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Post subject: Need help with identification
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 8:14 am
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Hi,

I'm looking for some help identifying my PBass. serial SQ 15145

I had a couple of guys in the business look over it and they were very positive. However, I've had conflicting views since and I can't find any answers on the web, so I thought I'd ask the experts.

Guitardaterproject returns:

Fuji-gen Plant, Japan, 85 - 86.

This was apparently the factory that outdid the Americans on build quality to the point where they stopped producing them in America.

Also, it was identified as a Silver Series, but later I have been told it is not. I can't find any way to tell in my research, does anybody know ?

I have a few photos but can't work out how to display them right now, I'll be back !

Cheers,

Matt


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Post subject: Re: Need help with identification
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 8:31 am
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Some photo links:

http://www.avido.co.uk/guitar/DSC_5539sm.jpg

http://www.avido.co.uk/guitar/DSC_5518sm.jpg

http://www.avido.co.uk/guitar/DSC_5539sm.jpg


Matt


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Post subject: Re: Need help with identification
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 3:34 pm
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Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:12 pm
Posts: 6355
Location: Albemarle, NC
mattfromcambridge wrote:
Hi,

I'm looking for some help identifying my PBass. serial SQ 15145

I had a couple of guys in the business look over it and they were very positive. However, I've had conflicting views since and I can't find any answers on the web, so I thought I'd ask the experts.

Guitardaterproject returns:

Fuji-gen Plant, Japan, 85 - 86.

This was apparently the factory that outdid the Americans on build quality to the point where they stopped producing them in America.

Also, it was identified as a Silver Series, but later I have been told it is not. I can't find any way to tell in my research, does anybody know ?

I have a few photos but can't work out how to display them right now, I'll be back !

Cheers,

Matt


I'm going to say WELCOME TO THE FORUM up front. With that being said I'd like to address the remainder of your post. But I won't at this time. I'll calm down first then maybe do so.


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Post subject: Re: Need help with identification
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:07 am
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Joined: Thu Aug 07, 2008 3:12 pm
Posts: 6355
Location: Albemarle, NC
Ok here's further. This isn't a Fender, it is a Squier. Therefore the Guitar Dater project is giving you a Fender serial result. Not sure that is an accurate result. All Japanese Squier instruments stamped "Made In Japan" were Fuji-Gen products and made prior to 1997 when Dyna and Tokai started making Squiers from 1998 on and these were stamped "Crafted In Japan." The reason for the change was that Fuji-Gen was making some huge expansions and Fuji-Gen eventually resumed production of some Fender basses such as the STING artist series and the 51 Precision RI. While Squier production moved elsewhere in Asia.

Someone misinformed you. Fender Japan's Fuji Gen instruments "outdid the Americans on build quality to the point where they stopped producing them in America" is an inaccurate statement. What happened was a corporation that could run a TV Network, film company and recording label very well didn't fare as well in the guitar business and wound up selling out to people who actually thought they could do better. The newly formed company CBS sold Fender to was the newly created Fender Musical Instrument Company (FMIC) and what FMIC got was the brand, patents, copyrights and no factory or machinery. Therefore FMIC had to start over from scratch and chose to do so at a new facility in Corona. This would take time to built, tool & fit. In the interim the new FMIC resorted to outsourcing production to Japan where they had already been copying Fender instruments for nearly 30 years. This outsourcing kept the brand alive in the marketplace until USA production could resume and then of course the first plant in Baja would be opened later.

The fact remains that I've never heard a Fender Japan bass that was quite the same as a Fender USA bass. Squier ones are even further away from that sound. Without exception the Japanese electronics are not up to par with the USA electronics. The Japanese woods are good, the finishes nice, the fit great...but the electronics are not quite the same. Even the very last USA basses to come out of Fullerton sounded better to me than any Japanese bass. The craftsmanship of the Fujigen made Fender Japan instruments is still amazing today, but the electronics are still not up to USA standards.

It is puzzling to me how this perception ever got started. Nobody I know has ever questioned which is better, the USA made Gibsons or the Japanese made Epiphones. (The Japanese Epiphones were made in the very same Japanese plants contracted by Fender Japan.) Fujigen, Dyna Gakki and Tokai all make good instruments, however Fender USA makes truly professional ones. Fender MIM basses are actually closer electronically to their USA made counterparts than any instrument that ever came from any Japanese plant contracted by Fender.

Fender Japan instruments do have some devoted fans. I have owned several Fender Japan basses over the years and have one right now, but I'm not exactly a rabid fan of how the stock Japan basses sound stock and wound up modding them all to USA electronics.


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Post subject: Re: Need help with identification
Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 12:18 am
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Location: Albemarle, NC
As to finding out more about your Squier you should post an inquiry in the Squier Bass forum. Go to BOARD INDEX and scroll down to find the Squier forums. I know little about the Silver Series you inquired about but I do know that the Made In Japan Squiers are considered second only to the limited run of USA made Squiers so far as quality and desirability as a collectible is concerned, so congratulations on having one.


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