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What happened to Tacoma ABGs?
- Thread starter lomo
- Start date
Fender bought out Tacoma awhile back and moved the production from Tacoma Wa. to another plan somewhere else.
Apparently they have paused production and they are going to "update" the Tacoma basses. I wonder what that means?
Apparently they have paused production and they are going to "update" the Tacoma basses. I wonder what that means?
The Tacoma plant is being used to build Guild guitars, another Fender brand. I don't think Tacoma will be back, but who knows...when Fender bought V C Squier Strings, who thought it would surface as an offshore Fender clone brand name?
I used to own a 5-string Tacoma.
The B string was pretty useless. It's a question of physics, and it would take an even larger body than the Tacoma has to really get anything out of the B string.
For an ABG, it was pretty loud (compared to others), and had a really sweet tone.
The B string was pretty useless. It's a question of physics, and it would take an even larger body than the Tacoma has to really get anything out of the B string.
For an ABG, it was pretty loud (compared to others), and had a really sweet tone.
- Jun 24, 2006
- 2,560
- 91
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: MTD basses and strings; Bergantino Amps & Cabs
with an enormous gluttinous profit margin to match the rest of their products, so they just pulled a 'Gibson' and destroyed the entire line. They'll gladly sell you one of their other 'acoustic' bass guitars for $800.00 that some kid in Indonesia makes for about $12.00, which are scratchy, nasty, boomy warp machines, though. Oh, and did I mention how bad they are for the environment, what with them cutting down tropical rainforests and processing them in plants with little or no care for the environment whatsoever?
'Tacoma' had to go - made in the US, carefully, well-priced, and made everything else sound bad. And I'm a Taylor AB1 owner...
Cheers,
Cameron
'Tacoma' had to go - made in the US, carefully, well-priced, and made everything else sound bad. And I'm a Taylor AB1 owner...
Cheers,
Cameron
The guitarist in my buddy's blues band worked there last year, and said only 10% of the product was passing QC, so when the execs showed up and saw this, they shut everything down. Never heard from anyone else what the new scoop is.
Interesting. I believe it, too. My pre-Fender Thunderchief, as much as I adore it, is a little "rough around the edges" fit & finish wise. Not enough to bother me, but probably enough to bother Fender's QC. I remember reading or hearing rumor somewhere that the two big reasons for purchasing Tacoma were:
(1) To get a dedicated USA facility with the expertise and craftsmanship in acoustic instruments to build Guild guitars. Guild is quite a valuable brand.
(2) To get the Thunderchief bass. As I remember reading the Thunderchief bass was Tacoma's best selling model, outselling every other model by vast, vast margins. It was becoming apparent that the Thunderchief was re-defining the ABG market.
The Tacoma brand hasn't really been established in general, though my local dealer had wonderful instruments. Someone who occasionally played in my old church contemporary choir had a Papoose guitar which was very impressive to me.
- Jun 24, 2006
- 2,560
- 91
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: MTD basses and strings; Bergantino Amps & Cabs
Yes, they WERE fantastic instruments - all that was missing was 24 frets IMHO, the sound was fantastic, but now we'll have to see what kind of watered-down BS Fender subjects them to...
Personally, I am SO SICK of big, greedy corporations turning everything, musical or otherwise, to corporate 'max-the-profit-margins-at-any-expense' crud. They all say they won't, but they ALWAYS do. I think I'm coming back as an eco-terrorist, or maybe it's not too late to change into one now...they have just run rampant and unbridled in our society for TOO long, and now they think it's their inalienable right to trash the entire planet and everything in it in the name of shareholders profit, while hiring a bunch of lawyers who swear up and down that they won't/haven't/aren't. There is one thing we could all do to help put the boots to these ********...
STOP BUYING THE ****!
I haven't bought ANYTHING with the Fender name on it (or any of their slave companies) since about 1981...Gibson longer than that...they don't deserve my money, or anybody elses.
I look forward to new, shiny, dipped-in-polyester Tacomas from Indonesia with micro-thin veneer coatings on used Ikea particleboard that sound as bad as the current Fender ABG's do; I just wonder how bad they are going to be...
It's a sick, sick world with these ******** in control of it...
Cameron
Fender bought Kaman Music (Ovation, Adamas, Takamine, Hamer) last year, and is moving Guild production to the Ovation/Hamer facility in CT. I believe the Washington facility is to be shut down, and Tacoma is probably history.
Roger
I have a Thunderhawk baritone - sounds amazing till you plug it in and fire up the Fishman pre-amp. Something's broke inside that thang so it's goin back to the store - first time round they didn't fix it so this time they are gonna fix it and SELL it. I got the last US made Thunderhawk to make it to Australia. Apparently my guys have been told the Tacoma factory is reopening in China...hip hip hooray...
It does suck. Guild, then Tacoma, and now Ovation. Basically - the worst acoustic brand (Fender) buys up all the good acoustic brands, only to sublimate them into their corporate mediocrity and outsource the production.
Hopefully, there will be new, smaller acoustic brands to arise in the future.
What's next, Fender buys Taylor?
Hopefully, there will be new, smaller acoustic brands to arise in the future.
What's next, Fender buys Taylor?
wow that's too bad. i had a pre fender tacoma thunderchief four string fretted and thought it was the best abg i had ever played ( and i had played a lot of them including some 2000 + guitars ). it played more like an electric bass with a thinner neck than a typical abg and the only criticism i had about the bass was that it was pretty fragile. not that i damaged it in any way but you could just tell that it wouldn't take much abuse before totally failing. that being said, i think this had something to do with the sound - it just seemed to resonate in a way that i had not heard before in a abg perhaps as a result of it being of a lighter construction.
Well you do have one other choice left, order a custom ABG from CF Martin..if you can afford it.
Otter.
I was shopping for Tacoma's a while back and one thing that I saw were lots of them with wood splits. These were in the seams and the tops. Many of the prices for them were a bit proud also so I veered away from them.
Ended up with a Fender Victor Bailey 4. Tried out 4 of them and got this one. Great neck. It's low on volume unplugged but sounds fantastic when plugged in.
I would recommend you try before you buy. As I said, I tried four of which two were total ****. That's not saying much though as the same thing happened when I bought a Martin a few years back. The ABG's seem to be a bit more frail and finnicky than the slabs.
Ended up with a Fender Victor Bailey 4. Tried out 4 of them and got this one. Great neck. It's low on volume unplugged but sounds fantastic when plugged in.
I would recommend you try before you buy. As I said, I tried four of which two were total ****. That's not saying much though as the same thing happened when I bought a Martin a few years back. The ABG's seem to be a bit more frail and finnicky than the slabs.
Why do these big corporations buy a company then shut them down ? I don't get get it what's the point.
FMIC didn't buy Guild, nor Tacoma, nor Kaman Corporation with the intent to ruin them, nor to shut them down. They bought Guild in 1995, spent a lot of energy and time to try to market them (with varying degrees of success -some good ideas, and some very bad IMO). They only stopped production in Rhode Island because the factory was so old that updating it to meet modern environmental regulations, control humidity, and ensure consistency was going to cost way too much. So, they moved Guild production to Corona, CA where all US Fenders are built. They did a great job on Guild electrics (the Starfire IV and the Bluesbird pretty consistently exceed Gibson ES-335 and Les Pauls IMO). But building acoustics is a whole different animal and they decided to search for a real acoustic guitar facility.
Tacoma was doing OK, but even before FMIC bought them, there were disturbing QC issues cropping up. FMIC moved Guild production to Washington in the Tacoma plant, and they had some severe QC problems too. So, FMIC was preparing to work on the issues when the Kaman deal opened up. The Kaman family seemingly has been gone from Kaman for a while, so the people who owned it (it was still a helicopter company at heart) wanted out of the music biz.
FMIC bought Kaman, so they'd have Ovation, Hamer, and Takamine in their family. Having managed a guitar store for 11 years, while I don't like the sound of Ovations, the ones made in the US have always been exceptionally well made. GREAT attention to details, excellent fret work, etc. And when Hamer production moved from Illinois to Connecticut, the quality I saw didn't diminsh at all. Now they're going to building Guilds at the plant that made Ovation Custom Legends, and they should do a great job of it.
Will FMIC figure out how to successfully MARKET Guild? I don't know, but they've been investing in the name and working to maintain US production since 1995, so I don't think they bought it in order to scuttle it. If that were the plan, it would have happened at least ten years ago. And Tacoma had some problems before FMIC got involved, plus had a really small market share.
As for ABG, the Thunderchief was the only one I've ever played that made me consider anything except the big Guild B-50. But after I played another Guild side-by-side with the Tacoma, my prejudice was reconfirmed. Simply put, to get a great acoustic bass sound you need a big body. Even the Guild and the old Ernie Ball are just barely up to it.
jte
Tacoma was doing OK, but even before FMIC bought them, there were disturbing QC issues cropping up. FMIC moved Guild production to Washington in the Tacoma plant, and they had some severe QC problems too. So, FMIC was preparing to work on the issues when the Kaman deal opened up. The Kaman family seemingly has been gone from Kaman for a while, so the people who owned it (it was still a helicopter company at heart) wanted out of the music biz.
FMIC bought Kaman, so they'd have Ovation, Hamer, and Takamine in their family. Having managed a guitar store for 11 years, while I don't like the sound of Ovations, the ones made in the US have always been exceptionally well made. GREAT attention to details, excellent fret work, etc. And when Hamer production moved from Illinois to Connecticut, the quality I saw didn't diminsh at all. Now they're going to building Guilds at the plant that made Ovation Custom Legends, and they should do a great job of it.
Will FMIC figure out how to successfully MARKET Guild? I don't know, but they've been investing in the name and working to maintain US production since 1995, so I don't think they bought it in order to scuttle it. If that were the plan, it would have happened at least ten years ago. And Tacoma had some problems before FMIC got involved, plus had a really small market share.
As for ABG, the Thunderchief was the only one I've ever played that made me consider anything except the big Guild B-50. But after I played another Guild side-by-side with the Tacoma, my prejudice was reconfirmed. Simply put, to get a great acoustic bass sound you need a big body. Even the Guild and the old Ernie Ball are just barely up to it.
jte
Ouch...
Well, someone had to say it. And I agree 100%... the same applies, in my opinion, to every other US product line that is 'off shored'. They don't send that work abroad out of the kindness of their hearts, you know...
