All Genz Benz products on "standby" by Fender ??

[rimbaud]

Originally Posted by Handyman

I'm not at all familiar with how Fender distribution works in Europe. Which policy are you referring to?

If you want to sell brands from KMC/Fender France, every shop must purchase at least 5 000 € of Squier products; If you want fender's, 20 000 € at least... for a cab listed 250 €, I let you imagine why you can't get them.

It is based on fender Europe policies, so i understand why it is difficult to find GB products anywhere else in Europe.

There are only a few autorized dealers in France for example, but I can imagine that's the same in ... Denmark ? even if they are not far from Germany who has the biggest stock with UK.

So what happens ?
- sell fender products first before anything else
- only big shops, specially online, can have them, 1 online shop per country seems to be the typical situation.
- little physics shops are closing everywhere: .... cos' everyone wants some Fender's right.... ! so if you can't have them, no one come, and you close. Simple, true, and sad.....

You buy on the web, you can't test before buying, and Fender (or KMC or FMI if you prefer, but hey... if you want to play with words it's your bizness right?) doesn't care about the other brands they distribute.

[rimbaud]

Originally Posted by jeffbonny

Hearing this sort of thing doesn't surprise me at all. Lately I've been wondering who exactly is buying all this new gear and where the used stuff is going. I can't imagine there are really that many new players needing gear. Seeing people here at TB regularly flipping equipment may be misleading and not representative of the big picture. Most of the people I play with use the same stuff for years. Seems to me with the economy as hurting as it is you could expect to see the new gear market become less active as people settle in and make due with what they have.

The Focus serie is cheap, lightweight, and seems to sound very well! so they could legitimately hope for good sales.

[Jazz Ad]

We shouldn't complain though.
The old days are long gone, when Fender didn't have representatives in France, only 3rd party dealers who received nothing but B-stock instruments to sell as new.
Back then a Jazz Bass was worth 2 months of base salary and what you received was far from flawless.
It was a world without the internet, remember. Getting parts was complicated and directly ordering instruments from USA was borderline impossible for an individual.

Even not going so far, I had a great GB rig during the late 90s that eventually got stolen.
I wanted to replace it but in the between time, the importer vanished and was not replaced for several years. No more GB for us. Then there were several tries with various importers like High Tech and MDI. It's only after the Fender takeover that Genz Benz products became readily available again.

[rimbaud]

I do not "totally" agree, in the 90's you could find many products on the market, THIS has been a great era.

What happened when online web marketing came ? simple: it was faster, it was realible from anywhere in the world... yes... of course... and now you can't find anything right in your own city in a physic shop. Must I remember you how many shops closed last decade ??

Now when a shop comes out, it sells Cort's etc.... they sell those like burgers, but do you think that a shop boss live better now ? it's getting worse for them too.

As "video killed the radio star", internet killed the physical market.

[jnewmark]

Believe it or not, guys, not being able to audition the amp of your choice before buying is pretty common in this country, also. The GC in my city does not stock GB stuff; it's all GK, Ampeg, and Acoustic. The last 4 GB amps I bought were all purchased on line. You may just have to take the plunge, and buy the amp you want before playing it. If they are so scarce where you live, you should'nt have any problem selling it at a small loss if you don't like it. Just the way things are in today's market. I wish gasoline was still $.70 a gallon, but that's not going to happen again either.

[rimbaud]

$.70 a gallon... we won't tell our price there 40 years ago, you would get a heart attack, it was the time when the french government was saying "En France on a pas de pétrole mais on a des idées" (in France we don't have oil but we got ideas)... we are still waiting for ideas.... !

[lomo]

Originally Posted by nortonrider

There is some truth in that statement.

As a dual citizen of the US and Canada who has been educated, worked and lived extensively in both countries, I must say there is more than a little truth to that

[bugbass]

Originally Posted by jnewmark

Believe it or not, guys, not being able to audition the amp of your choice before buying is pretty common in this country, also. The GC in my city does not stock GB stuff; it's all GK, Ampeg, and Acoustic. The last 4 GB amps I bought were all purchased on line. You may just have to take the plunge, and buy the amp you want before playing it. If they are so scarce where you live, you should'nt have any problem selling it at a small loss if you don't like it. Just the way things are in today's market. I wish gasoline was still $.70 a gallon, but that's not going to happen again either.

But you can at least order GB gear from your shop, I can't.

[CL400Peavey]

Originally Posted by bugbass

But you can at least order GB gear from your shop, I can't.

Sure I can order it for delivery to the store, but that is it. I still pay in full before they will order it, and if I want to return it I have to do that myself with the distribution center or pay the store a huge restocking percentage. The store wants nothing to do with Genz gear as they see it as boutique/waste of space when they could be selling cheap squire instruments and acoustic gear.

[jnewmark]

Originally Posted by bugbass

But you can at least order GB gear from your shop, I can't.

Again, I don't know what the return policy is for Musicians Friend as far as international shipments go, but you can certainly order one from them, and I would think, return it if you are not satisfied with it. If not, as I said before, sell for a small loss where you live. I would love to try out a Walkabout, but there is'nt a dealer within 100 miles of me that has one. You are not alone !

[fraublugher]

The US has Genz , Europe has Fafner.

Seems fair to me.

If you must DEMAND [which is french for ask...] a happy ending , I hear Gary Glitter is looking for a room-mate.
You'll need to sign a waiver of liability and provide your own transport to and from
Pappillon Island.

[bugbass]

Originally Posted by jnewmark

Again, I don't know what the return policy is for Musicians Friend as far as international shipments go, but you can certainly order one from them, and I would think, return it if you are not satisfied with it. If not, as I said before, sell for a small loss where you live. I would love to try out a Walkabout, but there is'nt a dealer within 100 miles of me that has one. You are not alone !

Sure I can order online, but shippingcosts from US + 25% VAT and you can double the price. My point is that because of Fender policy, GB (and SWR++) is not availible in my country, and that pisses me off!

[CL400Peavey]

Originally Posted by bugbass

Sure I can order online, but shippingcosts from US + 25% VAT and you can double the price. My point is that because of Fender policy, GB (and SWR++) is not availible in my country, and that pisses me off!

I like traditional french food. It costs an arm and a leg to get it here, and it is impossible to ship in. That pisses me off. Why dont more fresh chefs ship internationally?

Ok so I know I am being facetious, but this applies to any product made in a different country. You pay a premium to get it off the beaten path. If there was demand for it, someone would be selling it there, or someone would have started a company to provide a similar service.

[staccatogrowl]

Europe also has Glockenklang . . .

[bugbass]

Originally Posted by CL400Peavey

I like traditional french food. It costs an arm and a leg to get it here, and it is impossible to ship in. That pisses me off. Why dont more fresh chefs ship internationally?

Ok so I know I am being facetious, but this applies to any product made in a different country. You pay a premium to get it off the beaten path. If there was demand for it, someone would be selling it there, or someone would have started a company to provide a similar service.

You don't get my point I think, this only applies to products imported to Europe by Fender.

[TheMightyWoot1]

Originally Posted by preside

Furthermore, My company aims for "Awsome" then we worry about what to sell our product for . We are not exorbitantly expersive and our product line has an excellent cost to quality balance and we just had our best quarter in a decade, and our product line is not inexpensive, it is high value. The idea that one can not make a quality product at a reasonable cost is offensive to me those who make that claim should go back to business school.

Well said.

[Munjibunga]

I heard Peavey is buying Fender.

[Big Brother]

Originally Posted by jeffbonny

Hearing this sort of thing doesn't surprise me at all. Lately I've been wondering who exactly is buying all this new gear and where the used stuff is going. I can't imagine there are really that many new players needing gear. Seeing people here at TB regularly flipping equipment may be misleading and not representative of the big picture. Most of the people I play with use the same stuff for years. Seems to me with the economy as hurting as it is you could expect to see the new gear market become less active as people settle in and make due with what they have.

Things are turning around, recessions don't last forever but the market is flooded with very high quality basses at pretty good prices so why buy new as a consumer? Businesses though plan a few years ahead and they are currently gearing up for better times. The world is still on sale and investors are placing their bets and scooping it up for the next wave of prosperity.

You are right, there is no need to replace basses and most equipment. The planned obsolescence paradigm hasn't really hit the music industry yet like so many others and they actually have to compete against their own used products. The music market still expects that they build products to last.

Not for a lack of trying though, they are still looking for the holy grail like so many other industries... Forcing an actual reason for consumers to buy a new instrument every 3 years to keep up, instead of just because.

[willsellout]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

I heard Peavey is buying Fender.

I hear wishbass is buying Peavey.

[CL400Peavey]

Originally Posted by bugbass

You don't get my point I think, this only applies to products imported to Europe by Fender.

No I do get your point, but this is a supply train and logistics gripe. If there was a market to support the expense, they would be amps available.