Fender reportedly lays off hundreds of California employees

[gjones]

On 05/08/2022 at 22:54, 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?

Ha, ha, Fenders business model is unfortunate. Its products don't have built in obsolescence, like other manufacturer's products do. With care their guitars and basses will last forever. If Ford had this problem we'd still be driving around in Ford Zodiacs our grandfathers bought in 1965.

[Geek99]

I think they’re all hugely overpriced. The Mex stuff is perfectly good. A US isn’t worth the extra 

[merello]

On 05/08/2022 at 16:38, Steve Browning said:

It could mean War.

Oh Boy!

[merello]

Personal view? Go to the last page in the BC for sale page….look at the prices. I got back into playing 2007. From memory, a MIM guitar was about £390 and US around £600 (corrections welcomed.)

Now the ratio is similar at £699 to £1600 but wages have not kept pace. So what do you buy? A good MIM or similar, or if you want USA you go second hand.

[Reggaebass]

1 hour ago, Geek99 said:

The Mex stuff is perfectly good. A US isn’t worth the extra 

Having had and have lots of jazzes I’d say the US ones are worth the extra, the Mexican ones are very good but I’d say the us ones just have the edge and I’ve never had a bad one, perhaps I’ve just been lucky, my 62RI was exceptional ,  just my opinion of course 🙂

[FinnDave]

19 minutes ago, merello said:

Personal view? Go to the last page in the BC for sale page….look at the prices. I got back into playing 2007. From memory, a MIM guitar was about £390 and US around £600 (corrections welcomed.)

Now the ratio is similar at £699 to £1600 but wages have not kept pace. So what do you buy? A good MIM or similar, or if you want USA you go second hand.

That makes sense - I have 5 Fender basses - both the Jazzes and one Precision are MiM and were bought new, the other two Precisions are US Standards and were bought second hand.

[gjones]

2 hours ago, Geek99 said:

I think they’re all hugely overpriced. The Mex stuff is perfectly good. A US isn’t worth the extra 

You are right of course.

 

But some idiots still lust after them.

 

Like me 🤪

[Lozz196]

Yep, the Mexican made ones are perfectly decent instruments but I do find the US ones to be better. Do I think the difference between them is fairly reflected by the pricing, probably not, but I def think they’re better. But at my last gig I used my Mex Precision and at no point did I think it was a poor substitute.

[Ed_S]

I think the US neck finishing feels a bit nicer in the hand, but I've had a few (standard, deluxe and professional ranges) and always found the quality control in other areas to be patchy. If they scale back the numbers for whatever financial reason, but take the opportunity to concentrate much more on overall quality of what they do put out, there's a chance it could actually work in their favour because nothing makes people want something they never even considered before like a slight shortage of it, and if when they finally get it it's perfect and they put pictures and glowing testimonials all over social media, that surely can't hurt the order book longer term.

[miles'tone]

3 hours ago, Geek99 said:

I think they’re all hugely overpriced. The Mex stuff is perfectly good. A US isn’t worth the extra 

I agree with you there.

All the bass playing that brought Joe Dart to our attention was recorded and performed on a Mexican Jazz Bass.

✋️🎤

[Geek99]

2 hours ago, miles'tone said:

I agree with you there.

All the bass playing that brought Joe Dart to our attention was recorded and performed on a Mexican Jazz Bass.

✋️🎤

Um … who is Joe dart … ☺️

[Doctor J]

Ssshhhhhhh.... the thread doesn't need another stampede of people who simply must tell us again how false a god he is.

[Guest]

I’d go with the prevailing opinion that there may just be enough Fenders in the world for anyone who wants to own one. There’s tons for sale here, on Reverb and eBay. £2k for a US standard bass when they were £800ish in 2008 is probably inevitable from a production standpoint (California is hardly the cheapest place to build instruments, or to live). G&L seem to be able to knock out similar instruments are similar prices, albeit at a much lower volume. Ernie Ball went down the boutique route for US made instruments and probably generate the bulk of their instrument revenue now from the Sterling line. 

[Daz39]

Remember ofc this is the US, where the cost of laying off non-union employees for slack periods is very little, its not even a big PR issue. 

[T-Bay]

5 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

Having had and have lots of jazzes I’d say the US ones are worth the extra, the Mexican ones are very good but I’d say the us ones just have the edge and I’ve never had a bad one, perhaps I’ve just been lucky, my 62RI was exceptional ,  just my opinion of course 🙂

I have a Squier, MiM and USA ultra and agree with you regarding the yank ones. Whether the difference is enough based on the price is something only an individual can decide but it is better in every way. The difference between the Squier and MiM is much smaller though with my two at least. Prices across the board are crazy but I bought my ultra with no intention of ever selling it so it affects me less in some ways.

[Wylie]

On 05/08/2022 at 16:35, 40hz said:

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

I agree with what was said above: people are discovering they don't need to pay Fender-USA prices for a good, decent bass. And maybe fewer players today are attracted to whatever bling Fender is currently providing.

[Grahambythesea]

Perhaps Fender have been their own worst enemy. There Japanese and Mexican products have been so good there is no need to buy USA made. 

[Reggaebass]

On 07/08/2022 at 15:24, T-Bay said:

Prices across the board are crazy but I bought my ultra with no intention of ever selling it so it affects me less in some ways

Same for me with my jazz elite, it’s by far one of the best jazzes I’ve had and I’ve had lots, I’m actually looking at another one in a different colour 

[karlfer]

The cynic in me wonders if the cheaper to produce Mexico range will replace the US Professional & Performance range, leaving Corona to produce American Vintage & Custom Shop?

[Bunion]

There are a plethora of large companies laying off staff in the USA at the moment, notably in Silicon Valley to help buffer the coming recession 

[Guest]

56 minutes ago, karlfer said:

The cynic in me wonders if the cheaper to produce Mexico range will replace the US Professional & Performance range, leaving Corona to produce American Vintage & Custom Shop?

I had a look at the Player and Player Plus series when I was in GuitarGuitar last week and they were basically identical quality-wise. Paint finish, joinery, pickups, hardware, weight, feel, sound. Given they’re now about the same price the US equivalents were 10 years ago, it sounds about right.

[Count Bassy]

1 hour ago, Bunion said:

There are a plethora of large companies laying off staff in the USA at the moment, notably in Silicon Valley to help buffer the coming recession 

Thanks for using that word - it means a lot.

[funkgod]

On 05/08/2022 at 22:54, 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?

and in that lays the biggest problem, "greed" fender if wanted could of taken a big chunk of the guitar pie early on and kept it stable, but, with cost cutting and making a great product as cheap as they can they cut their own throats, in that the quality went down so bad that even the japan ( respect to japan here by the way ) made better instruments for fender, and then to licence the mex ones out as well under the fender brand and flooding the market with ( what ever you want to call them) all it did was water down, thin out, spred out, cheaply globilise an iconic product, it was only a matter of time, greed and bad managerment just looking at the bonus at the end of the year. i still say fender produce the cheapest product at the higest price based on name, they give you a product that works great out of the box, ( some of the time)  but if you really want to make it special you have to work on it and upgrade your self.

fender should of stayed self contained, the legacy was given to them on a plate for gods sake, why could they not see that ?

greed !

each to their own and all that.

[Velarian]

7 hours ago, Count Bassy said:

Thanks for using that word - it means a lot.

I’m still waiting for a veritable plethora to come along. 🤠

[tegs07]

10 minutes ago, Velarian said:

I’m still waiting for a veritable plethora to come along. 🤠

well you wait for ages and then 3 turn up at once…