Made in Mexico? C'mon give a break. Answers plaese.

[Suntory]

Originally Posted by One Drop

Not being confrontational, but your points are not very clear.

Are you saying Fender is ripping us off by making too much money on the basses not made in the US?

I feel they are driving the value of the brand down but selling signature line instruments made in Mexico. I just found out Marcus Millers signature instrument is now made in Mexico. A crafts-person in Mexico can build a great instrument, of course. Indonesian basses are great for mass produced instruments I've seen. Japanese, as I said are comparable in quality to the USA basses(imo). I lived there and found they had a greater variations of their instruments and were cheaper by several hundred dollars. The American guitars just had a certain cache' the Japanese were willing to pay for. I think Japanese Basses are cheaper here also, which is interesting because they also have high manufacturing cost.
They are hurting themselves by squeezing profit margins and depreciating the brand. When they can't squeeze anymore margins whats next, Wall Mart?

[AleemRadunzel]

i think its funny that this type of discrimination is accepted on talkbass but discriminate in anyother way even sarcastically as a joke and your slapped with a warning.

as much as i enjoy this forum, i think its time americans on here accept that what they see as patriotism isnt acceptable.

how about the good ole U.S of A. .the "poor" labour of mexican or japanese workers (completely ignoring the introduction of C.A.D. and C.A.M) and how they should buy american to support america! (as if money from mim/miI/mic/ gear doesnt go to fender america)

doi

well heres a news flash.

if a british MP said such things about international trade, they would be made to either publicly apologise or step down because of their XENOPHOBIC COMMENTS

why dont you marinade on that for a minute.

these threads have been poping up an awful lot the last couple of months.

im off to basschat to talk to adults!

[Kmonk]

I agree with the OP. Even Fender acknowledges that they use different materials in Mexican made basses than they do if MIA.

[bolophonic]

Who sits around worrying about issues like this? There are probably 10,000 more important things going on in the world than wondering about the ratio of "integrity" to "production cost" in the country of origin of a MASS PRODUCED instrument. Go play a bass.

[wvbass]

Where are you guys finding Levi jeans for $20-30?

[bmc]

Originally Posted by AleemRadunzel

i think its funny that this type of discrimination is accepted on talkbass but discriminate in anyother way even sarcastically as a joke and your slapped with a warning.

as much as i enjoy this forum, i think its time americans on here accept that what they see as patriotism isnt acceptable.

how about the good ole U.S of A. .the "poor" labour of mexican or japanese workers (completely ignoring the introduction of C.A.D. and C.A.M) and how they should buy american to support america! (as if money from mim/miI/mic/ gear doesnt go to fender america)

doi

well heres a news flash.

if a british MP said such things about international trade, they would be made to either publicly apologise or step down because of their XENOPHOBIC COMMENTS

why dont you marinade on that for a minute.

these threads have been poping up an awful lot the last couple of months.

im off to basschat to talk to adults!

What you fail to realize is that God is an American, born and bred, and she designated the USA to be better than everybody. It's her country of choice.

You ferners are nice and friendly and such and you make good food, but it really takes a navy blue passport to do things best. The quality of all things made elsewhere is determined on the basis of whether we like them or not. Made in Canada is good cuz Canadians are nice polite people who taught us how to play hocket and basketball. Mexicans are good at lawn care and we politely accept their trinkets and guitars made under the Fender name. China is bad because they're just bad, so we're not going to like much of anything that comes from there, unless it's onsale at Walmart. Indonesia...not sure exactly where that is. Pretty sure it's in Asia, but they never made the news are probably poor and eat weird stuff, but maybe make ok stuff. Japan gave us the Datsun 240Z, which is kickass, so we will like their stuff. Korea...them dudes look funny, but we like them because we went to war for them and they give us good cheap cars.

So...on that basis, applying an artists name to an instrument made in those countries says a lot about those artists.

What do Indonesians look like anyway?

[BFunk]

^^^^ I love this!

I wonder if the Brits said the same thing about goods coming out of colonial America.

[HypersoulRocks]

I'd like to see Fender build in Canada, but the bass would be too polite sounding....

[bmc]

Originally Posted by HypersoulRocks

I'd like to see Fender build in Canada, but the bass would be too polite sounding....

They would play "a" (eh?) over and over again

[CnB77]

Originally Posted by mjac28

I don't think Fender could mass produce a bass in this country for that money you factor in wages, benefits and the hoops businesses have to jump thru in this country and you couldn't make it for double that and make a profit.

Look at Gibson Melody Makers. They could do something like that, but it would have a crappy finish and a lot of corners cut and I'm not sure that anyone would prefer one over an MIM

[Poopoutyouridea]

Originally Posted by CnB77

Look at Gibson Melody Makers. They could do something like that, but it would have a crappy finish and a lot of corners cut and I'm not sure that anyone would prefer one over an MIM

Of course they would! After all, "Made in AMERICA" sells anything. America is the best country in the world. Only they know how to make good basses. Even though their mass produced basses probably use the same machines as the imports, its all in the American magic. America makes everything better. :P

[Dubista]

Originally Posted by Poopoutyouridea

Of course they would! After all, "Made in AMERICA" sells anything. America is the best country in the world. Only they know how to make good basses. Even though their mass produced basses probably use the same machines as the imports, its all in the American magic. America makes everything better. :P

The irony is that a sizeable portion of the workforce in these American factories are actually immigrants. I have quite a few (Filipino) relatives that work in a certain San Luis Obispo, CA factory.

[Suntory]

Originally Posted by AleemRadunzel

i think its funny that this type of discrimination is accepted on talkbass but discriminate in anyother way even sarcastically as a joke and your slapped with a warning.

as much as i enjoy this forum, i think its time americans on here accept that what they see as patriotism isnt acceptable.

how about the good ole U.S of A. .the "poor" labour of mexican or japanese workers (completely ignoring the introduction of C.A.D. and C.A.M) and how they should buy american to support america! (as if money from mim/miI/mic/ gear doesnt go to fender america)

doi

well heres a news flash.

if a british MP said such things about international trade, they would be made to either publicly apologise or step down because of their XENOPHOBIC COMMENTS

why dont you marinade on that for a minute.

these threads have been poping up an awful lot the last couple of months.

im off to basschat to talk to adults!

Whoa! Wait, I'm Canadian. Yeah, produce Fender should start manufacturing in Canada and they can save in health care at least, may not be as cheap as Mexico. Canada would love some of Manufacturing jobs back.

Really, a argument in manufacturing and branding in a globalized economy isn't adult? Hardy xenophobic, I think this what is called a Confirmation Bias. You were looking for xenophobia and found it.

[hover]

Originally Posted by Suntory

J mascis had a signature Jazz Master made in Japan and it didn't sound like a Jazz Master or less you changed the pickups. Japan makes instruments comparable to America in my opinion, but that Jazz Master fell short, so much so JM didn't play one in concert, I suspect because it kinda stunk or maybe he felt like a sellout. Is it the greed of the musician or the Fender; both?

Man, it must really burn your noodles that he's endorsing an even more lowly Squier then....FOR SHAME J. MASCIS YOU FREAKING SELLOUT!

http://www.fender.com/products/j-mascis-jazzmaster

Lame thread is lame. Then again, OOOH WOW....ANOTHER FENDER BASHING THREAD.

[Old Joe]

I don't see the point of this thread. There are plenty of Fender instruments being made in the US.

[Huge]

Originally Posted by Suntory

Whoa! Wait, I'm Canadian. Yeah, produce Fender should start manufacturing in Canada and they can save in health care at least, may not be as cheap as Mexico. Canada would love some of Manufacturing jobs back.

Really, a argument in manufacturing and branding in a globalized economy isn't adult? Hardy xenophobic, I think this what is called a Confirmation Bias. You were looking for xenophobia and found it.

The idea that an (artist endorsed) instrument made in Mexico rather than the USA is an insult to artists doesn't strike you as xenophobic?

From the OP:

Originally Posted by Suntory

This starting to drive me crazy, so much so I have to comment. Is it me are does producing a signature bass in Mexico undermines a musicians credibility? A musician is a Brand in a way, you wouldn't spend $1200 dollars on a a designer suit made in Indonesia would you?

It's a clear implication that a bass guitar or a suit not made in the USA is somehow inferior, based solely on country of origin.

[Poopoutyouridea]

Originally Posted by Dubista

The irony is that a sizeable portion of the workforce in these American factories are actually immigrants. I have quite a few (Filipino) relatives that work in a certain San Luis Obispo, CA factory.

No, the irony is that both of us aren't from America. But we love America, don't we?

[jim777]

Originally Posted by Suntory

Bulova used to produce watches in Switzerland and were one of the desirable Swiss watches. Then moved manufacturing to America and the brand went to pot, great watches are made in Switzerland, France etc.. not America. Recently they're trying to resurrect the brand by producing a watch back in Switzerland. That's branding, a good watch is made in Europe and people will pay the price asked. I should mention that product will hold a lot of it's value in resale. I'm not in business but even I've learned this by observation.

Most watch manufacturers outside of China buy their mechanisms from Citizen, Seiko, or ETA. ETA is Swiss, the other 2 two are Japanese. You think that expensive TAG is all that special? They buy their movements from ETA like most of the other Swiss brands. Almost no one is making their own movements.

Actually, Swatch owns ETA, so most of those fancy/expensive Swiss watches are buying their movements from Swatch, either directly or through ETA or Valjoux.

Originally Posted by Epitaph04

The point is that the guy who is in the Rickenbacker club, MIA Fender club, Ampeg club, etc is crapping on a guy who theoretically buys 300 dollar jeans...

Answer: I'm defending the guy buying 300 dollar jeans......

I was only pulling the p*ss You are right of course.

[AMJBASS]

Doesn't bother me a bit. I KNOW that there are some great instruments coming out of Mexico(50's Classic, Road Worn, Reggie Hamilton sig.). Have you seen the price of the 5 string Marcus Miller signiture? Its MIA. Sure maybe you get the cache of having a US made instrument, but its going to raise the price by several hundred dollars. Is that worth it to you for the same product?

[C.Linton]

Sorry, but, simply put, I find the OP's assertions to be totally without merit.