What Fender People do ...

[lowend1]

Yes, that's true now, and especially so the further back you go. Aside from the Model I, there wasn't much else in the way of drop-in replacements.

And the Model One is not really a bad pickup - just misunderstood.

[the mojo hobo]

Oh Lord! Please don't let me be mis-understood.



Coming soon a dual Model 1 equipped Carvin B4.

[uwe]

I have an MIJ Fender and it's the only bass I have never considered selling.  

I wasn't questioning Japanese quality in any way - hey, they made good divebombers too!   -, but the design of the Victory is something you could imagine Japanese designers to have come up with had they been asked to modernize the P Bass and J Bass look. And they would have named it the Fender Shouri (Japanese for victory!).  

[Denis]

There's been a Victory on eBay recently with a Jazz pickup and something else I wasn't sure about. Can't find it now. I was surprised there was no outrage about that. 

It was a metallic red Standard if I remember correctly and was listed on eBay for months it seemed. I don't think it was a jazz pickup but it was peach colored and looked atrocious on the otherwise nice looking bass. Maybe the original pup (made of unobtanium) took a dump and that replacement was the closest in size?

[Nocturnal]

I thought it had a Jazz pickup and one of those old Dimarzio type of humbuckers on it, both in creme color. But I'm barely awake so my memory could be foggy. Either way, it was very overpriced.

[eb2]

The quality of Japanese Fenders is not in question at all.  I agree with Uwe, even on their aircraft.  They were decent - on the level of the Stuka.  It is just that the Victory was so far afield of what one would expect or want from Gibson that it clearly ventured into a design vibe more in line with the Katana.  Oddly enough, that was influenced by the Flying V, so it is all screwy.

But that was the vibe by design, and that is all found at Jules' site with his Victory interview.

I tend to like my DiMarzio's black, as I think all Model Ones were until Billy Sheehan had white ones for his Yamaha.  But in the 70s you wanted that Canadian margarine dye-pack colored pickup to let the world know that you had a supahdiztorshin pickup like all the big rock guys.  Now, that has gone the way of the leisure suit. I still like the old Model One for what it doesn't do - rip up old Gibsons.  I wish it could have done more.

[uwe]

For what it's worth: The much derided Model 1s have a fine nuanced sound with a lot of musical detail which you were probably thirsting for if you owned a mudbucker-equipped bass in the seventies where the mudbucker's emphasized frequencies boomed out everything else beyond audibility and people would always implore you to "get your bass clearer, please". They also record well. Just one thing they aren't: a force of nature like the mudbuckers. They are un-rock.

[Pilgrim]

I have an unusual opportunity to compare with the mudbucker and Model 1 in my EB-0.  Granted, the Model 1 is nearer the bridge, but it does have more definition to the sound while maintaining a fairly rough and wooly sound.  Certainly a more civilized version of that sound, and in today's world, a bit more useful.

I can't say how old the Model 1 is, but I was told the bass was stored for around 20 years before I got it last fall. So fr I'm doing fine with both the Model 1 and mudbucker wired direct to the output.  I certainly don't need a tone control to reduce the treble frequencies.

[PhilT]

I thought it had a Jazz pickup and one of those old Dimarzio type of humbuckers on it, both in creme color. But I'm barely awake so my memory could be foggy. Either way, it was very overpriced.

Yes, that's the one. Definitely overpriced.

I obviously misunderstood the Fender Japan reference, still don't really. Now, Tokai I would have understood ...

[jumbodbassman]

chrome attack.  it's the jetsons...

[uwe]

I have an unusual opportunity to compare with the mudbucker and Model 1 in my EB-0.  Granted, the Model 1 is nearer the bridge, but it does have more definition to the sound while maintaining a fairly rough and wooly sound.  Certainly a more civilized version of that sound, and in today's world, a bit more useful.

I can't say how old the Model 1 is, but I was told the bass was stored for around 20 years before I got it last fall. So fr I'm doing fine with both the Model 1 and mudbucker wired direct to the output.  I certainly don't need a tone control to reduce the treble frequencies.

That doesn't look half-bad, I must say! Considering that the Model One had its heyday in the second half of the seventies it's more than likely that the pup is considerably older than twenty years

[Pilgrim]

That doesn't look half-bad, I must say! Considering that the Model One had its heyday in the second half of the seventies it's more than likely that the pup is considerably older than twenty years

I share your thought, I just restrained my estimate because the gent who previous owned it said something like "It has been sitting in the basement for 20 years".

But we with a bit of gray at the temples know that sometimes what seems like 20 years is considerably more.

[exiledarchangel]

That model one would look great chrome plated, you know. 

[Highlander]

The MB1 I had went into the PC around '78 and got junked mid-80's

[Pilgrim]

That model one would look great chrome plated, you know. 

I'm a big believer in chrome!