Fender Fools Gold Jazz

[Horizontalste]

Playability & QC issues aside, is this conversation happening partly because we all like to spend as much time looking at basses as we do playing them?

 

I'm guilty, if I'm in the lounge there's one in a stand to perv at & another in the bedroom! & If I'm brutally honest, there's probably more bass photos on my mobile communications device than the are kid photos (my own kids, let's not go there 😁).

[drTStingray]

I find it extraordinary that there are only a couple of posts in this thread that refer to the apparent pick up design error (is too narrow for the string spacing).
 

Or are people on Basschat not worried about having a bass where the E string has 1/3 the volume (or less) of the other strings?! I can imagine that getting in the way of most bass parts I play!! Pity as the rest of the bass sounds ok (if you like that sort of thing). 
 

The other issues can be dealt with (although taking the neck off to adjust the truss rod is a buggeration (design feature/error/compromise) too far for me, unless it’s an actual vintage bass or exact replica thereof)!! 

Edited February 7, 2023 by drTStingray

[PaulThePlug]

Pup looks like a Retrovibe or Warman jobbie for a Ric...

[Duroc17]

21 minutes ago, Horizontalste said:

Playability & QC issues aside, is this conversation happening partly because we all like to spend as much time looking at basses as we do playing them?

 

I'm guilty, if I'm in the lounge there's one in a stand to perv at & another in the bedroom! & If I'm brutally honest, there's probably more bass photos on my mobile communications device than the are kid photos (my own kids, let's not go there 😁).

 

[Duroc17]

I spend a silly amount of time looking at basses I’ll never get - just out of interest - also do you get your mates taking the mick about the amount of basses bought and sold. They don’t know GAS IS REAL! 😂

[Horizontalste]

1 minute ago, Duroc17 said:

I spend a silly amount of time looking at basses I’ll never get - just out of interest - also do you get your mates taking the mick about the amount of basses bought and sold. They don’t know GAS IS REAL! 😂

That just gave me and idea, maybe @pedshould start a another internet thingy.................

 

 

 

 

 

 

basshub anyone? 😂

[Horizontalste]

6 minutes ago, Duroc17 said:

I spend a silly amount of time looking at basses I’ll never get - just out of interest - also do you get your mates taking the mick about the amount of basses bought and sold. They don’t know GAS IS REAL! 😂

I don't tell them anymore in case they let it slip to my Dragon, she doesn't know the half of it & I'm pretty sure it's best that it stays that way 😁

 

[jd56hawk]

Some people might disagree, but I think Fender simply doesn’t care. 

I was excited when this bass came out until I noticed the typical truss-rod access bs, but that was only strike one, and let's face it, no chance of hitting it out of the park now with two strikes and the batter standing there with the bat on his shoulder and the next pitch halfway to the plate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Duroc17]

23 minutes ago, Horizontalste said:

I don't tell them anymore in case they let it slip to my Dragon, she doesn't know the half of it & I'm pretty sure it's best that it stays that way 😁

 

I try to explain why I had to buy but it’s pearls before swine 😁

[jd56hawk]

4 hours ago, PaulThePlug said:

Pup looks like a Retrovibe or Warman jobbie for a Ric...

 

[lemmywinks]

It's not one of those two or if it is Fender have specced it in a different case, looks closer to this one without the pole pieces:

https://shoppartsland.com/rkb-nfl-cr/

 

Being an aftermarket Ricky pickup would explain how the strings don't fit properly over it as Ricks have narrower string spacing at the bridge.

[Baloney Balderdash]

*DELETED*

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash
Unnecessarily snarky and grumpy 

[PaulThePlug]

^ there BIG Pole P looks a little different...

[LewisK1975]

The neck / string alignment thing can happen with any bolt-on neck during transit.  Should just need a pull one-way or the other to sort that out.

 

IMHO the major thing wrong with these is that the pickup itself is barely wide enough to cover all 4 strings.

 

It wouldn't take much placement error at all to get it wrong.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending it at all, just seems to me they didn't consider this when coming up with the design.

 

All the other complaints - neck dive, preferred truss rod access etc is stuff we've been saying about Basses for ever.

[Doctor J]

It shouldn't just need a pull one way or the other. There should be tighter tolerances during manufacturing so misalignment is not possible. A neck should fit snugly into the pocket. Other manufacturers do it. Fender, instead, choose to take the wizard's sleeve approach to neck pockets as it speeds up production and means less scrappage.

[lemmywinks]

Don't think any of my basses could become misaligned in transit or even by force, seems like we're going backwards if tolerances like that are acceptable and justified by traditionalism.

[DTB]

2 hours ago, LewisK1975 said:

The neck / string alignment thing can happen with any bolt-on neck during transit.  Should just need a pull one-way or the other to sort that out.

 

IMHO the major thing wrong with these is that the pickup itself is barely wide enough to cover all 4 strings.

 

It wouldn't take much placement error at all to get it wrong.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending it at all, just seems to me they didn't consider this when coming up with the design.

 

All the other complaints - neck dive, preferred truss rod access etc is stuff we've been saying about Basses for ever.

I said this about giving the neck a pull and more or less got flamed for it. 

[40hz]

15 minutes ago, lemmywinks said:

Don't think any of my basses could become misaligned in transit or even by force, seems like we're going backwards if tolerances like that are acceptable and justified by traditionalism.

Same here. I've never had that happen with 30+ basses, or even heard of that until today. I don't understand how a tightly drilled (fnar!) bolt *can* move. Happy to have that explained though!

[DTB]

A guitar shop owner showed me years ago when I was buying my first guitar (Ibanez RT650) about the neck moving on a strat. I said it was off to one side. He took it off me. Gave it a whack with the heel of his hand halfway up the neck and gave it back to me and it was spot on. He said you should really loosen the bolts a little first. 

[lemmywinks]

There does seem to be some alarming QC on big name instruments all over really, Fender and Gibson get singled out but there's been some serious grounding issues with a lot of Harley Benton (6 string) guitars recently, heard some poor reports of Cort/Ibanez (mainly 6 string again), the 1st run of Rockbass Sadowskys, the Charvel San Dimas preamps (ok a rebadged MIM Fender again) Ephiphone's horrendous QC run from a year or two ago. Some of this can be blamed on covid backlog catchup and factories rushing batches out the door to meet deadlines but it's still worrying. I had a Cort last year with the worst fret job I've seen on a production guitar, its replacement is perfect.

 

I may have rose tinted specs on but there was a time not so long ago where everything was just decent with no silly faults unless you got really unlucky. Seems to be a lot more hit and miss now.

Edited February 8, 2023 by lemmywinks

[LewisK1975]

1 hour ago, Doctor J said:

It shouldn't just need a pull one way or the other. There should be tighter tolerances during manufacturing so misalignment is not possible. A neck should fit snugly into the pocket. Other manufacturers do it. Fender, instead, choose to take the wizard's sleeve approach to neck pockets as it speeds up production and means less scrappage.

I agree it shouldn't need it, just pointing out I've seen it before.

[BigRedX]

Misaligned Fender necks were a symptom of the late 70s when the pin router templates had become so worn that the neck pocket dimensions only had a passing resemblance to those originally specified.

 

Nowadays with CNC machines used on all mass produced instruments there is zero excuse for this happening. 

[LeftyJ]

22 hours ago, drTStingray said:

I find it extraordinary that there are only a couple of posts in this thread that refer to the apparent pick up design error (is too narrow for the string spacing).

 

Good call. I wonder if they use the same pickup as on the Gold Foil Jazzmaster and Telecaster guitars, but in a different casing (so it doesn't need a mounting ring):

 

[tauzero]

On 07/02/2023 at 02:29, drTStingray said:

Surely the biggest problem with these basses is the alignment of the E string over the pick up. It appears to be much quieter than the other strings as a result - so is the pick up rout wrong or the pick up not wide enough in the first place? I also noticed that Billy Thakidd virtually played no notes on the E string in his review, but when he did they were significantly quieter. 

 

The E string is also very close to the edge of the fretboard, the G string isn't. Putting the E string into the right place would bring it over the pickup, so it's either the bridge in the wrong place or the neck is on the wonk.

[tauzero]

On 07/02/2023 at 15:18, Bassfinger said:

I sometimes get the feeling that Jesus himself could commission Nelson Mandela to build a Bass in conjunction with the ghost of Jaco, NASA could do the design in partnership with Leonardo Da Vinci, and Lobster would still find a reason not to like it.

 

He quite liked one of the basses that I've got - in fact, he suggested the mod that the owner before the owner before me had done to it, and liked it more then.