Say it ain’t so! Well, it’s so. I have my Music Man StingRay 5 bass up for auction on eBay.
I love that bass, but I just can’t justify having a $1400 bass that sits in its case 99% of the time. Especially when I can sell it and use the money to buy both a bass and a guitar from Fender’s Mexican factory. And have almost half the money left over.
Say what you will about Ed Roman, but he had it right when he was talking about the likes of Fender and Gibson. (I think he was ripping more on Gibson, because of their obscenely high prices for U.S.-made guitars, but the message applies to Fender too.) Fender has 3 basic lines of products: their low-end beginner instruments made in China under the Squier brand, their “standard” line of Fender guitars made in Mexico, and the high-end stuff made in California. But the fact is, while there’s a huge chasm in quality between the Chinese Squiers and the Mexican Fenders, at about double the retail price, there’s very little difference between the very nice Mexican Fenders and the vastly overpriced American Fenders.
This was reinforced for me last weekend when I played my father-in-law’s Mexican-made Precision Bass. He bought it to play for the contemporary services at his church, based on my recommendation. I figured it would be a decent, reliable instrument, and it would only set him back 400 bucks. I had owned a Mexican-made Fender Jazz back in high school, and it was great until I decided to take it apart and muck around with it, and even after that it was still pretty decent. But I think the Mexican factory has made great strides; if I didn’t know better, I’d never guess that P-Bass wasn’t a U.S. model.
So it is, in a week or less the Music Man will be on its way to a new home, and I’ll be applying that cash towards…
…and…
…and while I’m at it, this, to (finally!) rip all of my LPs…
Comments
6 responses to “Selling the Music Man!”
Selling would leave you with enough for an iPhone.
Hiya Scott,
I stopped by your site looking to confirm your email addy and found that you are selling a Stingray 5. For what it’s worth, my take on the Mexican Fenders is that they are great instruments for the money, but they don’t compare to American Fenders. And it’s not just a question of marketing. I have owned two Mexican strats, a Squire Strat (remember my yellow one?) and I currently own two American Custom Shop models. Both of the Mexican strats “duped” me. Their shortcomings didn’t become apparent until after I had owned them for a while and started to develop a feel for them. I could never get the tone or feel out of those instruments that I was looking for. I also noticed (in my case anyway) they tended to be heavier than my American Fenders. I don’t know what kind of wood Fender uses in the Mex strats but it would be reasonable to assume they cut cost in this area. Actually, some of the best Fenders I’ve ever played came from Japan. But that’s another story.
Another thing to consider – and this is a bit of a sticky subject – is the person accessing the instrument. By the way, I am NOT questioning your qualifications as a musician; I am well aware of them. But as unkind as it may seem, all musicians are not created equal. I recently met a man who proudly displayed his Mexican made “50’s reissue” stratocaster and declared it to be equal in every way to its American Fender Custom Shop counterpart. Well, let’s just say I remained respectful. But I don’t doubt this man’s sincerity. I suppose you could even say it was true for him in the sense that his Mex strat was more than up to the task of accommodating his musical skills. In general, however, you will see professional musicians playing professional grade instruments. There is a reason for this; they can discern, appreciate, and utilize the quality difference. And since most pro musicians are, to be blunt, poor, they are not going to spend four times the amount of money if it’s not providing them something of value. I am familiar with your musical skills. You should pay for quality and enjoy it.
Now, it IS possible to carry this too far, or at least farther than it needs to go. The bass player that I’ve been playing with for the last several years occupies the opposite extreme of the musical instrument spectrum. He owns several handmade “boutique” instruments. One is a Warrior “Dran Michael” 5 string which I recently had the opportunity to play. There is no question that it is an instrument of the absolute highest quality. But at 5 grand an argument can be made that it tips over into the realm of extravagance and doesn’t’ represent an increase in quality, at least not proportionate to it’s cost. Yes, it feels and sounds better than an American Fender – much better, but not four times better.
I’m not familiar with Ed Roman’s comments on Gibson’s pricing. But I have noticed that some of his own guitars are well up into the same price range. If he has “railed” against Gibson it would seem a little hypocritical to me. I’m no defender of Gibson, other than to acknowledge their right to charge what they want for their guitars. As long as I’m free to not buy them there is no such thing as an “obscene” price.
Funny. My intention was to contact you with a question about logo design. But I spent all my time talking about instruments.
Do you design logos Scott? If so, I might be able to shoot some business your way. Just don’t charge any obscene prices…hehe.
Gene
Gene,
Thanks for your thoughts on this. I agree that there still IS a difference between the Mexican and American Fenders, even if it’s not as great as the price difference.
Ultimately, what I should have done 4 years ago is sell the fretless Music Man and buy a better guitar, instead of selling BOTH basses I owned and buying this Music Man I am now selling. But that’s 20/20 hindsight, and now I’m in a much different place. Mortgage payments, two kids, and no (well, few) opportunities for gigging.
These days I’m recording, and in equal amounts on bass and guitar. This Music Man is more bass than I need for what I do, but the Squier Strat I am using is definitely NOT enough guitar for what I’m doing. All things considered, I think I’m going to be much better off with a Mexican-made Fender guitar AND bass, than a high-end bass and a P.O.S. guitar.
Congrats to the winner of the bass! It didn’t go for as much as I’d have liked, ultimately, but it was $100 above my minimum (which, contrary to standard eBay practice, really WAS the minimum at which I was willing to sell it), so I’m satisfied. As soon as I get real paid (á la Beck), I’ll be ordering the new gear…
It is done. The Music Man is on its way to Ohio, and the new gear is on its way here!
Wow… it’s hard to believe it’s been two years since all of this transpired, but since this was dug up by my “This Day in Room 34 History” feature on the home page, I thought I’d provide a little update:
The two Mexican-made Fenders I bought (a 5-string Jazz Bass and a Stratocaster) are adequate, but not outstanding. The bass is definitely the better of the two: stays in tune great, sounds great, not too noisy. The only complaints I have are that the body feels cheap (like some kind of composite, not solid wood), and one of the volume pots is loose. I tried to tighten it but I couldn’t. The Strat is much more disappointing: I think my old Squier Strat had better tone, and it is impossible to tune and beyond impossible to keep in tune.
Earlier this year (2009) I bought both a new bass and a new guitar, that are much better. First, I got a Fender Jaguar Bass. Yes, I’ve re-embraced the 4-string bass. The Jaguar is awesome. It’s from Fender’s Japanese factory, which makes instruments of a quality somwhere between the Mexican and U.S. Fenders, closer to U.S. (both in quality and price). Then I got a Schecter Tempest Custom guitar. I absolutely love it. It’s rock-solid, keeps perfectly in tune for weeks, no pickup noise (unless you switch into single-coil mode, and even then it’s slight), and the best tone of any guitar I have ever played.
At this point, I’m only keeping the Mexican Fenders for one reason each: the bass for the fifth string, which I occasionally need/want, and the Strat for the tremolo, which (again) I occasionally need/want. Were it not for those two factors, I’d have sold them both as soon as I bought their replacements.