Hey, did you happen to see ..

[eb2]

..the most beautiful neck in the world?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120330753229&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1123

[Dave W]

That's unusual for a Fender.

I'm still just floored by the prices the early Fullerton RIs are bringing now. I know, a lot of people love them and swear by them. Still, they're production basses and they're reissues.

[eb2]

It seems like they were giving them away just a few years ago in comparison.  Still, if you compare the cost of a new RI or a custom shop-level one, they aren't too outrageous.  And they have to sell of course.

But I can't imagine how many Fender Custom shop or any other RI Fender basses you would have to go through to find a neck with that much birds eye and flamey wood.  Impossible.

[Dave W]

Lucky for me I couldn't care less about birdseye.

[Freuds_Cat]

Give me a Fuji Gen Fender over them any day. Even if the odd one is better quality, I'm a philistine with the whole quality thing. It only has to meet my quality level preferences, not be better than any other bass.

Price wise the MIJ/CIJ Fender basses cant be beaten for quality IMHO.

That neck does look nice I must admit.

[godofthunder]

Funny I saw a MIM P bass at the local GC and the body was full of birdseye ! The body is supposed to be alder, birdseye alder ? Maybe. It sure was purty.

[Dave W]

Must have been a maple veneer.

[eb2]

Maybe they are using the old fotoflame?  That was amusing. 

I tend to agree that the MIJ Fender basses are the sleepers of the century.  Something I also feel about the earliest MIM basses.  I think too many people have caught on to the whole JV/SQ era though, as they are going nosebleed section on the used market.  I wouldn't say they are better quality than the early US reissues though. 

My initial thought on seeing this one is that a piece of maple that unusually flamed and birdseye-d would never make it to the standard issue line these days.  It is just the kind of thing you never see except on select "custom" level instruments.

[Dave W]

IIRC the Custom Shop selects its woods separately.

You never know with this one, sometimes figure doesn't reveal itself until after the wood is planed.

MIJ/CIJ Fenders area mixed bag. They're made to several different quality levels. I've seen some really nice ones and some real stinkers.

[Freuds_Cat]

I must admit that the ones I've tried and seen (which is quite a few) have always been originally sold from Japan or elsewhere. To my knowledge I have never seen a brand new MIJ hanging on a rack here in Oz.

But then,I am also convinced that Fender USA have different quality levels and that as a general rule we get a lot of the bottom end stuff.
Over the years I have seen literally hundreds of new off the rack MIA Fenders here and the quality is no where near the consistancy of that in the US.

[eb2]

I don't think the quality levels were an issue with CBS when the reissue models were introduced.  They made the American Standard, the very new vintage reissues (all 5 of 'em) and they had the Special/Elite stuff, which were basically the standards with different electronics and parts.  The same people made all of them at the same time, no custom shop or any of that.  Which is why a really choice piece of wood would get finished up and stuck on a regular run bass like that.  No one paid attention to that kind of stuff.  Or one being very light, then the next was a boat anchor.  Different times.

[Muzikman7]

I actually have a Fender A-neck from the early '70s that looks very similar.