FMIC - going the way of Gibson? (RANT mode: ON)

Danhedonia

Danhedonia

Noted duckfat enthusiast
And what I mean by "the way of Gibson" is ass-hattery: shameless "lifestyle brand building" bull pukky. TLDR / Early signs of the apocalypse:
- Fender are heading into the video lesson business *
- Website is now all about celebribabble bullshit
- New guitar designs are all about colors and fashion, not .... well, updates on guitars

Video Lessons
* - YES I know where I'm posting. I'm very appreciative of the value of Mark Wein-type video lessons, and really like a lot of the free YouTube lessons, too, as a way to shortcut around having to figure out the riffs for a fun cover. But Fender's plan is to sell 'access to' non-individualized content. Good luck with that. Because I think it's been pretty proven that people won't pay for that, over, say, the last 15 years. It's free on YouTube already; wrong business model, Fender. Worse, this is the brainchild of a "new exciting executive" (already forgot his name) who - wait for it - has no background in music or guitars.
This is the hallmark sign of how companies get destroyed; it's a simple step by step process.
Step 1 - get a board that doesn't care at all about the long term. "WE MUST GROW THE TOP LINE" becomes the shrill, utterly unsupported by logic call to arms.
Step 2 - find some 'business development genius' who grew someone else's top line and hire them. Never mind why that someone else's top line grew, or what the eventual effect was. Simply: s/he did it over there, now do it over here.
Step 3 - Pay this imbecile stupid money to create a fantasy of where all the growth is coming from. This is usually the saddest step, because the greedheads who started all of this (step 1 - the board) have a weird fetish for new markets - it gets them hard/wet, more so than simply managing a company well and profitably.
Step 4 - Roll this out to the troops with confetti. Usually there's a 'new, energetic' (read: kinda hot gal / yes-woman) leading this marketing 'charge.' Ask good questions and get put on a list of "not being on board" and/or "not willing to commit."
Step 5 - Leverage a bunch of debt against these "surefire growth plans." In the case of the board and the new "genius," pay yourself FIRST. This is basically looting the till, and is now done all the time in corporate America.
Step 6 - Watch the talent leave as they realize that they are in a no-win position. Browbeat those who stay behind.
Step 7 - Fail to grow business. Blame employees.
Step 8 - Lather. Rinse. Go to Aspen. Repeat.

Hoping I misread the breathless corporate announcements, but sadly, I don't think so.

The Website:
Has more breathless bullshit about "master builders" than any one person should ever feel comfortable looking at. Currently on the site right this second:
* 1,000 Diamonds: Master Builder Yuriy Shishkov On His Stunning Studioliner
(stunning if only for the way the complete lack of taste echoes the scraggly pube-stache of this not-interesting creature)
* Master Builder Jason Smith On His 30th Anniversary Esquire C.C. MBJS
* See the New 2017 Limited Edition Exotic Collection
* Master Builder Scott Buehl Showcases His Frosted Duco Strat
Master Builder Dennis Galuszka Showcases His Hot Rodded Jazzmaster
Master Builder Dale Wilson On His Forest Green 30th Anniversary Strat
First Look: The Fender Custom Shop Founders Design Project

... it goes on quite a bit. Note how the site is shifting away from the already-irritating worship of whatever has recently fallen out of sponsored artists' anuses, and plunged ahead courageously into the land of complete self-worship. And that self-worship is centered on $4,000+ guitars. Because c'mon guy, you know you want one ....

The Guitars
Probably makes sense that those are almost an afterthought. I'll give credit where it's due: Fender has come out with some fun new guitars. However, the 'fun' is mostly in the aesthetics (color choices; body shapes) and in many instances comes at the expense of details that actual players appreciate:
- New American Pro Jazzmaster simply eliminates the rhythm circuit.
- Lots and lots of MIM stuff now streeting for $800+. Some of these are indeed terrific guitars, and I can see some inflation from the '00's justified, but not this much, especially given the overall landscape of the guitar market.
- Guitars are getting simpler - corners cut? The new Mustangs and DuoSonics are a great example. They're terrific guitars and FMIC should feel good about them. However, for $499, I would wish for well-finished frets (all of the $500 new MIMs I've played have nearly-thorny fret ends, and others have found this as well), and a real tremolo system (these are Fenders! c'mon ....)

Nope. No can do. In fact, FMIC has done one thing that really shows me a lot about what their priorities are: tons of guitars in recent years that leverage the emotion of the legacy shapes but have "more modern" configurations. Usually this means cheap humbuckers instead of carefully made single coils, and a stop tail instead of a fancier bridge. We won't even get into the quality of the metals used.

Has Fender looked ruefully at Guitar Center's books and made a bold play for the previously Gibson-bound Dental Dollar?

Are they about to tell you that making music is not about expressing yourself, but having a carefully-mediated 'experience' (that isn't really complete until you buy a $4,000 guitar)?
 
Guitars are less appealing to the young and growing market segments than laptops. Poor bastards are one of THE big names in buggy whips. They're hosed unless there's a radical shift in fashion.

Who can blame them.
 
I hear and appreciate what you're saying, but...

It all seems to fit perfectly with the newly refined paradigm of the music business. People with minimal to no musical talent are now major music stars. They are chosen primarily based on looks, more so than ever before. Bands with storied histories of successful creation of music have been more and more frequently forced to "collaborate" with outside writers to ensure they have hits...which we all know doesn't work nearly as frequently as they'd like. The business first model of creating a process or replicating a seemingly sure fire process is the new standard.

Accessorizing is more important than skill and creativity within this new model, so Fender's selling themselves as one of the best accessories.

I'm more concerned about the prices of MIM Fenders increasing (or the quality decreasing) if the new administration dismantles NAFTA and implements ridiculous tariffs on good from our neighbors to the south (and north...I loves me some Godins).
 
Peen Simmons said:
Guitars are less appealing to the young and growing market segments than laptops. Poor bastards are one of THE big names in buggy whips. They're hosed unless there's a radical shift in fashion.

Who can blame them.
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Not sure that I agree with you. I'm surprised at the tunes many of my students ask to learn, or know. I have a 7th grade girl who is a competitive figure skater, came in to her lesson last week singing "Back In Black" -- and she knew all of the words. Some other tunes from other very young students of mine: Fox On The Run by Sweet, tons of Led Zep, Hendrix. Cream, SRV, Kiss, Aerosmith, Sabbath, AC/DC, Def Leppard -- I'm telling ya, there's lots of kids out there who still want to play guitars!
 
As far as Fender is concerned, though, the old adage "If you're not growing the business, you're shrinking it" comes to mind.
 
Dogsinotpalc said:
I hear and appreciate what you're saying, but...

It all seems to fit perfectly with the newly refined paradigm of the music business. People with minimal to no musical talent are now major music stars. They are chosen primarily based on looks, more so than ever before.
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This reads like alternative facts.
 
Psychotronic said:
Not sure that I agree with you. I'm surprised at the tunes many of my students ask to learn, or know. I have a 7th grade girl who is a competitive figure skater, came in to her lesson last week singing "Back In Black" -- and she knew all of the words. Some other tunes from other very young students of mine: Fox On The Run by Sweet, tons of Led Zep, Hendrix. Cream, SRV, Kiss, Aerosmith, Sabbath, AC/DC, Def Leppard -- I'm telling ya, there's lots of kids out there who still want to play guitars!
Click to expand...

Children taking clarinet lessons might walk in singing "The Thunderer" but that doesn't make Sousa any less dead.
 
Fender will sell you a hell of a strat for $700-$800 bucks. Made in Mexico, sure. But solid, nice sounding stuff.

I bought one from a corksniffer for $400 and it is a great, useful instrument at an amazing price. All the fancipance "customization" and minor quibbling over specs is an Internet disease. Fender is in the rotten position of selling against a glutted used instrument market in an era of declining sales.
 
While I agree with a lot of danhedonia's sentiment, I also agree with Psychotronic's - you would be surprised by what the INTERESTED younguns are seeking out musically. Those that want to learn the instruments (and even some that don't) are looking back to a lot of the music that WE love, because they realize that there is not a ton of popular music today that contains a fair amount of melody and musicianship, with some exceptions of course. My 23-year-old daughter, even going back a few years, is a fan of Lady Gaga, but also a fan of Rush, Pink Floyd, Springsteen, etc., and has seen all of them live (Roger Waters solo, but still...).

FWIW, a lot of the new Fender guitars in the $499-799 range have been purchased at a pretty amazing rate.
 
CBHScott said:
While I agree with a lot of danhedonia's sentiment, I also agree with Psychotronic's - you would be surprised by what the INTERESTED younguns are seeking out musically. Those that want to learn the instruments (and even some that don't) are looking back to a lot of the music that WE love, because they realize that there is not a ton of popular music today that contains a fair amount of melody and musicianship, with some exceptions of course. My 23-year-old daughter, even going back a few years, is a fan of Lady Gaga, but also a fan of Rush, Pink Floyd, Springsteen, etc., and has seen all of them live (Roger Waters solo, but still...).

FWIW, a lot of the new Fender guitars in the $499-799 range have been purchased at a pretty amazing rate.
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I wouldn't consider it any kind of cultural victory that classic rock radio has managed to retain its stranglehold on the hearts, minds, and imaginations of America's supposed "youth."

That shit was ancient when I was a teenager and your daughter was an embryo.
 
Peen Simmons said:
I wouldn't consider it any kind of cultural victory that classic rock radio has managed to retain its stranglehold on the hearts, minds, and imaginations of America's supposed "youth."

That shit was ancient when I was a teenager and your daughter was an embryo.
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Agreed, but just goes to show what they collectively think of current pop music, I s'pose. Funny enough, though, with the age of the internet, and the "youth" supposedly more tuned into it than we are, you would think they would be seeking out and finding the good new stuff to enlighten us old-timers :wink:
 
CBHScott said:
Agreed, but just goes to show what they collectively think of current pop music, I s'pose. Funny enough, though, with the age of the internet, and the "youth" supposedly more tuned into it than we are, you would think they would be seeking out and finding the good new stuff to enlighten us old-timers :wink:
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I had this argument for 14 years as a guitar teacher. Kids would tell me their favorite bands were Pink Floyd and Green Day and I would say, "that's your dad's favorite band, who's your favorite band?" And they never had an answer from outside of a classic rock station. In the meantime, I'm listening to crazy shit that came out at least relatively recently and they have no idea who these bands are or even how to find them. Here, let me Google that for you...
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
I had this argument for 14 years as a guitar teacher. Kids would tell me their favorite bands were Pink Floyd and Green Day and I would say, "that's your dad's favorite band, who's your favorite band?" And they never had an answer from outside of a classic rock station. In the meantime, I'm listening to crazy shit that came out at least relatively recently and they have no idea who these bands are or even how to find them. Here, let me Google that for you...
Click to expand...

That's the problem with a world based around search engines...you have to know exactly what to pull up. The old word-of-mouth analog culture of zines and hangouts and driving around doing nothing and going to shows helped you exist in a matrix of content. Now you can pull up anything, but you have to know that it exists and it can be pulled up.

Which makes everyone much more reliant on advertising.
 
Good rant, 8/10.

I think the reality is the guitar business is shrinking. I'm not buying new ones and the pool of new players isn't growing (no evidence, gut feeling). Businesses don't like to shrink, so they leverage and explore new markets.
 
Peen Simmons said:
Which makes everyone much more reliant on advertising.
Click to expand...
Which brings me back to a guitar thread from way back. I think it was HCEG, and it was about Carvin. Some of the die-hard Carvin guys, like me at the time, were talking about how great and under-valued they were, especially in the used market. Then somebody, probably some kid, posted: "if they're so great, why don't I see the pros playing them?" That's the point when I really started to understand the power of advertising, especially (but certainly not exclusively) to the younger population.
 
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