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Topic: A renewed faith in Fender...steel reissues |
Mike Maddux
From:
Cerritos, CA
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Posted 9 Nov 2006 11:22 pm |
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Well I was at work today when my Fender rep came in...I told him about the Socal Steel Club I was starting and he was extremely receptive. I proceeded to talk to him about the "japanese fender steels" and proceeded to ask him if he had heard anthing about these. He informed me as I knew that Fender Japan is a separate entity and will make whatever they want seeing as they are a different company. The models that you see in the US that were made in japan were "picked" by FMIC to carry in the US.
I told him that assuming the price, quality, and tone was right, the forum members would be interested. He immediately took out his voice recorder and took down the deluxe and stringmaster models and a note to check out our little forum here.
He of course is just a rep but he will send things "up the flagpole and see who salutes". The reason these guys come in is to get feedback from us on their products.
He also told me that Fender just finished a conference call that spoke of a new direction for Fender - more folk instruments and instruments not everyone carries. More steels and dobros.
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President - Southern Californa Steel Guitar Association
Regular Rig: 60's Versatone Pan-O-Flex Amplifier, '85 Fender Tele Custom, '98 USA Fender Strat, Magnatone G-70, Harmony Steel, Silvertone Steel, Sho-Bud Maverick,
etc.
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Rick Alexander
From:
Florida, USA, R.I.P.
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Stephen Wells
From:
Jackson, Mississippi
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Posted 10 Nov 2006 7:49 am
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The following is worth $.02 (IMHO)
I hope that Fender is not using the sales of the FS52 to decide if a Stringmaster would sell. (I would own one of those if they had done it right.) It currently resides on pg 2 of the "folk music international" sub heading on the "acoustic" instrument page of the web site; I found it by accident.
In any business, an original owner who loves what he makes will produce instruments that sell in small numbers so long as they don't create a loss. When investors become the priority everything has to have a large margin to pay dividends. (I know that's what I want from my investments.) All too often this means a poor long term view as we saw with the CBS era Fender and the Norlin era Gibson. Everything focused on making the instruments as cheaply as possible and selling them for the highest possible price.
Unfortunately for us, capitalism and art are often at odds. I must say this for Fender, they have done a better job of improving and maintaining the quality of their instruments than Gibson has. I guess we will just have to keep waiting...
Stephen |
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