Playing for change?

Yes, that is correct @Wombat-metal . . . :slight_smile:

Some people say that the P-bass has a ā€œBaseball Batā€ type of neck profile!

:rofl:

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I meant to write that, I thought it. But got distracted by a squirrel.

Not all Pa are created equal in the neck department either, but net/net it usually comes neck and neck down to the neck.

Thatā€™s said. There are plants of Ps with J necks and vice versa if you want them.

I just donā€™t understand the OPs comments on other differences.

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There is not much of a difference if you are a devout Fender player.
In America Fender is the main bass and so it should be when you see how much American music has been played on this iconic instrument.

I am the Canadian side of my family with relatives in America but also England, France, Germany and New Brunswick.
All the musicians in our family tree have one thing in common, we all play European instruments.
My main bass is a Warwick and the differences are huge , so are the differences in my 4 and 5 string Yamahas when compared to a P Bass.

As was said before in this thread between brands yes this is a concern.

Mileage varies. Iā€™m an American that is completely disinterested in Fender (mostly due to their lolwut price/performance).

Iā€™m not actually in America and thus have lots of better options, though.

My Squier Paranormal is a fantastic bass, easily the quality of the Fender Player Jazz I had, at half the price. (Note @John_E this the bass which stays most in tune)

My Charvel San Dimas Bass IV is about the price of a Fender Player, has a roasted maple neck, himass bridge, Di Marzio pickups. Fantastic fit and finish.

Charvel is a Fender brand and this bass is built in the same factory as the Player series. Clearly, Fender can achieve better quality at the same price point. #endRant

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Or lower price points for their current models, more in line with their competition. That name on the headstock comes with a hefty tax :slight_smile:

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I consider myself a P bass and Jazz fan as I own a few more than the average bassists like @John_E, lol. I appreciate the narrower tonal spectrum of a p bass. In addition, not all Fender P basses are the same, tone and sound is one thing but feel. My all maple neck and body custom Steve Harris signature is a great example it weighs in around 12lbs and feel solid before I put the tapewound on it I had rounds and when slapping that bass you can feel the crisp vibration on your body and it adds to the experience of playing.

After spending a good amount of time on the P basses and Musicman wider neck jumping on to jazz bass and you are treated with a super car like feel up and down the neck. Pickup spacing is surprisingly another element that gives a unique personality to a jazz bass, I recently got the ā€˜75 jazz bass the pickup spacing is 4ā€ instead of 3.7ā€ in the modern setup the tonal spectrum changes dramatically. Spend a good amount of time on jazz basses going back to the wider spacing is a great welcome home feeling.

My humble thoughts on ergonomics, itā€™s not for everyone. Letā€™s start with weight, too light is not always good every time I pick up my 7lbs BFR Fretless stingray I feel a little thing missing.

Contour and shape is another, if you are pointing your neck between 45* to 70* it would probably works ok for you. If you like flatter position then not really it could actually works against your style. I have an Ibanez Affirma which is very ergonomic but not exactly in sync with me. Last year I got my hope up to GAS a Strandberg Boden but after a few hours with it itā€™s not working for me :(.

The back of the Charvel headstock, which is Fender shaped, has a sticker informing you Charvel licensed the shape from Fender.

Honestly I donā€™t think they could lower the price from a business perspective, then they would be competing with Squier prices. I think upping the quality would be the better move, but YMMV.

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They need to figure this out in general; there are $599 Squiers.

But yes, when you compare the quality and features of the MIM Fenders with similarly priced Yamaha, Ibanez, ESP and othersā€¦ Fender looks kind of silly.

Thereā€™s nothing wrong with the MIM Fenders, itā€™s more of how much more right you get with their competition. Much better pickups, often excellent active EQ, metal knobs and higher quality hardware in general, good fretwork, excellent build qualityā€¦ thereā€™s a lot of really excellent basses in the $500-$1k price range, and Fender competes pretty poorly there with quality and features.

Fender seems to have a sweet spot in the middle with the MIJā€™s.

The high end - thereā€™s a lot of smaller makers that are making what amount to ā€œbetter Fendersā€ for the boutique market. The problem for Fender is that these are not that much more expensive than the MIA Fenders.

Other than the MIJā€™s, Fenderā€™s pricing is just kind of wonky across the range.

Me: I want a J bass for sound

Also me: I am looking at every bass with J-style pickups but an actual Fender J bass (aside from that one Squierā€¦)

:woman_shrugging:t2:

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I considered a Squier, a black with gold which I thought would look nice with my Paranormal. $599, plus Duncan SPB4 pickup (Steve Harris model)ā€¦and I am right about what I paid for my Charvel, which is more bang for the buck from Fender. Yeah, they have to figure this out.

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I think Fender has figured it out. People will often just buy it because itā€™s a Fender :tipping_hand_woman:t2:

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This does indeed seem to describe their business model. Gibson is even more blatant.

Iā€™ve read of a Gibson worker claiming they are paid $18.xx an hour for sanding (I think it was sanding) and have a quota of 16/day.

Also Gibson: Buy this guitar for $3000! Gibson Kwal-i-tee! But I digress, sorry OP :eyes:

I had the exact same experience with my Streamer. Whatever I tried it just didnā€™t ā€œclickā€. Somehow my Warwick Corvette is completely fine, so I think it had something to do with the Streamer body.

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@howard and @Koldunya :

Ha! . . . Dontcha know? . . . people buy Fenders because of their tradition, and they buy Gibsons because of their excellent quality!

:yum:

Cheers
Joe

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Tradition is just long dead people telling you what to do :eyes:

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Well, I just exchanged Sire P5 for Fender Player Plus Precision (obviously spending more money). My plan was to buy cheap Sire and upgrade after a year or so.
The quality of the fret work on that Sireā€™s neck was subpar and that made me to pull the trigger and buy the Fender much sooner.

I have also Player Plus Telecaster guitar which I like very much and that was my benchmark.
I love the modern C neck , 12" radius fretboard with rolled of edges.
I agree that the QC isnā€™t Fenderā€™s strongest point either i.e. you need to cherry-pick the nice one from the stock. But you can find bad apples everywhere.

Didnā€™t buy Fender because of tradition. I just found that it appealed to me the most.
We are very lucky that we have plethora of instruments to choose from :slight_smile:

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Very well said :slight_smile:

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Natsu no Yuu-utsu