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Significant Fender price increases coming next month

The next basses I want to purchase are made in the USA and Korea. Hopefully, tariffs won't apply for Korea any time soon.
I think they intend on tariffs on Korea also, just not as high as some countries. Whatever Korea charges as a tariff on US goods, reciprocal increases to be announced in April.

Blanket tariffs are what I take issue with. Yes, there are people that build basses in the US, so you can tariff a finished bass to help local builders.

Don't tariff components that no US firm has intention to produce in the US. A 25% tariff on a low dollar component is not enough motivation for a firm to start a factory in the US. They have keep in place the exemption for small direct shipments from China. So, I can continue to buy parts direct from China off Ebay in small quantities without tariff. A company of any notable size cannot.
 
In business management we call it volatile market conditions. Things will get worse, then better. Overall, things will be fine after getting past the turbulence.

I work for a company that manufactures electronics in the US. Expected component price increases and some cancelled government purchases have us unhappy. You operate in a fiscally conservative fashion, and on the other end you are in a stronger position than competitors that overreacted.
 
Same. I would gladly pay a little more in taxes if it meant subsidizing things we need here.
You mean like all the other 1st world countries do? I'd gleefully pay out half my income in taxes if we had good public transportation, infrastructure and universal health care and education. All this "freedom" I supposedly have isn't really paying the bills or giving me any peace of mind.

Meanwhile, the Mod shop is currently offering free upgrades. With 10% off the first order, I'm feeling very tempted to order one...
 
You do not need new basses every year.

Oh boy…am I really reading this at TB? :smug:

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And yet no one said they were planning on buying one, so the scolding is unnecessary. How people choose to spend their money is their business, and not really the point of the discussion. It's a general discussion about pricing policy influenced by current external economic factors, which very well will be echoed in other gear we purchase too. It goes beyond Fender.
Threads like these in effect are influence how people should spend their money on instruments. No such threads on Fodera or Sadowsky price increases, because that is the "If you have to ask. how much it cost..." community. This extension should go beyond instruments but then the forum rules.
 
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Fender is absolutely pulling a “get yours while they last” sales tactic here. I don’t blame Fender, it’s a good opportunity to scare potential buyers into the fact that prices are going up so if you snooze you loose… hopefully in the end it forces Fender to build and buy their components here, and Americans buy less but better quality instruments?
You are assuming USA instruments are better built than in other countries. Which isn’t true.
 
Oh boy…am I really reading this at TB? :smug:

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You may need new basses, to you second hand included but not new from Fender and other manufacturers. Also get a bass regardless for music, or your collection, not because it is like an essential. I got too much and do many of us. I think I only know one active member here who has only 1 bass and he gigs.

More gigs or recording, less GAS.
 
Adjusted for inflation a US precision is about 30% cheaper now than in 1970. I understand that Fender and other manufacturers made big progress in automation but they are hardly overpriced.

I'm not a Fender fan boy but I'm getting tired of the Fender bashing. If you want to play a Squire or Sire thats fine. Knock yourself out, but they are not even close to an American Pro II.
 
Tariff reversal: President Trump wrote on social media that he was suspending new tariffs on most imports from Mexico and Canada until April 2. The exemptions, covering goods brought into the country under a trade pact Mr. Trump signed in his first term, came just two days after he incited a trade fight by imposing tariffs of 25 percent on two of the nation’s closest economic partners.

:laugh:
 
But American-made often has components made elsewhere, which are increasing in price.
Most complex items that are assembled in the US use foreign parts - pretty much anything that uses electronic components will use foreign sourced materials.
Are there ANY US manufacturers left making misc. guitar parts like bridges, strap pins, trussrods, chrome plated parts, etc, or is it all imported?
Not that I'm aware of. You may have some boutique/small batch/handmade items, but in order to get cost effective parts they need to be sourced from overseas - especially as i mentioned above, with electronics.
The world's a small place these days. Ain't much that isn't connected somehow.
Yup. If your cost of goods goes up 25%, guess what happens to the cost (and therefore price) of the overall product :-)
I'm willing to take a hit for the common good. The U.S. has to make our own parts. Imo
Why? And do you understand the implications of that comment?
Same. I would gladly pay a little more in taxes if it meant subsidizing things we need here.
We (in the US) already do pay taxes to subsidize things that we "need" - and a ton on a ton of things that we don't need, both directly and indirectly. It's not in any country's best interest to provide every single good that a country needs. I don't know how non-bass players will react if all of the sudden taxes go to directly to bass manufacturers.
I welcome it because maybe more beginner bassists will realize there are other basses to buy instead, better basses.
Everyone was a beginner at one point, this just serves to raise barriers to entry.
 
You mean like all the other 1st world countries do? I'd gleefully pay out half my income in taxes if we had good public transportation, infrastructure and universal health care and education. All this "freedom" I supposedly have isn't really paying the bills or giving me any peace of mind.

Meanwhile, the Mod shop is currently offering free upgrades. With 10% off the first order, I'm feeling very tempted to order one...

I don't know how anyone could see the waste that has been uncovered in just the last month and gleefully want to pay more taxes. Yuck!
 
Is it the whole Fender line, or just Mexican imports that may be subject to a 25% tariff? ?

Just MIM.

The cost of Canadian maple going up 25% will have some impact on MIA, but it shouldn’t be that high. 10% maybe?

And that's the unfortunate truth, a lot of US companies may use a Trade War as an excuse to price-gouge, sounds like maybe Fender is jumping on that bandwagon.

The important words here are may and maybe. No company will price gouge unless they know it will not reduce the sales volume and their profits.

Gasoline can be price gouged, drugs can be price gouged, food can be price gouged because people still need to put gas in the car, take their prescriptions and eat.

Guitar prices going up can cause a reduction in sales volume, or in the case of Fender, choosing a lower cost model rather than what the buyer originally planned or worst of all buying used instead of new. I’ve owned various Fenders but only bought two brand new, so Fender never got a cent from me for the others nor did they get anything for the Fender amps I’ve owned. If I had bought all that stuff new, it would have been around $5000, maybe more.
 
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You mean like all the other 1st world countries do? I'd gleefully pay out half my income in taxes if we had good public transportation, infrastructure and universal health care and education. All this "freedom" I supposedly have isn't really paying the bills or giving me any peace of mind.

Meanwhile, the Mod shop is currently offering free upgrades. With 10% off the first order, I'm feeling very tempted to order one...
Yep, that’s exactly what I mean!
 
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Fender has been able to scrape by with the eensiest of wee profit margins for a long time. There is no way to reduce their minimal profits further, much less sate their starving shareholders begging crumbs on Wall Street. I guess average people will have to take the hit and spend a few of their huge stacks of cash.
FYI Fender are owned by the Hawaiian firm Servco, which is privately held.