Having to unscrew the neck to adjust it is a deal breaker for me. We're in 2023. And the misaligned bridge just screams poor QC. Nice playing as usual, despite the shortcomings of the bass.
I took off the neck to adjust. Not that big of a deal. Thinking about just doing a little carving to the body and pick guard, that will solve the problem of taking off the neck to adjust. Where there's a will there's a way. Peace out bassist's..
Yeah , and he oped out on playing the e string , to emphasize on that point too. Iam Sceptical with this video and the way it was presented. Especially after the hype ,lol
@@spacedaddy5517 TBH I prefer the Mono bags they ship with to hard cases. I mostly gig around town, so a hard case isn't necessary for me and would be less convenient.
@@ampthebassplayer That's cool bro. I keep breaking my string, now I am bassless. It just happened, right now and I am not feeling good about it at all.
A few years ago I picked up a brand new American Standard Jazz, which outclasses this on every level and comes with a great hardshell case, for $1200. Fender has truly embraced greedflation.
I think what's really funny is I saw this bass advertised for people who want that 60's Garage Rock sound. There's no way a 60's Garage Rock band could afford a $1300 bass, they probably would buy a Squire or SX nowadays since Silvertone doesn't exist anymore.
Bully, I watched both your review and Low End Lobster's... and I still purchased the bass. Low End did make some credible observations..which really points out potential risks of purchasing an instrument sight unseen. I got my instrument for a reseller that posts photos of the instruments to choose from. I have to admit that I made my selection considering the string spacing photo. Your observations on the neck feeling like a p-bass, the tone quality and characteristics are spot on. I did spend some time working on the tapering of the frets...filing and sanding with micro mesh pads 1500-12000 grit...butter soft now...All other specifications were within factory tolerance with the exception of the nut height. The nut was cut just a little too short. I prefer using a tuner looking at the tonation fretting the first fret (3 of the 4 strings were slightly sharp). So I'll probably change out the nut in the future... I may put in a 500k volume pot and 0.1uf tone cap to get some additional clarity and articulate tone at the top end.....I have my collection of basses... the reality is that not two are exactly the same....and have learned that all have needed some minor tweaking... Bottom line...I appreciate both of the review. Both provided a means of making an informed decision. Thanks again from a new subscriber!
@@daviddesmond2143 I did. No one manufactures at 100% quality. There were good reviews too. The key issues I saw from the reviews were string alignment over the neck and pickup; weak sound from the E-string; and slipshod fret end finishing. I should fist disclose that I do work on all of my basses. I purchased the instrument from a dealer that provides photos of the serial numbered instrument. So I could clearly see that there weren't any issues with the string alignment. I did watch other reviews. A common takeaway is the instrument had a good neck. I took the chance that the weak E-string sound was due to string alignment. As far as fret ends....I always work on them to get the feel I want. I did put in some time smoothing out the fret ends. Overall, it was still a good buy and I think good value. It was less expensive than my MTDs, Dingwall's, Ibanez, and other Fenders....and the work I did was worth the effort.
Dig the color, love the matching headstock, the lollipop tuners, funky sounding pickup... Ebony fingerboard!!! Bonus! - my suggestion would be just put a better bridge on it and position it correctly and you got a hell of a nice bass!
I watched everything in order as it dropped. Low end's, the bully's reaction and now watching this. Instruments will always be instruments but a few things that i'd like to highlight in these three videos. 1. Bully always keeps it real and honest. 2. Low end is definitely the luthier's bass player. 3. Bully will make any bass sound good. But on a reactionary note: 1299.99? yikes, I admit I truly don't know what Fender is up to. I honestly thought this was a squire release but there it it is next to all the other all the other American series basses. The gold foil guitars look pretty nice though..
I love the tone (problems Lobster has highlighted aside) I’d have one if it was lower in price. It’s definitely not a P bass sound, it’s its own animal.
@@revlewisrees9880 Yeah we are different, but how much different can a Fender bass sound with a pickup right there ?. It's about as close as you can get, without actually getting the P-bass. You could get a P-bass clone, like a thousand people make. Nothing ever sounded exactly like the Fender, however. It's not cause players need the name, associated with the bass, producers and everyone loves the sound in a mix, with other musicians. This is why bass you hear is probably played on a Fender, most likely. Think of how many legendary bassists have played a Fender, there's a reason.
@@spacedaddy5517 doesn’t really have the warmth and roundness of a P bass. Has a kind of narrow sound which isn’t a bad thing at all. Makes me think Jazz Bass with just a subdued neck pickup
@@kingdeedee Sounds pretty round to me dude, needed some treble on the amp. When he dug in, it sounded just like a P bass. Not many basses can even do that sound, if you know what I mean. Jazz bass with the Neck pickup gives you a little of that sound. If you get a Warwick, there's none of that. It's the wood, the neck, everything Fender has patented over the years that give that sound, really there's no substitution. But this is not even suitable for every genre of music, but for some it's kind of a big deal.
I bought one of the gold foils for $629.00 I like it alot I raised the pick up close to the strings , straightened out the neck. My opinion it's a great unique bass.
Like you said, those issues are things that LEL focuses on. You played it and focused on the sound and the feel of it in your hands. Of course now that it was pointed out, I cannot un-forget it.
I saw Lobster's video first, and going into this knowing the issues, I can see the strings aren't lined up right over the pickup. Not sure I'd have noticed it myself, possibly even while playing it. In terms of the strings being misaligned to the neck, I feel like I'd notice while playing it if it was the G string (I have a bad tendency to pull the G string off the bottom of the fretboard while playing), but not the E string. It seems to me like the pickup is just too small even if it was lined up right though! I don't get the idea of a Jazz Bass with only one pickup… but I do have to say this bass has a nice sound and it looks amazing. Too bad QC in Fender's Mexico factory is so poor. I've had issues with almost every MIM instrument I've owned. Just sold my last one and don't plan to buy another. (Still love Fender though!)
@@spacedaddy5517 Yeah, I'm not talking about deliberate bends, I'm talking about accidentally pulling down slightly instead of just pressing against the fretboard… bad habit I have.
It rather seems as if they took a neck pickup and put it in the mid position, without noticing that the width was marginal. I do wonder if the original design concept was to have a neck pickup and a bridge pickup.
@@spacedaddy5517 His complaints about that particular bass were totally justified. A misaligned bridge is a big deal and it should have never passed QC.
@@ianbaker2599 Uh, comparing it to a 70 dollar bass wasn't justified at all. Saying it's not worth anything, is also unreasonable. I don't know he didn't just send it back, I never seen a bridge that screwed up in my life. This goes for any bass, anywhere. How is this a justified review, or example of the product itself ?. Because it passed QC, ok that's not what we're looking for to decide which instrument we need. We're listening to sounds, mostly. So, you need to review a bass that's in proper configuration. I still don't know anything about this bass, or what it should sound like set up. Guess what, neither do you. All you know is enough to say they can improve quality control, since when does QC play guitar or bass ?. Why would you purchase a bass like this, anyways ?. I would send it back from the store.
@@ianbaker2599 There's nothing reasonable about making ultra biased reviews, cause you dislike Fender, or because you found one with a crooked bridge. That's actually just pathetic and stupid. Maybe people learn this, watching ultra bias news and media ?. Anyways, let's improve the QC so people can stop their autism and get back to playing music.
How you could not notice that pickup is not covering the string excursion (on the E) I do not know! I like MIM Fenders a lot but they got this bass way wrong! It’s far far too expensive. You can get a similar tone effect on a standard P by rolling back the tone a bit.
I get how u over looked this issue since you hardly play the E string. But also you play much harder than lobster. Genuine reviews are good lobster is technical. I’m glad you posted this even after lobsters video.
I shared this as a reply down in the thread but figured I should post this here in the event it might benefit someone. 👍 I rolled the dice on this one even after I saw the lobster review... I too noticed that the AV RI II's weren't too much more expensive... I was considering the AVRI II 1966 Jazz. I went with the gold foil just because it's "different".. Not something I have. Knowing the quality concerns, I gave it a thorough exam when it arrived . I have to say that it came in without any build quality issues. The bridge seems perfectly centered, The E & G strings both had 3/16" from the edge of the neck in the strings, at the bridge, were spot on 19 mm apart save for the D string which was 1 mm closer to the G but after I moved it one notch closer to the A, everything was perfectly lined up w/19 mm spacing. That was insignificant. E string was just under 1/8" high at the 20th fret as was the A (I say a bit under... They were less than 1/8" but more than 3/32". The D & G strings were spot on at 3/32". When checking pickup height adjustment, with the strings depressed at the 20th fret, The E string was 1/8" off the pickup at the front.. And 3/32" at the rear of the pickup. Whereas the G string was 3/32" at the front and 1/16" at the rear. The pickup is clearly canted towards the neck... With the bridge side higher. Is this what was intended from the factory? That I don't know... But I'm sure people will adjust accordingly to their taste anyway. 👍. All in all, I have no complaints with the way this came set up from the factory. Now I'll just let it sit for about a month to acclimate to my neck of the woods, I'll adjust accordingly and this bad boy is gig ready. 👍👍 Maybe the original release or certain production runs had some genuine quality control issues.. Which is something that should not happen, especially for a bass at this price. That said, maybe fend (hopefully) figured out which production run was bad and recalled them all 🤞. Anyway.. I hope this information helps some bottom enders in their research! In the meantime... Stay low and duck your head, cuz here I come. 😎👍
Ah, I remember when Fenders were the cheapest instruments in the pawn shop... I'm interested to know if the pickup is a typical 6 pole guitar pickup, ala the originally super cheap Musicmaster factory Partscaster. For $1300 this should be a modified Mustang or a medium scale Jaguar with TWO pickups.
Bully. I think something happened shipping when you sent it to low end. I just zoomed in on your video. Everything seems very good with alignment at least compared to way mobster shows it on his video. I think the neck got shifted in shipment to him.
It really is a good looking bass, though. That pickup sounds pretty nice too. If Fender cleaned up the frets, and installed the bridge correctly, I'd pay a solid $800.00 for it.
The bad bass the Lobster has was an anomoly. I've played a few of these awesome basses in some stores, while looking for the bridge/fingerboard probs and the alignment was great as was the response from the gold foil pup.
$1200 it AIN'T. You could get a MTD Super 4 or Saratoga for less. A MTD Z4 for about the same and almost ALL Sire Basses for way less. No Mexican made Bass can come close in quality or tone. By the way, I have 4 Fender Basses and love them.
I want to open up the pickup too, so it's not just you, haha. Naturally, I like to tinker, especially as I've never seen a pickup quite like that - I really liked the sound. Good stuff!
This particular bass is cool but it would be nice if QC caught the ungodly amount of ruined basses before even getting to pickup installation. I mean, why are so many of them have the pickup leaning too much under the higher strings than the lower strings?
Why do the zippers on Fender gig bags always break? I have a Squire Affinity P bass and the gig bag is trash! I also have a Fender stratocaster with a useless gig bag.
Their hard cases are pretty good but you have to spend to get quality Fender gig bag there are other manufacturers that make better bags at the same price point
@@MarcG7424, that's what I ended up doing. I bought a tweed hard case for my stratocaster and a Road Runner hard case for my Squier P bass. Road Runner cases to me are fantastic!
Hello,I have question.Did Fender company pay you to say nothing that the bridge is in the wrong position? You can clearly hear on the recording that the E string is quieter.Greatings
After watching Lobster's video I can see and hear that the E string is off. Not as much as Lobster's bass but enough that I would send this one back to Fender. It should be perfect for $1300.
@@Invictus13666 Hi. On Lobster's review, go to the 7 and a half minute mark. He mentions he didn't buy it and it was provided by friend of the channel Bully the Kidd. I don't think Lobster is a big fan of Fender, don't see him buying one. Bully did make the bass sound good.
I will never replace jazz bass for this .Why ? Because i can get the same sound with neck pick up,but that bass will never sounds like bridge pick up of jazz bass.
Im a oldie playing since 64-65 and l don't remember any fender bass called a " foil" bass or even ever seeing a bass w a p/up like that! Was it a very short run ?
This is Fender jumping on a bandwagon. Goldfoil pickups were a thing from cheapo guitars bacl in the day. Internet fad has bloomed in recent years saying these were actaully the bestest thing everest. Fender puts this out.
Be advised that I've just heard back from Fender and they will not sell you these pick-ups if you've an ambition to add a second, AND...'may' not even have any to supply repair or warranty work. They were made for Fender and are 8K, not the 5K or 6K look alikes on sale elsewhere.
It looks very nice but this should be a P they need to add another pup to the bridge and a blend or 2nd volume then call that one a J bass and ship it with a hard fender case especially for the price
I look forward to this production run being sold at a deep deep deep discount. They could have covered this up a little by making the pickup a half-inch wider, but that alignment issue is ugly.
Here’s what I’ve learned from my almost 50 years of playing, 30 years of modding, and almost 10 years of building. I’ve not found a “name brand” off the shelf instrument that warrants the sometimes outlandish sticker price. (Fender and ESPECIALLY Gibson are the worst offenders IMO) Do they make good instruments? Sure. Do the instruments in hand justify the price? Not to me. What I’ve discovered is the lions share of the sticker on custom, hand made instruments is the man hours required to make the thing as close to perfect as possible.
It doesn't look nearly as off (to me) as it did in Lobster's video 🤷 Is it possible that some temperature changes between where u are and where he is could've caused some things to shift on the instrument?
@@BullyThaKidd then thumbs down, they shouldn't charge thousand plus for a defective bass. Very disappointing! Dave never mentioned an off set bridge just sharp fret edges! But good to know they come defective! Thanks again!
Why are there so many comments that have nothing to do with 'this' particular video? This content producer didn't mention anything about misaligned pickups, low E drop-off, or poor fret work. Maybe it is the case that this instrument doesn't suffer the QC issues (mentioned elsewhere) quite as badly or at all, relative to the instruments received by other reviewers. The point is...HE didn't mention them so its unhelpful that you put words in his mouth. These posts cause this to read more like a thread on a forum than a RUclips video.
Sounds like a Jazz bass with the bridge pickup turned off, has the neck of a P-bass, and costs 1200 quid. I’d MUCH rather get a Fender Player series Jazz bass from GC or Sweetwater, save $350, and essentially miss nothing (tone wise). But that’s just me.
If you’re gonna throw away decades of tradition and put a single pickup on a Jazz bass it better be the best sounding pickup ever, but thats not what I’m hearing
If it was not a Fender I don't think anyone would even bother to touch it. I hate the fact that because it is a Fender people give it a second chance. For me it is big NO. Ridiculously expensive for what it's worth.
@@BullyThaKidd I'm messing with you dude. Yeah, it's not a good thing being compared to Manny Fresh. It's just the mouth movement when you slap, relax You don't actually look like him!🤣
You made the Bass sound just fine, maybe it's just Low End Lobsters style of playing that didn't fit the Bass. Not my kind of Jazz Bass (and I pay a Jazz Bass 5 string) in a bar band most weekends, and I believe it to be overpriced, but it may well suit quite a lot of people's tastes.
it is a P Bass no? P 1 pup, Jazz 2? no? asymmetrical bout = jazz, like the one you have here.... but what's with the single pup? its neither or it must be a special of sorts?
Lets be honest. When you visit a n average music/guitar store - there is always a lot of crap on the wall with a large F on the headstock. I love fender basses, had a lot myself but there are many other brands, with a serious QC. Very often Made in USA (Mex) means a lot of crap. Thats the truth but Bully doesnt like to hear it when its about a 7ender. ;)
Again, Fender is trying to pull the wool over our eyes and throw another reinvention of the wheel at us for triple the price. Didn't say do the foil crap with Squier?
Fender needs to leave these deigns to the Squier line and concentrate on giving you level frets and good wiring instead of these gimmicks for crazy money. I love Fender guitars but you have to fix too many things to get them correct, the main culprit being crappy fret jobs.
I saw the video Lobster posted, it was a little harsh. I would have sent the bass back, not reviewed it. He compared it to some 70$ bass on Amazon, which is pretty much insane to compare that. Need to keep the opinions under control, sometimes just do the job. Not his job to be some type of authority on any products. Fender has always made a good sounding bass. Lobster, while he's a nice guy, I'm not taking his opinion on Fender seriously at all.
@@Bibblebabbler Right now, he's the biggest online reviewer for bass, so his videos are on Reverb already. How do these guys go from starting random channels wearing pajamas, to being some type of authority ?. Cause people like to repeat this stuff, for some reason I can't figure out, they take him very seriously.
Hes done a BUNCH of fender and squire reviews. Heres the deal, for 1300 dollars this mf should play GOOD. it shouldnt have a warped/lopsided nut, a bridge thats literally not in the right position and a style of adjustment that requires you to remove the neck. Thats insane to me as well for that type of money. Now, i woulda stopped there, but to claim he has no professional experience is kinda crazy to me. The dude is a CRAZY good tech and this is where his opinions come from where others lack. His playing is great so id be willing to assume hes played gigs. Lmao yall saying hes on the spectrum is just rude at best. If yall are so much better, THEN DO IT. give us a reason to not watch lobster. But until you can do as good of in depth reviews as he can. Sit down gentlemen.
I’m not a fan of the bass either, but this retails for $1300. A Player series bass sells for $850. How does $850 + $850 = $1300? 🤔 Last I checked that came to $1700, so this is not twice the price of a Player series bass.
@@elihop9419 I can only go by the UK market and here you can get a Player Jazz for about £600 but the foil one is £1200. You can get an American Performer Jazz for £1099 shopping around. Edit - was thinking you may be paying extra for MIM because of tariffs... but the gold foil thing is made in Mexico. I don't get the pricing on that thing. It's ridiculous.
@@kimmorgan379 player series bass in the UK is priced at £759 and the gold foil is £1299. If you’re going to say something is double the price it’s not comparing the best price that you can find on the instrument is…it’s what the posted price of the instrument is. That aside, the price on the ‘tin foil travesty’ is definitely insane!
Why are we arguing about this? You're right - some shops are selling it for more than half the price. I'm right, you can buy a Fender for about half the price from some shops (PMT Online, which is a proper shop). Will you agree with me that the Tin Foil Fender is a LOT MORE than a basic MIM, somewhere between two thirds more and twice as much depending on the retailer and that this is just plain silly?
It's a beautiful looking bass. Even without the quality issues, $1300 is way too much money for what you actually get.
Having to unscrew the neck to adjust it is a deal breaker for me. We're in 2023. And the misaligned bridge just screams poor QC. Nice playing as usual, despite the shortcomings of the bass.
Unless the Fender is trying to be a 100% vintage recreation then I agree. This is...not. Might as well put a truss rod channel in.
I took off the neck to adjust. Not that big of a deal. Thinking about just doing a little carving to the body and pick guard, that will solve the problem of taking off the neck to adjust. Where there's a will there's a way. Peace out bassist's..
So let's wait until Squier makes a knock off for a 1/4 price with excellent quality; or wait for Sire to nail it
Yeah, the output goes into hibernation when you're on the E.
What's more, for the price they should've at least incuded a hardshell case.
Tell that to Serek.
Yeah , and he oped out on playing the e string , to emphasize on that point too. Iam Sceptical with this video and the way it was presented.
Especially after the hype ,lol
@@spacedaddy5517 TBH I prefer the Mono bags they ship with to hard cases. I mostly gig around town, so a hard case isn't necessary for me and would be less convenient.
@@ampthebassplayer That's cool bro. I keep breaking my string, now I am bassless. It just happened, right now and I am not feeling good about it at all.
A few years ago I picked up a brand new American Standard Jazz, which outclasses this on every level and comes with a great hardshell case, for $1200. Fender has truly embraced greedflation.
I could seriously listen to you play all day. You drag some cool ass tone out of ever bass I’ve seen you play.
I think what's really funny is I saw this bass advertised for people who want that 60's Garage Rock sound.
There's no way a 60's Garage Rock band could afford a $1300 bass, they probably would buy a Squire or SX nowadays since Silvertone doesn't exist anymore.
Bully, I watched both your review and Low End Lobster's... and I still purchased the bass. Low End did make some credible observations..which really points out potential risks of purchasing an instrument sight unseen. I got my instrument for a reseller that posts photos of the instruments to choose from. I have to admit that I made my selection considering the string spacing photo. Your observations on the neck feeling like a p-bass, the tone quality and characteristics are spot on. I did spend some time working on the tapering of the frets...filing and sanding with micro mesh pads 1500-12000 grit...butter soft now...All other specifications were within factory tolerance with the exception of the nut height. The nut was cut just a little too short. I prefer using a tuner looking at the tonation fretting the first fret (3 of the 4 strings were slightly sharp). So I'll probably change out the nut in the future... I may put in a 500k volume pot and 0.1uf tone cap to get some additional clarity and articulate tone at the top end.....I have my collection of basses... the reality is that not two are exactly the same....and have learned that all have needed some minor tweaking... Bottom line...I appreciate both of the review. Both provided a means of making an informed decision. Thanks again from a new subscriber!
Seriously, you bought one of these things after seeing bad reviews?
@@daviddesmond2143 I did. No one manufactures at 100% quality. There were good reviews too. The key issues I saw from the reviews were string alignment over the neck and pickup; weak sound from the E-string; and slipshod fret end finishing. I should fist disclose that I do work on all of my basses. I purchased the instrument from a dealer that provides photos of the serial numbered instrument. So I could clearly see that there weren't any issues with the string alignment. I did watch other reviews. A common takeaway is the instrument had a good neck. I took the chance that the weak E-string sound was due to string alignment. As far as fret ends....I always work on them to get the feel I want. I did put in some time smoothing out the fret ends. Overall, it was still a good buy and I think good value. It was less expensive than my MTDs, Dingwall's, Ibanez, and other Fenders....and the work I did was worth the effort.
Dig the color, love the matching headstock, the lollipop tuners, funky sounding pickup... Ebony fingerboard!!! Bonus! - my suggestion would be just put a better bridge on it and position it correctly and you got a hell of a nice bass!
The asking price is ridiculously high for an instrument you need to modify right out the box in order for it to actually work correctly.
And pick up. That gold foil sounds like noisy garbage.
@@catdaddy7982 might be time to change your audio listening gear as that pickups sounds amazing.
I watched everything in order as it dropped. Low end's, the bully's reaction and now watching this. Instruments will always be instruments but a few things that i'd like to highlight in these three videos. 1. Bully always keeps it real and honest. 2. Low end is definitely the luthier's bass player. 3. Bully will make any bass sound good. But on a reactionary note: 1299.99? yikes, I admit I truly don't know what Fender is up to. I honestly thought this was a squire release but there it it is next to all the other all the other American series basses. The gold foil guitars look pretty nice though..
I love the tone (problems Lobster has highlighted aside) I’d have one if it was lower in price. It’s definitely not a P bass sound, it’s its own animal.
Pretty close to a P-bass.
@@spacedaddy5517 - Not to my ear. But hey, we’re all different.
@@revlewisrees9880 Yeah we are different, but how much different can a Fender bass sound with a pickup right there ?. It's about as close as you can get, without actually getting the P-bass. You could get a P-bass clone, like a thousand people make. Nothing ever sounded exactly like the Fender, however. It's not cause players need the name, associated with the bass, producers and everyone loves the sound in a mix, with other musicians. This is why bass you hear is probably played on a Fender, most likely. Think of how many legendary bassists have played a Fender, there's a reason.
@@spacedaddy5517 doesn’t really have the warmth and roundness of a P bass. Has a kind of narrow sound which isn’t a bad thing at all. Makes me think Jazz Bass with just a subdued neck pickup
@@kingdeedee Sounds pretty round to me dude, needed some treble on the amp. When he dug in, it sounded just like a P bass. Not many basses can even do that sound, if you know what I mean. Jazz bass with the Neck pickup gives you a little of that sound. If you get a Warwick, there's none of that. It's the wood, the neck, everything Fender has patented over the years that give that sound, really there's no substitution. But this is not even suitable for every genre of music, but for some it's kind of a big deal.
I bought one of the gold foils for $629.00
I like it alot I raised the pick up close to the strings , straightened out the neck. My opinion it's a great unique bass.
Like you said, those issues are things that LEL focuses on. You played it and focused on the sound and the feel of it in your hands. Of course now that it was pointed out, I cannot un-forget it.
It's a little tele-bass, like in tone. Which is good for boogie and rock.
I saw Lobster's video first, and going into this knowing the issues, I can see the strings aren't lined up right over the pickup. Not sure I'd have noticed it myself, possibly even while playing it. In terms of the strings being misaligned to the neck, I feel like I'd notice while playing it if it was the G string (I have a bad tendency to pull the G string off the bottom of the fretboard while playing), but not the E string. It seems to me like the pickup is just too small even if it was lined up right though! I don't get the idea of a Jazz Bass with only one pickup… but I do have to say this bass has a nice sound and it looks amazing. Too bad QC in Fender's Mexico factory is so poor. I've had issues with almost every MIM instrument I've owned. Just sold my last one and don't plan to buy another. (Still love Fender though!)
Always bend UP, lol.
It's for when you want a P bass sound, with a Jazz bass neck.
@@spacedaddy5517 Yeah, I'm not talking about deliberate bends, I'm talking about accidentally pulling down slightly instead of just pressing against the fretboard… bad habit I have.
@@room34 We have all done this, when I first learned vibrato, did this a lot.
It rather seems as if they took a neck pickup and put it in the mid position, without noticing that the width was marginal. I do wonder if the original design concept was to have a neck pickup and a bridge pickup.
The lobster review was very entertaining.
Sure it was, if your thing is watching grown men complain about legendary American bass companies.
@@spacedaddy5517legendary ‘american’ bass companies that charge 1300 for this shite
@@spacedaddy5517 His complaints about that particular bass were totally justified. A misaligned bridge is a big deal and it should have never passed QC.
@@ianbaker2599 Uh, comparing it to a 70 dollar bass wasn't justified at all. Saying it's not worth anything, is also unreasonable. I don't know he didn't just send it back, I never seen a bridge that screwed up in my life. This goes for any bass, anywhere. How is this a justified review, or example of the product itself ?. Because it passed QC, ok that's not what we're looking for to decide which instrument we need. We're listening to sounds, mostly. So, you need to review a bass that's in proper configuration. I still don't know anything about this bass, or what it should sound like set up. Guess what, neither do you. All you know is enough to say they can improve quality control, since when does QC play guitar or bass ?. Why would you purchase a bass like this, anyways ?. I would send it back from the store.
@@ianbaker2599 There's nothing reasonable about making ultra biased reviews, cause you dislike Fender, or because you found one with a crooked bridge.
That's actually just pathetic and stupid. Maybe people learn this, watching ultra bias news and media ?. Anyways, let's improve the QC so people can stop their autism and get back to playing music.
How you could not notice that pickup is not covering the string excursion (on the E) I do not know! I like MIM Fenders a lot but they got this bass way wrong! It’s far far too expensive. You can get a similar tone effect on a standard P by rolling back the tone a bit.
Nice demo! Love how you played to the bass. Nice playing
I get how u over looked this issue since you hardly play the E string. But also you play much harder than lobster. Genuine reviews are good lobster is technical. I’m glad you posted this even after lobsters video.
I shared this as a reply down in the thread but figured I should post this here in the event it might benefit someone. 👍
I rolled the dice on this one even after I saw the lobster review... I too noticed that the AV RI II's weren't too much more expensive... I was considering the AVRI II 1966 Jazz. I went with the gold foil just because it's "different".. Not something I have. Knowing the quality concerns, I gave it a thorough exam when it arrived . I have to say that it came in without any build quality issues. The bridge seems perfectly centered, The E & G strings both had 3/16" from the edge of the neck in the strings, at the bridge, were spot on 19 mm apart save for the D string which was 1 mm closer to the G but after I moved it one notch closer to the A, everything was perfectly lined up w/19 mm spacing. That was insignificant. E string was just under 1/8" high at the 20th fret as was the A (I say a bit under... They were less than 1/8" but more than 3/32". The D & G strings were spot on at 3/32".
When checking pickup height adjustment, with the strings depressed at the 20th fret, The E string was 1/8" off the pickup at the front.. And 3/32" at the rear of the pickup. Whereas the G string was 3/32" at the front and 1/16" at the rear. The pickup is clearly canted towards the neck... With the bridge side higher. Is this what was intended from the factory? That I don't know... But I'm sure people will adjust accordingly to their taste anyway. 👍.
All in all, I have no complaints with the way this came set up from the factory. Now I'll just let it sit for about a month to acclimate to my neck of the woods, I'll adjust accordingly and this bad boy is gig ready. 👍👍
Maybe the original release or certain production runs had some genuine quality control issues.. Which is something that should not happen, especially for a bass at this price. That said, maybe fend (hopefully) figured out which production run was bad and recalled them all 🤞.
Anyway.. I hope this information helps some bottom enders in their research!
In the meantime... Stay low and duck your head, cuz here I come. 😎👍
Quiet E string? it's notably quieter in this video than the other 3 strings. cool otherwise though!
Thanks for the info. I was literally about to buy this bass tonight. I think I’m gonna go for the meteora instead.
Mustang vibe...color is fab....I would love the rear pup also
Love the sound of a well-played bass!
Ah, I remember when Fenders were the cheapest instruments in the pawn shop...
I'm interested to know if the pickup is a typical 6 pole guitar pickup, ala the originally super cheap Musicmaster factory Partscaster.
For $1300 this should be a modified Mustang or a medium scale Jaguar with TWO pickups.
It looks and sounds like something I'd play and love but the bridge issue make me scared of even buying one
Bully. I think something happened shipping when you sent it to low end. I just zoomed in on your video. Everything seems very good with alignment at least compared to way mobster shows it on his video. I think the neck got shifted in shipment to him.
It really is a good looking bass, though. That pickup sounds pretty nice too. If Fender cleaned up the frets, and installed the bridge correctly, I'd pay a solid $800.00 for it.
I love the look of the pickup and neck, but if I paid that much for a bass with a crappy, misaligned bridge, I’d be kinda pissed.
The bad bass the Lobster has was an anomoly. I've played a few of these awesome basses in some stores, while looking for the bridge/fingerboard probs and the alignment was great as was the response from the gold foil pup.
$1200 it AIN'T. You could get a MTD Super 4 or Saratoga for less. A MTD Z4 for about the same and almost ALL Sire Basses for way less. No Mexican made Bass can come close in quality or tone. By the way, I have 4 Fender Basses and love them.
I bet that pickup sounds incredible with certain fuzzes through an old SVT or into a fliptop dimed.
I want to open up the pickup too, so it's not just you, haha. Naturally, I like to tinker, especially as I've never seen a pickup quite like that - I really liked the sound. Good stuff!
This particular bass is cool but it would be nice if QC caught the ungodly amount of ruined basses before even getting to pickup installation. I mean, why are so many of them have the pickup leaning too much under the higher strings than the lower strings?
Why do the zippers on Fender gig bags always break? I have a Squire Affinity P bass and the gig bag is trash! I also have a Fender stratocaster with a useless gig bag.
I think most (if not all) their cases are made in China, so...
@@TenFalconsMusic so, that is what they come with.
Their hard cases are pretty good but you have to spend to get quality Fender gig bag there are other manufacturers that make better bags at the same price point
@@MarcG7424, that's what I ended up doing. I bought a tweed hard case for my stratocaster and a Road Runner hard case for my Squier P bass. Road Runner cases to me are fantastic!
@@greatertorque Good the give away gig bags Fender includes with their instruments may as well be a Glad trash bags
FYI, Fender always ships their basses out of the factory with fender branded strings. Gibson does the same with their own instruments and strings.
This would be super simple to turn into a Mark Hoppus bass, either original MK 1 or inverted pickup MK 2…. Oh the gears in my head are turning
That bass and you are gonna be great friends.
Hello,I have question.Did Fender company pay you to say nothing that the bridge is in the wrong position? You can clearly hear on the recording that the E string is quieter.Greatings
No...
You obviously didnt listen to his intro. Lmao he didn’t notice any of these things initially 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
After watching Lobster's video I can see and hear that the E string is off. Not as much as Lobster's bass but enough that I would send this one back to Fender. It should be perfect for $1300.
It's the same bass though
Lobster reviewed Bully's bass. So same bass.
You've got better eyes and ears than me -- I couldn’t catch him playing the E string at all!
@@sunn_bass I thought lobster bought his from sweet water? Didn’t he say that?
@@Invictus13666 Hi. On Lobster's review, go to the 7 and a half minute mark. He mentions he didn't buy it and it was provided by friend of the channel Bully the Kidd.
I don't think Lobster is a big fan of Fender, don't see him buying one.
Bully did make the bass sound good.
I will never replace jazz bass for this .Why ? Because i can get the same sound with neck pick up,but that bass will never sounds like bridge pick up of jazz bass.
Im a oldie playing since 64-65 and l don't remember any fender bass called a " foil" bass or even ever seeing a bass w a p/up like that!
Was it a very short run ?
This is Fender jumping on a bandwagon. Goldfoil pickups were a thing from cheapo guitars bacl in the day. Internet fad has bloomed in recent years saying these were actaully the bestest thing everest. Fender puts this out.
Standard Fender bass strings 7250M.
Fender quality control needs to do a thought clean out.
A hard hard pass on the gold foil.
Have you ever reviewed a Kramer D1?
can you please do the cnz audio 5 string bass review im looking to buy it but i want your take
Be advised that I've just heard back from Fender and they will not sell you these pick-ups if you've an ambition to add a second, AND...'may' not even have any to supply repair or warranty work. They were made for Fender and are 8K, not the 5K or 6K look alikes on sale elsewhere.
It looks very nice but this should be a P they need to add another pup to the bridge and a blend or 2nd volume then call that one a J bass and ship it with a hard fender case especially for the price
Tone sounds very Pbass when slapping probably due to the pickup location. A Pbass with a tapered jazz neck always sounded ideal to me.
The tone goes out the window on the bottom E because the bridge is misaligned.
On a $1200 bass by a global brand, the bridge is misaligned
'Novelty' bass with poor QC, possibly tarnishing the iconic name of Fender! Leo got it right on his first two designs... "If it ain't broke...." JMHO
I look forward to this production run being sold at a deep deep deep discount. They could have covered this up a little by making the pickup a half-inch wider, but that alignment issue is ugly.
Its not worth the price but it would be nice to have as long as qc worked. Maybe its because of my age but that just screams church bass.
Here’s what I’ve learned from my almost 50 years of playing, 30 years of modding, and almost 10 years of building.
I’ve not found a “name brand” off the shelf instrument that warrants the sometimes outlandish sticker price.
(Fender and ESPECIALLY Gibson are the worst offenders IMO)
Do they make good instruments? Sure.
Do the instruments in hand justify the price? Not to me.
What I’ve discovered is the lions share of the sticker on custom, hand made instruments is the man hours required to make the thing as close to perfect as possible.
It sounded nice. I would have to see one in person before purchase.
It doesn't look nearly as off (to me) as it did in Lobster's video 🤷 Is it possible that some temperature changes between where u are and where he is could've caused some things to shift on the instrument?
No. A bridge doesn't shift from temp. Neither does the nut.
No dude haha
Great review. I'm less negative on it after seeing both reviews. But its still really not for me.
Hello! That bass sounds and looks good for me
I'll be happy to grab the pickup and just mod a p bass for it.
Beautiful bass.
You made this poorly made bass sound so good! Maybe I’ll pick one up used for half price 😅
You make any bass sound good.
So it is good? That bearded crab said it wasn't! Im glad I came to you.
All in all yeah it is... bridge was just off center
@@BullyThaKidd then thumbs down, they shouldn't charge thousand plus for a defective bass. Very disappointing! Dave never mentioned an off set bridge just sharp fret edges! But good to know they come defective! Thanks again!
How can you afford so many basses? I can't even afford a 200 squire
🔥🔥🔥
A $630 bass without quality issues. With..... $315
What are your favorite bass strings?
Sit strings
It’s literally a dressed up squire bronco bass. IMO
I was looking for your review lol
Why are there so many comments that have nothing to do with 'this' particular video? This content producer didn't mention anything about misaligned pickups, low E drop-off, or poor fret work. Maybe it is the case that this instrument doesn't suffer the QC issues (mentioned elsewhere) quite as badly or at all, relative to the instruments received by other reviewers. The point is...HE didn't mention them so its unhelpful that you put words in his mouth. These posts cause this to read more like a thread on a forum than a RUclips video.
You make the Bass sound good...
The homie lobster is looking out. Hope Fender makes it right.
Sounds like a Jazz bass with the bridge pickup turned off, has the neck of a P-bass, and costs 1200 quid. I’d MUCH rather get a Fender Player series Jazz bass from GC or Sweetwater, save $350, and essentially miss nothing (tone wise).
But that’s just me.
If you’re gonna throw away decades of tradition and put a single pickup on a Jazz bass it better be the best sounding pickup ever, but thats not what I’m hearing
Agree
If it was not a Fender I don't think anyone would even bother to touch it.
I hate the fact that because it is a Fender people give it a second chance. For me it is big NO.
Ridiculously expensive for what it's worth.
Why you look like Manny Fresh when you slapping?!!😂
Wth... dude go away
All black people don't look alike
@@BullyThaKidd I'm messing with you dude. Yeah, it's not a good thing being compared to Manny Fresh. It's just the mouth movement when you slap, relax You don't actually look like him!🤣
@@BullyThaKidd btw, I'm not going away. I'm trying to learn bass and your channel is great!!!👍
You made the Bass sound just fine, maybe it's just Low End Lobsters style of playing that didn't fit the Bass. Not my kind of Jazz Bass (and I pay a Jazz Bass 5 string) in a bar band most weekends, and I believe it to be overpriced, but it may well suit quite a lot of people's tastes.
I like it
2:30 That Fender users manual is useless, I got several of them, read them cover to cover, and still, for the life of me, can't play the damn thing!
Short answer: No
Possibly the best looking bass that Fender ever made.
Nah, the USA Jaguar Bass is that.
That bass is so bad, the E string doesn't even align the pickup, so you end up with a serious lack of gain on that string. No for me.
I'll order the neck and machine heads, the rest sucks.
Fender bass
it is a P Bass no? P 1 pup, Jazz 2? no? asymmetrical bout = jazz, like the one you have here.... but what's with the single pup? its neither or it must be a special of sorts?
Lets be honest. When you visit a n average music/guitar store - there is always a lot of crap on the wall with a large F on the headstock. I love fender basses, had a lot myself but there are many other brands, with a serious QC. Very often Made in USA (Mex) means a lot of crap. Thats the truth but Bully doesnt like to hear it when its about a 7ender. ;)
Brige Placement is of-center, bad quality bass... look at the E-String over the pickup...
This could’ve been such a cool bass, if they just didn’t build it so poorly.
I didn't hear a jazz bass sound
You didn't play the low E string. It wouldn't have been there.
Fender is a waste of money now...
Harley Benton has it going now.
G&L 1000 when you get more confidence. Thanks.
It's a shame cause it's got a cool sound when you ignore the obvious QC problems. C'mon Fender, do better!
Again, Fender is trying to pull the wool over our eyes and throw another reinvention of the wheel at us for triple the price. Didn't say do the foil crap with Squier?
Fender needs to leave these deigns to the Squier line and concentrate on giving you level frets and good wiring instead of these gimmicks for crazy money. I love Fender guitars but you have to fix too many things to get them correct, the main culprit being crappy fret jobs.
I saw the video Lobster posted, it was a little harsh. I would have sent the bass back, not reviewed it. He compared it to some 70$ bass on Amazon, which is pretty much insane to compare that. Need to keep the opinions under control, sometimes just do the job. Not his job to be some type of authority on any products. Fender has always made a good sounding bass. Lobster, while he's a nice guy, I'm not taking his opinion on Fender seriously at all.
@@Bibblebabbler I agree 100%
@@Bibblebabbler Right now, he's the biggest online reviewer for bass, so his videos are on Reverb already.
How do these guys go from starting random channels wearing pajamas, to being some type of authority ?.
Cause people like to repeat this stuff, for some reason I can't figure out, they take him very seriously.
Hes done a BUNCH of fender and squire reviews. Heres the deal, for 1300 dollars this mf should play GOOD. it shouldnt have a warped/lopsided nut, a bridge thats literally not in the right position and a style of adjustment that requires you to remove the neck. Thats insane to me as well for that type of money. Now, i woulda stopped there, but to claim he has no professional experience is kinda crazy to me. The dude is a CRAZY good tech and this is where his opinions come from where others lack. His playing is great so id be willing to assume hes played gigs. Lmao yall saying hes on the spectrum is just rude at best. If yall are so much better, THEN DO IT. give us a reason to not watch lobster. But until you can do as good of in depth reviews as he can. Sit down gentlemen.
@@Bibblebabbler AMPEG? Ah another great US brand... :D
@@meinAliasfuer2024 China has plenty for sale on Amazon, they are looking to rock in Beijing now.
Vastly overpriced.
Don't feel too bad about your review, you are more of a player than a technician. I agree it sounds like a p bass.
Ehh. The tone is really weird.
Its just call it jazz bass becouse of the body🤦🏻 so u become a beautiful p bass in form of a jazz bass thats it🙆🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️
This bass is getting so trashed, all over the internet. Wow.
RN4L.
That's twice the price of a Fender Player Jazz bass. I can't see where the value is in that instrument. Seems like a gold-plated rip-off to me.
I’m not a fan of the bass either, but this retails for $1300. A Player series bass sells for $850. How does $850 + $850 = $1300? 🤔 Last I checked that came to $1700, so this is not twice the price of a Player series bass.
@@elihop9419 Maths are hard 😉😂👍🏽
@@elihop9419 I can only go by the UK market and here you can get a Player Jazz for about £600 but the foil one is £1200. You can get an American Performer Jazz for £1099 shopping around. Edit - was thinking you may be paying extra for MIM because of tariffs... but the gold foil thing is made in Mexico. I don't get the pricing on that thing. It's ridiculous.
@@kimmorgan379 player series bass in the UK is priced at £759 and the gold foil is £1299. If you’re going to say something is double the price it’s not comparing the best price that you can find on the instrument is…it’s what the posted price of the instrument is. That aside, the price on the ‘tin foil travesty’ is definitely insane!
Why are we arguing about this? You're right - some shops are selling it for more than half the price. I'm right, you can buy a Fender for about half the price from some shops (PMT Online, which is a proper shop). Will you agree with me that the Tin Foil Fender is a LOT MORE than a basic MIM, somewhere between two thirds more and twice as much depending on the retailer and that this is just plain silly?