Oh. It's not a Fender...

[ChrisPbass]

in general - so what?

 

[Shakin-Slim]

Not really. My wife is from the South. It doesn't matter what kind of soft drink she has, she calls it a Coke. It could be an orange Fanta...she calls it an orange "Coke". When you have a head ache and a fever, do you ask someone for an acetaminophen tablet? No, you ask for Tylenol. Does that make you a drug snob or is it simply that Tylenol has become a familiar household name? There are thousands of these household names. I don't think it's because people are snobby. I think it's because many people only know what's familiar to them and they don't think about the fact that there may be more than one maker of a type of product.

I think all you guys are lucky to have people asking about your Fender. Most of the people I know don't even know there is Fender (or any other brand). It's simply "your bass". I like your bass. Where's your bass. Can I play your bass. As if there is only one in the world and it doesn't have a name brand. At least the people around you guys know enough to ask.

I know this is a complete derailment but I've never noticed using brand names for common products coming from anywhere except American movies. I know this is, to even the smallest degree, a reproduction of American life, just minus all the explosions and what not. It's interesting, the brand naming thing.

 

[Emm9T]

I appreciate Fender, but in general I stay with a more consistent brand - the old "what if you get the bass being made at 4:30pm on a Friday" shpiel) - so I don't have any. Coincidentally I have 3 Ibanez's even though every time I get one I promise myself it's the last It's not brand loyalty but they are just so darn cheap. Anyway, my other bass is a Frankenjazz I bought here off Sleepy_Monkey which I love to death, it might be tooting my own horn but there's no bass I'd rather own and isn't it great to be content with what you have? Well it just so happens that it has a Fender headstock, and the "Hey nice Fender!" comments really start to grate after a while.
But hey, I will admit that they are great instruments, I just don't know why they are the standard.

 

[darkstorm]

No, but I have had a couple people do the "Oh its not a gibson" remark. About a ESP Ltd B series neck thru bass I had for awhile yrs ago. Was more gibsonish with its soapbar pups and shape. Lol.

 

[eyecandy]

well who the hell cares how others think as long as the tone is there, and the bass sounds and feels good.

 

[countrybassist]

I had a gig last summer where the soundman told me I had a "killer tone" and that he loves the sound of a Fender through an Ampeg. I told him that my bass is a NYC Sadowsky. He said he had never heard of Sadowsky, but it sounded good none the less! lol!!

 

[mongo2]

I think it's hilarious that we have a thread dedicated to bashing people who only recognize Fender basses, yet on this same forum we have several threads dedicated to replacing Squier headstock logos with Fender decals, and reshaping SX headstocks to look more like Fenders.

The Fender obsession isn't attributable to the general public, guitarists, etc... its YOU, bass players, who are the cause.

Get over superficial nonsense like headstock logos, headstock shapes, alder bodywoods, etc... before assigning blame to people who have no reason to know better... unlike you.

Ah, who am I kidding? Bassists will still obsess over body woods, company names, "60s vs 70s" pickups spacing, neck woods, and other arbitrary matters, all while playing in their bedrooms, basements, and neighborhood bars, where no one cares. Ha

 

[Batmensch]

At the risk of being called a troll too, I agree with Monstertruck88. I wouldn't have been as confrontational about it, but his basic premise is pretty much spot on, IMO.

 

[Omnipharious]

At the risk of being called a troll too, I agree with Monstertruck88. I wouldn't have been as confrontational about it, but his basic premise is pretty much spot on, IMO.

That's just dumb. The same could be said about guitarists. More guitar players play Strats than bass players play Jazzes, or Precisions. All of the things he mentioned are just asinine to cite as arbitrary. The wood of the body has just as much to do with the tone as the fingerboard wood; pickup spacing has a lot to do with playing style also, but unless you're playing with a plectrum, fast, loud, and heavily distorted, then your playing style apparently doesn't matter; and who cares how, or where somebody plays? That's like saying "Well, if you're not making money, or getting famous from playing, you're an idiot, and you should either play better, or stop caring about how, or what you play."

 

[ProfGumby]

I know this is a complete derailment but I've never noticed using brand names for common products coming from anywhere except American movies. I know this is, to even the smallest degree, a reproduction of American life, just minus all the explosions and what not. It's interesting, the brand naming thing.

I get what totallyfrozen said. It IS a Southern thing. Every soda is a Coke and every panfish s a Perch. You mash the gas pedal and are Fixin to do something....

 

[Batmensch]

That's just dumb. The same could be said about guitarists. More guitar players play Strats than bass players play Jazzes, or Precisions. All of the things he mentioned are just asinine to cite as arbitrary. The wood of the body has just as much to do with the tone as the fingerboard wood; pickup spacing has a lot to do with playing style also, but unless you're playing with a plectrum, fast, loud, and heavily distorted, then your playing style apparently doesn't matter; and who cares how, or where somebody plays? That's like saying "Well, if you're not making money, or getting famous from playing, you're an idiot, and you should either play better, or stop caring about how, or what you play."

No, it's not. It's simply a matter of some bassists (not all) being overly concerned about minor issues that in the long run aren't that important to the overall quality of a particular instrument such as the decal on the headstock and the shape of said headstock, yet will complain about people dissing their gear when it doesn't say Fender on the head.

 

[Ric5]

I own 2 jazz, 3 p-basses, and a jag bass. They are all parts basses. most are made from fender licensed parts, one has a real fender body. None have a fender logo on them.

I like the basic Loe Fender designs. But I like to build my own "fender" parts basses with mods.

 

[peterpalmieri]

At the risk of being called a troll too, I agree with Monstertruck88. I wouldn't have been as confrontational about it, but his basic premise is pretty much spot on, IMO.

The problem is some of us can and do feel and hear differences between different kinds of wood and pickup spacing.

If those things don't make enough of a difference to matter for your playing that's fine. But to call it arbitrary or random is false.

 

[Batmensch]

The problem is some of us can and do feel and hear differences between different kinds of wood and pickup spacing.

If those things don't make enough of a difference to matter for your playing that's fine. But to call it arbitrary or random is false.

Perhaps so.