The Nordstrand Big Break Pickups are advertised as “soap bar, split coil pickups”. I’m assuming, If it was the pickups, it would still be noisy in the passive mode.
Edited to add the pic.
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What’s really funny is, I have two Player series Fenders (P bass and a jazz bass), that a lot of people talk smack about, regarding quality…and they’ve been outstanding. 
2 x Player series MIM. Super happy. People can shit talk Fender all day if they want. There’s a reason they’re still in business.
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100% agree!
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Don’t forget, if you run into that again, a neck can be changed out on a guitar and usually not a huge expense.
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Really? Last two generations Players were very good quality. They are quite expensive too these days.
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I don’t really think this is a quality control issue.
You don’t know the specs they are manufacturing to.
Every room/rig setup/etc is different and exposed to different noise.
Each MFG decides to what extent they address it.
Paying more may, or, may not help.
Could be your room and you got lucky with the other bass, could be just shotty specs.
many many many many of us have had to add shielding and grounding to our basses, there is/are a/several threads about these exploits. I’ve had to add grounding to pickups cause they were just crap - by spec - kinda - you know what I mean.
Best to always have either sheilding tape or conductive paint, wire, screw lug terminals and a soldering iron in a drawer for these sorts of things.
You are basically playing a 34" scale antenna, it is what it is.
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Gonna have to agree with you 12 times @Barney 
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The Big Breaks are Indonesian manufactured versions of Nordy’s Big Splits, so yes split coils.
No. Shielding issues are common in this price range from nearly every manufacturer, but FujiGen (FGN) is a standout. They have non conductive paint in their cavities which are grounded by wires and screws. They are the only company in this price range I have seen that on. You generally need to import from Japan though.
Dealing with shielding is thankfully easy, though annoying.
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Thank you for the help. My mind is more at ease.
Also, as I’ve said, I’m a quality engineer by trade, so my brain is wired to look for problems. So, I could just be overly critical.
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Ahh cool, I hadn’t seen those. I know Ibanez was using a custom designed Big Single in some of their stuff. That one looks way better.
Fender doesn’t have widespread quality issues with their instruments AFAIK. They simply have pricing issues between high end Squiers and MIM’s. There’s a grey area there that just makes no sense.
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I am of the opinion is you see more Fender bass problems because they sell more basses. I don’t think their QC is better or worse than average.
With the exception of the Fender Gold Leaf bass. The initial run of that had many problems.
I will also fess up to owning an Ibanez SR600 for a few days, I preordered it, waited months, and when I got it the preamp didn’t work, and being just released there were no spares at Sweetwater or Ibanez. I was very disappointed and down on Ibanez a few months. I only say this as everyone has a bad bass slip through now and again. Ibanez is a really good company.
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Agree.
But I think there used to be models that made sense and quality differences as well. The problem as I see it these days is Squier is just too good and IN GENERAL, MIM is not tremendously better - the exception being some of their special/signature stuff.
It’s almost as if the Affinity line is where Squier used to be, and the regular Squier line is where the MIM used to be.
MIM is … well I don’t know, as it doesn’t seem to me like it has changed much.
Not bashing it, just don’t understand it at this point.
So I agree, there are two tiers that are now super close to each other making no sense.
As I’ve stated before, I’m a quality engineer. It’s what I do for a living. Not all prices increases are qualitative. Some may already know this, but I’ll explain for those that don’t. You have two basses made in two different countries, of the same level quality. One made in Indonesia and one made in Mexico. The price increase on the one made in Mexico has little to do with “Fender” being on headstock. It has more to do with cost of manufacturing. Mexico has labor laws that Indonesia doesn’t have. And, the employees in the Mexican factories get payed more. And labor cost, is one of the biggest expenses to a manufacturer.
I’ll use coffee as an example (I know this might seem off topic, but there’s a point to be made). Kona Coffee is one of the most expensive coffees on the market, and Ethiopian coffee is one of the least expensive. However, the quality of Ethiopian coffee is way better, due to soil and elevation. So, why is Kona Coffee way more expensive? It’s not grown in a third world country. The United States (Hawaii) has labor laws that require a minimum wage. We could also go into state and federal corporate taxes…but there’s no need to go that deep.
All of that to say, there’s more behind pricing than quality. So…an $800 bass made in Indonesia, should technically be as good as a $1600 bass made in the USA.
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I wonder if the player line will be phased out. There’s more marketing going on for the Player Plus line, which with rolled fretboards and stuff is differentiated from the player line. Which in turn crosses over into Charvel territory.
Wouldn’t be surprised if the different divisions don’t talk much and there’s no comprehensive strategy
I can buy a Charvel San Dimas Pro Mod bass with an eq, roasted maple neck, rolled fret board, DiMarzio pickups, truss wheel, and himass bridge for about the same price as a MIM Player bass with none of that, and considerably cheaper than a Player Plus bass. The Charvel is made in the same Mexican factory as the Player series basses by the same workers.
Even has a Fender headstock. I’m sticking with you pay a premium for a Fender tag.
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ah, this is an interesting observation and idea.
makes sense!
Yeah, very interesting.
So… assuming the Player line is phased out, if you wanted a passive P or J and didn’t want to pay the premium prices for MIA stuff, you’d have to get a Squier?
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