Chinese Fender Bass

[godofthunder]

  I played one the other day, Nice bass for the money. The body has more of a radius on it than a '70s Tele or the Squier VM Tele bass so it feels a little more refined. I like the four saddles on the bridge. Great sounding bass imho. Nice and resonant as Chris says. Full and ballsy, the the bridge pickup really makes this bass shine. Build quality is excellent, my only complaint is the single ply black guards edges could have been smoother.

[Chris P.]

I really love the one I have at home. I think the butterscotch blonde looks better cos it has a black guard and a black pickup ring. The sunburst with white guard and black pickupring is a bit too much.

[godofthunder]

 Agreed the sunburst would look tons better with a black pg.

[Chris P.]

You can change it, of course. I guess the blonde one would look good with white, but then again you have the ring/guard mismatch.

[Droombolus]

Agreed the sunburst would look tons better with a black pg.

Something like this ? 

[Pilgrim]

Wocka wocka!!!

[lowend1]

... in Fort Collins.

Isn't that where Andy Dufresne crossed into Mexico?

[godofthunder]

 That's the look !

Something like this ? 

[Pilgrim]

Isn't that where Andy Dufresne crossed into Mexico?

Nope, it's where he discovered craft beer! 

[Chris P.]

I have this Fender at home for a couple of weeks now and I also have the oversized LP at home. Both for a review. And I keep on choosing the cheap Fender when I pick up a bass. Nuff said?

It's Chinese, pots are crap, but I really like the sound, looks and neck of the bass. I have some good and bad experiences with Fender:

- I used to have a very heavy US Jazz and it was very well made, but too heavy and too thin sounding. I played some other US Fenders and they were great.

- I really love the Mexican '50s P. I had three (one sold, one stolen) and they're very well made and very well sounding.

- I used to have a Paisley P from Japan. Best looking bass ever, but sounding dull and dead. Sold it.

- I used to have a Mexican Standard P. Very mediocre. Nothing bad too say, but tiny tuners and not that good sounding. The 50s P is a better sounding bass.

I guess this Chinese P is a bit like the Mex Standard. Just a well made bass. Nothing very special. But it looks very good and because of the pickups it has a great sound.

[Freuds_Cat]

Why do they have to put crap pots in their Chinese basses? There are plenty of excellent quality pots being made in China these days. Its not like we are talking about more than a few bucks is it? 

[Chris P.]

I'm always wondering about that. The cheap smaller tuners on Mexican basses, the bad pots on those Chinese ones. I guess those cheap ones cost ten cents while a good one costs a dollar. After taxes, distributors, shops, more taxes I guess a cheap one is half a dollar then and a good one 5 dollars? This one has three, so 15 dollars, and that's a lot on a 500 dollar bass. Just a thought without knowing reall prices, so this is just an example how it could be.

Another possibility is they really want a difference in quality. If a Chinese bass is too good no one will buy a Mexican or an American one.

[Dave W]

Import guitars typically have much higher markup than US-made guitars, at least in the US. A guitar store owner whose word I trust told me that a typical import guitar has a landed cost of about 1/3 of the street price. Landed cost is the actual cost to the importer, not the wholesale price. So even if you see one that has a list price of $399 but is always advertised at $199, the landed cost of the guitar is only about $67. At that low an import cost, even a few $1 differences in part prices can be a big factor.

For the same reason, keep in mind that the retail cost of upgraded parts may be a lot different than the part cost to the manufacturer. You may see that the retail cost of the crappy tuners on your bass is $30, while upgraded tuners will cost you $60. But at the source, the difference may be $30 vs. $5, especially if the better tuners are made in Japan, US or Europe.

[jumbodbassman]

That was awesome! Looked like he had two humbuckers installed on the bass, Who made them I have no idea.

early 70's telebass without covers .  coils are white and very round like those.   I opened up my first tele bass in the late 70's and those are them

[godofthunder]

 Ok so I ordered one of these from MF they had a sale 15% off so it's Like $500.00 shipped. I know, I know 500 clams for a bass made in China. If I had not played one locally I would never have even thought about buying one, I was very impressed with the overall build quality. Even though I'm a Gibson guy I have had a long love affair with the Telecaster bass. When I was a kid and didn't know better I was in love with the '72 Telecaster bass. This version is the only one aside from the Lotto bass looks usable to me. I'll have a full report when she arrives.