Why Do Fenders Feel Dead?

[cytania]

Going round a shop the other day. Tried out some nice looking Fenders but just playing them acoustically I missed the way my own basses respond. Pluck a note and you can feel it in the body, immediate finger feedback. Is it the Fender's big D shape neck that makes them like a dead log? Even the Jazz I picked up had a big neck I wouldn't prefer to play.

By the way this isn't just actual branded Fenders but also of the copies I've handled. As soon as I picked up a Washburn Taurus, voila, there was a bass that sang in the hand. Could this be a Neck-Thru thing? But my old Ibanez is bolted and has my X-factor. Am I looking for OTT sustain?

This isn't an attack on Fender by the way. I love that classic bass sound but somehow their 2 classic designs leave me cold. Do they have to be broken in? Or are there 'good 'uns' that do resonate and most be tracked down?

[essexbasscat]

Have you tried the Roadworn basses ? they're as alive as a wriggling bucket of eels

T

[Marvin]

I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking of because............I've never played a Fender. :blush:

Oh the shame, I know, I'll leave now.

[MIJ-VI]

Any Fender I've owned could feel pretty dead if its pickups were adjusted so high as to impose excessive magnetic damping on string vibrations.

Proper pickup height + an appropriate neck relief + a sensible string height + an intonation adjustment + reasonably heavy strings = a Fender bass which plays like butter right up the neck and sounds like gold.

[xilddx]

I've never felt that problem with Fenders, and almost every bass I try, I check the resonance on the body and the headstock.

Nothing to do with NT design either.

[Duarte]

[quote name='essexbasscat' post='892124' date='Jul 11 2010, 06:07 PM']Have you tried the Roadworn basses ? they're as alive as a wriggling bucket of eels [/quote]

Aren't they just the same but with some patches of wear caused by a belt sander...?

Fenders = sweet.

Edited July 11, 2010 by Duarte

[JTUK]

You might need to tweak a bass abit to feel right, but if it doesn't work for you first time round, then you'd mostly walk away. It is in no ones interest to try and sell a dog though so I can't see why shops allow a poorly set-up bass to sit around.

However, my pet theme is that quite a few of the big volume makers do not have great and consistant QC so unless you walk into a shop and love the bass from the off...you should keep looking.

I would NEVER take some of the big names QC for granted and buy on spec. IMV, that is such a risk.
You would certainly want a 7 days returns option

[ezbass]

[quote name='Duarte' post='892176' date='Jul 11 2010, 07:11 PM']Aren't they just the same but with some patches of wear caused by a belt sander...?[/quote]


Up to a point. That point being that they're finished in thin nitro cellulose (a lot of which is then sanded away) rather than being constricted by thick polyester. It definitely seems to make a difference, at least to my ears and touch.

[quote name='Duarte' post='892176' date='Jul 11 2010, 07:11 PM']Fenders = sweet.[/quote]

Oh yes

Edited July 11, 2010 by ezbass

[Duarte]

[quote name='ezbass' post='892190' date='Jul 11 2010, 07:23 PM']Up to a point. That point being that they're finished in thin nitro cellulose (a lot of which is then sanded away) rather than being constricted by thick polyester. It definitely seems to make a difference, at least to my ears and touch.[/quote]
Actually, those Highway One basses were similar in that respect, I remember playing a Jazz that sounded phenomenal, unplugged.

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='Duarte' post='892264' date='Jul 11 2010, 09:01 PM']Actually, those Highway One basses were similar in that respect, I remember playing a Jazz that sounded phenomenal, unplugged.[/quote]


Yep I had one.

To the OP maybe you're just not a Fender person, luckily other basses are available.

[Mr. Foxen]

I think the neck joint has a bit to do with it. Once I've shimmed the neck so it is tight in the pocket, or put inserts and machine screws in, they tend to feel more lively. Most lively bass I've played was my Wishbass though.

Machine screws did make a jazz copy sound like a piano though.

[spinynorman]

Wood makes a difference. I've had a few basses with either mahogany body/maple neck, or all mahogany, and they felt much more resonant. The all mahogany neck through Gibson IV I had hummed like a tuning fork. The basswood bodied P I've got is a bit livelier than the 51 RI.

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='892328' date='Jul 11 2010, 10:06 PM']Machine screws did make a jazz copy sound like a piano though.[/quote]

Exactly how much salt should we take this with?

I would like to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're joking but there's a lot of bullshit talked about tone in this forum.

[cytania]

Thanks to all the replies so far. I half expected a roasting. Comment about wood is interesting as my current NT bass is mahogany/walnut, the old Ibanez maple/maple. Very interested in what people are saying about poor setup/poor neck joint on P and J basses. I certainly thought the strings on the shop Fenders were wiry and overlight...

[discreet]

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='892267' date='Jul 11 2010, 09:03 PM']To the OP maybe you're just not a Fender person, luckily other basses are available.[/quote]

[Wil]

Probably the most resonant bass I've owned, and the most lively sounding unplugged, wasn't any of the Statii, Warwick, Spector or Ibanez basses I've owned - it was a MIM Fender P. Notes just jumped out of it. Should have kept it in hindsight and treated it to a better pup and fretwork.

[Mr. Foxen]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='892607' date='Jul 12 2010, 10:50 AM']Exactly how much salt should we take this with?

I would like to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're joking but there's a lot of bullshit talked about tone in this forum.[/quote]

Not literally like a piano, although if I had a felt ended beater handy I'd have had a go, but the acoustic ringing sustain with a heavy set of steels on it was definitely what on a bass is described as 'piano tone'. Definitely one of my more successful frankensteins.

It sold on the strength of its sound, because it is about as ugly as this:



Quote from chap that bought it:

[quote]F*ck ugly as it is I'm really pleased with it. It sounds good.[/quote]

[CraigPlaysBass]

[quote name='Marvin' post='892134' date='Jul 11 2010, 06:23 PM']I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking of because............I've never played a Fender. :blush:

Oh the shame, I know, I'll leave now.[/quote]


+1

[MythSte]

I think this might have something to do with those basses that feel categorically like your own. My MIM Jazz has a wonky bridge and a crap neck pocket but I can feel every note thats played, acoustically or otherwise. I love it!

Could strings have been a factor?

[Marvin]

[quote name='CraigPlaysBass' post='893030' date='Jul 12 2010, 06:13 PM']+1 [/quote]

I feel much better knowing there's someone else out there like me.