Fender - Not so impressed....

[TelePaul]

Have been on the periphery of all things guitar for the past year or more but have been playing with more frequency of late. I've been predominately a Fender guy and thought I'd see what they're pushing these days, but their website is just confusing as fuck! Way too many models with way too many variations, the majority of which appear to be MIM (and I've had quite a few QC issues with many of the MIM Fenders I've played). Its like they've adopted Gibson's weird diversification strategy ten years later (I just checked and it was 9 years ago that Gibson launched their ethernet equipped Les Paul, and I remember a slew of robot-tuning and gimmicky models following that). The worst thing is that these things aren't cheap! Those Pawn Shop models are running at the same price as a US Special (or is that Blacktop? I really don't know anymore).

I'd love to see if any changes in their financial position is being attributed to this diversification, because it seems to me like nothing more than brand dilution.

Dicks.

 

[groovyisland]

ive had all these recently and all are nice

 

[dervish riff]

If I were going to buy a new Fender, I'd go to a well stocked dealer and play a few, you might find something you like out of all of them.

Back when I first started playing Strats, you had four choices--vibrato, hardtail, rosewood, or maple. Custom color? Order it and check back in six months. And you still ended up with a '70's Strat.

 

[groovyisland]

I buy em on sale on the internet

ive had only one bad fender and that was a squier

i sold it on ebay and the ppls were happy

i had it set up the best i could but the neck wouldnt adjust

this was indonesian but so are the teles in the pics

 

[Greg_L]

I have a MIM Strat, and while I hate Strats, it's been a good guitar. I've had it for about 20 years now.

 

[Meclazine]

In any industry, taking a brand and making cheap versions of it can ruin the image of the brand.

Just like Toyota being a cheaper car, customers will not pay top dollar for that name because it is a fairly non-luxury brand.

So Toyota bought Lexus as their luxury name.

Gibson and Fender also have cheaper "Toyota" style brands such as Epiphone and Squire, and some of those guitars are excellent quality.

They do try new things - Lace Sensor pickups in the late 80's and 3D printed bodies now.



Gibson also have chambered bodies now which are not everyone's cup of tea in the standard.

So I can relate to your opinion on Fender innovation.

The Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul represent a rare pocket of manufactured products where they were nearly perfect to begin with.

Fads come and go, but people will still always admire an original vintage or historic version of these guitars.

 

[JCH]

w/b Paul. I don't think any of the new designers at the big company's actually play guitar. They're all marketing to fads, and compulsive buyers. Some of the stuff is cool, but it's mostly crap.

 

[CoolCat]

i can relate to the overwhelming of options vybe the OP stated.

i only had extreme limited options growing up, small town maybe 2qty US stratocasters in the store at a time. 2qty les pauls..then a section of misc. and used. Squier wasnt invented yet as a Fender thing...

but fast forward to today, the Fender options went into insane-ville. All the options make finding your choice harder, because we can be pickier in all the details...and confused by the "models" and nomenclature.

 

[CoolCat]

I'd love to see if any changes in their financial position is being attributed to this diversification, because it seems to me like nothing more than brand dilution.

Dicks.

I saw that happen to TEAC, Tascam...then it was a bunch of crap junk. So today TEAC/TASCAM doesnt hold the hi-end name it did.
Did the crap-junk stereo gear profit as much? IDK.

Having only a Fender and Squier line was easy, Gibson and Epiphone made some sense.... but the lines are merky now, where a top line Squier might be better than a low end Fender.

I have a US strat and a Squier and I often wonder why do I have both? the single coils sound the same...maybe get a P90 setup for variety.