I'll start by saying I'm a big Fender fan. Over the last 30 years, I've owned every version of their US versions of the 5 string jazz and P basses. I currently own two Elite Jazz 5's, have owned a total of 4. I've been very curious about the Ultra's, especially the 5 string after seeing many pics on line. My interest was not that I wanted to buy one, but I wanted to see the new colors, the feel of the neck, and the new bridge. I played the sparkle white 5 with a maple fingerboard.
First, the set-up was terrible. This was not Fender's fault, just GC being typical GC. Though the action was very high, I could tell the neck had a great feel to it and I really liked the vintage tint. It didn't really feel any different to my Elite's but I will say that of the 4 I've owned, each neck felt different from each other, with variances in the thickness. The two I kept are exceptional examples, though they were all very nice. I didn't hear anything different in the tone compared to the Elite, at least nothing that I could pinpoint to say the Ultra has improved or changed. The color was cool but at first I thought it looked cheap. Something about the sparkle just looked like a cheap finish but the more I looked at it I started to like it.
Now the thing I was most interested in checking out: the bridge. My opinion on this bridge is directed only at the 5 string version. The 4 string versions they had, which included that very cool blue color, appeared to have no issues. In most of the pics I've seen on line of the 5 strings, it appeared as though the G string was very close to the edge of the fingerboard. I've seen one or two where this didn't seem to be an issue. On the bass I played today, the G string was on the edge and when played in the upper register, the string could easily be pulled off the side of the fingerboard. To play it required thought and a change in technique. The string also did not align over the pickup pole pieces correctly. The problem is that the bridge appears to be 19mm as opposed to the typical Fender 5 string spacing of 18-ishmm. I think Fender just went to this bridge for whatever reason without making any other design changes, like making the neck wider or using pickups with the wider spacing. This, to me, is huge mistake. Previous Fender US bridges allowed for string spacing adjustment, not so on the new bridge. It's like a Badass style bridge where a single groove is cut into the saddle. Fender slotted the saddle as close to the inside as they could to help with alignment but it isn't enough. If I bought this bass, I'd have to either replace the bridge or try to move it slightly toward the bass side which could cause the B string to be too close to the edge of the fingerboard, which typically isn't as much of an issue as the G string being on the edge. This might not be an issue if you rarely play above the 12th or 14th fret, the lower register seemed more manageable. Overall, I'm pretty disappointed.
First, the set-up was terrible. This was not Fender's fault, just GC being typical GC. Though the action was very high, I could tell the neck had a great feel to it and I really liked the vintage tint. It didn't really feel any different to my Elite's but I will say that of the 4 I've owned, each neck felt different from each other, with variances in the thickness. The two I kept are exceptional examples, though they were all very nice. I didn't hear anything different in the tone compared to the Elite, at least nothing that I could pinpoint to say the Ultra has improved or changed. The color was cool but at first I thought it looked cheap. Something about the sparkle just looked like a cheap finish but the more I looked at it I started to like it.
Now the thing I was most interested in checking out: the bridge. My opinion on this bridge is directed only at the 5 string version. The 4 string versions they had, which included that very cool blue color, appeared to have no issues. In most of the pics I've seen on line of the 5 strings, it appeared as though the G string was very close to the edge of the fingerboard. I've seen one or two where this didn't seem to be an issue. On the bass I played today, the G string was on the edge and when played in the upper register, the string could easily be pulled off the side of the fingerboard. To play it required thought and a change in technique. The string also did not align over the pickup pole pieces correctly. The problem is that the bridge appears to be 19mm as opposed to the typical Fender 5 string spacing of 18-ishmm. I think Fender just went to this bridge for whatever reason without making any other design changes, like making the neck wider or using pickups with the wider spacing. This, to me, is huge mistake. Previous Fender US bridges allowed for string spacing adjustment, not so on the new bridge. It's like a Badass style bridge where a single groove is cut into the saddle. Fender slotted the saddle as close to the inside as they could to help with alignment but it isn't enough. If I bought this bass, I'd have to either replace the bridge or try to move it slightly toward the bass side which could cause the B string to be too close to the edge of the fingerboard, which typically isn't as much of an issue as the G string being on the edge. This might not be an issue if you rarely play above the 12th or 14th fret, the lower register seemed more manageable. Overall, I'm pretty disappointed.
