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Where Will Fender Go Next?
- Thread starter Bassic Playing
- Start date
Not going to quote the whole thing, but +1
There will always be P basses. They will sound like P basses, more or less. People will always need p bases.
But we are ready for Fender, the definitive bass company, to lead the charge once more into the future. We need some of that Leo ingenuity back. Someone who's not completely hung up about safe profit margins, and ready to change things up.
Well I'm glad to see Fender putting out a new bass model that isn't a rehash of something they've already done. I really like the new Dimension bass, would have liked a longer top horn on it but I even like the pickguard on it.
I think I'm going to start putting some pennies aside for an American Deluxe HH IV.
I think I'm going to start putting some pennies aside for an American Deluxe HH IV.
Fender isn't like a car company, it's more like a distillery. Most whiskey makers have their core offerings as well as occasional special runs of this or that. Fender's core offerings, despite what anyone says, remain the passive Jazz and Precision. The Dimension basses look set to do very well, based on what I've seen about them here, but they are not going to touch the numbers for Ps and Js. Most of the "kids" (twenty somethings really) who I know playing bass are playing passive Fenders by choice (if not, then passive Rics or passive T-Birds).
I would argue that although you are correct, Fender has been FORCED into being a "distillery". Let's say Jim Beam came out with an amazing beer. They would never be allowed to sell it because the old guys who have been drinking whatever it is they are known for simply won't allow it. So, now I won't be able to enjoy the new Jim Beam beer because old bastards won't let them move on. New and different Fender basses literally OFFEND those who would rather they reissued some bass they only made for two years in the 70s, only this time with pre sanded forearm curves and of course it needs to come in shell pink and freaking Lake Placid Blue! Oy. Get over it and have somebody ELSE build you your dream "brand new vintage" bass. :scowl: And quit trying to turn Fender into a "distillery".
Also, I would argue that many of those kids you know would secretly LOVE to be playing a 6 string MTD (or whatever boutique thing you care to bring up) but feel as though their credibility would be hurt by doing so. (And in many towns they are correct.)
I am 18, so far from an oldie, but if I rock up at a gig with a 6 string ibanez and play it with a pick, people go "What the hell? Get a pbass and play with your fingers"
The sterotypes are very agressively held onto by many
My point exactly. And those stereotypes were pounded into them by old guys..... maybe old guys they love to hear play (granted).... but old guys non the less.
Interesting point. I've never been the most accurate representation of my age group, but I can vouch for the fact there are kids out there (I'm 19) thumping away on passive 4-string Ps & Js (with flats
), very much by choice.
Interesting point. I've never been the most accurate representation of my age group, but I can vouch for the fact there are kids out there (I'm 19) thumping away on passive 4-string Ps & Js (with flats
I recently bought a 4 string passive P bass and strung it with flats
Clearly I am not helping the cause 
But I do really wish Fender would experiment a bit, because where Fender goes, other will follow. They could be the leaders in innovation.
More short scales!
Would love to to see the Fender Modern Player Jaguar Bass for instance in short scale
two fingers please never go over to the dark side, (DB forums) from reading your posts here I'd be afraid for you.
Whether you like it or not musicians are and have always been at most traditionalists,
Music is a distillery and has been for a very very long time.
What Leo did with the bass guitar was not well received overnight, even with others such as Paul Tutmarc planting the seeds decades earlier Leo waged an uphill battle and almost didn't make it.
All the while this was going on in a steady and climbing world economy.
I'll be honest and we may agree to disagree but I think if anything, Fender rather then come out with any new designs or rehash any of the odder old ones should focus more on tradition.
Hey Fender are you listing???
Here's a few for ya.
Revamp your vintage re-issue line to offer all the options just as they would have been offered from the year they originated.
Offer more options/less models on the american line, not so much that it get's in the way of the custom shop but just enough to give people incentive to buy American verses a cheaper alternative.
Examples would be neck width/profile, a lot more colors, fretless unlined/lined, five strings ect...
Either stop making squiers/re brand them as fenders or stop making Fenders in China. Competition over brand recognition within the same company is probably going to come back to bite.
Offer the strange, the new and the innovative at the lowest price points as most of the folks looking for this are the young and not so wealthy.
Just my two cents take it as you will.
Whether you like it or not musicians are and have always been at most traditionalists,
Music is a distillery and has been for a very very long time.
What Leo did with the bass guitar was not well received overnight, even with others such as Paul Tutmarc planting the seeds decades earlier Leo waged an uphill battle and almost didn't make it.
All the while this was going on in a steady and climbing world economy.
I'll be honest and we may agree to disagree but I think if anything, Fender rather then come out with any new designs or rehash any of the odder old ones should focus more on tradition.
Hey Fender are you listing???
Here's a few for ya.
Revamp your vintage re-issue line to offer all the options just as they would have been offered from the year they originated.
Offer more options/less models on the american line, not so much that it get's in the way of the custom shop but just enough to give people incentive to buy American verses a cheaper alternative.
Examples would be neck width/profile, a lot more colors, fretless unlined/lined, five strings ect...
Either stop making squiers/re brand them as fenders or stop making Fenders in China. Competition over brand recognition within the same company is probably going to come back to bite.
Offer the strange, the new and the innovative at the lowest price points as most of the folks looking for this are the young and not so wealthy.
Just my two cents take it as you will.
My apologies to all for contributing to the derailment of this thread. I've deleted my comments not relating to the topic and will work on my self control in future forum interactions. 
My apologies to all for contributing to the derailment of this thread. I've deleted my comments not relating to the topic and will work on my self control in future forum interactions.
Oh yes, just look out at any street corner and you'll see older guys pounding stereotypes into youngsters. As if youngsters care what the old folks think anyway!
"...OLD GUYS" "...old guys" "...old guys" "...old guys".
And it doesn't take a genius to see that you are throwing that phrase around as a pejorative. which is no more acceptable than any racist or sexist pejorative you may choose. Please stop it.
The music 'scene' is controlled by "old guys", or traditionilists. Sound guys want p or j basses. So do producers, so do bands.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
I'm not too worried about Fender going under. Even if things get bad, SOMEONE will purchase it. Its too big a name, its been around too long and it ends up being 'legendary'.
In the same vein though, it means that what most of the buying public wants from Fender is what its done for decades. They're not looking for innovation or groundbreaking anything. They want Strats, Teles, Jazzes and Precisions. They want Fender Twins, Deluxes and Champs.
I find it funny that every couple of years there's a Fender quality increases meme that seems to rebirth. people are saying it right now. They said it again in 09/10. I remember back in the mid-nineties that people were talking about Fender's newly improved quality....and back around 1990 too. Heck, Back to the early post CBS rebirth of FMIC, people had a feeling that Fender "was really stepping up the quality".
In the same vein though, it means that what most of the buying public wants from Fender is what its done for decades. They're not looking for innovation or groundbreaking anything. They want Strats, Teles, Jazzes and Precisions. They want Fender Twins, Deluxes and Champs.
I find it funny that every couple of years there's a Fender quality increases meme that seems to rebirth. people are saying it right now. They said it again in 09/10. I remember back in the mid-nineties that people were talking about Fender's newly improved quality....and back around 1990 too. Heck, Back to the early post CBS rebirth of FMIC, people had a feeling that Fender "was really stepping up the quality".
I agree. I would like to see a Fender 5 string Jaguar Deluxe though. I like the chrome and the looks of the Deluxe and the Squier version just doesn't cut it for me (although, I'm sure it plays fine). She just doesn't have the look I like.
If you look at Fender's history, you'll see that these charges of complacency with the P and J bass at any time in their history are 100% BaselesS and the result of a very selective memory. Fender has made all sorts of non-P/J basses, and even did the boutique ERB thing with their Heartsfield line in the 90's.
But bass players do not buy them. Every single one of them has met with discontinuation. Some lasted a little longer than others and even developed somewhat of a name, such as the Roscoe Becks, but they are all gone because people will not buy them, opting for a Precision or Jazz instead if they like Fenders, and other brands if they don't. Even in their least creative years (the CBS years), they had new models coming out. Nobody bought them. Are they supposed to keep them around and lose money just because someone on the internet thinks they should? If it were YOUR money bankrolling Fender, would you?
So while you all bag on Fender for not trying to be innovative, you need to check out their history and realize how wrong you are.
But bass players do not buy them. Every single one of them has met with discontinuation. Some lasted a little longer than others and even developed somewhat of a name, such as the Roscoe Becks, but they are all gone because people will not buy them, opting for a Precision or Jazz instead if they like Fenders, and other brands if they don't. Even in their least creative years (the CBS years), they had new models coming out. Nobody bought them. Are they supposed to keep them around and lose money just because someone on the internet thinks they should? If it were YOUR money bankrolling Fender, would you?
So while you all bag on Fender for not trying to be innovative, you need to check out their history and realize how wrong you are.
