Hutton

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1372253669' post='2123401'] I believe Fender have gone through various periods of ups and downs, generally speaking, their qc has been all over the place from the late 70's and failed to impress during the 80's-90's however, in the year 2000 something must have imploded in their head offices, their Big Cheeses must have hired new dedicated staff that allowed the "concept" back to the drawing board, and caused them to shake up the entire company ethic from the foundation up. I guess they must have reached a point where they were faced with the question "Do we go ahead and keep on manufacturing the same below average crap that no one will buy and lose business to the copycat market or are we going to come up with a product that will be both in line with the former glory years and at the same time be something that the punters will find to be of excellent quality sound and perfect for gigging. [b]The American Standard series meant exactly that.[/b] I can't fault them, and I don't just buy a bass because of the name on the headstock, but being of a mature age and having known what a P bass was like all that time ago, when I first tried an AM Standard P I knew I was holding a fantastic piece of kit that I would buy without hesitation, now I have 2 of them a P and a J and I have the Fender gas fully under control until something better comes along... [/quote] Nice to see the same old dreary quality control argument rearing its head again. My 83 & 84 p basses ooze quality. I'll give you that some stuff in the late 70s was poor but it's just ridiculous to claim that 20 years of Fenders were poor. Do you honestly think that professional players would have used Fenders throughout these decades if they had been of questionable quality? There has already been criticism of the OP making generalisations but it works both ways.

Not only did Andy respond to a post regarding a problem I was having but he also solved the problem by selling me a great wee gadget (Vox amplug) which did the trick nicely. Nice guy and a credit to basschat.

Thanks for the replies everybody. Much appreciated. Andy has sorted me out with an Amplug. You post up a problem and two hours later it's dealt with. Gotta love basschat!

Sorry, I should have said that it was for solo practice.

Can anyone recommend any gadgets/headphones/wee amps which will allow silent or low volume practice. Before anyone says turn your amp down I should say that whatever is used has to be reasonably small. Thanks peeps!

At last it has finally happened! [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/sh*t-o-Caster-fretless-4-string-bass-/251291077220?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3a821d8a64"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/sh*t-o-Caster-fretless-4-string-bass-/251291077220?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3a821d8a64[/url]

Are Fender decals used? It's a bit difficult to see from the pics.

Sound. Tension. Longevity. I have them on all four of my precisions. I've had one set on now for seven years and they are the best sounding set.

Chris just sold me a cracking gig bag. A thoroughly nice chap and a pleasure to deal with. A credit to basschat!

TI Jazz Flats are all I use. I love em. I've had a set on one of my precisions for over six years and they sound glorious. Once you have got used to the tension of the strings you won't want to use anything else. Good choice my friend!

The Highway Ones as has already been said are US made. They are cracking basses for the money. The first series had a nitro satin finish and standard bridge. My son has one of the first highway one strats and he won't part with it.

[quote name='The Bass Doc' timestamp='1363109810' post='2008688'] The expression 'Leo got it right' is bandied about quite a lot. I understand the view but being one of the very few people to have spent some time with him I can say that he wouldn't neccessarily claim that. I met him at CLF Research in 1979 when he was producing guitars for Musicman and he was constantly trying to improve and develop his instruments. I would say the Stingray may well have been the first truly active bass to be a world-wide success and of course he went on to design some fine instruments under the G&L banner. I can't imagine that any present day luthier of the more boutique/unique styled basses would denegrate Leo Fender's pioneering work since I guess they would accept they had to design [i]from [/i]something that went before. For his part LF only claimed that he was lucky in producing the first production-run bass that 'caught on' i.e. that if any other company had beaten him to it [i]that [/i]may well have been how the masses would expect a bass guitar to be. So, dear friends, we should respect the original innovater and at the same time be grateful that further innovations have come along to enable all tastes to be satisfied. The fact that the Precision bass (along with it's derivitives) continues to be probably the most popular in the world to this day as far as numbers are concerned is a credit to the man but were he still alive he would no doubt be trying to improve on it. Viva la difference! (as the Spanish would say, Rodney). [/quote] Listen to the Doc. He's got it right. Time to simmer down and let the thread fade away.

My USA 62 Reissue Precision is my main squueze. I will never part company with it as it was a leaving gift to me from my last place of work. Apart from that it is a marvellous bass.