CBS sold the right to the Fender brand in 1984 and that was the end of the era, Fender later became Fender Musical Instruments Corp (FMIC). And soon after the Custom Shop was formed in 1987 starting with 2 master builders to start their high-end boutique product line and had great success til these days.
Background:
Custom shop began in 87’ this bass is dated Feb 1990 and has the early custom shop logo. According to some internet friend, the reissue line predated the CS by around 6 years. That’s roughly the end of CBS where they kind of want to reintroduce their old day glories after they came out from the 80’s where lots of weird inventions.
Specs:
- Alder body coated in polyester
- Maple neck with rosewood fingerboard
- 19mm string spacing
- 9.5-10lbs on a bathroom scale
- Neck dated in Feb. 1990
Playbility:
Things were seriously made back in the days, and the expectation of an electric bass(especially basses) really hasn’t changed much. This bass plays and feels great. Stable and straight neck, quality tuner and all screws turn, quality fretwork with a set of labella low tension flat makes gives a feel like butter feel. It’s well balanced and a joy to play.
Sound:
The CS twist of this bass would be its polyester finish, the thick hard crystal like finish are often seen in the 70s fender instruments. Rather then being airy and breathable, polyester coat traps the body, adds more natural compression and gives more punch. With labella low tension flat, it’s easy to get that thumpy punchy flat wound sound, not really vintage like most 60’s pbass, but this setup should work well for any new soul/rnb music. Its natural compression makes the bass more forgiving on the right hand(plucking hand) and can easily dig in and go wild. This bass came with old round wound strings when I first got it, and it can easily be a modern rock beast. It surely has a unique but easy to adapt to sound.
Gallery:
Video:
Thoughts:
This bass has the OG Fender Custom Shop logo which are rare. In the past 30+ years, CS had surely came out with a lot more fancy options to archive almost anything they want that satisfies most consumers. But again, the expectation and principle of a quality instrument just hasn’t really changed, serious craftsmanship will never get outdated.