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Why does everyone use Fenders?
- Thread starter batmilk
- Start date
22 pages based on a fallacious question, not bad!I play Fender because. I can't speak for everyone else though.
The OP specified essentially hipster bands and its almost correct. Fancy basses dont fit in there. Even a five string Jazz Bass would look odd in that setting.
Anyone think this sounds completely backwards to the expectation? You'd think that a hipster band, with the infamous "You've probably never heard of it" attitude, would deliberately look for basses no one else plays.
I think it is all the above. I had an SB-2 that I really liked, but, unlike every other bass player, I had to sell it to eat once upon a time.
Chef
In Memoriam
Only other bassists would even notice the 5th string.
Because it sounds familiar and Because it sits just right in the mix.
I hated Fenders for the many years when i first started playing, ive been through all types and styles of Basses, both production and custom. I have owned over 50 Basses over the years, my main Bass now after all that is a custom Fender style Bass.
I hated Fenders for the many years when i first started playing, ive been through all types and styles of Basses, both production and custom. I have owned over 50 Basses over the years, my main Bass now after all that is a custom Fender style Bass.
What would you expect Leo Fender to say.Even he could not create a better looking or sounding bass so he did what many others do.They copy the original Fender Jazz and Precision put an ugly head stock on it and say its different and better. What a joke.I have no problem with the buying and selling of copies as long as they are marketed as such....The proof is in the sales not the words.I choose to play the "Real Deal'.
They play whatever will give them cool vintage cred, because that makes them "unique". Hipsters love being ironic.
Fun story: I work for a very large, iconic organization. The division I work for is relatively newer, is in a rather hipster area of Manhattan, and many people working for the division are hipster-ish in personality, look and behavior. Anyway, I always wanted to practice during breaks, so I bought myself a Squier VM Precision Bass V recently. I play for a little bit every day in the office (5 minutes usually). Some people remarked on how neat it was having a bass in the office, but others remarked on how cool my FENDER BASS was. I would always say "it's really a Squier", and sometimes they would get quiet after that. One person said nice Fender, and I said "it's actually a Squier, but it's great! Incredible for a $300 bass." She looked at me and put a finger over her mouth, "shhhhh, no one needs to know it's not a Fender." Uh huh.
Another good story: There's one of these semi-hipstery guys at my job who plays guitar. He only cares about Fender, and anytime we have gear discussions, Fender is the only thing he really mentions. Another guy at the job, who isn't a hipster and actually is a friend of mine, is a very technically accomplished guitarist and big Charvel fan. However, my friend has owned a little bit of everything, and a few months ago built his own guitar. Recently, my friend fell in love with a CAR Fender American Special Strat. Bought it and couldn't stop playing it. He sent me a pic via text message, and it was a really pretty guitar. I then showed that picture of the Am Special Strat to this hipstery guy, and he gave me a little attitude. "Oh, is that an American Special? Heh. I guess I could sell my Custom Shop and get, what, three or four of those?" Wow. Not even a compliment on it looking like a nice guitar? Nope. He's too wrapped up in how much cooler his Fender Custom Shop whatever is. No one cares but him, and my friend could probably play circles around his pretentious guitard butt.
Just to be part of the shared experience...it seems that loads of people play Fenders because they are good instruments at a decent price (mostly) and they are easy to find.
I mainly play Ricks but my Fender PBass Delux (mim) gets lots of play, too. Interestingly, though, if I play the Fender a lot, my bandmates or the recording engineer we work with will ask me to bring the Ricks back.
I mainly play Ricks but my Fender PBass Delux (mim) gets lots of play, too. Interestingly, though, if I play the Fender a lot, my bandmates or the recording engineer we work with will ask me to bring the Ricks back.
I'm not a Fender guy, I'm a Jazz guy. Jazz bases just work for me. I've played a number of other basses, but Jazz necks and Jazz bodies just work for me, as do Jazz single coil pick ups. I don't care if it's a Fender or not, but thus far Fenders (and a very special-to-me Squier VM Jazz) have happened to be the most affordable, so that's what I play.
Why does everyone use Fenders? Why do they work? How exactly is a rainbow made? How exactly does the sun set? How exactly does a positrac rear end on a Plymouth work? It just does!
because every thread on here suggests that somebody buy an american standard
There's some serious delusion going on in this thread - so not only does everyone use them (patently not true - I know many people who steer clear of them. I know others who consider them entry level basses spurned by the likes of Entwhistle as not providing what he wanted).
And now we have Fender is to bass guitar what double bass is to .......... Double bass. Well of course you can get a wide variation of different makes, quality and price of all stringed instruments - a better analogy is cars - Fender are your archetypal Ford Focus - bought by many and do a functional if perhaps boring and rather uninspiring job to some of being a car - of course that is what bass guitar on some genres of music (for instance C and W and MOR) requires so the Fender fits just fine - there are also lots of players who made a name playing them (many when nothing better was even available).
Does this mean everyone plays them - hell no it doesn't in these parts - all the best to those who do but I'm very comfortable with not doing so. Every time I play one I go back to my Musicman and think - ah that's so much better ;-) (as indeed I did back in 1980). I'm sure if I played an Alembic or Wal the same would be true - indeed I probably wouldn't even give it a second thought - why would I even consider such rudimentary instruments. Going back to the stringed orchestral instrument analogy, why would the owner of a Stradivarius violin even think about playing a lesser instrument!! Seems straightforward to me!!! Rather like the owner of a Rolls Royce being interested in a Ford Focus.
Whoa, whoa, whoa. The first G&L's, beyond vague basic shapes, were certainly NOT copies.
The L-1000 had an MFD humbucker in the P spot, and active / passive electronics.
The L-2000 had an additional MFD coil.
The El-Toro was kinda J-like, but not really at all, since they were two mini-humbuckers & passive / active.
Tho they *could* cop P / J -esque tones, that was decidedly NOT what they were goin for. Leo was lookin to advance / evolve the designs. Same when he went on to MusicMan.
It wasn't until long after Leo passed that the P & J copies with visually undeniable pups and pickguards surfaced.
