Pure IMO here... I view this line as competing more with the other boutique J Bass models, and (again IMO) most who want that sort of thing (like me!) are looking for at least a somewhat 'J look', which means the typical modification of a classic Fender headstock. So, I would leave it alone.
Also, from a marketing and branding perspective, you really (again IMO) don't want to blurr the lines between the NYC and 'traditional' Fodera brands. The 'butterfly' logo is plenty to tie that line to the rest of the brand franchise.
I look forward to playing one of the more recent NYC's. They look very nice!
Edit: And again, what a wonderful job you did getting the business end of the Fodera house in order. Really impressive!
I know I'm really late to the party, but I have a big +1 to Ken's comments.
I have an Emperor with single coils, and if you change the NYC headstock, it might be hard for a lot of people to distinguish between Emperor 5s like mine and the NYCs.
In other words, the resale value of my Emperor could be hurt by making NYCs too fancy, thus making the mid tier offering too indistinguishable from Fodera's Emperors.
The quality (whether real or perceived) of the Metro range has definitely 'hurt' used prices of NYC's over here in the UK.
Just about every discussion I've seen that compares the two ranges seems to focus on the fact that it's not worth paying the extra for an NYC because the Metro matches them in every respect.
The one bass that seemed to really spark interest in NYCs again was the Will Lee but that's widely available (in Sadowsky terms) in Metro form as well now.
Personally I think the NYCs I've owned and tried have all been superior to the Metros - but try telling that to someone who's got a fixed price in his head as to the 'worth' of a Sadowsky!
Personally
I agree with Molan here too.
From what I've seen, having a mult- tier market position tends to benefit the lower tier brand more than the upper.
For example, when the Scion car brand was introduced to America, people bought them in large part because they were made by Toyota. And Toyota benefited because of Lexus. In other words, the halo affect goes down hill, but not up.
What does affect the top tier of multi branding are quality problems. If Toyota has a lot of recalls, it diminishes Lexus.
And any problem with KSD (Ken Smith Design) basses hurts Ken Smith's custom basses, even though he has almost nothing to do with the production of KSD basses.
In other words, I can see mid tier brands going up like Honda did with Accura, but I don't see branding down as beneficial.
Herrods doesn't have a mid tier chain or an outlet store, you know? They know who they are and boldly sit in that position on top of all retail. As a result, they are always seen as the top, and that UNIVERSAL PERCEPTION has my wife (and a lot of other people) visiting Herods every time she makes a trip back home to England.
To me, Fodera is Herrods, so I don't get the mid tier offering strategy really.
tell us more
