Why does everyone use Fenders?

[danosix]

There's something about Fender Basses! Timeless in design. One of the best examples of "industrial art". Iconic like the Coca Cola bottle, the American flag, the baseball bat, the hamburger, Mariln Monroe, Geo Washington. They look just as modern today as they did 50 and 60 years ago!

Strapping on a Fender Bass is like wearing Levi's button fly jeans, a Tee shirt and Chuck Taylors.

I'm not sure Marilyn Monroe, Washington and the Flag are exactly "industrial" art, but point well taken.
But are you saying these things are going to outlast modern classics like Miley Cyrus, One Direction and the Bebes?

 

[bassdude51]

Fixed it. Made a new paragraph after "industrial art"

You are right, Marilyn and G. Washington are not industrial art and they never dated each other either!

 

[RED J]

Haven't read the whole thread. They work. That's all I know. The clones work too. J out.

 

[danosix]

more like sharks. they're basically perfect and kick ass wherever they go.

...and once they hit their perfect form stopped evolving. That's a compliment. Only Sharks and Crocodiles have lasted essentially unchanged for the last 100 million years. Virtually everything else has dies out or has changed to the point of being unrecognizable - same as basses. What other 1956 design is around today virtually unchanged that no one would consider a "retro" piece? (Hofner comes closest - and they are definitely a specialty instrument).

 

[danosix]

You can't go wrong with a Fender. There are other basses that may do a little better in certain situations, but you will never get a raised eyebrow from opening your gig bag and pulling out a Fender. It's the sound that has been recorded more than any others.

Agreed.
Show up at a country or jazz gig with some pointy BC Rich thing... you will be laughed off the stage (regardless of how good you are or how good your bass sounds - which is probably just a PBass functionally anyways.
Now show up at a metal gig with a PBass... At least one guy will "oooh", most of the band and audience will not notice ('cause it works and doesn't look silly) and the guy at the back of the place who lost the country gig to you last night will make fun of your non-pointy bass.
Fenders just WORK and FIT, nearly anywhere.
Honestly - no hate on for pointy basses - but it demonstrates the point.

 

[danosix]

No, it's not.

Well, I know there are other claimants, but in all reality, Fender is the first electric bass. The one by Carl Thompson's dad never even left his possession - hardly influencing a generation of manufacturers and players, and the other one (which escapes my memeory) was suggested in a catalogue but no one has ever seen one, so hardly ground breaking. By that logic Jules Verve invented the SPace Shuttle and the television because he suggested some day someone migh fly to space and had people talking to moving pictures.
What matters is the one that made it practical and accessable. And unlike details of the tele and the strat (again - who's playing a Bigsby guitar or a Ric electric pan these days? They're museum pieces)- there is little question that Leo came up with the idea on his own.

 

[Liam Wald]

because the cool vintage guilds, gibsons, and voxs are getting really old now and collectable

Yes... My favorite bass is my 1980 Guild 302-A.
I like this bass better than ANY Fender I have ever played.

 

[danosix]

Out of place!?

NO WAY!

Just think you're playing a solid beast of a bass, ok I'm biased so what...I think you are playing one of the best, pro quality super awesome basses. Fenders are a dime a dozen, Warwicks take more time to build. Fender doesnt dry their wood, Warwick does, for years. Be different anyways....

IMO, nothing special about Fenders anyways, to me they're the generic basic bass or guitar, they're not bad...just boring. I've seen 'em built, nothing special there.

If I went to audition for something, if that ever happens, and they don't like the fact I dont have that Fender, well, sorry I'm a Warwick player...*walk out*...Fenders are fine, but you don't need one of you love your Wick or whatever other bass you might have.

But they're generic BECAUSE they are the standard - and everything else (to a greater or lesser extent) is influenced by it. Think not? What scale is your Warwick?

 

[Liam Wald]

But they're generic BECAUSE they are the standard - and everything else (to a greater or lesser extent) is influenced by it. Think not? What scale is your Warwick?

The mathematical formula for various stringed instruments was worked out by makers of things like violins, cellos, double bass, lutes, guitars, and banjos long before Leo Fender was born.
In my opinion, what you are implying is like saying that Henry Ford invented the wheel.

 

[danosix]

The mathematical formula for various stringed instruments was worked out by makers of things like violins, cellos, double bass, lutes, guitars, and banjos long before Leo Fender was born.
In my opinion, what you are implying is like saying that Henry Ford invented the wheel.

Not true.
The mathematical formula for the instrument puts the strings at about 37 inches. And if the scale length was so obvious, why are the so called predecessors what we now call short scale and most of the immediate answers to Fender (Hofner, Gibson) also?
Leo picked a point where comfort and tone met and did this on purpose.
And no, Henry Ford did not invent the wheel, but cars AFTER the model T (by anyone) look a LOT more like Fords than cars before - both Leo and Henry set the standard formats for their products. More to the point - Ford isn't the Fender of Bass, there were actual manufacturers of guitars before Ford there were only tinkerers and one insignificant manufacturer of electric basses before him.

 

[ofajen]

The mathematical formula for various stringed instruments was worked out by makers of things like violins, cellos, double bass, lutes, guitars, and banjos long before Leo Fender was born.
In my opinion, what you are implying is like saying that Henry Ford invented the wheel.

The reference to Henry Ford is rather apt. It's a fact that there were a number of motor cars made before Ford began, but he really was the leader in creating mass-production cars and mass markets for cars.

Similarly, it's a fact that other people made and sold electric basses before Fender, but he was the first to mass produce and sell them and also to get famous players to use them, helping create the market.

Otto

 

[Redrama]

Because Fender has done the test of time and made basses forever, so you immediately look at their products if they have one that suits your needs. Also, if you go to a music store for a hands-on before buying a bass. They will most likely have a Fender equivalent of the bass you're searching for.

 

[Liam Wald]

Okay, I give...
Leo Fender figured out what everyone else missed and all other bass guitars are simply inferior copies of Fender's designs.
That is why Fenders are the best and nothing else comes close.

 

[danosix]

Also, Fenders were much easier to obtain in the U.S. during the '50s & '60s than they were for Brits and other non-Americans.

In the case of Jack Bruce - can you really fit that sound in with any other band? Today he plays long scale Warwicks with Jazz Pickups - essentially boutique fenders sound-wise.

 

[danosix]

Okay, I give...
Leo Fender figured out what everyone else missed and all other bass guitars are simply inferior copies of Fender's designs.
That is why Fenders are the best and nothing else comes close.

Okay, maybe I'm overstating the case - I LOVE other basses - but the forum is why are Fenders good, not why do they suck. More importantly, the conversation turned to whether Leo created the electric bass and realistically and for all practical purposes he did.
Name an electric bass that isn't influenced by Fender and I'll buy you lunch.

 

[Liam Wald]

Zeta Bass.
Where do you want to have lunch?

 

[Shardik]

Is it just me that strongly dislike these threads that ask a question based on a completely false premise?

 

[Liam Wald]

New Is it just me that strongly dislike these threads that...

Imply that Leo Fender has achieved such a level of reverence that his birthday should be recognized as a national holiday?

 

[Scarey Larry]

At the risk of being flamed, trolled, or publically denounced, I am an American so I own a Fender. I think of Fender more as GM that had several companies come together, while Gibson is Ford, who also bought a bunch of other companies. I like my Fender Jazz a lot, I also rarely play it in favor of others I like more.

And ya, I dislike these threads too Liam Wald yet here I am risking a good roasting or being munched by mythical creatures.

 

[danosix]

Zeta Bass.
Where do you want to have lunch?

It's not solid body, long scale, offset and double cut-away? The vast majority are also 34" scale and bolt on too... Shall I go on? (I know I do go on). AND that's in an electric UPRIGHT.
Seriously, the boutique basses are wonderful and I for one do not have a problem with them (I note you modulus in your icon and drool with envy) but to hate on the industry standard to the point of denying it's validity and importance is just not looking with unbiased eyes.
I'm not saying you're doing that - but others certainly are...
Further to the Ford analogy - players of high end basses putting down Fender are like Porsche drivers putting down Henry Ford, they are so different as to make little comparison, and yet without the one you would not have the other.
One is a mass produced product for mass tastes and budgets, the other is a high performance hand-built piece of art that appeals to a certain high end grouping of whom most people will never be members.
It would be just as ridiculous for Fender lovers to deny the influence of the telecaster, the upright bass and the guitarron on the P-Bass - the influence is there, even if the current incarnation bears little resemblance.
P.S. Of all electric basses that's the best example (or the Ampeg Baby Bass which owes even virtually nothing to the bass guitar except the idea of portability - you almost got your Big Mac (or Big Tofu, whatever you prefer).