Project Gold Foil FUnder - Building a Better Fender Gold Foil Jazz Bass! - LowEndLobster Builds
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
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Fender Gold Foil Jazz Bass Review: • Fender Gold Foil Jazz ...
Parts-
Gotoh GB528 (Nickel): www.philadelph...
Musiclilly Bridge: www.amazon.com...
Pickguard: www.amazon.com...
Curtis Novak H22 Gold Foil Pickups: www.curtisnova...
Hey Everyone! Today we have one of the most epic Jazz bass projects to date! This is Project Gold Foil FUnder! F-U... nder! We're on a quest to build a better Gold Foil Jazz Bass for LESS! Featuring a slew of budget and boutique parts, we're going to give Fender a run for their money! Let's do this!
This bass and all my other basses with rounds are strung with SIT Foundation Nickel Plated Stainless Steel 45-105(125) unless otherwise noted. Check them out at sitstrings.com/
Info on my signal chain, setup and more: • Lobster's Filming & Re...
Discord: discord.gg/dzrFMzD
Facebook: LowEndLobster
Instagram: LowEndLobster
Reverb Shop: reverb.com/shop/lowendlobster
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Isn't it funny how one dude from YT can come up with a better bass concept and execution than the whole product team at the world's biggest guitar company? I find it kind of funny. :) GJ Mr.Lobster Sir!
Recruit a whole bunch of people worldwide, set up a global sales network, and pull 80 years of brand heritage out your ass, and you too can make a bass priced solely to make you coke money. I keep forgetting it's about double the price I'd ever pay for a single-coil single-pickup noise-machine Jazz Bass that doesn't even have any "vintage" features going for it, let alone anything in the way of playability or looks over a Squier or even one of the higher-end Harley Benton's.
@@minimaluser2132 I make ‘em
in fact he build a business because he sells some basses he does upgrade on reverb
Its actually pathetic that Fender has such poor quality control issues. And they have the nerve to charge an arm & a leg for a bass. Lobster already found out the truth of a bass by Gretsch (Fender company). What other problems will Lobster discover about Fender products???
It would help if specs weren’t lost in translation
Really cool that those gold foils drop right in without any routing.
But as he states, it just mounts right on top of there, and you cannot adjust it up and down… at least from what I’m seeing ..I can’t believe they’re not hitting the strings…
so I see a problem there, other than the fact that they’re too hot
@learnmusic488 exactly. They sell spacers and I should have used a smaller one at the bridge. Removing the pickguard may help for the neck one too
Your barely-restrained joy about this whole project kept me smiling throughout. Looks like you got yourself another subscriber!
The look on your face 😮 says it all when you’re playing the fender. It’s not even a fair comparison at this point. That upgraded HB is a sound monster. Awesome!!!
When she was a young lady, my mom worked for Rowe Industries in Toledo, Ohio, which made the classic DeArmond pickups used in Harmony guitars. I had the honor of meeting Harry DeArmond and getting a tour of his basement workshop in 1969. Mr. DeArmond had two Supro electric guitars that he played simultaneously -- one in his lap while seated and one held in the conventional manner. He hammered on both of them, playing the two hands of the piano! I remember he was playing from a Burt Bacharach songbook. Great memory. When Mr. DeArmond died, I contacted Fender (which had acquired the DeArmond brand), and Fender kindly sent some guitars and basses to Harry's church. Harry was a big band guitarist in Toledo around the WWII era and had a regular gig at a downtown Chinese restaurant called Kin Wah Lo's.
Correction: Kin Wah Low.
The FUnder brings the thunder! ⚡️
I am here for it! the excitement in your pettiness is heartwarming hahahahaha well done buddy!
Fun to watch video! "Was the project worth it? No" cracked me up. Fender''s gold foil work is an embarrassment and not worth fixing either.
Those pickups sound great! Adjustability would be a big plus, though.
Probably the best sounding bridge pickup I've heard
That sounds amazing! and i am so happy you went to the Ampeg for your reviews!
I think if you paid a luthier to fix the frets on the HB you'd still be under the Fender price! Great video. Thanks.
I have a novak 22 in the bridge of my cv jag bass paired up with his pb90 in the neck. Absolute thunder. The h22 is my favorite pickup of all time.
This was very impressive. I'm not a Jazz bass fan (tried 3 times but never kept them) and don't prefer offset bodies. I do own the RB HB bass even though I normally only own and play short scale instruments now. I always wondered "what's the big deal with the gold foil pickups?" The ones used in this modification blow Fender's out of the water. If I was into 34" scale, I'd get those pickups for my bass (tuners too if they were needed). This was entertaining because you had such joy in 'outing' the flaws on the Fender bass then upgrading the HB to kick it's ass sonically.
Right, I never liked J-Basses either.
Hahaha! You’re SO happy about the pickups, so funny man. Nice one!
Sticking it to Fender for their audacity and/or their BS institutional inertia is always, always, always a great thing to observe. Popcorn grabbed. Watching.
Wow those are really nice sounding pickups!
Holy, the tone out of those O_O
Great video as usual!
The tort guard on the HB makes all the difference....... ;-) But seriously, great mods. Versatility and looks.
I'm a huge Fender head (2 Precisions, 1 Jazz, 2 Jazzmaster, 1 Jaguar) and for the longest time I figured buying new from Fender was not a good idea anymore. You just convinced me to outright never do it again.
I just bought a Fender Vintage II 60 P-bass reissue. I've had hundreds of basses over my lifetime (yes, I'm a gear slut) and this bass is THE best sounding and playing Precision I've ever owned, including a couple of Fender Custom Shop Ps.
Nice pickups. They sound like cross between P and J pickups.
Another great project bass lobster! Sounds and looks fantastic!
The MIM just has the knobs going for it. Great knobs. Curtis is amazing.
It so good when your angry at bass makers. I love that someone has the balls to tell them what’s what
hey lobster did you get any of 25th Anniversary offerings from Harley Benton?
its because when you manufacture in asia they dont pay employees living wages healthcare or abide by any envirnmental regulations but you can have a huge selection of basses and other crap
Love it! Those are killer pickups! Well worth the money and you've definitely made that bass look very pretty
Thanks for this one! I wondered what these pickups sounded like. 😎
Hello my Friend !
Je suis vraiment heureux de voir que tu as choisi le hb jb62cc pour cet upgrade fabuleux.
Ce qui prouve que la jb62 est vraiment cool.
Je suis sur que tu as rattrapé le déséquilibre avec les tuner gotoh et les pièces plus lourdes sur le corps, la voilà équilibré maintenant.
Le son de folie des pickups ok mais aussi le ton naturel de la lutherie de cette basse qui pour moi est super.
C'est clair, limpide chantant, bon avec les Curtis tu as une PB, JB et mm incroyable une vraie stingray avec que le micro chevalet.
Sur la mienne j'ai changé le bridge, le sillet en os, l'électronique en 500k cts, le pickguard 4 plis, reste les micros et mécaniques à changer.
Je mettrais des tonrider plus, pour les mécaniques, des immigration gotoh.
Thanks a lot for everything.
I love the final outcome of that Harley Benton!! Amazing massive tone! If I didn’t already have all the jazz bass tones I have in my collection, I’d be rushing out and doing those upgrades to one of my own. Great job!! 👍🏼
For at least 20 years people have been advising to mod a bass for this very reason. The prices of production guitars are bananas and modding will literally save you so much money vs buying new.
Oh, with a pick!! Thank you LEB!
I would never turn down a set of Novak's but it might be worth mentioning Allparts sells a set for about 1/4 of the maestro's MSRP
And being in lower 48 I might start with a new Tagima or an open box Squier CV from ProAudioStar
I love it when your happy! Fender has become "The Man" and you put it to the "The Man! I only buy top of the line P-basses from them anymore. I still love my '78 Jazz bass, that was different time, I would not buy it today with all the great affordable J-basses that don't weigh a ton.
Bruh. If you ever decide to unload this bass please let me be first in line! Greetings from New Orleans and great work
Just bought a Novak gold foil to put on a Sire D5, can't wait to see how it works out.
Hell hath no fury like a Lobster scorned
Sounds really good! This video was so fun to watch and really makes me want to mod lol. Haha the FUnder!!
I love this one. The Novak pickups are totally over the top! 🤣
Looks wicked, sounds even better! Love that nasty J tone....whew!
Oh man... you are Great...and what incredible great sounding pickups 💯💯💯💯💯💯...Gracias Lobster 🤗
Man, those Nokaks killed! Loved the video, thx Mr. Crustacean!
Seems like you could do a cutout in the pickguard to get the neck pickup a bit lower by mounting it underneath. It'd be a bit hinky with the pickup screw resting on the pickguard rather than the pickup but could cool down the heat a bit.
Vast improvement brother!! Sure knocked the Fender down a few pegs & then some!!
😂👍
I’ve got a set of Novak pickups in my Warmoth J bass. Great pickups!!!
Neat idea for a mod project. The Fender is a dud. And 1 GF pickup sucks (not to mention the bad worksmanship). The CN pups have a thick and clear midrange with deep bass and a tame high end. VERY NICE. Those pups are nice enough for a permanent mount in a slightly better J bass (not necessarily a Fender). I bet a Volume/Blend/Tone would work nicely. Pups are worth the $$$. Nice project.
Should have done it to a cheap fender to show them how to do it 😂 love the vids keep them coming 😍
😂 I love the G string reset on the string retainer (13:48)
Wow, no routing. They sound rich and sparkling clean.
Fender should take note and hire you for design.
One of the few J-Basses that I liked what I've heard.
Thanks for the vid. That bridge pickup sounds great. Really can hear the wood of the bass.
Absolutely fantastic jab and poke mod video! I'll leave it at that because I could really start going off on Fender's QC among other things. Way to show them a good, MORE AFFORDABLE gold foil jazz bass.
I'm watching this in May the 4th. And I sense the dark side of the force in Mr Lobster 😮
I like to see you use them pick ups with a dark glass omga pedal or a drak glass dark glass circuit pit in.
The E string on that Fender is woeful. I've got to admit, I've had a Fender USA bass that suffered from the same thing. Not good, but the HB Custom shop is a monster!
I'm trying to decide on my first bass as I come from a few months of guitar practice and I just play bass lines on my classical guitar 90% of the time anyways.
I might just have decided on getting a Harley Benton (I'm from Germany, so it's super cheap with shipping) and upgrade it as I go along after seeing this project.
They seem to be a solid choice for a build.
Built by slaves
I laughed every time you laughed and rubbed your claw/hands together.
Now slap that Novak neck pickup on the Fender :)
Man..... what a great idea. And I love those curtis pickups! What a beasts!!!
Looks and sounds greatly.
Nice work! I actually really like the looks and concept of the Fender but boy, the QC is sad. Drop that Novak pickup in the Fender and really make it roar! Not clear why those CN pups are so damn pricey though. Modeled on a very inexpensive original design. I happen have a Harmony "batwing" bass and can vouch that, that original gold foil is a beast.
When evaluating the playability, can you do some Tapping & Hammer Ons so we can better gauge the neck. Thx Lobster.
That is awesome and I love these except for one thing. If you want to trade or sell it may work with a friend but no shop will take into account the upgrades. I`m still drooling over my CNZ JB bass. Selling a Fender to get the P-Bass model.
The Curtis Novax (?) pickups sounded great. So FU Fender.
Thank you Lobster! I enjoyed every second of this vid - just great work! And the HB looks and sounds absolutely delicious. Impressive!
Thanks for sharing Lobster 🦞
Project Gold Foil FUnder seriously puts the Fender to shame!
I bought a Fender Player Standard Jazz last November during a black Friday sale where I got $200 off the normal price. It arrived in a Fender factory sealed box and when I took it out and played around with it I realized that... 1) The action was really high, there was no setup done to it at all. 2) The plastic tone knob was broken, the plastic was really thin and brittle like they didn't pour quite enough plastic into the mold. 3) Rough fret edges. Not the worse that I've encountered (that honor goes to a low end Ibanez I pick up a couple years ago), they don't stick out the sides of the fretboard but the edges could be smoothed out some more. Even with these QC flaws I feel kinda lucky when I see the QC on that $1300 Fender gold foil bass as well as some of the other QC horror stories I've heard from other people that bought Fender and Squier basses.
I do have to say though, once I did a full set up the bass sounds and plays really nice! There are no dead spots and I have the action set pretty low with no buzzing anywhere on the fret board. Once again, I feel like I got really lucky!
Great job Lobster. Very cool & lots of fun. My only concern would be just how often would you actually play that FUNDER bass with the pickups being so hot. My own experience with that situation was that the novelty wore off pretty fast and the bass collected dust, in favor of several other more friendly basses. Still have it and still play it. Just not that often. The inability to adjust pickup height would also bug me. To the point where I'd find the pickups a more suitable/adjustable home.
Still, I loved how you made a really FUN bass while thumbing (clawing?) your nose at Fender.
That is one insane j-bass growl!
Nicely done. Did you do anythings about sorting the fretwork on the HB?
My local music store has a gold foil bass and all the bridge saddles are skewed way to the right, looks ridiculous next to the price tag.
Your bass looks awesome, reminds me of the thunderbucker Tbird pickups with the chrome covers.
Plus you've got the HB parts for another project.
Now hot damn this IS SO MUCH BETTER!
Those pickups sound awesome
See what you gone and made Lobster do Fender, the man just made your entire team look like fools, and schooled you all!! Take my money Lobster! I’d definitely buy one of these from ya, FUender 😅
SEND FENDER TO BASS "SLIP AND FALL SCHOOL "
I like the sound of the fender better. I know this Novax were hot and if you adjusted your interface it would have sounded better. I just like the smooth tone from the fender. As for pickup height just take a razor blade and go around the neck pickup and then remove it and finish cutting it out. This will drop it down and help a lot. Should only take a few minutes to get done. It came out nice though and love the look of gold foils.
I'd be interested to hear this thing with some fuzzzz. Great experiment!
P.S. I disagree with you, this project was worth it to me!! It answers a lot of questions that I had!
Lobster Custom Shop Gold Foil Shell Pink Jazz with Hard case and Claw - make it happen, Fender!
I would shim the neck so I could raise the strings away from the pickups because they seem way too hot but they sound like a bigger Jazz bass :)
That might mess with the action, introducing fret buzz, which might necessitate an entire setup if not a fret leveling.
@@boxerfencer what are you talking about? Changing the neck angle has nothing to do with fret leveling.. Shimming the neck will simply angle the strings away from the pickups for less output and then the bass can be set up normally, just like every other bass
Love your honesty! Keep it up!!
Hey Lobster, would using copper shield tape on the back of the pickguard and grounding the bridge pickup reduce/remove that hum? Thanks
It honestly boggles my mind how Fender released that bass in the first place. It’s a great idea don’t get me wrong, but the execution and construction was horrible. The Harley Benton blows it right out of the water. Great work as always Lobster!
Project FUNder brings FUN in... well, it's fun. Yeah.
Cool project!
That tone! 🤤
I own the blue Fender and MY BRIDGE was only slightly off center and was easily fixed with a minor adjustment. My question is WHO makes a replacement pickup to replace the Gold Foil provided by Fender?
Worth it? YES! Any instrument, with or without mods that plays and sounds as good as or better than the comparable Fender at 57% of the price for one is ALWAYS worth it, and it continues to reaffirm:
A. You DON’T have to buy a Fender to get a great F-style playing and sounding bass.
B. Fender should LOWER their costs dramatically or offer much better quality control and product concept for what they are currently charging.
This kind of marketplace messaging is ALWAYS worth it.
Lastly, I’ll bet someone will pay you almost to the penny for what you put into that modded bass, so another way the market will affirm, yes, this project was indeed literally worth the time/effort/money.
Hint: I’ll bet you could make more than one of these “Lobster Mod J-Style Basses” and sell them for what you put into them…
Fender project engineer : " OK, let's use this high output pickups so we don't even need to cover all the strings !! "
Mr Lobster, would the Novak pickup slot right onto the Fender.... asking for a friend that bought a Gold Foil online before your video and then had EXACTLY the same experience as you did.
In answer to the question, "Is this project worth it?" I'd probably have said yes, under the right circumstances. If you're a gigging bassist and don't want to haul your vintage Fender to pubs and venues where there's a high possibility it'll get dinged or bumped, then build yourself one of these to gig and it'll eventually pay for itself.
Yeah, man! Stick it to Fender! 🤣🤣🤣
When i first saw the Fender gold foil bass i thought that it is way overpriced along with most of the newer Mexican line , cost of production cannot be that much more to have the almost double the cost of the standard player series basses.
You should put one of those pickups on the Fender
someone give this guy a TV Show!
I am not sure I agree this once. The gold foil is a mess, but the two basses do not have the same vibe. So I am not sure any point has been made. Apart that you can make a better bass than the Gold Foil by buying a decent cheap bass and put good tuners and good pickups in. Those Curtis Novak do not sound in any way like the Gold foils. I personally find the sound to be bit too much. The concept of Fender was not to have a bass that sounds "immense". I think it may be down to the fact that you could not adjust the pickup height. To me, a pickup that does not allow me to adjust height until it stops doing my head in is just not worth the money. I had a similar issue in a 100 pound Fazley bass. I could not bear it, I raised the bridge and shimmed the hell out of the neck
would the Gotoh tuners be an upgrade or over the tuners that came stock with the squire paranormal 54 jazz, in your opinion? picked it up used on sale and I'm looking to use it as a excellent mod platform inspired by your videos
Priceless 😂
Love ya Lobster!
For an American Professional Jazz Bass, what size spacer for the bridge pickup?
That destroyed the Fender. I'd like to get my claws on some of those pickups now.