LeftyBassist.com

Those CS 62's beat the snot outta the '58s! richer, fuller, all around better definition ... Did you measure the ohm-age between the two sets by any chance?

YES. The CS 62s rule

Hi Matt,

Maybe I missed it - how's your ADE bass(s)?

Oh boy... No you didn't miss anything. I haven't talked about the American Design Experience much publicly.

In short, it was a nightmare and a total bust. I no longer have one.

In March of this year I ordered my vintage Jazz. About a month later, balls deep in excitement over cool lefty options, I also decided it would be cool to go for a vintage Precision as well, so I did.

3 months later I take delivery of my Jazz, and it looked and felt great at first, despite a slightly wonky placement of one of the strap buttons. When I went to adjust the neck a little, it became apparent that the truss rod was maxed out and recessed deep into the heel of the neck. This is a new bass. Also, the tuners were stiff and grindy. I returned it, asking for a replacement, to which Fender quickly and happily obliged.

In the meantime, I receive my Precision at the end of July. The second I open the case, before I even pick it up, the cereal bowl-like dip in the neck is readily apparent. It was horrendous. Naturally I try the truss rod, and it will not move without forcing it. That bass immediately goes back in the case, and off to Fender it goes for a refund. Luckily, I bought that '79 P from Elderly that was posted here and it's amazing, not to mention the fact I paid slightly less for it than I did the ADE Precision.

So I'm still waiting for my replacement Jazz at this point, and it's probably not surprising that I had low hopes for that bass given what I've already gone through.

So I get that bass, and it feels good at first, but I discover that it has a nice hump past the 12th fret, and the bass is unplayable in that area. Naturally I was livid, so I reach out to Fender (and keep in mind I somehow retained Zen-like patience through this entire shit storm) to see what my options are. I really wanted this Jazz to work out. I said that I wanted Glaser instruments to plane and fret the neck, and that I had good luck with a couple basses I had repaired there. The customer service guy said that was reasonable but he had to run it by some higher ups to see what they could do. So, after 3 weeks of waiting and no communication, I finally said 'fuck this' and emailed to say I wanted to return the bass and scrap it all. I got an immediate response. Go figure. So that's what happened. Also, this replacement bass had an extra wiring channel mistakenly drilled from the neck pickup into the control cavity, and the drill bit had driven into the bottom of the control cavity as well. This wasn't visible in any way unless you take the plate off, but still. This is fucked up, and just plain incompetent. I couldn't believe how bad it all went, because Fender's American Standard stuff is basically perfect in my experience.

After I returned that lemon I ended up ordering a Stingray 4 (white, tort, matching headstock) for about $200 less than the ADE Jazz. I should be seeing that bass in another month and a half or so.

Nightmare. Good luck with the Stingray. (you should have kept the sonic blue Ray)

Ha I know. I sold that one to finance this disaster

Matt,

Thanks for sharing. I'm sorry you had such a horrible experience.

Geoff

Looks like "Ice Queen" will have a new sister.

(a white Ray with matching headstock that's been in the leftybassist family for a while (Andrew, myself, Frenchy, etc.))

Matt:
1) looks like you inherited all of Addison's bad-bass karma in one fell swoop
2) Your Zen is mightier than mine, I would have been so livid I'd a chucked that bass through a window ASAP. Then asked for a full refund.

Seriously tho, and not knowing what the general population has experienced overall, it sounds to me like Fender got way overloaded with orders and cut corners on QC to get product out the door. It's the only semi-reasonable explanation I can think of .... normally they do a much better job on instruments in that price range.

Well I was holding out hope that they would give a "do-over" special attention, but this was totally fucked on every level. I'm so disappointed. I was actually more bummed than angry because a nice 60s spec Fender Jazz in Olympic white is a dream bass to me.

Matt, didn't you say that they also used some righty pots and wired them lefty (making them on/off with no taper)? - It is hard to believe such a large company would screw up the launch of a new product with such a horrible QC...that or Addison contaminated you with the "bass bad luck" virus.

When I had the "Ice Queen" everyone would always comment "what a sexy looking bass". I kinda miss it sometimes. I should have kept it and replaced the pickup by a Nordstrand to resolve this weak-G issue.

Unfortunately, Fender also does the weird pot thing with the American Standards too. They didn't always do it though. My 70s basses are just wired righty but they taper and work correctly.

Fender only uses reverse audio taper pots on their strats and teles for some unknown reason... as far as I know, they've never used lefty pots on their basses and there has been no consistency throughout the years as to whether they wired them lefty or righty.

Currently they wire righty pots lefty... which is stupid. They do it on all of their basses, including Custom Shops. That's how mine was, anyway.

For what it's worth, Rickenbacker does the same thing... so does G&L.

At this point, I'm used to gutting everything and rewiring with lefty pots.

I'm seriously bummed about Matt's ordeal... my situation was way better. My jazz bass is literally perfect, amd even though they fucked up on my P, it totally worked out in my favor. I basically now have a custom shop precision... That's the only way you could get the bass that I currently have.

They also sent me a HUGE box of goodies to make up for it all... Like over $300 in Fender swag. Made up for it and then some.

I haven't had a G&L lefty wired left with righty pots. I do however have an ASAT that is wired right with righty pots.
I also just acquired an american standard strat that is wired half right and half left, but I'm suspecting that may have been the previous owners doing

It's a bummer to hear that the ADE thing is such a clusterf** for lefties, although I'm not sure I'm terribly surprised.
What I really can't believe is that they can't manage to get the most basic parts in a workable order even on the second time. The last couple of American Standard and even MIM Standards I've picked up have actually played really well, the only problem there is the serious lack of colour and fretboard options (and mystic blue kinda looks like suck with a white pickguard).

Since we are talking pot, is anyone using linear pots insteaf audio taper? If yes, how different is it?
I usually get all my instruments wired righty but I have a Strat on which I use the volume knob for effect and could only do it if it turns a certain way.

Just checking in here to see if Fender's still offering these in lefty or not. The link still works. Has anyone else here encountered some of the issues Matt described with your orders?

Mine:



(To the very astute; yes, I cheated! )