Recommended series: Player series, American Professional series, American Elite series, American Original series
In the list of the "Top 100 Music Companies in North America in 2017" published by Music Trade, an authoritative music trade magazine, Fender ranked fifth with a market sales of $585 million. It has an irreplaceable position in the field of electroacoustic instruments, from which the world's first solid guitar and mass-produced electric bass were produced, and many classic amplifiers such as Tweed have been made, and the Fender brand has become a prominent cultural icon in the United States while promoting pop music and rock music.
In the field of electric bass, our common Precision Bass and Jazz Bass models are the brand founder Leo Ao. Leo Fender's triumph. Introduced in 1951, the Precision Bass was the industry standard for bass instruments that allowed them to say goodbye to the bulky cello of the past, with precise control of the pitch through frets, and an effective string length of 34 inches. The improved version introduced in 1957 features a split coil pickup, a streamlined half-horned body design, and a warm, thick tone, and is still regarded as a classic today.
Compared to the Precision Bass, the Jazz Bass was introduced in 1960 and has a slimmer neck, giving musicians a comfortable playing feel. In addition, the combination of two single-coil pickups and control knobs gives the tone more possibilities. Jazz Bass is widely used in the interpretation of different music styles such as rock, folk, reggae, funk, etc., and has been favored by famous musicians such as Jaco Pastorius, Geddy Lee, Marcus Miller, etc.
At present, Fender has developed a variety of electric bass models such as Precision, Jazz, Jaguar, Dimension, and Mustang, as well as more than 10 series such as Player, American Professional, American Elite, Artist, American Original, and American Vintage. In general, there are signed, standard, high-spec and replica models under each series.
As the representative of the 2017 standard model, the American Professional series is gradually replacing the previous Standard series, with V-mod pickups, slender frets, and a deep C-shaped neck profile for a more comfortable feel. The American Elite is a high-spec series of 10,000 yuan, which was awarded the title of "Premier Gear" by Premier Guitar magazine in 2016, and uses a special low-noise single-coil pickup equipped with an active pre-amplifier circuit, which can adjust the clear tone directly on the instrument through the three-band EQ equalizer.
If you're looking for a retro 50's and 60's tone and have a budget, you can try Fender Custom Shop's weathered electric basses. For example, the Relic series reproduces classic styles with fine wood, equipped with Stack Knob control system, and uses a special aging process to simulate the traces of time such as paint cracks and scratches, bringing out a strong retro atmosphere, which has a certain collection value. If you don't have a budget, you might as well consider the 7,500 yuan Classic series, which integrates the popular models and specifications of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and also has a classic taste.
Squier is one of Fender's sub-brands focusing on the low-to-mid-end market. The brand's electric bass continues the traditional design of Fender in appearance, although the selection of materials is slightly inferior to that of Fender's origin, but the higher cost performance makes it a "hot model" on major domestic e-commerce platforms. Among them, the price of the Squier Affinity series is about 2000 yuan, which is more suitable for novices to use as an exercise piano.
Since Fender has factories in the United States, Mexico, China, Japan, etc., the quality and price of products will vary depending on the origin. Among them, the U.S. product is the best in terms of materials and workmanship, and the Mofen material is the same, but the workmanship is more average, and the price is lower than that of the U.S. product. By paying attention to the first 3 digits of the product number, we can identify the origin of the product, which is generally 019 for the United States, 013 and 014 for Mexico, 024 for China, and 025 for Nissan.
