Dr. Spivey
Senior Member
A friend sent me a link to this recent thread at Harmony Central: http://acapella.harmony-central.com/showthread.php?t=2412750
Here's a cut and paste of one post from that thread, which I found interesting:
I work for a Fender dealer (and have for 10+ years). Our main supplier for accessories was before the takeover, and still is Kaman. I'll give my $0.02 about Fender and other brands.
Yes, it seems Fender has been buying up the world, and charging a LOT in some cases.
There is definitely good and bad about Fender.
However, one thing you can give Fender in their takeovers is that they have bought liabilities of the companies as well. I was PISSED when Gibson bought Garrison, did not buy the liabilities, basically canceling all warranties. This included any Garrisons still hanging on our walls, making them profitless. Soon, the brand disappeared, and now Gibson has a made in Canada series. At least Fender doesn't do that.
As a dealer, Fender is very, very, very easy to work with. They rarely argue with you about warranty replacements. The opening order for ANY Fender-owned brand (except EVH) is lower than just about anything else, and since they add affordable lines for all of their brands, you can tailor your stock to the demographics of your area. In contrast, Taylor Guitars and my store just split ways. I live in an area of about 300,000 people. It is a strange demographic where it is difficult to sell a large selection of guitars over $500 despite the size of the population. However, we did well with a selection of about 10 Taylors ranging from the Baby series to the 800 series. We'd also carry about 1 or 2 electrics. However, this was not up to Taylor's new stocking quals for dealers. We essentially would have to carry at least 1 or two of everything, including Presentation series acoustics. We negotiated for 6 months on a compromise, but their management wouldn't budge. We thought we had the upper hand since they didn't have representation (in Southern CA, no less) for at least a 60-mile radius. According to our rep, though, management decided it was in Taylor's best interest to have no representation in an area than incomplete representation. Nice people, nice instruments, but, IMO a bad policy.
While some may dislike the fact that Fender takes a brand like Guild and creates a lower-priced line alongside the traditional line, it really helps small dealers stay in business, and the quality of the product is great for the price. In order to do this, though, it is necessary for Fender sometimes to consolidate, as they have done with their acquisition of Kaman. This ALSO helps your local dealer carry more products. While many companies are very strict on what you HAVE to stock, a dealer could carry Fender, Jackson, Charvel, Guild, Tacoma, Squier, Takamine, Ovation, Hamer, SWR etc. without having to go anywhere else other than Fender and KMC, and can easily stock to their customer base. Other companies, like Schecter and Washburn are also very easy to stock, whereas Taylor and Gibson make it virtually impossible for smaller dealers.
However, there is also a downside to this. A former bassist for a famous singer/songwriter who recently dumped his soul/funk/roots bandmates (for a new altrock backing band) is a customer of ours, and he dropped SWR after the Fender takeover, as the move to Mexico for production also included swapping cheaper parts in SWR models. There are
Fender also just increased their prices ridiculously--street price for a '08 Strat was $979, and is now $1349. WOW.
Anyway, I just figured I'd share a different perspective on these takeovers.
BTW, my little conspiracy theory is that with FMIC handling foreign distribution of Taylor, and Bob Taylor starting his own line of acoustic guitars, I think Taylor is the next brand Fender will swallow up. I have no evidence, it's just a theory.End of HC post
What do you LTGers think? I've noticed FMIC has done some small updates to the Guild website over the course of this year. Recently the list of dealers has been updated. Wisconsin has gone from 22 dealers to 17, 6 of those being a small chain surrounding the Milwaukee area. So in reality there are 12 dealers in the state. It will be interesting to see where this goes in, say the next year.
Comments?
Here's a cut and paste of one post from that thread, which I found interesting:
I work for a Fender dealer (and have for 10+ years). Our main supplier for accessories was before the takeover, and still is Kaman. I'll give my $0.02 about Fender and other brands.
Yes, it seems Fender has been buying up the world, and charging a LOT in some cases.
There is definitely good and bad about Fender.
However, one thing you can give Fender in their takeovers is that they have bought liabilities of the companies as well. I was PISSED when Gibson bought Garrison, did not buy the liabilities, basically canceling all warranties. This included any Garrisons still hanging on our walls, making them profitless. Soon, the brand disappeared, and now Gibson has a made in Canada series. At least Fender doesn't do that.
As a dealer, Fender is very, very, very easy to work with. They rarely argue with you about warranty replacements. The opening order for ANY Fender-owned brand (except EVH) is lower than just about anything else, and since they add affordable lines for all of their brands, you can tailor your stock to the demographics of your area. In contrast, Taylor Guitars and my store just split ways. I live in an area of about 300,000 people. It is a strange demographic where it is difficult to sell a large selection of guitars over $500 despite the size of the population. However, we did well with a selection of about 10 Taylors ranging from the Baby series to the 800 series. We'd also carry about 1 or 2 electrics. However, this was not up to Taylor's new stocking quals for dealers. We essentially would have to carry at least 1 or two of everything, including Presentation series acoustics. We negotiated for 6 months on a compromise, but their management wouldn't budge. We thought we had the upper hand since they didn't have representation (in Southern CA, no less) for at least a 60-mile radius. According to our rep, though, management decided it was in Taylor's best interest to have no representation in an area than incomplete representation. Nice people, nice instruments, but, IMO a bad policy.
While some may dislike the fact that Fender takes a brand like Guild and creates a lower-priced line alongside the traditional line, it really helps small dealers stay in business, and the quality of the product is great for the price. In order to do this, though, it is necessary for Fender sometimes to consolidate, as they have done with their acquisition of Kaman. This ALSO helps your local dealer carry more products. While many companies are very strict on what you HAVE to stock, a dealer could carry Fender, Jackson, Charvel, Guild, Tacoma, Squier, Takamine, Ovation, Hamer, SWR etc. without having to go anywhere else other than Fender and KMC, and can easily stock to their customer base. Other companies, like Schecter and Washburn are also very easy to stock, whereas Taylor and Gibson make it virtually impossible for smaller dealers.
However, there is also a downside to this. A former bassist for a famous singer/songwriter who recently dumped his soul/funk/roots bandmates (for a new altrock backing band) is a customer of ours, and he dropped SWR after the Fender takeover, as the move to Mexico for production also included swapping cheaper parts in SWR models. There are
Fender also just increased their prices ridiculously--street price for a '08 Strat was $979, and is now $1349. WOW.
Anyway, I just figured I'd share a different perspective on these takeovers.
BTW, my little conspiracy theory is that with FMIC handling foreign distribution of Taylor, and Bob Taylor starting his own line of acoustic guitars, I think Taylor is the next brand Fender will swallow up. I have no evidence, it's just a theory.End of HC post
What do you LTGers think? I've noticed FMIC has done some small updates to the Guild website over the course of this year. Recently the list of dealers has been updated. Wisconsin has gone from 22 dealers to 17, 6 of those being a small chain surrounding the Milwaukee area. So in reality there are 12 dealers in the state. It will be interesting to see where this goes in, say the next year.
Comments?
