Fender is a frustrating company

Fender was a client of mine for years. One of the higher ups I worked with collected G&L’s calling them “more fender than fender”

I have had a handful of G&L over the years and they’ve all been great. Had 2 matching SB2 basses, one as a main and one as a backup. Only reason I sold any of them was because I was so burned out playing and working in a studio I sold every guitar I had.

Currently have a tribute fallout. Plays great, versatile. P90 I’m the neck, humbuckers in the bridge with coil tapping so I use it for testing out pedals and how they work with a variety of pickups without changing guitars.



Robert said:
Yeah, I know.... I've almost parted one out with an MJT body and I had one resprayed several years ago...

When it comes to Strats and Les Pauls I guess I'm a brand whore, it's just not the same... even if it's better. 😔:ROFLMAO:

(Although @HamishR's specs are a little more particular, mine is just a finish)
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You might be onto something.. Back when I started my business I sold almost all my music gear to finance the business and had just one guitar - an ASAT Classic. That was a cool guitar.

That 1998 Ltd Tele had the perfect neck for me though, and I haven't played a Fender since with such a perfect neck.
 
I have a thing for soft-V on a Fender. My wishlist specs are similar.. soft-v + nitro. I can handle 7.25" well enough, but I would love a rosewood option without binding (looking at you EJ).
Unfortunately, this always leads back to a custom neck..
 
For me, with stupid large hands, I need bigger string spacing and nut widths. The only squier I jive with is the mascis jazzmaster and only the american fenders have those kind of specs besides the player plus series...but they only have med-jumbo frets. 12" radius is nice though, I have a player plus tele for awhile and it was really nice and comfy but kinda sterile.
 
More UNLINED FRETLESS options would be good.

The Tony Franklin signature P-bass model is okay, but some other options would be more than welcomed — ie I might actually BUY a new bass.
 
Should be Luminlay side-dots, since Fender will be saving all that dosh on frets... saving on materials, AND installation/setup crowning levelling etc etc...
 
I want a jazzmaster with a compound radius fretboard, SS jumbo frets, an oiled black limba body, solid quartersawn wenge neck, a hipshot tremolo, and two Bare Knuckle 'Pig 90s. With a glow-in-the-dark stickman at the 12th fret and lumilay side dots.

WHERES MY SIGNATURE MODEL, FENDER?!?!
 
After 58 years of playing guitar, I am now the proud owner of way too many effing guitars. I have 34. I have never asked what the radius is and I can play them all just the same ir-regardless of scale, radius or color.

My latest "love at first sight" Chibson. I have a note inside the CrossRock case that says "This is not a real Gibson, and has been used as a stage prop in a privately funded never released video production". I really wish these guys would just put a "Shanghai" logo or ANYTHING other than a not very convincing Gibson logo.....

It's a very jangley semi-hollow Rickenbacker sound. Great setup right out of the box. Very easy to bend the strings with 10's.

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I was trying to buy a guitar for my universities makerspace a few months ago. There's a recording space. Students are using it and requesting instruments. Fender has some interesting, modern takes on old models. Nothing over-the-top, maybe a humbucker in the bridge of a strat with a coil-split on a pot. Some compound radius options or flatter fretboards. Nothing was in stock. I requested half a dozen different models in whatever colour was available. Nothing.

All the grandpa shit was in stock. You want a telecaster with 50's wiring and a blonde finish? A guitar with the same cigarette burns on the headstock as the one Eric Clapton played at the show where he ranted about immigrats ruining the UK? No problem. Fender has you covered. But if you want that guitar to ship with locking tuners maybe consider getting f**ked instead.

I'm also salty about Fender.

Stickman393 said:
I want a jazzmaster with a compound radius fretboard, SS jumbo frets, an oiled black limba body, solid quartersawn wenge neck, a hipshot tremolo, and two Bare Knuckle 'Pig 90s. With a glow-in-the-dark stickman at the 12th fret and lumilay side dots.

WHERES MY SIGNATURE MODEL, FENDER?!?!
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I want this guitar. Maybe sans luminlay.
 
It's not Fender's fault, it's ours. Fender tried many times to put out more modern guitars and they didn't sell well. Remember Heartfield? They absolutely rocked, but didn't sell well. I bet Fender are also frustrated and feeling trapped in the past.

I mean, just as one example, isn't everybody tired by now of the dang saddle set screws sticking out and digging holes in their palm? But no, the more vintage and shittier the bridge, the better it sells. And don't get me started about old school Tele bridges and saddles.
 
JTEX said:
It's not Fender's fault, it's ours. Fender tried many times to put out more modern guitars and they didn't sell well. Remember Heartfield? They absolutely rocked, but didn't sell well. I bet Fender are also frustrated and feeling trapped in the past.

I mean, just as one example, isn't everybody tired by now of the dang saddle set screws sticking out and digging holes in their palm? But no, the more vintage and shittier the bridge, the better it sells. And don't get me started about old school Tele bridges and saddles.
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I had a sentence that I ended up deleting about their stupid saddle grub screws. Whatever is going on with the classic bent steel saddle thing. It does not work for me. I lost more blood and skin than I would have cared to on tour to one of those bridges. Also, a 41mm nut width is miserable for metal.

I get what you're saying. It's more fun to pretend that fender is doing this on purpose though. Like Gibson and their stupid headstock design. They obviously know and have tried to fix it. But a scarf joint isn't what that guy from Led Zeppelin used or whatever.
 
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