Fender Prodiction Limited by Recession?

[Dr. Cheese]

This weekend, even at Bass Central, I could not find a Fender Jazz Deluxe V to try out. Today, I was at a local dealer, checking out a sweet American Standard Jazz V and I mentioned the lack of Deluxes. The dealer noted that he had ordered one for a customer and Fender said it would not be ready until January.

Fender said they are backed up due to demand, but the dealer thinks they have slowed production due to the economy. That makes sense to me.

[tdub0199]

Plentyiful in the used market....

[LaBassGuy]

Originally Posted by tdub0199

Plentyiful in the used market....

seriously. I am curious why a lot of folks are selling theirs when it was bit of a wait to obtain them.

[Bongolation]

I explained what's happened at FMIC in another thread.

Short version: It's the result of layoffs when there were few sales and now that demand has picked up again, they can't get production up to meet it. I had to wait about five months for delivery of some normal models. Some have waited much longer.

[madbassplaya]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

This weekend, even at Bass Central, I could not find a Fender Jazz Deluxe V to try out. Today, I was at a local dealer, checking out a sweet American Standard Jazz V and I mentioned the lack of Deluxes. The dealer noted that he had ordered one for a customer and Fender said it would not be ready until January.

Fender said they are backed up due to demand, but the dealer thinks they have slowed production due to the economy. That makes sense to me.

My local shop was a Fender dealer and I bought a US J from him. I ended up trading the bass and a few months later I wanted to get another US Jazz. I talked to him about ordering another one and he told me that he had ordered two US basses when I bought mine a few months earlier and he hadn't gotten anything. A couple of months later he received a US P bass. Then another month later he finally got the J he ordered. It took Fender about 9 months or so to get both of the basses to him. He was fed the same thing about being backed up but one of the reps told him that Fender wasn't producing a whole lot of USA made basses.

This is what I was told. Not sure if it's truth or speculation. So take it with a grain of salt.

[Bongolation]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

Fender said they are backed up due to demand, but the dealer thinks they have slowed production due to the economy. That makes sense to me.

Actually, that makes absolutely no sense.

You slow production when there is no demand (which is what FMIC did).

Now that demand has rebounded, they can't get caught back up. They are really scrambling to get orders filled, but it's easier to shut down production and lay people off and deplete standing inventories than to quickly reverse that process when orders suddenly start coming back in again.

FMIC has done some interesting things in 2011 to try to streamline production of some models, but that's beyond the scope of this thread.

[Shelly]

I'm wondering, too. Even more interesting is that the smaller dealers seem to be getting them, while GC isn't getting them so much, at least not here. My dealer had a sunburst and a natural.

I was interested in a red one, but the Fender rep told the dealer it would take 6 months, and there will be a price increase of the line besides (don't shoot the messenger, that's just what they told me).

I decided that I had enough maple fingerboards in the arsenal and went with the sunburst body/rosewood fingerboard instead. Nice bass, although it does have the hum problem that some describe.

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by Bongolation

Actually, that makes absolutely no sense.

You slow production when there is no demand (which is what FMIC did).

Now that demand has rebounded, they can't get caught back up. They are really scrambling to get orders filled, but it's easier to shut down production and lay people off and deplete standing inventories than to quickly reverse that process when orders suddenly start coming back in again.

FMIC has done some interesting things in 2011 to try to streamline production of some models, but that's beyond the scope of this thread.

Yes it does make sense. The economy did pick up, it has now begun to slow again. I can see why a manufacturer would not want to get stuck with too much inventory at a time like this.

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by Shelly

I'm wondering, too. Even more interesting is that the smaller dealers seem to be getting them, while GC isn't getting them so much, at least not here. My dealer had a sunburst and a natural.

I was interested in a red one, but the Fender rep told the dealer it would take 6 months, and there will be a price increase of the line besides (don't shoot the messenger, that's just what they told me).

I decided that I had enough maple fingerboards in the arsenal and went with the sunburst body/rosewood fingerboard instead. Nice bass, although it does have the hum problem that some describe.

I think GC is not very interested in American Standard or American Deluxe Fenders. They want Squier, MIM, American Special Fenders, etc. When it comes to $1,000+ basses, GC seems to have decided to focus on Music Man.

[fhm555]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

...When it comes to $1,000+ basses, GC seems to have decided to focus on Music Man.

It's that way at my local GC. Always one, maybe 2 MIA Fenders, but always plenty Music Man pieces in stock.

[Musicman20]

Ive been waiting almost 3 months for a MIA 3TS Jazz!

[LaBassGuy]

I am in LA and my local Sam Ash has a 4-stringer deluxe jazz. And according to the GC website, the GC in Hollywood also has one but I haven't checked it out yet.

Some people here have speculated that the Deluxe MIAs have been delayed perhaps to give them time to fix some QC issues--I mean, the strats, MIA standard jazz, all of that seems to be available. THe '75 RI jazz--that too has a backlog

[Thor]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

Yes it does make sense. The economy did pick up, it has now begun to slow again. I can see why a manufacturer would not want to get stuck with too much inventory at a time like this.

Another factor is people. When you lay people off, sometimes you can´t get them back again. I was laid off years ago by an employer for financial reasons, but I refused their offer to come back as I had found another job and I was not comfortable with the financial stability of the company. Workers are not hard to find but good skilled ones can be hard to find.

[Bongolation]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

Yes it does make sense. The economy did pick up, it has now begun to slow again. I can see why a manufacturer would not want to get stuck with too much inventory at a time like this.

You're still off: "The economy" is irrelevant. What is relevant is your particular market for your goods. There is still a huge backlog of existing FMIC orders, some dating to mid/late-2010.

FMIC was (incorrectly) expecting a long flat market for their goods instead of a short one followed by an upswing. They miscalculated and managed the grand-prize screwup you can make in business: Having ready buyers for whom you have no goods to sell.

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by Bongolation

You're still off: "The economy" is irrelevant. What is relevant is your particular market for your goods. There is still a huge backlog of existing FMIC orders, some dating to mid/late-2010.

FMIC was (incorrectly) expecting a long flat market for their goods instead of a short one followed by an upswing. They miscalculated and managed the grand-prize screwup you can make in business: Having ready buyers for whom you have no goods to sell.

No company exists in a vacuum, the overall economy is always relevant to a greater or lesser degree. If Fender were not concerned about the economy, there would have been no layoffs.

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by Thor

Another factor is people. When you lay people off, sometimes you can´t get them back again. I was laid off years ago by an employer for financial reasons, but I refused their offer to come back as I had found another job and I was not comfortable with the financial stability of the company. Workers are not hard to find but good skilled ones can be hard to find.

I bet the loss of skilled workers really has hurt Fender.

[Bongolation]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

I bet the loss of skilled workers really has hurt Fender.

You're at least right about this; it's much easier to get rid of semi-skilled labor than replace it.

And that's one of the things that actually happened in this case.