'Custom Shop', 'Limited Edition', 'Anniversary' blah blah blah

[warwickhunt]

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='57396' date='Sep 8 2007, 03:14 PM']in these green environmentally friendly days the fiat may be better for sitting in a traffic jam in! [/quote]
True, too true... how about a Raleigh Copper or a Sinclair C5!

[Lfalex]

I'd rather trust my "Far East" produced instrument than my FIAT...

It was made in Japan, though.

The FIAT, well, that didn't outlast the bass! And it was the newest car I've ever owned...

[simon1964]

[quote name='Paul Cooke' post='57283' date='Sep 8 2007, 07:51 AM']question is, do Mike Dirnt and Frank Bello actually use the Squier Signature Editions named after them on stage???[/quote]

To be fair, Mike Dirnt does use his Fender signature on stage - the Squire was introduced later presumeably as Fender wanted to sell a cheaper version to younger Green Day fans. But lots don't use their signature bass - I seem to remember Tony Levin admitting in an interview he'd never actually played the production version of his OLP signature!

Edited September 8, 2007 by simon1964

[d-basser]

Mike Dirnt also chose to have a signature bass without his signature on it so that non greenday fans could buy it.

[LukeFRC]

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='57399' date='Sep 8 2007, 03:18 PM']True, too true... how about a Raleigh Copper or a Sinclair C5![/quote]

hmm im too young to know what you are talking about!

[MacDaddy]

Bearing in mind the Google hits this site now generates (back on par with Bassworld?) and the growing global membership, it's a shame (and suprise) we don't have bods from Fender et al popping in and contributing to threads like this.

I'm not suggesting every mention of a manufacturer should warrant their time and effort, but here we have a legitimate consumer issue that is generating interest.

And to add to an earlier point, IMO if a signature model bass is not good enough for the signature artist to play, why should it be good enough for me?

Edited September 9, 2007 by MacDaddy

[Toasted]

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='57268' date='Sep 8 2007, 01:56 AM']but then us mugs are equally to blame for buying into the whole thing. I mean really what is the difference between a good id range bass and a 'top' range bass?[/quote]

Everything.

[Toasted]

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='57278' date='Sep 8 2007, 06:50 AM']you only have to look at the ridiculous number of Ernie Ball limited editions that get released every year[/quote]

One?

[P-T-P]

One thing that I've been thinking about since first contributing to this thread is that manufacturers like Fender, MMan etc. whose line-up of core instruments remains the same from year to year, have to do something to keep their profile in the magazines and so on. Although Fender, for example, introduce new finishes for their standard instruments each year, a 2003 US jazz is going to be the same as a 2007 jazz in terms of features, so why would a magazine bother to review the "new" model?

With that in mind I can see some justification for special editions, though you have to question the need to have so many available all at one time.

[LukeFRC]

yes! Fender should only be alowed to make black with white scratchplate P basses. unless its a leap year then for the extra day only they can sell red ones. Then we would all be happy. Hmm, communist/fordian approach to musicical instrument manufacturing.....

[mike257]

Is it just me that falls for it every time then? I'd only just started paying for my buttercream 2005 'Ray, and they dropped the 30th anniversary mahogany one. I had to be physically restrained from destroying my credit rating even further.

It does seem a big con though. At the end of the day, the buttercream 'ray tends to stay at home these, and the other basses do all the hard work 'because it's a limited edition', but have you ever tried finding out just [i]how[/i] limited they are?? Nobody could tell me, but Dolphin still had the '05 on their website early this year.

Maybe that'd be a fun question for the EBMM forum

[Paul Cooke]

of course it's "Limited"... limited to how many they can push out the factory door that year...

at least the Warwick ones are really limited... and you know what the production run is for it

[Veils]

At the end of the day people who don't want them, wont buy them. If they keep churning them out and people stop buying, then the production will decrease. If you ask me, EB should bring back the blueburst finish If they did I think I would ask them to finish my house, car, dog and maybe even my testicles in blueburst.

[velvetkevorkian]

No pics, no blueburst testicles.

[thumb4bob]

What was the name of that bass fender released a couple of years back??? It had a mahogony body, natural finish and a thru neck if my memory serves me correctly. I played one in a shop for hours as I admired them for trying to break away form the same instruments they've been making for the past 60 years, unfortunatly it was pretty awful. Might have just been a bad example. Hmmmmm was it called the Zone bass?

I like the fender sound but I do feel its a bit cheeky to realese "ltd edition" basses that are made of the exact same parts as a US standard apart from the pickups. Anyway I suppose Fenders' whole ideology is "If it aint broke"

[The Burpster]

Fenders are like Land Rover, Porsche cars- BMW and Harley D bikes.....

They have what was a ground breaking design, for which they have built a huge client D-base that want that product. If they change too much they then start competing with other players in the market and Fender (like the others above) have been left behind if they try to do that.

They have a great product based on tradition, a tradition that has by definition become an industry standard by which all others are judged.

All the above products do the same things.... have Ltd Editions, special runs blah, blah, for those that want something different or can afford to collect them.

Are we being ripped off? Only if we dont see it for what it is...... marketing.

I have a Fender CS bass, is it better than my production PRSs? Sadly no ( and by a long margin too!), but it will appreciate in value because it is a desirable instrument.

Sorry about the rant but I've been away for 2 weeks and I'm more chilled than a very cold ice cube!