When were Fender's bad years?

[chadds]

Good? Humbly anyone I would consider owning. The rest stayed at the store or the seller's house. They could be duds or wonders. The new plastidipped early '70s just turned us off. Of course they would because our everyday used basses were '65s, '67s & '68s. It was hard to top those. In high school at the right time. Woodstock the summer of graduation. Someone had to do it.

 

[mongo2]

For me the best time for Fender bass was before the 1957 changes. I'm a big fan of the original SCPB pickup versions and the subsequent RIs but especially those with slab bodies.

However, in general I've found good and not so good basses in all eras of Fender production I've been exposed to in the last 50+ years of playing.

 

[P7Michelle4st]

Well, this is sure to start some flaming, but IMO, Fender hasn't gone through any good years, except for some 1966 and earlier (CBS took over in 1965, but Leo continued to consult and build for the company through 1966). Some of the Fender basses that have come out in 2000 and after are not bad, since the subtle upgrades they made are huge!

But, as for other Fenders, they're very individual. Some people like them, and within each year, there are good ones and bad ones. I think that with CBS, the biggest problem was lack of consistency. You'll find people on this board (like Brad Johnson, who seems to only turn things into gold) that have found great deals on early 1970's Fenders. But, for the most part, they're not really "vintage", but sellers are trying to inflate the value of these basses.

Are some of these basses good? Well, I wouldn't spend the money on one, ESPECIALLY sight unseen and unplayed! But, you never know...it may be a real gem-in-the-rough

I've recently become a firm devote of the American mid 90s deluxe jazz basses. Specifically the ones with the Suhr pick-ups and preamp. I put a Noll pre-amp with Delano pickups in one and a John East with another set of Delanos on the 3rd bass. I have a '93, a '97, and a '99, (and a 2022 MIM). I think this vintage of Fender basses is going to become the next "hot ticket". The 60s and 70s Jazz basses have become priced way out of reach. A 1993 bass made in Corona California (during a period when Fender got their mojo back) goes for about $1300, give or take. And with 30 years for the wood to mature naturally, these are the jewels, the diamonds in the ruff. Even the cases are becoming vintage collectibles. (Blue label or red label.)

 

[J Wilson]

The thing to remember, whether from the days when Leo owned Fender, and through the years of CBS ownership:

The guitars and basses were hand cut out by guys with stencils on bandsaws, necks were final sanded, all of these things were done by hand in large part. No modern production or quality procedures. CBS notoriously spent little money updating production methods, so these were down to the skill of the people that built them in large part: No automated production, no CNC, no CAD/CAM, just mostly Mark One Eyeball . . . . so they could and did vary quite a bit.

In my beginner days, of course everyone told me I just had to play a Fender bass, yet everyone I tried had a Louisville Slugger neck, they just felt ungainly. In those late 70's it was very common for experienced players to go round to all the shops and try as many new ones as they could get their hands on 'till they found a good one'.

So to me, they were random, and every year there were better ones and worse ones.

Shultz and the crew that came in were all trained and worked for Yamaha, and they felt like they'd walked out of NASA and into the Wright Brothers bicycle shed. This is why the transition axes (and for other reasons, the sale excluded any and all then-currrent Fender production facilities) were made in Japan until the new Fender could begin to ramp up American production.

I've posted this article before, but tells a tremendous story of the turnaround of Fender. This is with the late Dan Smith, a former Yamaha staffer who'd been on the design and marketing of the landmark Yamaha electrics, the SG's, the SA's, and the BB's, all of which were largely designed in Cali with a crew including John Carruthers.

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SG2000

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SA2000, the best 335-ish guitar you've never played.

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BB2000, one of the first 'factory' PJ basses, a standout in its day.

Stunning to read what they walked into, the shell of Fender that was left and just how little they got to being to build out. A long read, but very interesting as backstory of Fender then and how we got to today.

Interview: Fender Visionary Dan Smith on How to Turn | Reverb News