again?
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Further continuation of what Fender pursing outside the states.
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Now add in the huge price increases from 2025 to 2026 into the equation.
Fender - what are you doing?
37% increase on the JMJ Mustang bass to name but one 
If that’s the current rate of inflation I clearly haven’t been paying attention.
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I don’t know how many of you have gone to Fender Stores in big cities but the one in Tokyo is basically an Apple store for guitars
I have almost 20 basses and 3 guitars. Only one of them, a MIM repro of the ‘63 Jazz, is a Fender. And that one has a crescent moon neck. I removed the strings long ago and stored it in my storage space in the basement. I still need to force myself to head down to the dungeon and remove the neck and send it to @Shaker as promised (I haven’t forgotten). Life, like loosing another dog last Tuesday, keeps getting in the way.
Fender is a lot like my employer Motorola was before the collapse and sell-off of the pieces to Google and Ericsson. We had an internal saying:
You can buy better, but you can’t pay more.
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I’ll start by saying I’m not a huge fan of Fender products, so I might be a bit biased…
But this, along with price increases that Lobster highlights really does demonstrate an arrogance and disregard for so many customer groupings. Frankly, the Fender shapes have become pretty generic. The demand that guitars are recalled and destroyed is hardly going to endear Fender to future potential customers…!
I can imagine a real, anything but Fender movement developing!
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I feel like people are more tuned in to things like enshittification and rent-seeking than ever before, and more fired up about it too. So at this point it’s Fender’s game to lose.
Now that they’ve had a victory over “s-style” bodies, are they dumb enough to go after “p-style” instruments next?
Probably…
this had happened by no later than 1975 - they have been neither innovative nor the best instruments of their types since the first high quality Japanese clones started being cranked out
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It’s pretty telling when you go to their New Releases page and everything is “50s”, “60s”, “70s”, etc and just rehashes of everything they’ve done since the 70s with nothing actually “new” aside from maybe some signature models and maybe some special graphics or colors.
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To be a bit of a devil’s advocate, this takes away the argument that Fender is somehow “stifling innovation” by taking steps to prevent imitators. If you’re copying a design that hasn’t materially changed since the '50’s, that’s not exactly innovating.
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Look at it this way. Newly popular sales drivers in the last 10 years aren’t really related to the shape; flame maple tops, roasted maple necks, cheaper noise canceling pickups, etc
Nobody will want Fender that strays from what made them and there will always be demand for them no matter how much bitching goes on. The new generations of players will buy whatever catches their eye or ear. Usually looks are the first choice in my opinion. I bought my Special more for nostalgic reasons and have to say, it is one of the most comfortable instruments I have owned and sounds pissa. I recorded with this same style and finish back in 1985-6 and always wished I kept it when the price was less than $500 new. At the time it was a borrowed bass while my Ibanez had fret work and emg’s installed. I sold one of my Strats recently and will probably sell my other one. The les paul copies are more my style and I suck playing guitar anyway.
My Ibanez is a pj with the Fender shaped body and 24 frets. It still kicks ass but the SR400EQM is a pretty cool addition aside from the recessed barrel jack.
Fender will go the way of Sears Roebuck if they are not careful.
Yep, but it’s fun and a nice change of pace from bass.
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I have three more chibsons to sell before I pick up an acoustic bass. Sold my real Les Paul a few weeks ago to my old band mate and today he bought my Seagull acoustic. It is a bummer there are no classifieds on the board but it would change the dynamics of the forum for the worse.
I’ve got my G&L Doheny (G&L’s jazzmaster) and a Yamaha Revstar to play around with. I’d like to pick up some version of a tele at some point too.
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The copies cannot be sold on reverb. They have the “name” on the headstock. Two LP’s and one SG. All with cases.
I am disappointed with Reverb and am still waiting to have my money transferred to my bank account. It was my frst sale and most likely my last. I never asked for it but they charged me for a bump and other options and my Strat sold in less than 15 minutes. Almost $100 for that crap. Hard pass from here on out.
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