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Where Will Fender Go Next?
- Thread starter Bassic Playing
- Start date
scuse me, copyrighted and trademarked. The bodies are not but the headstock shape is. Absolutely.
The Dimension doesn't look booteeky to me, just looks like a nuts 'n bolts, feature-laden workhorse bass, sans any bling. Might be awesome, might suck. We'll see.
Fender has done the exotic woods thing with the Victor Bailey jazz and the USA Zone basses. They bombed.
The Fender headstock is practically their functional logo. It's their identity, why would they want to change? Besides, they've made basses with different headstock shapes before, like some of the Korean models and the Heartfield line. Bombed.
Fender has offered so many models, past and present, I doubt if any but the most ardent Fender-o-philes could even name them all. Not sure why anyone would think that Fender rolling out new models is somehow "uncharacteristic" of them.
...Fender has offered so many models, past and present, I doubt if any but the most ardent Fender-o-philes could even name them all. Not sure why anyone would think that Fender rolling out new models is somehow "uncharacteristic" of them.
Like Harley, the majority of Fender "models" are just variations on a handful of tried and true themes.
Oh, look- that P-bass has a bridge pickup on it!
It's Special!
People always bring up Harley as an example and it's a good one in a lot of respects.. Both are companies that know their markets and what they want.
There's always been 'oh Harley don't do anything but boring old bikes' so they did the XR1200, their take on a naked muscle bike.. Guess what.. Didn't sell.. It was an amazing bike, loads of fun, great handling, great brakes, punchy as hell motor.. No one bought them.
Buell, great sports bikes.. They didn't sell
VRod, took a long time to get any market place traction but was a bit of a debacle.
These companies know their markets, end of the day majority of people want the same o same o.
Why would fender enter the boutique market or the 6 string long scale or the 7 string stuff.. It's not their core, their core and their image is their heritage.. That's their brand and what's expected, It's a fine line for these companies.
Hmm, a lot of people on the west coast must be fooling themselves then.
Wouldn't be the first or last time
Right, just like that Dingwall you're wearing there in your avatar. Which, apart from the fanned frets, looks like any other Ibanez.
Fanned frets...a solution to a problem that never existed. Talk about someone thinking they're "special". Pretentious, maybe.
BurningSkies
CRAZY BALDHEAD
- Feb 20, 2005
- 27,956
- 20,348
- Disclosures
- Endorsing artist: Dingwall Guitars
Seriously? What does this have to do with anything about Fenders besides whatever random animosity you have for Dingwall players. Someone's pretentious in this thread, but its not Steve.
I think we all have to remember that Fender is a business that is trying to make money
I like that they are testing the waters using the modern player line, I guess MIC would allow them to make them quite cheaply, but asking for for new fancy MIA guitars at a decent price probably is not going to happen, how many people outside talkbass would be interested in an MIA 5 string tele bass with active pre, I can see them doing limited runs if there was enough interest however
I like that they are testing the waters using the modern player line, I guess MIC would allow them to make them quite cheaply, but asking for for new fancy MIA guitars at a decent price probably is not going to happen, how many people outside talkbass would be interested in an MIA 5 string tele bass with active pre, I can see them doing limited runs if there was enough interest however
The Dimension doesn't look booteeky to me, just looks like a nuts 'n bolts, feature-laden workhorse bass, sans any bling. Might be awesome, might suck. We'll see.
Fender has done the exotic woods thing with the Victor Bailey jazz and the USA Zone basses. They bombed.
The Fender headstock is practically their functional logo. It's their identity, why would they want to change? Besides, they've made basses with different headstock shapes before, like some of the Korean models and the Heartfield line. Bombed.
Fender has offered so many models, past and present, I doubt if any but the most ardent Fender-o-philes could even name them all. Not sure why anyone would think that Fender rolling out new models is somehow "uncharacteristic" of them.
This ^
Fender has come out with a lot of different models...not necessarily in the bass department, but overall, they've come up with a wide variety, and the majority of them bombed. Refer to the above examples-the victor bailey jazz, the zone, as well as a multitude of others...great ideas, they just didn't sell. The fenderheads want p and j basses. End of story...why should they drop a ton of money trying to appease a group of bassists who want more and when fender made the attempt, those same bassists passed them off because they are "just fenders"
They don't seem to be doing a good job at the moment, being $257 million in debt.
They need to fire some management and hire a rather good design team.
I'm sorry, but I don't know who is "offended" by Fender trying to make something new. Mostly those things sit unsold. There's quite a gulf between disinterested and offended you know.
As for the kids, maybe in the late 1990s and early 2000s when everyone wanted to get those nu-metal tones, maybe then the kids wanted 6-string actives. But now, other than maybe the odd prog or metal fanboy, most of the kids play - and want to play - passive Fenders. Maybe the scene is different in your town, but in Toronto passive, old-school bass designs that dominate.
It's not a conspiracy and it's not what some "old guy" is forcing on anyone. I know, I'm 35 and I'm pretty sure that a 21 year-old wouldn't care one bit if I told him or her to play a Precision.
Nope. I never said that Jimmy. I said that I think KIDS are pressured into buying the same old Fender basses that we played and still play. They couldn't move on to something else if they wanted to. Just my opinion of course.
I have personally talked to quite a few who would otherwise never play one if they weren't pressured to. I know one kid who had all kinds of Youtube videos of himself playing 6 string bass slappity tappity songs on a Fodera before he moved to Nashville. Once he got there, the videos came down, and the only ones you will ever see of him are with bands playing a Fender P bass (4 string). (I think you put up a post recently about regrets over playing styles being forced upon you. Clearly, you of all people understand what pressure will do to your choices of style and gear.)
Also, I know several sound guys in my area (old guys of course) who will take one look at a kid's Stingray or even Sadowsky and say to me (thinking I'm "one of them") "What is this guy playing? Where's his P bass????"
Now, is my sample scientific? Nope. Is it the majority of kids (younger players)? Probably not. But I do think a good percentage of young players would never play a "same old same old" Fender bass if they weren't pressured to.
I also think that if Fender jumped into the Spector/SoundGear/Warwick shaped bass market, the old timers would raise hell. If they made a six string Jazz bass and dared to put it in the same lineup with "real" jazz basses, the old timers would raise hell.
We don't have to agree. I'm just reporting what I observe. And old timers who play Fender basses don't want Fender to stray far away from old-timey Fender style basses. They want MORE versions (colors, roadworn, different fretboards etc.) of the same old same old Fender basses that haven't changed in decades.
