Fender Masterbuilt Basses. Are they worth the hype?

Is it a masterbuilt? He didn’t say in the video…..

Nice infomercial...

Bespoke, highly detailed crafting is something subjective, but it will always be around! It's art, man! I would probably prefer to have the wear and tear occur naturally and not put on there like a well worn skin in csgo, but i see their appeal! 😅 that bass is lovely! I call that color spec the
"SPICY HONEY MUSTARD" build! 😅😆😎👌🏻

Don't understand the point of this 'relic' thing.
Paying to cause damage which is usually caused on tour but without going on tour?

I cannot get past fake aging on instruments. I'd feel like an idiot when inevitably someone would ask how old it was... when those relic instruments came out i thought that was the stupidest idea ever, didn't think they'd last but here we are twenty years later and they still do them so what do i know?
Having said that, that does sound great, now get off my lawn!

The only difference I found on custom shops are the wood and distressed work ( I would not call it relic) , and sometimes for the worst, I had a custom shop twisted telecaster that was horrible! Wood was so soft/light ash that feels like pawlonia (nothing wrong but is If I want a pawlonia body I’ll look elsewhere) and the rust work on the bigsby bridge was so intense that hurt my hands and break strings, the neck was the fattest neck I ever felt and Im a bass player, but this was outrageous and the action from factory was like a bow, I couldn’t believe if the purpose is to get an unplayable mistreated old instrument that need a lot of restoration or what but after that no more Fender Custom 💩 for me

Nope.

I make $$ from playing. I often look at how much I average per gig, then look at the cost of the instrument, then estimate how long before I m no longer "paying for it". I wouldnt buy instruments if I wernt a working musician.

There are good instruments, great instruments and then there is the rare Unicorn 🦄 level of absolute magic ✨
This one clearly is the latter, the tonal evenness, soft dark clarity. Killer looks too.

Of course it's not worth it, because the design itself is never worth more than 1000$. It's different when we speak about set necks, asymetric necks, fanned frets, headless etc.

A solid-body guitar is to an acoustic guitar build, as is the framing carpenter's rough tradesmanship to the cabinet builder's craftsmanship. Masterbuilt is an overstatement to justify adding even more cost to a handful of premium parts, that amounts to simply having someone spending more time to take greater care (not a skill) doing the same jobs for longer periods than is customary to win economy for manufacturing. These instruments are just more refined versions of cheap instruments.

There is no skill required, so Its a waste of skill to have an experienced individual doing jobs that could as well be done by a trainee (or a machine), because they don't actually effect the state of play. Most jobs just don't take any skill, especially in the case of a solid body guitar! Others require only the right equipment, or practice and experience, but no particular talent or skill. That's why it takes decades longer to learn to play an instrument than it does to learn how to build one.

With the right equipment, electirc guitar construction becomes easy, and there is no 10K hours of practice necessary. And while some instruments are 'easier to play', they do not also make playing easier! If you want to know what goes into making a 'basic' acoustic guitar '(let alone a true masterpiece by a real luthier) by hand', read ,"Guitar Making: Tradition and Technology", by Cumpiano and Natelson. That basic instruction alone covers 400 pages, THEN... and only then, comes the luthier's alchemy.

Scott, if this bass plays as well as it sounds, why did you give it away? Also, how does this bass compare to your Olinto P-bass (which you still own)?

I Have been playing active J basses of ove 30 years. I do have a PJ bass active with rounds.I just bought a 180.- Bass from Amazon to have a passive P that is dedicated to Flats with foam. I know how to tweak basses to make them as good as they can possibly be. Maybe I just wasted 250 bucks ( I bought a set of LaBellas and a Truetone pickup)But I just can't imagine that I would be able to tell much of a dfifferece to the Masterbuilt one.

It’s very, very clever marketing and absolute BS.

Looks beautiful

Hey mate, what about a show on the Hofner Violin bass? Cheers

That bass looks and sounds incredible. I can only imagine the playing experience completes the appeal. Well worth the price for a serious musician. It’s a modern-day Stradivarius. Gorgeous bass, Scott.

The kings new clothes come to mind.

I know dudes that have the means to buy this overpriced stuff. You cannot tell them to consider a good reasonably priced guitar. It’s all about prestige. Pretty stupid in my opinion. Instead give me an old beater that was well maintained by a pro luthier. I’d put my 40 year old Squier bullet basses up against any master built. I had them pro modded and maintained by Tom Pellerito, one of the best luthiers on the business. And didn’t spend a fraction of these masterbuilds.

I would pay about 200 dollars for a p bass. They are absolutely horrible

This Vs Moollon Vs Olinto. Pretty please....

Overpriced.

7000 for the bass and then a worn out glove...c'mon Scott. :)

it is not worth -.- its never worth spending that much money on a bass... if you play like a pro you dont need that bass and it looks exact the same as every other custom shop.

Cool sounding Pbass.

wow, cool little folder. worst video youve done

still sounds like pbass.

I just posted this elsewhere. I ordered a Custom shop Lefty 1959 Fender precision bass. The truss rod was frozen solid. It would not budge. Don't know why but I returned it Asap. I own a Master built lefty 1975 Jazz bass. It is amazing. I can actually bring the strings down to the frets with 0 buzz. Built by Denis Galuzka.

Short answer, no. You can have an MJT made for less than a third of the price and it will be as nice or nicer with higher quality components.

Yeah .. this video, as the other ones made my day. Thank you Scott for your groovy approach. Have a wonderful 4 stringed 2023 (4 is enough 😂). Love

No they are not. The great Marcus Miller talked about this. Wood is wood. Nobody cares about the kind of bass. I would pay no more than $2000 for a bass

Sorry for the stupid question: what’s with the glove?

Scott justifying his purchase. I’ve relayed this information to my wife multiple times. Doesn’t work.

Dude, why you wearing that glove???

Just kidding. Sweet bass, Scott. Absolutely killer! Gah, that p bass tone.

That dough buys a proper one . No chance

the ENTIRE BASS COMMUNITY DROOOOOLING

7k lmao yikes not for me brotha

Love to blind fold test CS Vs MB and I would bet you that bass you would never hear or feel any difference between two identical models.

Your also wearing a glove

Vincent does the most authentic finishes and relic jobs. Those Basses look so awesome

Paying an extra few thousand to have the best people in the business meticulously go over that bass, to have people that have decades of expertise in something build it. It’s underpriced imo when you really think about it but that’s just me.

I have one master build jazz bass and it is a step up from a custom shop. I had a few Fender Jazz Basses but this one is a keeper. Better feel and details I can admire. I feel pleased to own one, Expensive? Yes, but I gave up some other things to get this one. It is more of a personal choice.

my 82 Fullerton 62RI Jazz and 88 first year Corona 62RI Precision sound and play just fine..
But I appreciate the demo!

I remember when the custom shop opened. It was primarily to build a guitar with the features you wanted that were just not on the current production list. A premium bump for that service, sure. But now Fender has of course exploited this like all money grubbing corporations do....and essentially they are making the best instrument they can (and should be doing anyway) and then turning around, and making it seem like now it has some special Mojo, that you need to pay thousands of dollars for...its a frigging racket.

I'd like to hear a blindfolded test with at least four pbasses, same pickup and same strings. Relicing is not mojo even if you belive in mojo.

Must be funny in a rich man's world

Beautiful bass! I bet that that neck is not quarter sawn (?). The team built ones are, and sound clacky and not so warm/vintage to me.

7000 dollars for a Bass ... LOL

No