Fender Player Plus....more blurred lines or a smart move?

[krispn]

Just buy a used CV Squier and never look at the internet again as both the P and J are all the bass you need for 99% of most gigs.

[Bassfinger]

11 hours ago, theyellowcar said:

True there’s a lot of variability through the eras. I know if I were buying used today I wouldn’t spend market rate on any Fender from around the era I was “growing up” playing (mid 00’s) without playing it first. And I would still then question the relative value vs something more current because my experience of playing later models (especially Mexican) is comparably better than the raft that I played from back then.
 

There’s also the matter of the overlapping ranges - how do you objectively evaluate a premium Mexican model against a paired back American model which is delivering the prestige of an American made instrument while solving for a price? Other than getting your hands on them of course!  

Spot on. Not only are the ranges overlapping, but the brands are too. For example, the Squier CV's quality and performance is consistently very good, much less variable than the Mexican or American factories.  Indonesia are knocking out instruments for pennies that in terms of feel, playability, sound and finish are often easily the match of much of Fender's own branded range (some of which is also made in Indonesia...) under the 7 or 8 hundred quid mark. As a result Squier are nipping at the parent companies own soft underbelly, which must be pleasing for Squier management  and uncomfortable for Fender marketing execs.

 

Fender are very fortunate. They're able to live off their image and history, and have a gullible customer base that wrongfully believe the closer an instrument is made to America then the better it will automatically be. Both these factors allow them to set their pricing accordingly to exploit the warping of the market that they created and maintain. Just as well because, as you say, by any other metric their business model is laughable, but these two factors are so powerful they can get away with it.

[Bassybert]

Exactly the reason I went for a player series precision than any of the American models. The difference in price against the difference in quality don’t correlate at all. Fender play the ‘Made in the US = highest quality” card very well when we all know that simply isn’t true. 
 

Being a cricketer, the same marketing/belief’s apply to cricket bats - people I know will only buy £4-500 top of the line bats made in the UK and think that bats made anywhere outside the UK i.e. the sub continent are inferior, when again it’s blatantly not true in the slightest.

[tegs07]

All of the above could also apply to VW/Audi/Skoda. The main difference will be (perceived) prestige, trim and resale

[Bassfinger]

Indeed. For the purposes of that comparison Czechoslovakia could easily be a small town in Indonesia.

[SumOne]

17 hours ago, gjones said:

The Fender business model is shocking, if you want to make a profit and be successful.

 

The last thing you'd want to do is build a bass, or guitar, that never goes out of fashion, lasts forever, appreciates in value the older it gets and will be the only guitar or bass you'll ever need to buy in your lifetime.

 

Which is what Fender did for years.

 

That's why there's so many different models these days, the range is supposed to be aspirational. You buy a Squier and aspire to get a Mex, you get a Mex and aspire to get a vintera, you get a Vintera etc, etc, etc.

 

I think they might have hooked me in with that strategy. I started with a Squire and then got a Mexican, now I'm eyeing up the USA ones. What I'm really after is though is something lightweight rather than nearly a dozen different price points of a similar thing, so my custom has gone to Sandberg who are filling that lightweight J Bass shape/tone niche.

 

 

[gjones]

6 hours ago, Bassfinger said:

Fender are very fortunate. They're able to live off their image and history, and have a gullible customer base that wrongfully believe the closer an instrument is made to America then the better it will automatically be. 

That'll be me then

[thodrik]

As far as I'm concerned these lines are just a rebranding of the old Mexican made Deluxe Active Jazz range, which were previously in the £800-£900 range already so I don't see it as blurring any lines in particular.

In the current climate, £950 or so (street price) for an active Jazz bass with 18v 3 band EQ, 12 inch radius neck with satin finish and high mass bridge which says 'Fender' on the headstock seems about right in the current climate. The US made 'active jazz' equivalent of the Ultra series is nearly twice the price. 

I would actually be interested in trying one.