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Where are the "new" Marcus Miller Jazz 4 made?
- Thread starter zachbass02
- Start date
I played my friends MIM Marcus Miller bass tonight and it was incredible. The MIM is a lot closer to the sound of the American made MM5. Cant wait to get mine!
now I want a Fender MM 
This starting to drive me crazy, so much so I have to comment. Is it me are does producing a signature bass in Mexico undermines a musicians credibility? A musician is a Brand in a way, you wouldn't spend $1200 dollars on a a designer suit made in Indonesia would you?
Fender is only hurting themselves with this nonsense, What kind of profit margin do they need from a mass produced instrument? I'm sure the technology they have today they can mass produce one in America for $250 dollars including marketing etc... and still keep Americans working, this hurts the brand. No one is clambering to get to the old Fender's made in Japan and they are decent instruments, they want Made in the USA.
J mascis had a signature Jazz master made in Japan and it didn't sound like a Jazz master or less you changed the pickups. Japan makes instruments comparable to America in my opinion, but that Jazz master fell short, so much so JM didn't play one in concert, I suspect because it kinda stunk or maybe he felt like a sellout. Is it the greed of the musician or the fender; both?
I've ask this question before, what does it cost to produce a Jazz bass in America? anyone? 20 years ago I new a guy who worked in the Bicycle industry and I ask him how much did cost to produce a downhill Mountain Bike frame in Taiwan? $50 dollars and it retailed for $1200. All that welding and high end Aluminum, $50 bucks. Now I'm sure the manufacturing has been moved to Mainland China and it still cost $50 bucks.
I saw a documentary on Manufacturing Clothing in China and the cost of your $100 or $300 dollar blue jeans? $5 dollars per unit, all that stitching; $5 Dollars. I'm just want to give you an example on how cheap it is to manufacture off shore.
Bulova used to produce watches in Switzerland and were one of the desirable Swiss watches. Then moved manufacturing to America and the brand went to pot, great watches are made in Switzerland, France etc.. not America. Recently they're trying to resurrect the brand by producing a watch back in Switzerland. That's branding, a good watch is made in Europe and people will pay the price asked. I should mention that product will hold a lot of it's value in resale. I'm not in business but even I've learnt this by observation.
I know there are shareholders and employees etc.... But this is driven by something else. Greed?
Thanks for enduring my screed.
Cheers
Fender is only hurting themselves with this nonsense, What kind of profit margin do they need from a mass produced instrument? I'm sure the technology they have today they can mass produce one in America for $250 dollars including marketing etc... and still keep Americans working, this hurts the brand. No one is clambering to get to the old Fender's made in Japan and they are decent instruments, they want Made in the USA.
J mascis had a signature Jazz master made in Japan and it didn't sound like a Jazz master or less you changed the pickups. Japan makes instruments comparable to America in my opinion, but that Jazz master fell short, so much so JM didn't play one in concert, I suspect because it kinda stunk or maybe he felt like a sellout. Is it the greed of the musician or the fender; both?
I've ask this question before, what does it cost to produce a Jazz bass in America? anyone? 20 years ago I new a guy who worked in the Bicycle industry and I ask him how much did cost to produce a downhill Mountain Bike frame in Taiwan? $50 dollars and it retailed for $1200. All that welding and high end Aluminum, $50 bucks. Now I'm sure the manufacturing has been moved to Mainland China and it still cost $50 bucks.
I saw a documentary on Manufacturing Clothing in China and the cost of your $100 or $300 dollar blue jeans? $5 dollars per unit, all that stitching; $5 Dollars. I'm just want to give you an example on how cheap it is to manufacture off shore.
Bulova used to produce watches in Switzerland and were one of the desirable Swiss watches. Then moved manufacturing to America and the brand went to pot, great watches are made in Switzerland, France etc.. not America. Recently they're trying to resurrect the brand by producing a watch back in Switzerland. That's branding, a good watch is made in Europe and people will pay the price asked. I should mention that product will hold a lot of it's value in resale. I'm not in business but even I've learnt this by observation.
I know there are shareholders and employees etc.... But this is driven by something else. Greed?
Thanks for enduring my screed.
Cheers
If a musician's credibility is based on the country of origin of his instrument then something is seriously wrong.
Did you copy and paste this rant in different threads?
Did you copy and paste this rant in different threads?
My take on this:
I don't take into consideration those benefit/profit in consideration , because the system is like this, brands try to make more money, that's just the way it is.
about the musician credibility, I don't give a .... too, Jimmie Vaughan has a mexican strat , a great one, better than some american strats, and with the MM bass, I don't care where it's made, I tried it, I was first reluctant before to try it because it was written mim, but when I tried it, ok the instrument was for me.
Fender can do whatever they want, if they want to stop producing in america, well then..., as long as the instruments are good quality, to me it doesn't make that much difference because I'm not getting the money from selling their instruments.
In my opinion, the system is strange and the more benefit they make the better for them , and believe I don't think they think of our opinion about dealing with where they build basses for the same reasons as ours... so... be it.
well, I still have yet to play an MIM one. I ended up getting a SCREAMING deal on a NOS japan model at a local store here in Nashville. Couldn't pass it up. Still curious about the MIM models though.
Here is a picture of the 18v preamp out of a new MIM Marcus 4. Looks exactly like the USA preamp in my Marcus Miller 5. Nice upgrade for the 4 string Marcus. Sounds just like my 5 String USA bass as well.
I was going to say that I cannot justify the price for a Mexican made Marcus Miler bass but I went on sweetwater and they only want $1k for a 4 stringer. They used to run over $2k. Still they are $300 more than a geddy. I guess he has a better name or those electronics are super expensive.
Here is a picture of the 18v preamp out of a new MIM Marcus 4. Looks exactly like the USA preamp in my Marcus Miller 5. Nice upgrade for the 4 string Marcus. Sounds just like my 5 String USA bass as well.
I knew it, nice upgrade from Fender, I always liked the sound of the preamp on the 5!!
thanks for the pictures!!!
The one I bought yesterday was made in Japan. Honestly, the American made Jazz basses had build quality issues. I'd initially gone in looking for a basic maple necked American made Jazz. Either the woods were "meh" or shielding had issues (more buzzing than acceptable) or they had groundloop problems.
So it sounds like by moving the production to Mexico, they were able to knock the MSRP down $100 and add the nicer 18V pre-amp system. Seems reasonable.
Someone was questioning why this model is more expensive than the MiM Geddy Lee, suggesting that Marcus has a "better name"... that's silly. The Marcus has a totally different neck (more curved radius, micro-tilt adjust, vintage 70s truss rod, better looking block inlays IMO), active electronics with a high quality preamp, and of course the signature pickguard. Those extra features cost more money, hence the street price is about $199 higher than the Geddy sig.
Someone was questioning why this model is more expensive than the MiM Geddy Lee, suggesting that Marcus has a "better name"... that's silly. The Marcus has a totally different neck (more curved radius, micro-tilt adjust, vintage 70s truss rod, better looking block inlays IMO), active electronics with a high quality preamp, and of course the signature pickguard. Those extra features cost more money, hence the street price is about $199 higher than the Geddy sig.
