Why do these big corporations buy a company then shut them down ? I don't get get it what's the point.
Often times it's because the smaller company is horribly mis-managed. Lots of people get into the music biz because they have a vision and they're good at designing and making something. But the company gets bigger and bigger, and soon the person who is good at designing and making things now has to worry about marketing, and taxes, and OSHA compliance, and FICA, and suppliers who can't deliver the components on time, and the suppliers who tried to sell them out-of-spec parts, and the competition has just come out with something new and hip so the fans are moving to that...
It seems based on what I've read, and what I heard from friends still in the retail music biz that Tacoma was having all those problems and FMIC was a savior for them. I've played a bunch of Tacomas, including a dozen or so Thunderchiefs. They were nice, but they weren't great. Good price for a good instrument, but they were never the level of Guild, Martin, Larivee, etc. They weren't even as good as Taylors IMO. So, does FMIC see a viable market for Tacomas? Probably not with Guild and Ovation and Takamine in the family now.
But it's not like FMIC is a big hearless blob with the intention of screwing everyone they can. I'm a huge cynic when it comes to them marketing good acoustic guitars, but they don't go in looking to make a mess. They're just used to having stuff that sells because it's a Fender. I was skeptical of them keeping Guild as a US made product clear back in 1995 when they bought Guild (another mis-mamaged company that made GREAT guitars). But it's been 14 years, and they're still working to keep them as a premier US company.
jte
jte
