Fender selling necks and bodies separately, seem pretty cheap!

[dave_bass5]

Yeah. The fact that they sell fully loaded MIA bodies shows, to me, that this is whats going on.

Good prices though and im going to go for the MIM body, i just need to work out what "extras" ill get stung for :-(

[miles'tone]

[quote name='SlapbassSteve' timestamp='1372677871' post='2128361']
I think the Stratosphere shop's a little different, as from what I can see they operate by buying complete guitars and parting them out... at the kind of prices Fender are charging I can see them having to stop doing this pretty soon as it'll be cheaper to buy the bits separately then together, which makes sense I guess, saves you paying for labour costs if you're the one putting the bits together and not someone in Mexico or California.
[/quote]

I think Fender are probably offering these bodies and necks now because they see the killing The STRATosphere are making and they can't stop them. They just want their piece of the pie.

[Damonjames]

Think warmoth and mighty mite will hurt the most, the stratosphere I think will still do ok, particularly on the signature models they part out. Their stuff will have a proper serial number, from the pics I saw from the link (granted I'm on an iPhone not a pc) these new ones just look like they have a fender logo on them? So they could be a mighty mite for all anyone else knows.

[Damonjames]

If you look at the page, there is a pic of a candy telecaster, it has a big stamp saying "fender genuine parts" If the neck is the same, it will be easy to spot a bitsa up for sale. This is where stratosphere will still maintain market share.

[icastle]

From Fenders point of view it makes perfect sense.

It'll hit the SH market (is it real all over or is it just a Fender neck?) but Fender don't make any money out of that market anyway.

People buy necks and stick fake decals on them - Fender will now get a major slice of that market and get a free advert every time they sell one.

I'm guessing they're probably MIM or perhaps even Squier necks with a Fender logo on them.

[clauster]

Thread resurrection.

Just been looking and the necks and bodies at that price are MIM.

The MIA ones are dearer than Warmoth.

Plus, as mentioned already, there doesn't seem to be a way to get them shipped outside US.

[JTUK]

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1372586107' post='2127370']
If Fender want to sell parts they should brand them clearly as parts.

I think this will ultimately devalue the brand on the second-hand market, which will be a shame.

But then, what do Fender care about that?

All businesses are in it to make money but it’s a short-sighted business decision to undermine the integrity of your own product on the second-hand market.
[/quote]

yep, agree.

[Grangur]

I for one am already careful about where I buy a Fender. There's SO many bitsa basses out there now sold a Fender where all that's genuinely Fender is the neck, or worse still, nothing at all except the spelling of the name on the headstock.

I got caught out on a bitsa fake. I sold it as a fake and the guy who bought it complained the headstock faking wasn't done well. His view was a bass IS what's on the headstock. If it says Fender it IS a Fender. I cannot get to see that view myself.

[BassTractor]

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1375886554' post='2166974']
His view was a bass IS what's on the headstock. If it says Fender it IS a Fender.
[/quote]

He's wrong though. It's a Fender only and exclusively when the faking on the headstock is done to a slightly higher quality standard. He should know this. I'm a bit confused.


Great story. They come in many formats, don' they?

best,
bert