I played a Fender American Pro(?) Jazz Yesterday and....

Are 5 strings a fading fad?

  • Yes

    Votes: 20 15.7%

  • No

    Votes: 81 63.8%

  • Why?

    Votes: 26 20.5%
  • Total voters
    127
B

bad_ai

Inactive
Jun 19, 2018
54
43
4,891
#1
Ocala Guitar Center. Maple neck, standard Jazz specs, cheap rounds, through body, black with white pickguard (what's up with Fender and all their white pickguards?) through a new release of small Acoustic 100w amps. The amp was impressive for $250. The Jazz is very bright but the E string just didn't get it. They want near $1500 for this thing and I tested a G&L JB last week for $200 more and they're similar yet so far away.

While there played an Ibanez SR5-505 or something like that and I had a terrible time with it. I'm sure it needed adjustments but it was not a pleasant instrument to try to play. I realized I have no facility for 5 strings, at least this one. Didn't like the sound. Maybe the battery was dying but I couldn't tell much in the sound from messing with the knobs and toggle switch. The bass sounded lifeless compared to the Fender. $700 for that.

I walked away thinking Fender has lost its mind while G&L is a very focused company, and to my amateur and unskilled ears and hands the G&L was much beefier, lending itself to more sound, fantastic articulation. Comments?
 
#2
im in that area......i play 4 and 5 string....When I play 5-String its mostly for functions, events, shows (like in The Villages) as I play with variety band/multi-genre situations where its needed so, No, its not a dying fad :) (My primary 5vers are a Sire V7-5 and a Fender American Deluxe Jazz V)... as far as basses at that Guitar Center, I wouldnt put a whole lot of faith in how they are setup and hung on the wall at any music store, let alone that one

By the Way, one of my four-bangers is a G&L ASAT - almost 25 years old; one owner-Me!...Yes, they are amazing

Its possible I may have seen you in there....I saw a guy checking out that bass the other day while I was in there looking for an Explorer case for my Destroyer :)
 
#3
FWIW, my father owns one of these American Professionals Jazz basses and it is the finest 4 string we have ever played. Everything on that bass is just right.

They won’t all be like that. Play more and you will find a gem.

G&L has more consistency in producing great instruments because they sell fewer instruments than Fender. If G&L had to produce Fender quantities of instruments you would surely find some less spectacular than others.
 
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#4
bad_ai said:
Ocala Guitar Center. Maple neck, standard Jazz specs, cheap rounds, through body, black with white pickguard (what's up with Fender and all their white pickguards?) through a new release of small Acoustic 100w amps. The amp was impressive for $250. The Jazz is very bright but the E string just didn't get it. They want near $1500 for this thing and I tested a G&L JB last week for $200 more and they're similar yet so far away.

While there played an Ibanez SR5-505 or something like that and I had a terrible time with it. I'm sure it needed adjustments but it was not a pleasant instrument to try to play. I realized I have no facility for 5 strings, at least this one. Didn't like the sound. Maybe the battery was dying but I couldn't tell much in the sound from messing with the knobs and toggle switch. The bass sounded lifeless compared to the Fender. $700 for that.

I walked away thinking Fender has lost its mind while G&L is a very focused company, and to my amateur and unskilled ears and hands the G&L was much beefier, lending itself to more sound, fantastic articulation. Comments?
Click to expand...
I think G&L is the way to go, not just because they have so many finish options, different necks and fretboards, but because they seem to take a personal interest in their products...just take a look at their Facebook page.
I’d be happy with an L2000, SB-2, Kiloton and a JB in some wild finish.
 
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#7
bad_ai said:
what's up with Fender and all their white pickguards?
Click to expand...
lots of employees from sanders to secretaries have been pestering their bosses for more than a fifty cent raise year after year for over a decade meanwhile consumers gotta have prices not budge over the same time period. The money's gotta come from somewhere.
 
#8
SpazzTheBassist said:
im in that area......i play 4 and 5 string....When I play 5-String its mostly for functions, events, shows (like in The Villages) as I play with variety band/multi-genre situations where its needed so, No, its not a dying fad :) (My primary 5vers are a Sire V7-5 and a Fender American Deluxe Jazz V)... as far as basses at that Guitar Center, I wouldnt put a whole lot of faith in how they are setup and hung on the wall at any music store, let alone that one

By the Way, one of my four-bangers is a G&L ASAT - almost 25 years old; one owner-Me!...Yes, they are amazing

Its possible I may have seen you in there....I saw a guy checking out that bass the other day while I was in there looking for an Explorer case for my Destroyer :)
Click to expand...
Well, if he was old, fat, ugly, completely obnoxious, egotistical and arrogant ... could be.... :-)
 
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#9
jd56hawk said:
I think G&L is the way to go, not just because they have so many finish options, different necks and fretboards, but because they seem to take a personal interest in their products...just take a look at their Facebook page.
I’d be happy with an L2000, SB-2, Kiloton and a JB in some wild finish.
Click to expand...
That's precisely the way I feel about this G&L. You can see and hear a personal investment into this instrument. The $1500 Fender Jazz with the maple neck didn't excite me. I mean, to me and for that kind of bread why isn't Fender taking a personal interest in that range of instrument? The G&L is like Fender's custom shop. What's the difference really?
 
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#11
Sid the Kid said:
FWIW, my father owns one of these American Professionals Jazz basses and it is the finest 4 string we have ever played. Everything on that bass is just right.

They won’t all be like that. Play more and you will find a gem.

G&L has more consistency in producing great instruments because they sell fewer instruments than Fender. If G&L had to produce Fender quantities of instruments you would surely find some less spectacular than others.
Click to expand...
Maybe Fender should reconsider their business model. I mean that G&L is just G&L. No beginner, intermediary, made in Mexico (for a premium), too many models and inconsistent to boot. Such a waste of materials. All my opinion, of course. What made Fender Fender is they built them pretty much one instrument at a time with extremely high quality control. Like the original Hammond organs. Works of art. This Jazz pro was, like, OK. It's technically great and all that but something core is missing. Some personality. The G&L, a complete different animal that, to me, begs to be played, like Leo's Fenders even through 1969.
 
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#12
bad_ai said:
Well, if he was old, fat, ugly, completely obnoxious, egotistical and arrogant ... could be.... :)
Click to expand...
Haha! How tough is it to get a gig at the Villages .... before the sinkholes devour the place? What does one have to play material wise? Oldies? Standards? Party? Dance? Disco? All the above?
 
#13
I don't think the battery was dying. The Professional is passive (or at least mine was). I had a Professional Jazz IV and didn't really dig it. I thought I should, because after all, it's a Fender Jazz. I've found that I like a much heavier sound. That's why I have a BTB1005 and a Warwick Corvette Double Buck.
 
#14
bad_ai said:
Maybe Fender should reconsider their business model. I mean that G&L is just G&L. No beginner, intermediary, made in Mexico (for a premium), too many models and inconsistent to boot. Such a waste of materials. All my opinion, of course. What made Fender Fender is they built them pretty much one instrument at a time with extremely high quality control. Like the original Hammond organs. Works of art. This Jazz pro was, like, OK. It's technically great and all that but something core is missing. Some personality. The G&L, a complete different animal that, to me, begs to be played, like Leo's Fenders even through 1969.
Click to expand...

I agree with this to an extent......it took a bit for my Deluxe V to be broken in and it still has marginal personality...My ASAT, however, is amazing....feels amazing....and sings (unplugged, its one of the loudest basses you will hear just acoustically)
 
#15
bad_ai said:
Haha! How tough is it to get a gig at the Villages .... before the sinkholes devour the place? What does one have to play material wise? Oldies? Standards? Party? Dance? Disco? All the above?
Click to expand...

all of the above and more....country goes over well...New music - especially new pop - goes over well...Its not unusual to have The Beatles and Cake By The Ocean in the same set :D
 
Last edited:
#17
I've never had any noise issues with this.
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#18
bad_ai said:
Maybe Fender should reconsider their business model. I mean that G&L is just G&L. No beginner, intermediary, made in Mexico (for a premium), too many models and inconsistent to boot. Such a waste of materials. All my opinion, of course. What made Fender Fender is they built them pretty much one instrument at a time with extremely high quality control. Like the original Hammond organs. Works of art. This Jazz pro was, like, OK. It's technically great and all that but something core is missing. Some personality. The G&L, a complete different animal that, to me, begs to be played, like Leo's Fenders even through 1969.
Click to expand...

G&L will never have the market saturation that Fender does. Fender’s business model plain works; they have been selling essentially the same thing year after year for consistently more money. Their value on the used market alone should prove this to you.

If you want a great deal buy a used G&L. I love G&L basses but they resell like Ibanez, and mostly they are all great deals.
 
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