Fender 5 string myth

[Soliloquy]

I had one of these a couple of years ago. It was a USA deluxe model, and was very, very good.

[jamesbass116]

I'm a sucker for a 5 string fender.. So much so that I'm even selling my current fender 5 to get funds towards a US Deluxe. and BEFORE anyone says I'm wasting my money, I've tried a whole lot of 5 strings and I get on the best with fenders! It's not just about the 'name' for me

[Doddy]

I use a 5 string Jazz Deluxe a lot. For me,it has all the familiarity of a regular Jazz Bass but with the added
bonus of a fifth string. I find Fender basses (particularly Jazz Basses) really easy and comfortable to play,
and the 5 string is no different.

[disssa]

Here are two of my 5-string Fender basses:

left: Fender Roscoe Beck V (the best 5-string bass ever!) and right the Fender American DLX Precision V

[dlloyd]

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1327432181' post='1511175']I think part of it is because the Fender name has become synomynous with the four string variety and people hold those traditional values close to their hearts.
Breaking away from that preconception of what a bass 'should' look like could lose them some of their market share if they pushed it too hard and fast.
[/quote]

Yep, Fender have made fleeting attempts to introduce more "modern" basses, like the Fender Performer:



The problem is that nobody buys them.

[ras52]

[quote name='TraceAmp' timestamp='1330416121' post='1556929']
Here are two of my 5-string Fender basses:

left: Fender Roscoe Beck V (the best 5-string bass ever!) and right the Fender American DLX Precision V


[/quote]

Oh no... please don't feed my gas just before the London BG Show...

[dave_bass5]

I had a white MIA P5 a few years ago. Lovely bass, wish i had kept it now.

When i was trying to source one there were a lot of UK based companies advertising them, but non had them in stock, and the strange this was they nearly all insisted that they could get me one, but as its a special order i would have to keep it, even though i was buying online. I found this very disturbing so went with Thomanns, who not only had them in stock, were cheaper and didnt try and stiff me, gave me 30 days to return it if i didnt it.

[ThomBassmonkey]

I was always lead to believe that Fender 5s were Fender 4s with a wider neck and an extra string and thus weren't really designed with the extra string in mind maknig them very hit and miss.

[noelk27]

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' timestamp='1330716231' post='1562188']I was always lead to believe that Fender 5s were Fender 4s with a wider neck and an extra string and thus weren't really designed with the extra string in mind maknig them very hit and miss.[/quote]
Isn't that true of the vast majority of five-string designs out there?

[JTUK]

maybe.. but the hit and miss aspect very much applies as regards Fender, IMO.
but lets not think they are alone in this.

[dave_bass5]

I think that was true of the ones made before 2008 but from then on ive only (mostly) read good things about the 5 string Fenders, it seems 2008 was a good year all round for Fenders.

[JohnFitzgerald]

I'm very much a Jazz bass fan.

As well as the current Squier 5er, I've also had a MIM Jazz deluxe 5er.

If it isn't a Sunburst Jazz, I'm probably not interested and as above, I've had two 5 strings now.

I did get one of them in the States and did a bit of chasing around for the other, but they're not impossible to find.

They just look right to me.

[largo]

I've got a Fender P5 and it's a great bass, one of the new ones made in 2009 I think. I was after a passive 5-string bass in 34" scale and Fender were one of the few to offer this. Does the passive Fender Precision tone very well, funnily enough!