Fender reportedly lays off hundreds of California employees

[MungoBass]

As reported in Guitar.com yesterday.

 

Many levels of staff and management involved and with around 300 employees laid off, that is equivalent to an ‘entire afternoon shift’.

 

Very sad day for those employees.

 

It will be interesting to see what happens to stock levels and development, hopefully nothing too untoward.

[MacDaddy]

Bono and The Edge are on the Fender Board. Do you think they voted for this?

[thodrik]

44 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

Bono and The Edge are on the Fender Board. Do you think they voted for this?

Well, the Fender Board are just operating in mysterious ways and still haven’t found what they are looking for in terms of profits.

[Steve Browning]

It could mean War.

[wateroftyne]

I think people are finally realising that the likes of Limelight etc. are Even Better than the Real Thing.

[drTStingray]

2 hours ago, MungoBass said:

As reported in Guitar.com yesterday.

 

Many levels of staff and management involved and with around 300 employees laid off, that is equivalent to an ‘entire afternoon shift’.

 

Very sad day for those employees.

 

It will be interesting to see what happens to stock levels and development, hopefully nothing too untoward.

Considering it’s not long ago Fender was saying their sales were at record levels, one wonders what’s happening here - that will make a huge dent in production. That said, when I went to a branch of Guitar Guitar a couple of weeks back there were lots of Fender guitars and some basses parked in the shop, it was noticeable many were Player series and Vintera (and thus not Fender USA), and looking very nice too with some of the nice colours they offer. Perhaps the US range has hit a dip in sales? 
 

Interestingly there were a few Sterling by Musicman basses but no full fat US basses. 

Edited August 5, 2022 by drTStingray

[steve-bbb]

please dont say theyve been taken over by the same type of eejuts who have been trying to tank gibson 🙄

[40hz]

Strange one, this. You don't lay off that amount of employees unless there's something seriously wrong. I wonder what's going on?

[lowdown]

Seeing as Fender now own 'Presonus', maybe they will ditch their Guitars and Basses in favour of Virtual Guitar VST's inside of Studio One...

[Doctor J]

Perhaps putting the same products into the market for 70 years has finally filled it to the point that almost everyone who wants one has one and there are enough used ones to satisfy the rest?

[Downunderwonder]

There must be an ever increasing number of original owners kicking the bucket. That will put more and more vintage ones on the market. So then we need to consider if we can run out of dentists who like to decorate their walls with our precious.

[steve-bbb]

the optimist in me says, on a plus note it might put an end to this million and one variations syndrome of having signature models for barely known z-listers

8 hours ago, Doctor J said:

Perhaps putting the same products into the market for 70 years has finally filled it to the point that almost everyone who wants one has one and there are enough used ones to satisfy the rest?

the pessimist in me says, not necessarily because there will always be new z-listers coming along who people who are easily parted with their cash will follow and consequently buy the new signature model 🙄

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by steve-bbb

[TimR]

There's a warehouse full of unsold Fenders. 

 

The whole supply chain problem and looming recession following Covid is really weird. Some companies have excess stock, some can't get parts and so can't produce stock. In both situations you won't be making new stock so the employees are doing nothing.

[tegs07]

8 minutes ago, TimR said:

There's a warehouse full of unsold Fenders. 

 

The whole supply chain problem and looming recession following Covid is really weird. Some companies have excess stock, some can't get parts and so can't produce stock. In both situations you won't be making new stock so the employees are doing nothing.

Exactly this. After Covid I tried to get hold of a roasted maple neck for a Vintera P. Could not source one anywhere and had to wait for months for one to be shipped from the USA. The demand is there but the supply chain is knackered. This is not just a Fender issue:

https://www.premierguitar.com/pro-advice/acoustic-soundboard/supply-chain-issues

Edited August 6, 2022 by tegs07

[steve-bbb]

7 minutes ago, TimR said:

There's a warehouse full of unsold Fenders. 

 

The whole supply chain problem and looming recession following Covid is really weird. Some companies have excess stock, some can't get parts and so can't produce stock. In both situations you won't be making new stock so the employees are doing nothing.

i was recently looking at upgrading a decent modded squier P with a US factory neck - none  any in stock anywhere and fender website says none available until the end of this month

[Reggaebass]

Could they just be having a company restructure, I’ve read that management positions also went, who I work for do this every 3-4 years 

[BlueMoon]

Maybe a few clues here: https://www.musicradar.com/news/fender-ceo-andy-mooney-guitar-interview-2022

[paul_c2]

11 minutes ago, BlueMoon said:

Maybe a few clues here: https://www.musicradar.com/news/fender-ceo-andy-mooney-guitar-interview-2022

Give us a clue, that's definitely TLDR....

[Mudpup]

17 minutes ago, paul_c2 said:

Give us a clue, that's definitely TLDR....

Pandemic artificially boosted demand, everyone who wanted a guitar probably bought one (we're having the same issues in the bicycle trade), biggest growth was in entry level and custom shop (so USA production has flatlined) and they're spending more money/time on Jackson as the shredders are buying again but demand has dropped everywhere else. And all the dealers are now overstocked in a stalled/reversing economy so there's no mainstream demand at the moment

 

Edited August 6, 2022 by Mudpup

[OliverBlackman]

15 hours ago, drTStingray said:

Considering it’s not long ago Fender was saying their sales were at record levels, one wonders what’s happening here - that will make a huge dent in production. That said, when I went to a branch of Guitar Guitar a couple of weeks back there were lots of Fender guitars and some basses parked in the shop, it was noticeable many were Player series and Vintera (and thus not Fender USA), and looking very nice too with some of the nice colours they offer. Perhaps the US range has hit a dip in sales? 
 

Interestingly there were a few Sterling by Musicman basses but no full fat US basses. 

Have you seen the prices of US instruments now? Those vintera series are the same price an US Deluxe was 10-15 years ago. Then MM US special are nearly £3k. You could get those US SUB basses for £350 brand new before they were discontinued 

[Velarian]

1 hour ago, steve-bbb said:

the optimist in me says, on a plus note it might put an end to this million and one variations syndrome of having signature models for barely known z-listers

the pessimist in me says, not necessarily because there will always be new z-listers coming along who people who are easily parted with their cash will follow and consequently buy the new signature model 🙄

 

Also population growth creates a growing (probably unsustainable) market for all goods. When I was born in 1962 the global population was just over 3 billion and is now rapidly approaching 8 billion! It’s scary to think of the consequences of this.

 

Probably a good time to invest in vintage instruments though. 😉

[Marvin]

There was a lot of hyperbole during the pandemic about how it would change things. The spike in demand for instruments was hailed as a return to people having a renewed interest in music, and this would go on. It wasn't, it was a one off. Combine that with input costs going up...

 

I'm working for a building suppliers and manufacturer. There has been a huge influx of 'work from home' employees moving out of the city to quiter locations. They've bought houses and then had lots of work done on them, hence it's been very busy. However,  that's tailing off 

[Dan Dare]

13 minutes ago, Marvin said:

There was a lot of hyperbole during the pandemic about how it would change things. The spike in demand for instruments was hailed as a return to people having a renewed interest in music, and this would go on. It wasn't, it was a one off. Combine that with input costs going up...

 

I'm working for a building suppliers and manufacturer. There has been a huge influx of 'work from home' employees moving out of the city to quieter locations. They've bought houses and then had lots of work done on them, hence it's been very busy. However,  that's tailing off 

 

I agree with your analysis. We've been living through an unusual situation. Now things are returning to some sort of normality, the one-off surge in demand for hobby items such as musical instruments, home improvements, etc is ending. Rising inflation and the threat of recession is forcing people to focus on essentials, rather than luxuries.

Edited August 6, 2022 by Dan Dare

[MungoBass]

11 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

There must be an ever increasing number of original owners kicking the bucket. That will put more and more vintage ones on the market. So then we need to consider if we can run out of dentists who like to decorate their walls with our precious.

 

Perhaps energy company executives and managers could be the new decorators!

[tauzero]

15 hours ago, BlueMoon said:

Maybe a few clues here: https://www.musicradar.com/news/fender-ceo-andy-mooney-guitar-interview-2022

 

"Bass players have always been more open than six-string players."

 

Bwahahahahahahahaha. "I've gone back to a P", "You can't beat a P with flats", "All you need is a P". 50% of bass players are more open than six-string players, the others are far less.