Fender American Deluxe Zone Bass, with the active humbuckers and edge p bass body...why did fender discontinue this beautiful bass? Or the American Deluxe P bass with the jazz humbucker bridge pickup as well? These were definatelly 2 of fenders better basses, in my opinion. What I would give to get either of these if not both of them
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Why!?
- Thread starter M1CK13
- Start date
You can still find the American deluxe p basses, you just have to look. Probably wouldnt be too hard to fine a zone.
Just look through the product history of Fender. Not just the old stuff either. And what you find is amazing products offered with fantastic innovation to revolutionize not just bass but the whole guitar/bass/amp etc. scene. And I mean TRULY revolutionary stuff not just some turn it sideways and paint it blue marketing crap.
And then the same thing always seems to happen. Honchos at Fender look at first year (or couple of year sales) and notice that customers weren't fighting to get in the doors to buy them (musicians are always suspicious of new stuff unless they thought of it!). Duh. So at that point the geniuses decide to cancel the whole idea. BLAM! Right between the eyes.
So instead of Fender being THE major force in the development of modern bass, they just keep making the original things that LEO invented because they work well and sell well. And all the amazing innovation (that in a way only a company the size of Fender can afford to do) just gets handed on down to smaller and boutique makers where they languish for a time and gain momentum and suddenly "burst forth" as a next thing as big as sliced bread. By then everyone has forgotten Fender really did it first and then pissed it all away. And amazingly have done it time and time again!
Heard about all the buzz over "suitcase" amps with huge power in a tiny weight? Gosh My amp is a Fender. 750 Watts. 1 rack space and not even class D! Canceled. What about a low cost 5 string p bass? Nah. Nobody (meaning not a million people) wanted one. The only thing I was able to snag before it all disappeared was some authentic Fender 5 string P pickups being sold surplus (to make sure they would not be tempted to keep making a few, I'm sure...)
If only Fender management had the sense to stop looking at the sales figures long enough to understand that new developments take time to develop power. People first have to play with them and see what they offer. And then word of mouth builds and pretty soon it's the standard instrument that everybody wants. By demanding that every innovative new idea come out of the blocks with blockbuster sale figures only assures failure. Fender is a company large enough they can afford to run a number of side developments that aren't topping the sales charts. And to hone and tweak on them according to customer suggestions until suddenly everyone has to have one. Since Fender wont do that, then obviously there are some smaller companies that will. And if you want something beyond what Leo offered, well the custom shop will be happy to build it for you...for a price.
(end Fender rant)
Great post.
Fender has had some seriously great basses slip through the cracks and disappear.
Well yeah I've been looking for these basses for awhile and I've gone through fenders history...but I miss the way the were by developing these instruments and amps...oh well I guess I just need to get passed it all
Because Fender's job is not to make the best instrument Fender can make, but to make the best instrument Fender can sell, and sell profitably.
Fender is no different than the majority of US corporations where the quarterly bottom line dictates the next quarter's direction. That kind of mindset has been a major criticism of US corporations, notwithstanding that they're being true to their primary goal, which is to maximize the wealth of its owners - the shareholder, not to produce the 'best' (whatever that is interpreted as) product.
) or :-(( , depending on your point of view.
L. Howard
) or :-(( , depending on your point of view.L. Howard
Just a couple of thoughs to expand on my prior post. Innovation, whether it be in musical instruments or some other product, is done primarily by entrepreneurs, i.e. non-corporate entities. There are many examples in the audio/musical world, but one of my favorites is Cerwin-Vega. Gene Czerwinski founded the company as a proprietorship and introduced innovative products. I met and talked with him a couple times at audio shows in Washington, DC in 1975 and San Francisco in 1977. He designed the bass commode, better known today as a sub woofer. The system, called the 320 system had a bass cabinet for each channel and a corresponding midrange-treble unit. It had a sensitivity of 103dB, which for the early/mid-seventies was unique, only rivaled by the Klipschorn, manufactured by Paul Klipsch, another entrepreneur and proprietor (non-corporate entity) which is the other innovative company that I like to cite. The Klipschorn had/has a sensitivity of 104dB in an all-horn system while CV's 320 system was a direct-radiator system except for the high-end of the MT unit.
Whenever a new, innovative design comes up, its going to normally be a singlely owned company. Later in a proprietorship's life, it usually is bought out by a corporation as the owner ages and has to cut back on a hectic lifestyle, although they love it. So goes the course of innovation. Somewhat of an exception is Euphonic Audio. They have incorporated, but just continue to produce innovative products. Although I haven't checked it out, I believe they're a closed corporation (i.e. not traded on the open market) and the stock is owned internally. That means they answer to themselves and not some higher level board of directors of a holding company (who may or may not understand the products produced) and they produce products that their customers want. And what's even more amazing, you can have a conversation with the designers/owners. There's not much that's cooler than that.
L. Howard
What exactly are the major innovations outside of the P and J bass that Leo or Fender made that were revolutionary but just didn't get a fair chance? I like Bass Vs and Coronados but can you blame Fender for discontinuing them due to lower sales if they have limited production capability and prefer to make more Ps and Js? 5-7 year runs isn't exactly pulling the plug prematurely.
In short, to liken Fender to an evil, myopic multinational is absurd.
Never really cared about those 2, but I'm still super pissed about Fender's decision to discontinue the Roscoe Beck signature model. 
Well if anyone happens to find one of these two basses or a p bass lyte for sale I'd be much obliged to here about it!
