Fender body style....overdone??

mnboy · Post by **mnboy** » November 24th, 2009, 5:18 pm

I am looking for another bass [have a Hofner Club]. Maybe a 5 string, but virtually everything out there looks like a Fender P or similar. This style seems to be overdone and highly repetitive. Even the highly prized [priced] Sadowsky looks like a Fender. I think a bass needs to look cool, and the Fender is so common......like driving a Camry. What really cool leftys are out there?

Carmine · Post by **Carmine** » November 25th, 2009, 11:41 am

I agree, but what's available varies depending on what features you're looking for and your price range- how much are you looking to spend?

I have 7 basses listed in the For Sale Basses: Carmine's Lefty Bass Collection Sale! thread (2 are already sold), and only one of then is a Fender clone... or go look at my collection in the gallery- there's tons of non Fender-ish stuff there...

LefThanDed · Post by **LefThanDed** » November 25th, 2009, 12:09 pm

Re: Fender body style....overdone??

Better than half-baked.

Basshappi · Post by **Basshappi** » November 25th, 2009, 12:26 pm

It's also important to keep in mind that there are actually only a few truly ergonomic designs. Fenders are not the only ones but in the world of solidbody basses they really got there first and many other designs are just variations on the theme. Say what you want about Fenders but the design of the Precision and Jazz are comfortable for most players. They are a solid working musician's instrument whose ergonomics, durability and sound are time tested.

Back in the days when being a musician was how I paid the rent and filled the pantry my one and only bass was my modified '75 Precision. I covered a very wide range of tones and musical styles with that one instrument. I don't know exactly how many hours that bass has been played but it's in the very high 1000s and that's just by me, I bought it used from the original owner who was a very busy local player. It has held up perfectly to the demands and abuse of a traveling musician.

I have several other basses and I will aquire others which won't be Fender types. The reason is, truth be told, simply because I always wanted one of "X" when I was a young starry-eyed musician. But if I ever have to sell them off the ones that will never go are my '75 Precision, MIJ Jazz and my Yamaha BB400. Sentimentality? you bet! but also the practical reason that with those 3 instruments there isn't any musical situation that I'm ever going to be in that can't be covered with those basses.

Cheers!

>This Fender lovefest has been brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Basshappi and the letter "F"<

Matt R. · Post by **Matt R.** » November 25th, 2009, 12:33 pm

adgc wrote:
Re: Fender body style....overdone??
Better than half-baked.

Word.

Post by **pjmuck** » November 25th, 2009, 1:14 pm

While I agree that P style basses are a colossal yawn, Basshappi's right. They are so prevalent because they're simple and ergonomically solid.

Post by **Rodent** » November 25th, 2009, 2:36 pm

when I was building everything by hand and offered any shape a client could dream up ... <85% of incoming build requests were for P and J styled instruments.

tools and overhead get paid for by funds received from client builds, so I opted to focus my offerings based upon what clients are repeatedly requesting in an effort to reduce costs and offer a more competitively priced product

back to lurkdom for a bit - I had day-job customer travel + a conference + a load of orders the past two weeks. I'm real thankful for the holiday break this weekend so I can make a valient attempt at catching up on both my e-mail replies and woodworking. posting here has been a nice break from the onslaught the past couple weeks

all the best,

R

mnboy · Post by **mnboy** » November 25th, 2009, 5:03 pm

Thanks to those that gave this some thought and serious input. I perhaps have under-appreciated the simplicity and "functional beauty" of the classic Fender shape. Best to you.

Basshappi · Post by **Basshappi** » November 25th, 2009, 5:32 pm

Well I certainly do not want to discourage you for looking for something "pleasing to your eye" as it were. How you feel about the esthetics of your instrument does have a very real affect on your willingness to play it.

Once you cross over into 5+ string territory interesting things start to happen like, extended scale and assymetrical neck radius etc. My 5 string is a Schecter Elite which has enough of a variation from the Fenderesque as to be noticable. Other good quality choices are Carvin (Bunny Brunel model), Warwick, Ibanez (BTB especially), Pedulla, Roscoe and Alembic just to name a few and that's not even crossing over in to custom build category.

Go forth, try as many as you can and get the one that is most pleasing to you.