It’s all personal. I have owned a Fender bass and have played many since then, but I’ve never felt the desire to get another. There are so many other brands that appeal to me more. YMMV
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This is true. They feel good, look good, and play well. Anything on top of that is really just personal preference.
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Yeah, just probably a bit expensive but, well, you also buy the brand. Not a very big issue, especially considering the resale value.
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Right. I’m not doubting that. But you’re using Fender as a… measuring stick. As long as Fender remains that measuring stick, Fender’s going to be on the top.
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Seems to me that Fender is not a measuring stick any more than the first step of a thousand-mile journey is a measure of that experience. Just my take.
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Aren’t most bases for comparison generally dead average?
Most of anything are average; that’s what average is, the middle of the bell.
Let’s give Leo some credit, he made quite a legacy for the Bass World. he did good, and there’s nothing wrong with a Fender.
I like Fenders, except, in general, their pickups.
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Yeah, I am sure I will own more at some point 
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I’m not opposed but it’s gotta be better than what I’m comparing it to. Maybe next time I’m in a guitar shop I’ll see what I think of a Jazz bass. I can’t honestly say I’ve picked one of those off the rack to play with, Fender or not. Even then, I wanna get to the place locally that carries G&L tributes to try their version.
*Discalimer: I’m not really shopping seriously for anything right now. I love my BB too much.
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I think you’re missing my point. No one generally says “a better Sire than Sire” or “this bass out-Ibanezes an Ibanez”. It’s pretty much always Fender.
And until it stops being pretty much always Fender, I don’t think Fender will be surpassed. Regardless of the quality of their instruments.
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As surpassed means exceeded, or better than, it’s arguable that there are any number of brands that have surpassed Fender in myriad ways.
Does that mean Fender is bad or obsolete? No, it doesn’t. Fender does what it does well and Fender owners are happy.
But when it comes to competing bass brands, there are those which have refined and/or innovated the electric bass paradigm Fender set years ago. All things, including musical instruments, evolve over time.
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The issue with Fender is their lineup and how it just got reduced. American pro used to be the benchmark of craftsmanship and quality, now the ultra seems to be the one without built quality issues.
If you want the issue-free instrument you have to step up to the team build customshop then you get the quality of what used to be the American pro.
I played with a few Modshop basses and Strats Incould feel the beginning of a fret sprouts a year or 2 it will rear its head and that would need to be addressed soon…
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Does this statement not imply, that all non-ultras have issues?
That does not sound good to me.
I don’t understand why so many basses seem to have issues. I mean, from a technical point of view, basses are very simple things.
I understand that wood quality can be an issue. Wood selection, drying, preparation … all that.
But the rest - with current technology - really should be a no brainer.
My favourite example is the pickup. It’s just a coil right?
Why does a cheap chinese stock pickup sound so much worse than some EMG or DiMarzio pickups out there?
Take a magnet, wind some wire around it. Voila: a pickup!
That can’t be rocket science!?
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Pickups, basses, cars, and essentially every product built by different makers can and do vary in construction techniques, components quality, expertise of skilled craftsmen, design, quality control, etc.
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With pickups, it’s quality and strength of magnets, wire, and windings, yeah.
Ironically the least expensive material for magnets (ceramic) usually sound best to me, such as in the DiMarzio Model P, or the stock Yamaha pickups on my SBV. Probably mostly because they are stronger than AlNoCo and land somewhat hotter for a given wind.
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So, magnetic material is not expensive. Wires are not expensive. Winding is not complicated.
Why the (price/quality) difference?
Same goes for about every other component of a bass. Technically it’s simple stuff, in terms of (industrial) manufacturing it does seem to be very complex too…
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Cheap Chinese pickups are just notoriously bad, the magnets are barely qualified as a magnet. Components are just as bad they melted poorly quality metal and make bridge and tuners just not good.
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Consumers pay a premium for product performance, reliability and consistency. All of those things come about from a manufacturers’ considerable expertise, materials and lots of time spent in perfecting and producing better products. All of that costs money, so money is charged for those products. It’s not all that mysterious.
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Materials used to make a wide variety of objects are relatively inexpensive and often only have a tangential relationship with the quality of the final product
So, for example - skimping on wire windings by using less length of cheaper wire, and maybe compensating with an overly strong magnet.
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Yes, I do understand that. Professionally I work with US, French, Scottish, Japanese, Chinese and Korean manufacturers, albeit this is about TV’s/displays, settop boxes, IOT devices, headend equipment etc.
I too notice differences in quality (and especially negotiation tactics, but that is a diferent topic). Chinese stuff was really bad once, but now they are much better than Japanese stuff or even Korean! Buying US-made stuff is always a mistake! Negotiating with the Chinese is basically my description of what hell feels like
But in that case we are talking about advanced electronics (sometimes) and state of the art technology (sometimes).
I understand BOM (bill of material) and manufacturing costs too (had to get rid of an important few-cent LED cause of costs once. Big mistake!).
But again: pickups are simple devices, not highend SoCs on complicated custom-designed boards.
We’re talking about 25 cent production cost here
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