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Why does everyone use Fenders?

#403
cnltb said:
Why does everyone use Fenders?
I am not the only one I know that doesn't.
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I've played bass off and on for the last 34 years.And I can honestly say that I've owned only ONE Fender.A P-Bass Lyte Deluxe in 2000.Up until THAT bass, Fender never made anything that attracted my eye.All I see on the wall from them is paint,pick guard and chrome.I wanted natural wood,no pick guard and gold.

I had it converted to fretless.After three years I sold It.I then moved on to five and six string basses with natural finishes.I have nothing against Fender in general.I wanted six string fretted and fretless dark wood basses with gold (or brass)plated hardware and no pickguard.But they don't and won't make those.But Tune Guitar Technology does!
 
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#407
batmilk said:
Not to hate on Fenders at all, I love the way they look and sound and would definitely love to have one...

But in the world of indie rock/alternative rock/shoegaze/etc, it seems like every single bassist uses some kind of a Fender (and almost always uses a pick).

I'm going to be starting a shoegaze/dreampop band with some friends and I play a 5 string Warwick Corvette, and I can't help but feel somewhat out of place, not that it will bother me much, but I just don't understand the fascination. I also can't use a pick to save my life, so that's another thing.

Is it actually a specific tone these guys want or more of a fashion statement?
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Im not sure they all play Fender but the whole concept is fashion statement. The audience wants the "alternative" band to look "earthy" and "real" even as they've paid $100 for a ticket and another $100 on beer. It doesn't have to make sense but thats how it is. Fender is the go-to for basses. If you're a more progressive sounding band like Dave Matthews or Phish then its okay, or even necessary, to use more boutique-y stuff in the minds of the fans.

My first band was in 1991, right when "alternative" was first made a brand and marketed successfully to the masses. I played a Kubicki Factor at my audition, it was my only bass, and got the gig. I was asked to get a Fender immediately purely for the look.
 
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#409
johng999 said:
I have several basses, including a Warwick Corvette 5, which is a great bass in it's own right(I have made very good recordings with the Warwick). I have played Fenders since 1969 - I like the way they feel and sound. Many "boutique" basses sound good on their own, but don't cut it when gigging. They get lost in the mix. I never have that problem with a Fender.
It is also highly dependent on the type of music you are playing, and you as the artist aswell.
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Poppycock. I have 6 brands of basses that cut through. This includes Fender but Fender doesnt have the market cornered on sound or anything other than being "the original." I'm not saying that to start a fight, I'm saying that so that newbies keep their ears and minds open in the face of such nonsensical assertions.
 
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#410
I don't think that a lot of Dave Matthews fans care what kind of Bass is being played :)

I mostly play Fender and often with a pick.
It is rare for me to be unhappy with any sound my Bass makes.
Though I enjoy playing other basses to entertain myself or get really specific tones.

I get a BUNCH of sounds that I love out of my P Bass, and the pick is just another palette of sounds you can't get otherwise.
I also often thumb pick for the same reason.

Play the Bass that makes you smile.
 
#413
I have played Fender Jazz basses, Warwicks Infinity, Streamers and Corvettes. I am back to playing G&L Lb-100 and I just picked up a great 63 Fender P bass. All the basses I have owned have been great and all have had there place but the older I have gotten the more a passive P Bass just sound right and feels right to me. I don't know why a Fender or Fender style Basses, (especially a P bass) just seem perfect to me but it works. Fender is not the first brand I look at when buying a new bass but a new 5 string P bass is in my near future.
 
#414
Studies and market testing show that consumers are drawn to m̶e̶d̶i̶o̶c̶r̶i̶t̶y̶ familiarity.

All kidding aside, it's because of a lot of reasons. First off, they were really the first bass and immediately became a standard and were present in tons of iconic recordings. The instruments themselves, save for some minor tweaks that were made early on, are incredibly timeless looking. A lot of early basses just look incredibly cheesy, dated and didn't stand the test

Second is that they're affordable entry level instruments and they have a love of nice options for players who want to upscale as well. In addition to this, Fender has the best dealer network in the country. So people wanting to learn to play bass will go to a store, look at all the models they can afford which chances are they're mostly going to find Fenders, pick up a Fender, or Squire and stick with it a lot of time. Personally, this is the biggest reason in my opinion.

I've never been big on tradition and as a result Fenders do kind of frustrate me. They don't sell 24 fret or 6 string basses. They only recently got kind of serious about 5 string basses. P Basses rarely come with a bridge pick up. At this point I think there's no reason not to have two pick ups. The reason it isn't standard like it is for the majority of other basses is because tradition. PJ basses are great though. I wish they had become the standard for P basses. You literally lose nothing and only gain options with a second pick up.

So I can see the appeal. And I also understand the frustration.
 
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#415
There's plenty of reason to only go with one pickup. The biggest of which I'd say is that the second pickup changes the magnetic pull on the strings----which changes the way it feels to play, the way the strings vibrate (directly translating into changes in tone), and the way the bass sets up.
 
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#416
Mortrialus said:
They don't sell 24 fret or 6 string basses.
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They have recently had both a 24-fret model and a 6-string model available in fretted or fretless. Both have been discontinued. Since it is unlikely that they would have discontinued models that sold well, one can only assume that these models did not sell because people don't want this kind of bass from Fender. They have taken chances with design in the past, but people don't want it. People want Fender to be old-school and nothing else. The Jaguar has sold well because isIt will be interesting to see if the Dimension basses have any kind of staying power or if they just become another footnote in Fender's history.

Mortrialus said:
P Basses rarely come with a bridge pick up. At this point I think there's no reason not to have two pick ups. The reason it isn't standard like it is for the majority of other basses is because tradition. PJ basses are great though. I wish they had become the standard for P basses. You literally lose nothing and only gain options with a second pick up.
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I see where you're coming from, but many disagree with you about this point. I have jumped off the P/J wagon and my last two P-basses have only had the one pickup and they were much more satisfying than the P/Js I've owned in the past. P-bass pickups and Jazz pickups are incredibly different from one another. Because P-bass pickups are so much stronger than Jazz pickups, you have to get an overwound Jazz pickup to balance with the P-pickup and it should probably be hum-cancelling since you can't RWRP a P-pickup to cancel the hum from Jazz pickup like you can with two Jazz pickups. The end result is a pickup that doesn't sound much like a Jazz bass anymore. Maybe that isn't a bad thing if you aren't dead set on the Jazz bass tone, but many are and that is why they add a Jazz pickup at the bridge as opposed to a humbucker like the older American Dlx models.

There are other electronic issues where adding a Jazz pickup to a P does take away from the P-bass a little bit when both pickups are maxed out even when the Jazz pickup is balanced with the P. Bottom line is, I think Fender has it right. Those who want a bridge pickup will likely by happier in the long run with a regular Jazz Bass than a P-bass. Those who don't need a bridge pickup and don't want it are fine with P-basses as they are anyways. No need to reinvent the wheel. Just my $0.02.

Of course, Fender did just release the American Dlx Jaguar bass, which has a P/J setup, so what do I know.
 
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#417
I own 4 fenders, a Spector, an ibanez and others. I love my Spector for the incredible construction, sound, looks and feel, but there's was always a certain something about fender P basses. Perhaps its that rock n roll was built on that bass, there is, for me, a connection to the past playing these basses. It may seem silly but when I play my Spector it feels detached. To me, its that down n dirty part of Rock, simple and effective!
 
#420
This thread is amusing to me partly because I don't personally notice a lot of Fenders when I'm playing out.

Every once in a while an older person would ask for "Fender bass" on a gig. That is a sign that the person's mindset comes from an older time when Fender bass = electric bass. This thread reminds me of that quaint mindset. Don't get me wrong, I started on a Fender Jazz and am coveting the new American Deluxe V but it's just part of the palette to me: the starting point maybe.
 

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