Fender American Design creations

[screambasses]

I especially like how the headstock looks like a new G&L...


pete

It doesn't. That's a hang tag.

Don't you know sarcasm when you see it?

[Frenchy-Lefty]

Addison, now will you tell us how this little beast sounds in comparaison to let say your custom shop Jazz or a regular Jazz...will ya? Eh?

[Matt R.]

I especially like how the headstock looks like a new G&L...


pete

It doesn't. That's a hang tag.

Don't you know sarcasm when you see it?

Haha. D'oh! Long day and I'm a little slow on the draw.

[Addison]

Addison, now will you tell us how this little beast sounds in comparaison to let say your custom shop Jazz or a regular Jazz...will ya? Eh?

Sure!

But, I can only compare to my Custom Shop.

I actually recorded some A/B comparisons because I was also doing some pickup swaps as well. I picked up some Nordy NJ4's and a set of NJ4SV's.

I'll try to post those soon.

The differences weren't crazy, in my opinion... I mean, we are talking about the same platform. Same body shape, neck shape, scale length, pickup type, pickup spacing, etc... so all of those similar factors will certainly contribute to the basses sounding similar.

The noticeable differences were pretty stereotypical, and there weren't any big surprises.

My custom shop, which is alder with a capped rosewood board has a bit of a sweeter more subtle high-end, thicker and more pronounced midrange, and a more compressed overall tone with a tighter low-end.

My ADE, which is swamp ash with a glued-on slab maple board (it's not a solid one-piece neck) has a bigger and more open bottom end, slightly subdued midrange, and a snappy, slightly brighter high end.

Could you tell the difference between basses in a live music situation? Probably not... but on a recording, I can see both basses being very useful.

On another note, I can not believe how goddamned amazing of a job these guys do on their necks and fretwork these days. Both of the basses I have set up and play as good or better than any high-end boutique bass I've ever owned.

I set all of my basses up the same... necks with almost no relief and my action is just a hair less than 1/16th from the top of the 12th fret to the bottom of each string. That's pretty low action for most people, I think, and they can take it... no problem at all.

I know Fender gets a lot of flack, but these are simply great basses... all the way around.

[funky42]

Here she is in all her gold glory!!!! Fit n Finish is top notch!!!! IM VERY HAPPY WITH THIS PURCHASE!!!

[Brett Zeppelin]

Here she is in all her gold glory!!!! Fit n Finish is top notch!!!! IM VERY HAPPY WITH THIS PURCHASE!!!

I'd be very happy with that purchase, too. That's quite a looker.

[rdavidson]

Look at that gold hardware!!! That's the stuff that's no longer available, right? You lucky dog!

[Frenchy-Lefty]

Funky42, your bass looks stunning! And you'll be the only guy with the Gold hardware since they did it just for you! Lucky

[Addison]

YES!!!

Your bass is killer JB... congrats!!



Update on my P-Bass neck...

It's even more unique than I originally thought.

It's more than likely the only solid one-piece maple neck with a 9.5" radius, graphite bars and hex-key truss rod adjustment in existence.

I thought my neck was simply a "modern" neck with vintage tint and a vintage decal, but then I realized something... modern necks with maple fingerboards have glued-on maple fingerboards with no skunk stripe, like the ones that currently come on American Standards.

My p-bass neck was actually manufactured as a classic neck with solid one-piece maple construction and a skunk stripe, but it has all the features of a modern neck. So it's this strange hybrid of both styles of necks... and the guys at Fender are actually confused by it.

I honestly think it's strange that this neck is what I would have picked, had I had the choice... and I ended up with EXACTLY what I wanted completely by mistake.

I'll take some more pics later. It's insane!

[AzWhoFan]

funky42, that is tres tres tres sexy!!

[fivebass52]

Just be sure to wipe all that Gold down after use... don't want to see it fade away!

[screambasses]

Very nice.

pete

[funky42]

Thanks for the kind words guys!!! YEP!!! She a SEXY MUTHA FUNKER!!! DAMM!!! Should of put that on my neck plate ,and I couldn't agree more with Addison about the fret work,it's flawless in every which way,I'm also very pleased with the 64 PUPS I choose,sounds like a jazz bass should to me,I'm very pleased with the whole AMERICAN DESIGN EXPERIENCE.

[Agent00Soul]

This forum needs to change it's motto to "The online home for southpaw bassists....and art lovers." All these basses are just beautiful to look at. Amazing combinations of color, hardware etc

[fivebass52]

Interesting how the hardware almost looks Copper-plated. That would be a very cool look, but a bitch to keep from tarnishing!

[pjmuck]

I was holding out on my order pending a "Bono-approved" instrument :

http://thehub.musiciansfriend.com/bits/ ... rc=3TP4FRC

[AzWhoFan]

I was holding out on my order pending a "Bono-approved" instrument :

http://thehub.musiciansfriend.com/bits/ ... rc=3TP4FRC

do you think he'll QC it before it leaves the factory????

[bigevilrobot]

I was holding out on my order pending a "Bono-approved" instrument :

http://thehub.musiciansfriend.com/bits/ ... rc=3TP4FRC

do you think he'll QC it before it leaves the factory????

he'll make sure it's the real thing, or even better than the real thing

[pjmuck]

I was holding out on my order pending a "Bono-approved" instrument :

http://thehub.musiciansfriend.com/bits/ ... rc=3TP4FRC

do you think he'll QC it before it leaves the factory????

he'll make sure it's the real thing, or even better than the real thing

[Addison]

For anyone who is interested, I did a sound comparison between the '58 pickups that came on my p-bass to the "Custom Shop '62 Precision" pickups that they were kind enough to send me as a replacement and here are the results...

There is no added EQ, compression or anything else... it's a straight signal into my Fast Track Ultra and into my computer.

Volume and tone were on "10" and the bass had Fender flats on it... 45, 60, 80, 100. Fantastic flats!! Highly recommended.

https://soundcloud.com/addison_bass/58- ... -precision

I am WAY happier with the CS '62 pickups... they sound absolutely friggin' amazing.