Fender Basses - The Low Down.

“I Know I want a Fender Bass but whats all this about American, Mexican and Japanese Fenders, and will somebody let me know whats what as I’m somewhat confused by all the talk about each one?”

Yep, sure why not. Its about time we had an article for bassists about this very subject and there are so many different answers on so many different sites by so many people taking a guess at what the differences are.
It’s no good people, so lets set the record straight and get some history of Fender and how the company got as far as Japan in the first place.

The Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company was founded in Fullerton , California in 1946 by One Clarence Leonidas Fender. With its headquarters now in Scottsdale, Arizona is it now a privately held company with Manufacturing facilities in Corona California and in Ensenada, Baja, Mexico.

In 1951 Leo Fender addressed the issues arising from playing the upright resonating bass guitar, i.e. transportation and volume/amplification, by introducing the electric Precision bass guitar and the Fender Bassman amplifier, a 45 watt 4 speaker bass amp. Neither of these was the first of its kind, but they were the first to be widely produced and the P-bass was the first electric bass to be fretted like a guitar.

In 1960 Fender released the Jazz Bass - it was a sleeker updated bass with an offset waist body and a slimmer neck than the P-bass, and featured 2 single coil pick-ups, rather than one split Humbucking pickup present on the p-bass since 1957.

Everything went fine with the development of the Stratocaster and Jazzmaster 6 string guitars and their amplifier range over the next few years until in 1965 Leo Fender sold his now profitable company to CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) for $13 million.

When CBS took over it was generally seen as a positive step forward for the company, however this was not to be the case, as under the managemant of the cost cutting CBS the quality of Fender instruments began to slip. During this CBS era did introduce some new instrument and amplifier designs but these days, CBS instruments are much less sought after and coveted than the pre-CBS instruments that were created by Leo Fender.

Then, in 1985, William Schultz, President ofthe CBS Musical Instrument division, initiated a campaign for the employees of the Fender company to buy it from CBS, which they did, renaming the company to Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, and behind this name retained all the old Fender models along with the newer designs and concepts.

Fender manufactures its most expensive guitars and basses at its factory in Corona, California and cheaper mid to high quality guitars ansd basses at its factory in Ensenada, Baja, Mexico.

Fender also contracts Asian guitar manufacturers to build Fender guitars and also the lower priced Squire guitars.

Fender Japan was officially founded in 1982 and consisted of 2 music companies that handled ordering and distribution. The Manufacturing contract was originally going to go to Tokai in 1981/82 but at the very last moment Fender swung towards FujiGen Gakki instead. In 1996/97 Dyna Gakki, and Tokai took over the manufacture of Fender Japan guitars and Basses from FujiGen Gakki.

On Japanese made Fender Instruments the ‘Made In Japan’ logo was to be changed if anyone but FujiGen Gakki manufactured the Fender Guitars. In 1996/97 when Tokai and Dyna Gakki took over the logo was changed to ‘Crafted in Japan’

Fender stopped exporting their Japanese made guitars to the west because many believed that the Japanese build quality to be superior to the US models. There are many luthiers and guitar/bass technicians that will agree with this. To compete with the build quality of Fender Japan, the US arm had to pay its employees more, and of course pass the cost on to the consumer, hence why US Fenders are far more expensive than Japanese made ones.
Fender Japan use the same woods, techniques and electronics as its US counterpart these days, in far more extensive and varied styles and configurations.

Premium Fender Japan re-issues only really compare with the American vintage re-issues, which are almost a 3rd of the price more expensive.

Today, US Fenders are as good as they have ever been, and the premium re-issues from Japan will rival any from the US. This said, it should be subjective as to which one you should go for. Its the Schroedingers Cat syndrome - you can believe that US fenders are better than Japanese Fenders and that they are better than Mexican Fenders, but you have to play them to know. What may feel crappy to one man maybe dynamite for another.

With the late Leo Fender’s name and reputation still in top form, and with a wealth of high quality Fender products available from all over the world and for all budgets, we as musicians are in as good a place as we have ever been to be able to afford a quality instrument, that we want to own and play til we die.