The Eden decline?

Budder84 · #1 08-09-2010, 07:10 AM

I just noticed musicians friend does not carry Eden anymore. I’m a huge fan of the amps myself but have noticed quite a bit of talk about the decline of the company. What’s the deal? Customer service? Product quality?

I still know that Phil Lesh and Mike Gordon back them. What about you?

PSPookie · #2 08-09-2010, 07:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Budder84

I just noticed musicians friend does not carry Eden anymore. I’m a huge fan of the amps myself but have noticed quite a bit of talk about the decline of the company. What’s the deal? Customer service? Product quality?

I still know that Phil Lesh and Mike Gordon back them. What about you?

It probably has more to do with the contract between the two companies than anything else.

Righteous Thunderer · #3 08-09-2010, 07:29 AM

I'm pretty curious about this as well, I've noticed some posts here and there about how the new ones aren't performing like the old ones. Of course, I have no experience with the brand, but I'm trying to learn more about the different options out there.

JTE · #4 08-09-2010, 08:25 AM

Go to the Eden forum to see a long list of issues. As the company grew, the founder, David Nordschow, seemingly wasn't able to design new stuff, market existing stuff, manage the company, and grow it all at the same time. Not at all uncommon in business- a great visionary and designer may not know the nuts & bolts of day-to-day management of a large and growing company. There were some customer service failures clear back in '99 and 2000.

Part of the change was to sell the company to US Music. And that makes sense if the new parent company has the stuff together that the founder doesn't, and still keeps the vision of the founder. USM struggled with consolidation of all their lines (including Randall amps, Washburn guitars, etc.). There were some real failures with customer service, product introduced way before production was sorted out, etc. And then Nordschow left the company (eventually his name was removed from the website).

USM sold the company again not too long ago, and they've been trying to rectify the problems. The problem is that they've not had much R&D going on as they were going through the sale process (people don't invest money in R&D for a line they're selling), and getting things sorted out. It remains to be seen what happens with them under the new ownership, but at least the new owners are actively involved at the Eden forum, and listening to the problems (which to me seems like USM's real failure- not listening to customers).

I don't read much into what MF/GC carries. They're the Wal-Mart of the MI biz, and all they carry is the lowest common denominator stuff and the stuff they can turn without having to invest in any salesmanship. Instead of telling you what's great about ABC when they can just take an order for an Ampeg, why bother with ABC?

John

Budder84 · #5 08-09-2010, 08:51 AM

Thanks for the input, and agreed. However, MF did sell Eden, and does not as of recently. GC is terrible, agreed there, however, MF seems to carry a relatively broad selection of gear. I never buy anything new anyways but was curious of why MF would stop carrying Eden products. It’s an internet based site, the largest internet dealer I believe. I’m sure they really don’t have to invest a whole lot to host products. And yes, it could be as simple as contractual differences between the companies. It’s a little different then walking into a GC and overhearing some dude pitch a sweet new Line 6 product.

Just curious if this was any reflection of where Eden is heading.

Thanks for the input.