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What's wrong with the Fender Dimension Basses?

#401
Malak the Mad said:
That's why I included a link to my Projekt thread, to pass on the experience and pitfalls should someone want to try their own hand at it.

However, for the sake of brevity, I can say this about the MIM Deluxe bodies...they can accept 20-fret necks, but you either need a bridge that can drop the saddles far back enough to compensate OR move the bridge back by about half an inch. The threaded bridge I linked in the thread's OP can indeed push back enough.

After that, the biggest challenge is finding a pickguard. I don't know if the peeps at WD Music have a template on file, but I've been thinking of sending mine their way to have some specially cut for just such an eventuality.
Click to expand...

Tony at Pickguardian did a tort one for my natural 5H a few years ago - maybe contact him?
 
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#402
andruca said:
Flea should get over Ernie Ball's rejection (and refusal to rename the Stingray after him) and use a Musicman again. That's what he ultimately wants, all he's been doing eversince was try to duplicate the Musicman tone on a different platform: first with the Modulus Flea (IME clearly inferior to a Stingray despite the unjustifiably outrageous price tag), then with that Flea Jazz Bass spawn I have a real hard time making sense of.

Regarding Dimensions, well, they don't play remotely as well as Stingrays (moreso when speaking 5ers, neck is WAY thicker) and they sound totally tame in comparison, and lacking that low-mid magic mix-owning burp.
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The thing with Flea and his high profile is that he can have virtually any company make him a custom shop version or a ghost build of a SR type bass, putting a non MM pickup and preamp in it that sounds the same is easy peasy. I don't know him nor can I read his mind, but he may be aged and punk rock enough to grab any Stingray variant that's set up to his specs and punk/funk/rock out freely.
I got into Dimension V basses because they have the same string spacing as my other Fender Vs (both a P and J Dlx) and the necks are nearly identical on all 3. I thought for sure I would sell my Dimension when I finally got used to my narrower spaced MM 5er, but no, I really like the Dimension.

Rodslinger said:
I actually find that my fender Dimension has a very sweet low mid forward punch and growl compared to my 1989 Stingrays forward high mid growl-N-sizzle. I actually prefer the Dimension. It cuts through but stays warm and growling. I could never get that with the Stringray
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That is my experience, too. My MM 5er 2EQ has more of that classic upper mid/high end sizzle, the 3 band Dimension more mids-it's not as hyped sounding, and I run my MM pretty tame. Plus, the frequency centers are different between the two instruments. I have to scoop the mids a bit and boost the highs a touch on the Dimension to get a similar tone as my usual 2EQ setting with the bass on 2-3 and treble on 4.
 
#405
jbhaugh said:
The Caprice is probably the best-sounding and feeling production PJ I've ever played, and the Cutlass offers something just different enough to be a contender. But, these suffer from the same perception problems the OP posits the Dimension is suffering from. EBMM discontinued the Cutlass and Caprice earlier this year.

(Full disclosure: I own a Caprice)
Click to expand...
Ever play a G&L SB-2?
 
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#406
Now that the thread has been bumped and I've had a dimension bass for (what, like a year?) a year, I want to update my answer. Speaking as a guy who isn't a trying to get the classic J sound, the classic Stingray sound, or the classic P sound (I have all of those thanks), my double-H American Dimension is the best thing since sliced bread. Solid bottom end to make any country song weep, mid-forward tone to mix with any modern rock sound, and it's the only bass I've owned that will actually deliver a fairly competent J and P sound with a little bit of EQ tweaking.

What's actually wrong with my Dimension bass:

1) the neck pocket has some overspray in it, and needed a paper shim to get the strings back on center. sanding would also have worked, but I didn't.
2) The pots are flimsy. The midrange pot turns all the way around
3) The action barely adjusts low enough. I have the neck adjusted basically flat and the G string bottomed out. You need to mod the bridge or replace it to get a really low action. No I'm not shimming the neck, it's a five-bolt with near infinite sustain, there's no excuse for this.
4) The truss rod is too weak and the neck has too much relief when unloaded. I to tighten the truss rod to the point where I'm a little worried, just to straighten the neck *before* the strings are on. The neck is made of the stiffest piece of wood I've ever seen. So, yes, I'm complaining that the neck is such good quality that the truss rod can't bend it and that's a flaw.
5) The truss rod is double-action. This would be a *great* feature except that it's also kind of hard to turn and needs to be lubed already, and of course for #4. I have to sit on the neck to release the tension to get it to turn. And you can't lube a double-action truss rod so I guess I'll just use it till it breaks. (But the wood is so good it's worth fixing, it's just why should it need fixing at all?)

Yeah, it has design and manufacturing flaws. But as a player, it's a near-perfect design and maybe someday I'll get a second one.
 
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#408
tekhedd said:
2) The pots are flimsy. The midrange pot turns all the way around
Click to expand...

selowitch said:
Is that fixable?
Click to expand...
It is. I have fixed a dozen pots in just the last 2 years with this same issue. 10 of which were nice CTS, but the same procedure applies to these smaller import pots. It's 99% likely the original pot is fine, it just took a hit or tug and the T support that goes across the top of the pot is bent up and needs to be straightened/tightened up again. All you need is a small flathead screwdriver and set of regular slip joint pliers. The best way is to remove the pot from the circuit board--though I did this without removing the bass pot on my Dimension--but the mid pot has some quick connects for the pickups right by it that can get in the way of clamping. Open up the pot tabs, flatten down the threaded brass and pot metal T support across the top of the pot (where the shaft goes through), put it all back together with the wiper/shaft properly positioned (set it to the mid rotation click to be sure) and crimp down the tabs tight to the body of the pot. Viola, it's as good as new! There are many videos on the web about taking apart a potentiometer.
Another option is to replace the original pot. It's a 100K linear taper pot with center detent and solid shaft, pc mount tabs and a certain length of threaded shaft to replace the original... Super hard to find, trust me.
The most expensive option is to find a replacement circuit board. Those are usually around $50-80. They snap right in, though. No soldering required.
 
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#410
tekhedd said:
Now that the thread has been bumped and I've had a dimension bass for (what, like a year?) a year, I want to update my answer. Speaking as a guy who isn't a trying to get the classic J sound, the classic Stingray sound, or the classic P sound (I have all of those thanks), my double-H American Dimension is the best thing since sliced bread. Solid bottom end to make any country song weep, mid-forward tone to mix with any modern rock sound, and it's the only bass I've owned that will actually deliver a fairly competent J and P sound with a little bit of EQ tweaking.

What's actually wrong with my Dimension bass:

1) the neck pocket has some overspray in it, and needed a paper shim to get the strings back on center. sanding would also have worked, but I didn't.
2) The pots are flimsy. The midrange pot turns all the way around
3) The action barely adjusts low enough. I have the neck adjusted basically flat and the G string bottomed out. You need to mod the bridge or replace it to get a really low action. No I'm not shimming the neck, it's a five-bolt with near infinite sustain, there's no excuse for this.
4) The truss rod is too weak and the neck has too much relief when unloaded. I to tighten the truss rod to the point where I'm a little worried, just to straighten the neck *before* the strings are on. The neck is made of the stiffest piece of wood I've ever seen. So, yes, I'm complaining that the neck is such good quality that the truss rod can't bend it and that's a flaw.
5) The truss rod is double-action. This would be a *great* feature except that it's also kind of hard to turn and needs to be lubed already, and of course for #4. I have to sit on the neck to release the tension to get it to turn. And you can't lube a double-action truss rod so I guess I'll just use it till it breaks. (But the wood is so good it's worth fixing, it's just why should it need fixing at all?)

Yeah, it has design and manufacturing flaws. But as a player, it's a near-perfect design and maybe someday I'll get a second one.
Click to expand...
It’s strange that a very stiff neck shows high action values in lack of any truss rod tensioning; this should rather be the case of necks made of more flexible materials.
In any case, had one of my basses all of the above flaws, I would have sold it to buy the same model, since the tone is nice, without the flaws.
I mean, from your description the Dimension Bass’ design seems really bad and I wouldn’t consider buying this model (even what can be found of this model to buy nowadays).
Wasn’t perhaps your one, in particular, which was affected ted by issues, which aren’t normally present?
Personally I would gladly buy a MIA HH model, better if passive.
 
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#417
EXCAV8 said:
I tried one of the basses years ago when they first came out. I wasn't impressed with how it sounded.
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US made Dimensions are awesome. I chose the HH 4 string over the Stingray HH. and I love Musicman basses. The Dimensions are more flexible. Their inherit sound is great and I can also get convincing Pbass, and Jazz with both pickups on sound. My band covers Modern Rock/Hard Rock through Classic Rock, and my gigging Basses are The Dimension and a G&L SB-2. The build quality of Fender, Musicman, G&L is equal. All are excellent. I own 3 G&L's, 1 Fender, and 2 Musicman Basses. Love them all!
 
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#418

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