you cant beat fender, They got it right.....

[chris_b]

Fender's are great, and all of my favourite music was recorded with them.

I think everyone should own one at some point in their lives, but the only problem I've got is that Fender has been a real party pooper when it comes to 5 string basses.

Luckily that doesn't matter at all because lots of other companies are making great "fender" 5 string basses.



ps Stop saying "Leo got it right first time". He didn't. He changed nearly everything for the mk2 Precision which is when he finally did "get it right".

[4 Strings]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1372280313' post='2123882']

ps Stop saying "Leo got it right first time". He didn't. He changed nearly everything for the mk2 Precision which is when he finally did "get it right".
[/quote]

Actual words chosen: " ...got so much right at their very first attempt".

[Lozz196]

Yes, the mk1 was nearly there, and looking at it, a pretty good first attempt. The mk2, well yes, from there on, no real need to make any major changes.

[grayn]

You can't argue about how Fender pretty much invented the electric bass guitar and their designs have been the basis for everything that has followed.
Whereas Gibson gave Fender a run for their money, in guitars, no one seemd to really challenge Fender's dominance with basses, in those early days.
Most of it is down to getting that design so right. But I wonder is some of it down to us being essentially, really conservative.
The 50s and 60s were a time of great change and an upsurge in new thinking. The new instruments and the music they played, were ground breaking.
So, what's happened since?
Have we just settled for refinements and minor inventions?

[FlatEric]

[quote name='cocco' timestamp='1372279766' post='2123865']
I agree. Can't beat a p-bass!
[/quote]

Ash - You got a Precision now?

I agree with a lot of the writings in this thread, as there is no doubt it was
ground breaking and is still, to this day, The Bass - A Jazz or a Precision.

That said. . . . . .

I am lucky enough, as are some others on here, to be able to select 7 or 8 basses,
of different make/shapes/styles etc and put them up against the Fenders.
There is a lot to be said for Fender but it's only when you play one after the other,
after the other, you get a subjective look at the plus and minus of each bass.
Fender could perhaps best be described as the most universally accepted bass
but it isn't the only one out there.
I have a 72 Jazz, three Fender Japan 60's re-issue Jazz but not one Fender Precision.
I did have four but they have now all found new homes.

In a nutshell "Horses for Courses", I think.

Cheers.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='greyparrot' timestamp='1372237783' post='2123119']
After 30 years playing and going through some of the 'best' basses out there i still don't believe you can beat the fender p or jazz bass. Iv had basses costing 4k and some costing £40 its not the bass its in us to make the music. Iv played basses that have pre amps as sensitive as my **** and some dead as door-nails... I (personally) think you cant beat a fender. Right now im playing a fender usa p bass deluxe v and a line 6 variaxe (great) ... I think the fender is the best bass i have played in all ways, and while i know its a very personal thing... they really are the work horse of the bass world, at least for a jobbing bass player as i am.... yeah its nice to see exotic wood but paying 2k because of it and lets face it many end up for sale i simply cant see it anymore... i think id prefer a nice table top rather than a bass to look at for exotic wood... yeah it changes the sound...but at the end of the day Fender got it right...After playing pro for many years and using and selling many basses. You can get most tones in the fingers, where and how we play, anything else can come from the tone and amp controls, you can 'will the sound' out of most basses, rather than trying endless pre amp options.... This is just my view of course and i can say i have played everything from top end spectors to old p bass copies... personally i always come back to the work horse of the bass world... Fender.. and lets face it a nice one is by no mean cheap ! but i personally think they got it right. It could well be because 30 years ago the first bass i ever had was a kay p bass copy, so i guess i grew up with the shape and fender basses were the (and still are) the main axe for most players back then.
[/quote]

I'm not going to argue with you about the content of your post, partly because my views on Fenders are already well known here (hence some of the comments in the thread) so I see little point in rehashing old ground, and partly because of my dyslexia I found your post almost impossible to read, however I think I've got the gist of it (mainly from the title).

What does interest me is why the OP felt the need to post this in the first place and why others who chime in with their approval have done so as well.

We all like to talk about basses here - it is after all the very reason why this forum exists. I own some basses that I really like. I play them at gigs and on recordings. Occasionally I'll photograph them and post the pictures in a thread in the Bass Porn section. I haven't ever felt the need to evangelise like this about my favourite instruments, not because I don't think they are worth it, but because it's not in my nature to do so because I find it somewhat crass.

These kinds of threads pop up every so often here, so I'm intrigued to know why. Not being part of the "Cult Of Fender" I find the need for them somewhat perplexing, and to me, as an outsider, they have a vague air of insecurity about them.

So why is it? This isn't intended as a troll post (or at least no more so than the original post). I am genuinely interested in why greyparrot needed to make to post in the first place, and then why others were obliged to back him up.

[Hobbayne]

I backed him up because I agree with his post.

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1372318711' post='2124116']
What does interest me is why the OP felt the need to post this in the first place and why others who chime in with their approval have done so as well.
[/quote]

Compared to some topics that have popped up on BC recently, this thread is almost a shining example of greatness....

[CamdenRob]

Think I'll throw my two pence worth in here... Why not, I'm at work and feeling confrontational.

Whilst obviously it all comes down to personal choice and I don't think a company can become as widely respected (and vigourously defended) as Fender without a quality product to back it up.

However I've always thought Fenders were a bit 'pub covers band' especially P basses. It would seem to me that the majority of Fender players are in covers bands (maybe emulating the people they are covering?) Or perhaps its the other way round and the majority of people in covers bands play Fenders so it kinda sticks out...

They always seemed a bit 'default choice' I appreiciate not everyone is going in for avant-garde musical landscapes played on a 57 string custom sei bass, but I just find them a bit.. well safe and boring.

Rob

[Hutton]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1372318711' post='2124116']
So why is it? This isn't intended as a troll post (or at least no more so than the original post). I am genuinely interested in why greyparrot needed to make to post in the first place, and then why others were obliged to back him up.
[/quote]

I would imagine that, amongst other reasons, he did it because he was free to do so. Long live Basschat!

[Green Alsatian]

The overly simplistic answer is 'because he can - the clue's in the URL!'.

A returning topic isn't a new phenomenon for any internet forum and the challenge, is rather than post in a well-worn topic to decry it, create a new topic with yet-to-be discussed content. It's not easy - how many times have we talked about our favourite film/book/food/etc. among friends?

If anyone wants to declare their undivided love for a brand, what's wrong with that? I'd rather read about someone loving something rather than hating it.

Yes, I really like Fenders a lot too. I also like other brands, but they're for a different thread.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Hutton' timestamp='1372320714' post='2124145']
I would imagine that, amongst other reasons, he did it because he was free to do so. Long live Basschat!
[/quote]

That explains why he was able to do it, but not why he did it in the first place.

[discreet]

[size=4][quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1372320678' post='2124142']...It would seem to me that the majority of Fender players are in covers bands... ...I just find them a bit... well safe and boring.[/quote]

I was going to post a list of Fender bass players who are not in covers bands and who definitely aren't safe and/or boring - but I don't want to take up the next ten pages of this thread for no good reason. [/size]

Edited June 27, 2013 by discreet

[Happy Jack]

So anyway ... The Beatles ... any good for metal?

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1372321346' post='2124157']


[size=4]I was going to post a list of Fender bass players who are not in covers bands and who definitely aren't safe and/or boring - but I don't want to take up the next ten pages of this thread for no good reason. [/size]
[/quote]

Yeah thats fair enough, they can't have got where they are without some sort of top level endorsement I guess. Also, I love the look of the Jazz Deluxes.

I'm not exactly clued up on bass history though and if you were to list people out I probably wouldn't know any of them everyone keeps mentioning people I've never heard of. I only know about Jaco from this forum and I have absolutely no idea who this Geddy Lee chap people keep mentioning is...

I appreciate these people must have been forebearers for them to have become so well known. To be honest though I've no interest in stuff other people wrote in the past, Its all about creating something new for me

Anyway this is probably for another thread. I'll shut up and go back to work...

Rob

[discreet]

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1372321936' post='2124171']...if you were to list people I probably wouldn't know any of them...[size=4][/quote][/size]
[size=4]Quite. And I don't want to be showing my age, do I? [/size]

Edited June 27, 2013 by discreet

[Nibody]

[b][u][size=6]Point 1.[/size][/u][/b]
[size=6]I like Fender P's - I have tried others, still like the P it just feels right and sounds right.[/size]

[b][u][size=6]Point 2[/size][/u][/b]
[size=6]I've played in covers bands and originals - all with Ps. I fail to see why it makes anyone less of a musician because they play in a covers band or their bass doesnt have 5+ Strings or is not a fender P. How flipping arrogant. I personaly know there are better and worse players than me - gives me something to aspire to and people to encourage.[/size]

[b][u][size=6]Point 3[/size][/u][/b]
[size=6]This is all begining to sound like something from TalkBass or the Rickenbacker forums - "my bass is better than your bass"[/size]

[size=4]What the hell is happening to this forum? We are all bass players.[/size]

[size=4]Peace Out[/size]

Edited June 27, 2013 by Nibody

[Clarky]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1372318711' post='2124116'] I am genuinely interested in why greyparrot needed to make to post in the first place, and then why others were obliged to back him up. [/quote]

A large proportion of my posts are written purely because I am bored or distracted at work, no deep-seated philosophical reason

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1372322287' post='2124175']
[/size]
[size=4]Quite. And I don't want to be showing my age, do I? [/size]
[/quote]

It's more a case of me not showing my ignorance

Anyway, why am I still here I'm supposed to be trying to draw up a boiler room not talking about Fenders...

[Hutton]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1372321157' post='2124154']
That explains why he was able to do it, but not why he did it in the first place.
[/quote]

Can he not just do it because he wants to?

[BigRedX]

Having pondered some more I think I know what is bothering me about the original post and threads like this in general.

10-15 years ago I used to be a moderator on the forum of a well known computer magazine aimed mostly at graphics and other media professionals. No one there would have started a thread at random singing the praises of Quark XPress (at the time the dominant page layout program with the kind of market share Fender could only dream about). Occasionally I'd see posts started extolling the virtues of some video format conversion utility, with a handy link back to the company website (usually based somewhere in the far east). In each case I would send a PM to the user who started it stating that if they wanted to advertise their products they should pay for it like everyone else, or if they were looking for a fair and honest review of the software to send me a free boxed copy with manuals and I would give it my consideration. [b]Then I would delete the post for the spam that it was.[/b]

Very occasionally we get similar types of threads started here on Basschat. I see them usually in the Amps and Cabs or Accessories and Misc sections, for some new amp or other product that the poster has just discovered and wants to "share" with the rest of the bass playing community. The initial reaction of most replies is to ask what connection the OP has with the company whose praises they are singing (and quite rightly so) after which the thread dies a fairly quick death or gets locked by a mod.

To me, other than the subject matter is on topic for the forum, there is little to differentiate the original post from ones telling us that they've just discovered Eastern European Girlfriends, Cut Price Pharmaceuticals or Cheap Designer Handbags and we should discover them too.

[Clarky]

Mike, with respect, I hardly think greyparrot was promoting Fender. I think they are capable of doing that for themselves

[discreet]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1372324518' post='2124221']...there is little to differentiate the original post from ones telling us that they've just discovered Eastern European Girlfriends, Cut Price Pharmaceuticals or Cheap Designer Handbags...[/quote][quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1372324671' post='2124223']Mike, with respect, I hardly think greyparrot was promoting Fender.[/quote]

Beat me to it, Clarky. I can sympathise with the 'oh no, not [i]another [/i]pro/anti Fender thread' thought (which comes from being on a bass forum for a long time), but honestly, if people want to say 'I've got one of these and I really like it, does anyone else?' then let them enjoy themselves. I don't think the thread title is in any way ambiguous and tells you everything you need to know if you want to avoid such postings!

Edited June 27, 2013 by discreet

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1372324671' post='2124223']
Mike, with respect, I hardly think greyparrot was promoting Fender. I think they are capable of doing that for themselves
[/quote]

I suppose...

However to me it definitely came across as one of those weird spam posts. Maybe it was the nearly incomprehensible "English" of the OP.

Anyway I can see that no one agrees with me so I'll let it drop.

[wateroftyne]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1372324518' post='2124221']
To me, other than the subject matter is on topic for the forum, there is little to differentiate the original post from ones telling us that they've just discovered Eastern European Girlfriends, Cut Price Pharmaceuticals or Cheap Designer Handbags and we should discover them too.
[/quote]

There's quite a big difference, actually. Apart from protestations from people who find it dull, the OP has stimulated discussion about basses.