Or the product managers for the very reasonably priced Sire were trying to hit a price point.
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Well…since Marcus Miller himself said he spec’ed the vintage-knurled plastic knobs on his Sire Jazz models to emulate his Jazz of yore, I tend to believe him.
Also, my Sire U5 and Sire M5 have really quality aluminum knobs. The U5 is at a lower price point than a V7; and the M5 is at a lower price point than a V8.
I have zero doubt Fender spec’ed plastic knobs back in the day to save some pennies, though.
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And so I did… 
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Also apart from them being plasic the main reason was the way the nuts of the pots were exposed and the distance between the underside of the knobs and the controlplate.
The aluminum knobs have skirt that hide the nuts
Like a scotsman’s kilt 
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Your new knobs look great.
I researched Guyker and a few other options when I first got my V8, but I ended up keeping the stock knobs as I dig the vintage look.
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I designed hardware way back in the day. One of the things I learned early on was that adding $1 of cost to a product added between $4 - $5 to the retail price. I’d say that you’re spot on with that observation.
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And one of the things I have learned throughout the years is marketers can spin anything…
“Ok Marcus, if we go with metal the bass will cost $50 more than if we go with plastic”
Marcus - “ Let’s do plastic then, I like the look anyway”
“Marcus specified plastic knobs for that vintage feel”
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Well yes, those knobs cost me 30€ so yeah that would exactly be the case 
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I think you’re absolutely right about that. Leo Fender was an astute businessman.
There’s no problem with plastic. I have them on my Jazz bass build and I like them. But I also assume (rightly or wrongly) that the hidden hand of marketing is everywhere and often used to save a few pennies. They probably used plastic to help hit a price point and that’s OK.
As my dear old Polish friend would say:
“Don’t piss in my pocket and tell me it’s raining.”
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Said no one 
Waiting on the Fender Player 2 modified Active P Bass to come to Thailand.
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Hey everyone
I’m thinking about upgrading my FGN BMJ-R pickups. Is it worth swapping them out or are the factory pickup adequate?
paging @howard
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What don’t you like about them? If they aren’t a tone you like then sure, go for it, good idea.
But I have found their stock pickups to be fine in shops. I did swap out the one in my MIJ Fender Hybrid II Precision (which I am pretty certain was Fujigen) as it was too vintage for my taste (despite being a modern model), but it was still fine really. In contrast I kept the bridge pickup in my telecaster - it was great.
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Thanks Howard!
I was looking at either DiMarzio DP123 or Bartolini b-axis J44J-L/S.
Any thoughts?
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Love the DiMarzio - but again it depends on what you dislike currently and want to change
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DP123s are a good pickup if its the tone you want
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I put a Darkglass tone capsule in my Cort Headless! It really woke it up! It has Bartaloni MK1s. The stock pre-amp was kind of mild. Now, it’s a beast!
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