Why is Fender so Popular?

[lovemybasses]

I can't believe I subjected myself to the exceptionally poor grammar, spelling, and manners found in this thread.

Please accept my apologies for contributing my own reply to this mess.

imp

apologize accepted. please accept appologies from us not being americans. talkbass is international forum ( it's members originated from all parts of the world,no? ) I bet you will be VERY poor in spelling,grammar etc. with any other language but english,right?

 

[Rob Mancini]

It's not the non-native English speakers that are the problem...Americans have pretty much thrown grammar right out the window these days, and this new generation of brats (I mean kids) think "spelling" is that blonde girl with the big fake boobies, and "grammar" makes them cookies when they vist her on holidays

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

It's not the non-native English speakers that are the problem...Americans have pretty much thrown grammar right out the window these days, and this new generation of brats (I mean kids) think "spelling" is that blonde girl with the big fake boobies, and "grammar" makes them cookies when they vist her on holidays

They didn't throw it out the window... they never knew it at all!

 

[GlennW]

They didn't throw it out the window... they never knew it at all!

"You can't lose what you never had."

That double P pickup bass looks nice and shows your appreciation for Rics (unless I'm imagining things).

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

"You can't lose what you never had."

That double P pickup bass looks nice and shows your appreciation for Rics (unless I'm imagining things).

No, it was Ric inspired. Well the pickguard anyway.

It used to be a bit different looking. But that's a P bass body with a new neck on it. It was modded when I got it, and the original maple neck was bad... wouldn't hold frets. So I spliced on a new headstock and made it an 8 string... but it still looked like a P bass. Then I cut the body up and years later made a new neck.

At one (about 1980) time the bass looked like this on stage with the Jetsonz:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Here's it is with the original neck, a black pickguard, and a hot pink paint job! Notice the Dimarzio Model P... that's an original from 1978 or so. Oh and a much younger me.

You can hear it on this recording: [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[Oreomeister365]

They were there at the beginning, and will be there till the end!!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

 

[dvh]

I know i'll probably get hated on hardcore here, but I'm just riffing on an epiphany I've had recently. I've got a studio in the basement that can put out some decent quality amateur recordings, and I've been playing live once a week for the past year or so, and The differences between playing thru the absolute POS Peavey I've been lugging to live gigs and plugging direct in and dialing up a perfect tone in Ampeg SVX are so minute in the end product that it's really not worth sweating. Not that I won't sweat the details, as it undeniably does make a difference, but the amount of time I waste trying to get a better sound would be so much better spent actually playing my instrument.

I largely agree with this. But since we play the instrument we notice the little differences and as in any other creative pursuit the little differences seem large to us.

I like the combination of my 51 P and my Yorkville. The following scenario never seems to fail: I go to an open jam or to visit a new musician friend: "There's a bass amp here so don't worry about bringing one". I go with just my bass. I end up not fully enjoying the experience because I'm not really happy with my sound. Did it make any difference to listeners? Probably not.

But, it makes a difference to me and how I play; how good I feel about it; how that in turn makes me play and how free and easy I feel about the experience which comes out in my performance.

That's why we have these differences in preferences and why we end up in these silly debates! Doesn't mean **** to anyone else!

 

[Brad Johnson]

I mentioned at least three different things about a typical Fender P or J that no one is currently offering in the price range I specified (which is a pretty wide range). Those three things were body shape, pickup configuration and pickup placement. I didn't mean "close" when referring to body shape, BTW.

And that's still wrong. Nobody offers a JJ or P configuration in the window you arbitrarily set? And exactly how important is body shape except to show it's an exact copy? Similar doesn't count.

I've seen plenty of Fender-style basses in my area. All of them were cheaper than $300 or more expensive than $1200. And the Cort has a different shape. Don't know offhand about the pickup placement.

You don't know about the pickup placement yet you just wrote that no one had the same placement, which obviously rules the Cort you don't know about out.

Not in the range I specifically specified for the purpose of being specific. You show me the guy who paid $300 or more for an SX. I'll take the money I get from selling him MY Fender and use it to go buy a Sadowsky AND a rig.

Reality check on aisle 7.

Sorry but anyone should be able to see that having a minimum price in that range is lame. If affordability is an issue and someone is looking for a Fender style bass and can find one for LESS than $300, why would you choose to ignore that exists? Obviously because it doesn't fit in with everything else you got wrong about this

"Hey, I want an affordable bass... but not THAT affordable".

 

[Brad Johnson]

EXACTLY! thats why half the fender owners here have a badass 2 bridge on thier fender... and new pickups...and a preamp installed. And one model offered this, clearly it wasnt that popular since ive never heard of it nor have i heard a single thread about it in recent months. That being said i was talking about current models.... how can you defend a company with those statments after thier 2008 line... im guessing someone called fender for the first time in 5 years and were like... umm hi ... u realize theres all these companies offering better stock parts on your designs... then fender finally decided to revamp thier models. SO clearly somthing was wrong the past 5 or so years if they had to revamp the **** out of everything. And im not even talking about being innovative by making a new body shape and marketing it. They created the most replicated classic bass styles ever... obviously they are going to cash in on it, im talking about bang for the buck and evolution of the product line in comparison to modern competitors.

Half the Fender owners having a new bridge, preamp and pickups is based on what? Sounds like a wild guess to me.

 

[GlennW]

You can always give the salesman a big tip to boost the cost into your desired price range.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Yes, and only my cheap defretted Vantage bass with tapewounds sounds like a cheap defretted Vantage bass with tapewounds.

It's all pretty relative. Fender is not somehow extra magic special, they're just different, and that's a good thing.

He didn't say they were magical, he said they are what they are.

 

[savit260]

Yeah. I'm assuming you're not talking about me in the first part, since I've neither trashed, nor dismissed them.

But you have continued to apply your own assumptioins to why people buy a particular product, using words like fanboy and n00b etc. like people aren't capable of independent thought. The store brand Cola example is actually a good one, yet people will go for what is familiar, and know exactly what they're going to get. Yup, I'll buy generic Cola myself sometime, but I still know exactly what I'm getting when I grab a Coke.

I'm just trying to stick up for independant thought, suggesting that if anyone realizes that they're making a decision without any specific reason, they should consider alternatives. There might be a better choice right at hand. There may not be, but at least consider it before you fork over your money.

You may be shocked to find out that my main "working" bass these days does not have Fender on the headstock. yet I still fully understand and comprehend why they are so popular, and why people like them so much. That is what this thread was supposed to be about.


Hey, I get trashed in other threads because of what I choose to play as my main working bass. Guess who does a lot of that bashing? Yup, Fender guys, but I don't sweat it.

I've got pretty thick skin I guess.

 

[Rickett Customs]

Do you know what's better than a fender?

 

[Brad Johnson]

Of course, nobody admits they bought it just because it was a Fender. A lot of people buy them for the right reasons, but how many people go into the guitar shop really objectively? Some, certainly. But the brand recognition can often outgrow the product. A lot of people will buy one because they really don't know what they're looking for and have heard that "Everyone should have one", etc. And there certainly there are some fanboys out there who do buy just for the name. So we have category A, which is the people who try a bunch of stuff, decide they like the Fender and buy it. We have category B, who doesn't really know what they want (often beginners?), and Category C The guy who either wants to be cool, and Fenders are cool so buys a Fender.

I wasn't talking about newbies. Newbies rarely know what's what because they don't know how to play yet.

A says: This bass is awesome. I really like it. (Because he does)
B says: This bass is awesome. I really like it. (Hasn't got much to compare to, but doesn't want to sound like a noob)
C says: This bass is awesome. I really like it. (Probably doesn't have any more clue than B, but doesn't want to look like a clueless fanboy.

Again, you're talking about people who buy JUST for the name. Again, I haven't seen that.

If you want to see some huge examples of this, check out some Hi-fi audio forums. How many people will rave about their "Ultra-Fi Whizbang aero-core oxygen-free silver" speaker cables. Because they hear a difference, or because they don't want to look like a dumbass who spent $500 for a set of speaker cables.

Whch really has nothing to do with this topic, being the stretch that it is. In fact I regularly see the opposite... people who, even though they've never touched a Fender, vow to never get one because they're popular.

That's brilliant thinking right there.

It happens everywhere. How many people drink Coca-cola, but have never even tried the store-brand. You never know when it might be better if you don't give it a try.

It's just as dumb to dislike something just from the name. No doubt about that. That probably either means A. you want people to think that your stuff is better than theirs, so you talk trash. B. You want to be special. If everyone has the same bass as you, you can't be special. Get something else, then talk trash about theirs. C. You're a troll, and you don't really even dislike it, but you just want to piss off people on the internet.

Some people realize how untrue that is. You can indeed have the same gear and be special. It happens quite a bit. For the people who haven't either spent the time or figured out how to be special, they typically blame the gear.

I guess some of us just like to stick up for the underdog too. I mean really, I'd just like to see people look at a bass for what it is. I think that some of the other manufacturers are selling less basses than they ought, just due to not saying "Fender" on the headstock. Unfortunately, most of the internet tends to hear "Be open minded and try a variety" as "Your stuff sucks and mine is better"

-Nick

Who is selling less basses than they "ought" to? The market decides that. What I get tired of seeing is people who feel they need to stick up for one thing by criticizing another. It doesn't make your underdog any better. Not one bit.

Bottom line, Fender makes fine basses, if you like them. If you don't, Fender has no monopoly on basses... chose something else and be happy.

 

[Rickett Customs]

Do you know what's better than a fender?

Knowing how to play your Fender, It's time to hush and play your Fender, too much subjectiveness (Is that a real word ) on this thread.
:scowl:


My [/thread] is broken!!!

 

[Arx]

apologize accepted. please accept appologies from us not being americans. talkbass is international forum ( it's members originated from all parts of the world,no? ) I bet you will be VERY poor in spelling,grammar etc. with any other language but english,right?

What are you guys complaining about? The grammar on this thread has been pretty reasonable. I won't say correct, but considering the content of the thread, it's surprisingly lacking in unintelligible gibberish.

 

[Brad Johnson]

Agreed, all the gibberish, while still being gibberish, is intelligible.

 

[Arx]

He didn't say they were magical, he said they are what they are.

Yes. I was being a little facetious. Saying "only a fender sounds like a fender" is ,of course, factually true but it also implies that sounding like a Fender is something everyone is trying to do.

Not everyone is.

 

[Arx]

Who is selling less basses than they "ought" to? The market decides that. What I get tired of seeing is people who feel they need to stick up for one thing by criticizing another. It doesn't make your underdog any better. Not one bit.

Bottom line, Fender makes fine basses, if you like them. If you don't, Fender has no monopoly on basses... chose something else and be happy.

I guess I'll do the smart thing and just unsubscribe from this thread now. I've been accused either directly, or by implication of "crisicizing" or "hating" Fenders way too many times, and getting pretty much nothing but argumentive replys.

You say A.
I say Yeah, A is good, but I think B and C are equally good and often overlooked due to A's popularity, You say "Quit criticizing A"

Nobody really thinks about what they're reading anyways. I feel sort of stupid for wasting my time really.

BTW. this isn't directed at Brad in particular. He's just the latest to imply that i'm anti-Fender.

 

[WarMan]

Someone earlier said it was like Harleys, something along the lines of "if you have to ask then you probably just don't get it." There is a companying with an advertisement in Bass Player selling cables with a similar statement. What an arrognant load of crap! It's the default answer when you don't have one.

I like the Fender style and sound, but not the build quality. That was a simple and direct answer to what I like about Fender's and what I don't like about them. I like my Warwick for its sound, build quality and looks, but not the distributor's customer service. I like my Music Man for its sound, build quality, looks and customer service.