I don't have a fender but should I?

[Dazm66]

I bought a beautiful American pro jazz two or three years ago but have never really bonded with it. Never tried a p bass though and often wonder whether I should. Think the issue with the jazz is ergonomics and narrower string spacing. 

[weezergeezer]

Ive played and owned lots of bass's from Rickenbackers Musicman Stringray Fender Pbass (1973) and 1966 but I prefer Vintage JBass (1962) fantastic neck the pickups maybe weak but nothing a good amp cant sort out at least you get two pups with a Jazz unlike a Pbass which is one cut in two

everyone has there own preference..theres a lot of choice out there 😉

[T-Bay]

Tried a few different ones over the years, spent a long time with a Thunderbird, but eventually came back to Fender as they just do everything I need well. Now have a Fender Ultra Jazz that is the best bass I have ever owned by a long way, and a scruffy Squire Jazz, with a few mods that only owes me about £100 all in, that I use in the dodgier pubs where I don’t want to take a £2k bass to. I still have my old Aria pro which I love but never seem to reach for.

 

But does anyone NEED one? Or course not, apart from a tiny number of people doing very specific tribute bands and recreating an exact look.

[casapete]

I started out playing Fenders over 40 years ago, and have never been without one.

The only brand I used instead for some periods has been Musicman, which I’ve always

considered to be the way Fender basses evolved. Had to sell my last MM fairly recently

mainly down to the weight issue, not being able to find one that was under 8lbs.

Currently still have my original 63 Precision, which would be my go to for everything

if I could. My main bass is a Fender P-Lyte, which weighs 7lbs and I don’t have to worry

about leaving it on theatre stages unattended. I have an identical spare too. Know its

not a regular P-bass, but I can still get some authentic sounds from it, the build

quality is superb and it has enabled me to carry on gigging into my 60’s with no shoulder

fatigue on long gigs. Still dig the 63 out when I can though, it’s a killer!

 

There’s just something about a proper P-bass that is so right, and it’s worth

taking some time to find one that feels / sounds exactly how you would expect.

Nothing against other brands, but if I want a Fender then I don’t want one that looks

like one, I want the real deal. If I was looking for my first Fender I’d probably go 

for a tidy s/h Mexican P-bass and then play it for a while before deciding if it needed 

anything upgrading. In my case I’d be happy with it stock, but another great thing about

Fenders is they are easy to modify if you want.  (Possibly pick up and controls if you

feel the need, but don’t bother with changing the bridge as the benefits are IMO

never worth it.)

[Nicko]

5 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

I didn't want a Fender because everyone and their mum plays a Fender. I recently bought a Mexican P bass and now I understand why everyone plays them. 

Almost the same for me.  I deliberately steered clear of Fenders when I bought my first bass, but at rehearsal one night I was forced to borrow a bass from the studio.  It was just a cheap Squier Precision but from that point on I knew the active (Indonesian?) Peavey Cirrus was living on borrowed time.  I bought a US P, then traded in the Cirrus for a  Squier P as a backup.  

 

Full disclosure, I'd already had a Mex Fender Telecaster six string guitar since the mid 90s which wasn't played much, but after becoming a Fender bass player I got the bug and the Telecaster is my go to guitar at the moment too. 

 

Do you need one? No.  Should you try one? Yes.  Should it be 'burst and tort?  Absolutely not.

 

 

[Tokalo]

I had a Player jazz for a few months in the summer. It had the best neck profile ever (“modern c”), and sounded really resonant unplugged.

What I learned, though, was that buying an entry-level Fender will mean extra layout to upgrade it to the standard of a cheaper bass (eg G&L Tribute or Sire).

The tuners in particular were completely unreliable - you wouldn’t have risked gigging with them - while the fretwork and neck finish was as rough as a Squier jag I used to own.

 

And it’s really hard to find a p-bass with a jazz-size neck. Like it’s a rule at Fender that players with smaller hands MUST stick to a jazz. 

If you want a recognised brand, or if you want to tinker and upgrade, get a Fender. But then why not save a few bob and get a Squier as the base for your project?

 

If you want vastly superior quality for the same price or less, get a Sire, G&L Tribute or Sandberg. Any tonal differences will be minimal compared to the pleasure of playing an instrument that was made with the customer in mind.

[tegs07]

1 hour ago, Tokalo said:

I had a Player jazz for a few months in the summer. It had the best neck profile ever (“modern c”), and sounded really resonant unplugged.

What I learned, though, was that buying an entry-level Fender will mean extra layout to upgrade it to the standard of a cheaper bass (eg G&L Tribute or Sire).

The tuners in particular were completely unreliable - you wouldn’t have risked gigging with them - while the fretwork and neck finish was as rough as a Squier jag I used to own.

 

And it’s really hard to find a p-bass with a jazz-size neck. Like it’s a rule at Fender that players with smaller hands MUST stick to a jazz. 

If you want a recognised brand, or if you want to tinker and upgrade, get a Fender. But then why not save a few bob and get a Squier as the base for your project?

 

If you want vastly superior quality for the same price or less, get a Sire, G&L Tribute or Sandberg. Any tonal differences will be minimal compared to the pleasure of playing an instrument that was made with the customer in mind.

I have a Sandberg and a MusicMan classic Stingray. Both excellent in their own way. The attention to detail and build quality on the Sandberg in particular is superb. That said my Status neck Fender bitsa and Nate Mendel P get picked up for more often. I don’t really have a brand preference. Some instruments just feel and sound right, but what is right for one person may not be right for another.

Edited November 27, 2022 by tegs07

[fretmeister]

I've had several and they've all gone now.

 

I'm not missing them.

 

I would like to try the JMJ Mustang at some point but as none of them ever get down to about 7lb I won't be buying one.

[BigRedX]

Fenders have never been on my radar, and TBH until I start frequenting internet bass forums I never knew that there was supposed to be something extra magical/special about the Fender compared with basses from other manufacturers.

 

I think for me the problem is that they are pretty anonymous as instruments. When I was first getting into music the bass players of the bands I liked seemed to be playing Rickenbackers, Thunderbirds, EB3s or something custom (probably made by John Birch). To give an example of how anonymous I found Fender basses, one of the bands I really liked in the early 70s was The Sweet; my memory of Steve Priest has him playing either a hollow-bodied Long Horn copy or a Rickenbacker, but looking through all the videos of them on TotP that are available on YouTube, AFAICS he only played those basses once each and the rest of the time he appears to be playing a Jazz bass.

 

When I bought my first bass I ended up with a second-hand Burns Sonic, which I played all through the 80s. This was replaced by an Overwater Original 5-string in the early 90s and that by the first of my Gus Basses 10 years later. Having spent all my bass-playing "career" using instruments that had little in common with either the Fender P or J, when I bought a Squier VMJ because I wanted to play fretless and I'd heard good things about them, I found it very alien and uncomfortable to play and it was quickly replaced by a Pedulla Buzz. 

 

In some ways my experience with Fender-derived designs must be similar to those Fender players who try a Rickenbacker bass for the first time and discover that everything about it is "wrong" compared with what they are used to.

 

I couldn't get on with the Squier Bass VI either. I liked the concept enough to switch over to using one exclusively for one of the bands I play in, but the neck was just far too narrow for me, and it was been replaced first by a Burns Barracuda and more recently by the Eastwood copy of the Shergold Marathon 6-string Bass.

 

I've never had any problems with my less than conventional choices of bass guitars mostly due to the types of music I have chosen to play over the past almost 50 years, because I always pick something that is visually appropriate for the image of the band and finally because no matter what the bass I have chosen to wield looks like I have always been to deliver the sympathetic bass sounds for the music being played.

 

So to the OP, if you have managed so far without a Fender bass then you really don't need one. There are plenty of alternatives that will supply the correct sound(s) and image for whatever you want to do that don't have to have the magic "F" word on the headstock and these days the over-inflated price (for what is essentially little more than a pre-assembled Ikea flat-pack instrument) that goes with it.

[SteveXFR]

For me there's nothing special about Fenders. They're just a solid do it all tool. They sound decent on anything from jazz to doom metal and you can make a P or J cut through about anything. 

That's also the reason I'd probably only buy Mexican P bass rather than a fancy one.

[Skybone]

Owned a few basses over the years, including Fenders, and Fender derivatives.

 

Currently don't own either, and quite happy with what I have.

[bassbiscuits]

The answer is the same as with any other bit of gear - if you think you need one, try one and see how you get on. 
 

Most of my gear acquisitions are based on wanting to try something I’ve heard about or read about.

[neepheid]

Eh, I've had various Fenders and Squiers (a Squier Jazz with Barts, a Squier P bitsa with Badass II and SD QP, Fender Cabronita P, Fender Starcaster spring to mind) but I currently don't have any Fender products right now.  I'm not averse to them, but right now my G&L Tribute LB-100 is my sop to owning a P bass.  Nothing Fender are doing just now blows my hair back enough to consider buying anything.  The black and gold Squier P they put out recently is very pretty but what's the point in having it when I have an LB-100?

[gjones]

There's no reason to buy a Fender unless you really want Fender on the headstock.

 

They are iconic instruments, as they have been played on millions of albums and have been owned by our musical heroes and heroines, over the decades but there are better playing and sounding basses out there.

 

I own a lot of Fenders, some of them are better than others, but I'm a sucker for nostalgia.

 

[MartinB]

Q: I don't have a fender but should I?
A: No

Q: I've never tried a P bass but should I?
A: Yes

[asingardenof]

On 26/11/2022 at 17:33, TimR said:

But I don't really want or need one do I...?

 

 

 

Ah, go on. Go on. Go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on go on...

[Boodang]

I like to have the single coil J bass sound and the Precision tone, just not in a package that's as agricultural as a Fender. 

At least go G&L or something with a little more class!

[paul_c2]

Canal and River trust byelaws require one when doing locks, otherwise the bow can contact the lock gate and wear/damage the infrastructure. It also makes sense to preserve the paintwork at the front of the boat.

[Dan Dare]

2 hours ago, paul_c2 said:

Canal and River trust byelaws require one when doing locks, otherwise the bow can contact the lock gate and wear/damage the infrastructure. It also makes sense to preserve the paintwork at the front of the boat.

 

Handy things to have if you have a real fire at home, too. Prevents the coals from falling out of the fireplace and setting light to the floorboards.

[casapete]

2 hours ago, Dan Dare said:

 

Handy things to have if you have a real fire at home, too. Prevents the coals from falling out of the fireplace and setting light to the floorboards.

Pretty handy on most American cars too.

[dclaassen]

7 hours ago, paul_c2 said:

Canal and River trust byelaws require one when doing locks, otherwise the bow can contact the lock gate and wear/damage the infrastructure. It also makes sense to preserve the paintwork at the front of the boat.

Especially on a weekend when all the hire boats are out!

[Tim2291]

Theres a lot of people who think you "need" a Fender, usually they are wrong. Fender were the first, and they have always had a fantastic marketing team who get the instruments into the hands of every other famous bassist. Are they great instruments? Of course they are. Are they better than other brands? Absolutely not. 

 

A lot of musicians/producers/sound engineers have a very narrow view of the bass guitar and Fender is basically all they know and are then very bias towards them because they have used them before.

 

If you don't want a Fender and have no reason (tribute band, pressure from producers etc) to buy one, then just get what bass you enjoy playing!

 

[Blink]

Look for a good copy. I have a Tokai Hard Puncher. Great fun to play and is the right bass for certain occasions.

 

[chris_b]

Fender started it for me. They were the aspirational instrument for bass players, so IMO find the right one and they are very hard to beat.

 

I've owned a Fender Precision since March 1969. Nothing's changed much for me. They still have the sound and the look.

 

Sadly, I discovered that Fender were late to the party when I went looking for 5 string basses in the 90's. These days it's FSO's for me.

[TheGreek]

@chris_bmakes a good point that Fender was the thing when he ( and I presume most of us) started.  He's right,  but today there are numerous other brands building as good,  if not better basses. 

If you want a Fender,  buy one. If you want a good bass the choice is bigger.