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Will Fender lose popularity?
- Thread starter Dallaspezz
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I got a dent in my Fender once, the repair shop said I HAD to buy a new Fender, gave me the impression that nothing else would do.
You're only 18 and I imagine your friends are also quite young. The pro level Fenders that are the industry standard are expensive for kids - price is very important to you and sometimes younger musicians may not have all the knowledge and experience to know what they're getting for their money, either. Local music stores also tend to cater to hobbyist/consumer level customers and stock what's cheap and will sell to a lot of people. In the lower end markets Fender has plenty of competition, certainly.
The pro level Fenders are very good instruments and they dominate the market for very good reasons: They are sturdy, well made, very versatile instruments and they have name recognition second to none and so they tend to hold their value over time. All in all, great bang for the buck. But they're not $400 basses. I seriously doubt that Fender is going away any time soon. They've been in the game a long time and they remain very competitive.
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It seems to me that Fenders aren't as big a deal with younger players, although there are definitely some young players that love them. TB leans a little older, with a lot of Boomers that are really hung up on them. If your musical tastes don't stop in 1979, and are into more than country or jazz, you see Fender less. Players my age (Gen-X) and younger had more options available to us, plus a plethora of better-than-Fender offerings, so they don't have the same mystique.
As attrition does what attrition does you might see a slight dip in Fender bass sales, but they will be a major factor for a long time.
As attrition does what attrition does you might see a slight dip in Fender bass sales, but they will be a major factor for a long time.
I have owned one Fender (a Jazz Bass I still have), and that one only because I won it in a contest. It's a fine bass, but I find that newer basses with ergonomic and technological advances (and 24 frets) speak to me more directly.
It's like anything; some people think the classic stuff is best (muscle cars, vintage clothes, comfort food, etc...) and others can't wait to see The Next Thing.
Fenders (and Squiers) will always be around.
It's like anything; some people think the classic stuff is best (muscle cars, vintage clothes, comfort food, etc...) and others can't wait to see The Next Thing.
Fenders (and Squiers) will always be around.
Fender is the Harley Davidson of musical instruments.
Most manufacturers make a better product, but Harley riders don't care. They ride HDs and nothing else matters.
Most manufacturers make a better product, but Harley riders don't care. They ride HDs and nothing else matters.
Now that's funny. Usually it's the Fender owners who do that to owners of other brands of basses (the funniest is when they diss a superior brand they've just never heard about out of pure fanboy-ism).
As for the original question: No, they are not losing popularity. Fender is the Harley-Davidson of guitars: They could sell a custom shop polishing cloth at an obscene price point, and there would still be people to buy it.
Both true; and there is zero discrepancy between the two points. When you stop and think about it.
If anything loses popularity it will be all the company's that make the Fender wannabe basses before Fender...
Fender IS my favorite brand of Bass. And yet, for some strange reason, I own more Stingrays than Fenders.
I'm still trying to figure that out.
There is no generally perfect bass. Cats spend a lot of time flipping instruments trying to find that "one." But, it doesn't exist.
Ultimately, various different instruments have different things going for them. The characteristics which make Fenders useful are:
1) Not over the top expensive. They've gotten pricier, but are still generally lower middle price point.
2) A large fraction of known hits were recorded with Fenders. So, if you are playing covers, Fenders are generally true to the recognized tones.
3) Most gear uninformed musicians otherwise are familiar with Fender and comfortable with them when you show up for auditions.
4) Fenders seem to age well with playing, getting more endearing with more wear. But, that is kind of subjective.
These are positives I've noticed. If none of those mean anything to you, then you should be looking at other options.
Fender's are probably more popular than ever. Just about every young rock band now seems to have a bassist with a fender and an Ampeg SVT.
However, Fender is definitely capable of completely destroying themselves through bad marketing.
I will say that their most recent models are quite strong in the quality department, but there's a lot of big and small companies out there that make really good copies of Leo's babies cheaper and/or better than Fender does. But there's a lot of marketing power in that Fender brand name.
However, Fender is definitely capable of completely destroying themselves through bad marketing.
I will say that their most recent models are quite strong in the quality department, but there's a lot of big and small companies out there that make really good copies of Leo's babies cheaper and/or better than Fender does. But there's a lot of marketing power in that Fender brand name.
