Yeah the BB line is just fantastic over its whole run. Would live to pick up a BB2000 at some point.
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Itâs what youâll hear if you come to my house 
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No, not at all. Fender has a very broad selection of instruments from very affordable to very custom, and everywhere in between. For what they do, they are very good at it. Specifically, the Precision and Jazz basses with passive electronics.
Fender is almost 80 years old and with most companies whoâve been around that long theyâve made plenty of missteps and itâs easy to take shots at Fender because they are so prolific.
Far too many to count. The P and J basses set the standard that has been duplicated countless times. Everything with a P/J/PJ/JJ pickup configuration is derived from Fender basses.
Having said all of that. Manufacturing has a come a long, long way since Leo Fender started making instruments and itâs pretty easy to find great instruments without the Fender name tax. Sire likely being the current leader for price versus quality for a broad range of Fender-esque instruments.
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Iâve got several basses, sire, yamaha, ibanez⌠the one I play the vast majority of the time is my fender pbass. Why? It just sounds like what I want a bass to sound like and it was a good value for the price I paid plus itâs orange. 
I donât care that itâs a fender or not a fender, it just happens to be.
Technically? Itâs a bass, thereâs not a big technical aspect to it, especially if itâs passive. âQualitativelyâ is subjective so only the player can answer that. Most people know that a fender is a pretty safe choice to go with and if they decide to sell it, itâll hold itâs values pretty well.
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Reading this, I had to think about my short lived adventure with the Ibanez EHB1005SMS. I sent it back, but it was full of technical âinnovationsâ (compared to the stuffy Fenders):
- Headless, so it had no neck dive and kept tuning much better
- a graphite reinforced neck, which was very light, stiff and had an ideal shape
- a chambered body, which made the bass feather light
- a slanted body back and well rounded edges, that made the body comfortable
- multi scale
- fanned frets
Unfortunately the EHB did not fit my body, but I could totally dig the way it was designed. And having it next to a Fender, the Fender felt like that old cheap âTrabbiâ, my auntie used to driveâŚ
Fender:
Ibanez EHB:
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Surpassed? Yes. But thatâs not a bad thing nor is it a knock on Fender.
Why do people still like Fender?
Marketing and, more importantly, name. For better or worse, Fender has a history. There is so much recognition when it comes to Fender. If you ask some random schmuck off the street to draw an electric guitar, Iâd be willing to that the majority of the time itâs going to resemble a Fender.
The big question is: why does it matter?
Answer: It doesnât.
People will continue to buy what they want to buy regardless of quality or whatever. My rule is just donât be a jerk that looks down their nose at what someone buys, regardless of which side youâre on.
Everyone has different likes and wants and I think thatâs a fantastic thing. Frankly, a world where we all like the exact same thing is far more terrifying to me than anything Stephen King could come up with even in his worst cocaine fever dreams.
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Itâs easy to knock Fender, theyâre the big kid on the block and out of sheer contrariness people love to hate them. Whether theyâre advanced or not, they sound good, they feel good, and they play good. Bring a p bass to a recording session and no one will complain.
The âare they surpassedâ to me doesnât matter; with all the electronic keyboards and stuff a good old fashioned piano still sounds good.
One of the reasons why you hear so many complaints is thereâs so dang many guitars, yes thereâs more complaints. And theyâre the establishment, so complaints just because of that.
As far as marketing, they all market. Why call out Fender. Iâm a Babymetal fan, no hiding that, and every time I see them play, they are either playing ESP or Schecter (both owned by the same guy), thatâs marketing
Fender is like everything else, try it out, see if you like. Buy if you want. One of the reasons they remain big is they have a good product.
I like Sire, I think they are doing great things in affordable instruments. But their lead is shrinking. The recent Squiers I have tried are picking up their game and making better instruments, especially when it comes to dressing the neck. Competition is a good thing.
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To Fender or not to Fender comes down to subjective (read, personal) opinions based largely on how they feel and play to a player or prospective customer. As far as tone goes, they sound like they Fender sound, and so do a jillion other basses that, to whatever degree, have equivalent pups.
Fender aficionados love Fender. Full stop.
But for many others, the opposite of Fender love is neither hate nor contrariness: Itâs indifference.
I have owned Fender, but I donât anymore. I have tried many Fender models over the years and, for different reasons, no particular one felt right to me. And thatâs OK. No harm, no foul. Just personal preference based on individual physiology and playability expectations and requirements. YMMV
Just as is the case in oneâs preference in music, significant other, etc., when each of us picks what suits us the most, itâs a win for everyone.
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I donât know if Iâm the opposite of love, but it does seem like you pay 10-20% extra to have fender/squire on the headstock in most cases. I understand why the history of fender makes people think thatâs worth it. I donât have any strong attachment to the brand so I donât see any fenders in my future just because of price.
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Yep, brand identification is strong in this one. And Squier definitely gets a halo effect from it.
Again, this largely stems from the legacy brand name recognition, diverse product lines, ubiquitous use of Fenders in popular songs throughout our lifetimes, and, yes, savvy, relentless marketing.
It is what it is. May Fender and all other brands live long and prosper. 
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On the flip side, you make that back in resale where you take a hit, wrongly in my opinion, on other brands.
And you can see where that is the case on markup. take a brand like Charvel, which is made by Fender in the same Mexico factory as Fender, and see all the added features you get on it for less cost. And you know theyâre still making money.
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Fenderâs name is as American as McDonald.
Speaking of fit. Grabbing a P bass or Jazz bass after playing other brands for a while, make me realize how Fender easily fits right in and very comfortable.
Love my ultra although I swapped out th neck to the Status graphite. Still the best neck fender made was the American Deluxe Dimension. asymmetrical, Compound radius fingerboard.
I wish they would put these features on their current lineup.
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Yep, it all depends on personal player preference. Some really like the wider and/or chunkier Fender P neck feel. Not me. In contrast, the sleeker, less wide neck of the EBMM Cutlass (P successor) works perfectly for my fingers and hands. And I know you know all about the Cutlass, Al. 
Overall, I dig the slimmer, trimmer Jazz neck profile and feel. But thatâs just my personal preference. I have the traditional Jazz profile on my Mayones and a faster, shallower profile on my Sire V8 Jazz. I dearly Iove them both.
Todayâs offerings in the bass model world is like being in a giant candy store full of choices and tastes. Kinda like your bass shed, Al. 
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Just an FYI for those who donât know (I know @MikeC knows this). There isnât a standard feeling neck on a Fender P Bass
The Mexican player series is a much slimmer neck that some of the more expensive âperiod correctâ stuff i.e. the Vintera range.
As with most things we discuss on this forum. It depends.
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Youâre right about the different Fender P neck profiles from different eras and different factories, @Barney.
My bad. I see how I wasnât clear, but I was replying to Al, who has told me in a few conversations how much he digs the classic, wider, chunkier P neck feel.
I almost bought a new MIJ Fender signature P model that had a Jazz neck on it. So, yep, when is a âPâ neck not a P neck? More often than it would seem. 
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Yeah Iâm definitely not picking an argument here @MikeC
Fender are literally all over the place with their neck profiles.
The player stuff is a modern C and I think fairly slim. My Ibanez Talman feels way thicker and chunkier.
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Even the Vintera series can surprise you. My Vintera II Telebass has a 70s period neck, with a bullet truss rod in the neck (holy cow do I like that), and P neck like I have never seen. Rolled edges, no fingerboard just a solid piece of maple which is not that hefty. And thins out as you go up the frets, when did Fender put this on a P bass?
No accounting for Fender necks. P style necks are all over the place. Jazz are pretty similar IME
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I usually compare them to Ford but yeah 
The answer to the question of if they have been surpassed (for me) is âlmao of course they have, they donât ever change.â But, that said, thereâs comfort in their old standards. I will very likely own another Tele or a Strat someday. Probably done with them for basses but their instruments are just solid defaults. I really liked my Telecaster and low key regret selling.
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