great, my CV Precision IS. My MIA Jazz plus was fantastic, I bought a second one on spec, it was terrible. I bought a 5-string version, it was terrible too.

I had about a dozen MM Stingrays, and one was so bad I had to send it back several times demanding MM replace the neck. They didn't. But I had a really brilliant one too, which I foolishly sold to a mate - who still has it, and its still brilliant.

Most audiences couldn't tell if you were playing a SX or a Fender Custom Shop, and they wouldn't care either. If you're playing dodgy bars, you'll be less upset if someone swipes your CV P than your MIA P.

Horses for courses, but in my EXPERIENCE, the price of something doesn't neccessarily equate to its value, or its being good or bad at the job you bought it for.

 

[jawdc54]

Have the Basses been set-up by a tech prior to putting them on the floor? I would think yes but maybe not?

Every time i have played JUST ABOUT ANY bass at guitar center it was either thrashed from repeated play or bad setup...not sure...