• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

The official "Show your basses" thread part 19!

#1,541
JIO said:
I just saw the Sonic Blue AV '63 P bass on ebay from Chicago Music Exchange. Their pics do not do it justice! Question; is this a special order? As in, w/case and matching hs face w/amber tint? The CME example doesn't mention a case and doesn't have a painted hs face. Yours looks like a FCS.
Click to expand...
No, mine was not a FCS order. It's just a stock production model and it came with the case.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JIO
#1,542
My humble pair, king and queen. The P (king) is brand new, swamp ash and maple SX. The J (queen) is bought 10 years ago with the more fenderish headstock and Alder body wood. I've done extensive setups and work on both of them, both have custom bone nuts and Gotoh bridges. Fender Pure Vintage '58 pickup in the P and Sheptone vintage-style Jazz pickups which I have just carefully shielded with copper foil to greatly reduce hum pickup. I think SX workmanship has improved from 10 years ago somewhat, but it really saddens me that they are using basswood on their standard basses rather than alder these days. Luckily they still offer swamp ash, which is a really nice tonewood. I am very, very happy with these basses. But after two days reading this whole thread...I want more. Really beautiful things in all these posts. I'm especially impressed with the custom builders. And slightly disappointed in Fender, for some reason.

BASS_zps818cc2d8.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: CM63
#1,547
SamJ said:
This statement confuses me.... Are you disappointed with FCS (Fender Custom Shop) instruments or just Fender in general? Because you seem to imply the custom makers are better, but I hope you are comparing apples with apples.
Click to expand...

Hi. I guess I just don't like what Fender has become, a massive commodity consumer instrument manufacturer. When they started out with Leo in the '60s before CBS, they were just like any other young growing company. Like these custom builders I see in this thread. Innovating, coming up with fresh designs. By hand, not by CNC machine. But at this point they have re-issued and re-branded the same dozen or whatever basic designs to the point of nausea, for me anyway. I guess one point I'll make is, I'd rather own a Lakland, or an actual really old Fender, than any American standard, Squire, or Made in Mexico Precision or Jazz bass. Or in my case, a knock-off that doesn't cost anything for a name. The name "Fender" doesn't have the same cache that it used to, for me. Perhaps I've been overexposed as well. The world of bizarre artistic custom instruments is really exciting my imagination right now. I have to admit though that the relic instruments, the vintage reissues, and the Fender Custom Shop instruments that are a little more unique, even a few of the lower line ones, do still look pretty nice. And there's no denying the appeal of a real '61 Jazz Bass. It's just the bulk of the product line, the "Standard" instruments all the way down to the wrong-wooded Squires that kind of bother me a little bit these days. To answer your specific question I have seen some breathtaking work out of the Fender Custom Shop, and I also favor their guitar and bass pickups. That however is a small part of a huge company.

I am just very hungry for new, unique and exciting things in music. Classic Rock is even starting to sound really old to me now. In general, I'm looking for things that sound new. In the case of basses, things that look new as well. A general step away from the "vintage" side of things, for me. If something seems a bit too old fashioned I'm a little put off by it. Like the Rickenbacker 4001, Gibson SG basses, etc. This is a stark reversal from my retro leanings of a few years ago. I was raised on classic and '90s rock. Also I seem to have expensive taste, and a lot of the instruments I'm drooling over in this thread are probably very expensive, stuff I can't actually afford. To be fair though some of the cheaper ones are really well done, too. I love the group photos on here where you can get a sense of a person's style just by looking at the basses. I'm just a little suspicious of the usual suspects.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mikaelbass, GlassToMouth, ICM and 1 other person
#1,551
monkeyxx said:
Hi. I guess I just don't like what Fender has become, a massive commodity consumer instrument manufacturer. When they started out with Leo in the '60s before CBS, they were just like any other young growing company. Like these custom builders I see in this thread. Innovating, coming up with fresh designs. By hand, not by CNC machine. But at this point they have re-issued and re-branded the same dozen or whatever basic designs to the point of nausea, for me anyway. I guess one point I'll make is, I'd rather own a Lakland, or an actual really old Fender, than any American standard, Squire, or Made in Mexico Precision or Jazz bass. Or in my case, a knock-off that doesn't cost anything for a name. The name "Fender" doesn't have the same cache that it used to, for me. Perhaps I've been overexposed as well. The world of bizarre artistic custom instruments is really exciting my imagination right now. I have to admit though that the relic instruments, the vintage reissues, and the Fender Custom Shop instruments that are a little more unique, even a few of the lower line ones, do still look pretty nice. And there's no denying the appeal of a real '61 Jazz Bass. It's just the bulk of the product line, the "Standard" instruments all the way down to the wrong-wooded Squires that kind of bother me a little bit these days. To answer your specific question I have seen some breathtaking work out of the Fender Custom Shop, and I also favor their guitar and bass pickups. That however is a small part of a huge company.

I am just very hungry for new, unique and exciting things in music. Classic Rock is even starting to sound really old to me now. In general, I'm looking for things that sound new. In the case of basses, things that look new as well. A general step away from the "vintage" side of things, for me. If something seems a bit too old fashioned I'm a little put off by it. Like the Rickenbacker 4001, Gibson SG basses, etc. This is a stark reversal from my retro leanings of a few years ago. I was raised on classic and '90s rock. Also I seem to have expensive taste, and a lot of the instruments I'm drooling over in this thread are probably very expensive, stuff I can't actually afford. To be fair though some of the cheaper ones are really well done, too. I love the group photos on here where you can get a sense of a person's style just by looking at the basses. I'm just a little suspicious of the usual suspects.
Click to expand...

For many of us, electric guitars/basses were rooted deeply in our youth. Back then, at least for me, getting one was an 'in' - allowing me access to something I wanted to be part of. I wanted an electric guitar (which turned out to be a bass) and everything associated with it; to express myself through music, to learn something new, to entertain/be in a band, to attract girls… and to own a cool instrument. Most all kids had bikes, but not all kids had guitars. So it's understandable to have such strong emotions/opinions about one brand guitar/bass over another and for this and that reason. But the point is new, old/vintage, mass produced or boutique - they are all made to play and most all of them accomplish their end of the bargain quite sufficiently.

I'm adding this on - when I got my 1st bass, I had no money and what I could afford was a POC but that didn't stop me. New players today are so lucky that even the cheapest instruments out there are very playable.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: monkeyxx and ICM
#1,553
Family pic with the "new" Orion 5 crudely photoshopped in :-)

basjes2014small.jpg


'91 Fender Prodigy with Alembic pickups/electronics
'83 Alembic Spoiler solid Koa body refinished black
'88 Alembic Spoiler Coco Bolo
'90 Alembic Elan Quilted Maple Stormburst finish
'99 Alembic Orion 5 fretless California Walnut
'06 Alembic Custom fretless (neck through Orion) Spalted Maple
'10 Alembic Elan 5 Flame Maple, "Almost black" finish
 
  • Like
Reactions: monkeyxx

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back