Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

http://www.fender.com/misc/summernamm2003/special_editions/special_editions.html

Esquire GT..........lovely....

GT? sounds like a car. Wait it looks kinda like a car too. its too much too bare

That should read 'It's too much to bear.' No?

yes.......sorry......

With the carved tops and humbuckers it looks like they're trying for the Gibson crowd. Don't understand the rally stripe thing though...

I think it's funny, putting a race car image to a tele.

I can't wait to see the SUV strat.

...."I can't wait to see the SUV strat".

Ernie Ball / Musicman now makes the S.U.B. (Sport Utility Bass)....No off road tires on it, just a less expensive version of their 4 string StingRay 4 bass.

Fender has been making special limited editions since 1968. They do it because there's a (limited) market for it. It's not a sign of impending doom. I wouldn't want you to hold your breath waiting for them to collapse.

Is the S. U. B. a big gas hog driven by mothers going too slow on the way to the supermarket on Saturday mornings? And Owen didn't you mean much too bare? like a few more knobs or pickups might help?

IMHO Fender is taking a once good name and running it slowly into the ground. Some of the stuff they put out now borders on the ridiculous. Tele Gt! haha. Yes, be glad that Rickenbacker has stuck to it's guns and makes only certain American products without gimmicks, and good ones at that. I'm waiting for a Strat SS 454 with tri power and side pipes. VROOM!

Bob, does it come with an optional moonroof?

Airbags would be helpfull, too.

We're lucky Tom Delonge does not play a RIC.

All the best,
JL

No moonroof or airbags, makes a lot of noise though!

Stone me if you will, but I think that Lemmy bass is silly

Fender quit being Fender when Leo sold the company. This happens in about every specialist manufacturer when the founding member dies or sells out. Names alone do not make companies, the people those names are attached to make the companies. If Jim Winey sold Magneplanar, Richard Vandersteen sold Vandersteen Audio, Bill Conrad and Lew Johnson sold Conrad-Johnson Design, then their companies would cease to be the quality/value/innovation leaders they made them and their past reputation would be milked for quick profits selling products that were mediocre at jacked up prices, just as happened to guitar, electronic, furniture, clock, sporting goods, and any other manufacturer of high quality goods you can think of.

Look at the Gruen watches being sold in Wal-Mart now as an example. They are just a common quartz Swiss watch movement built by a Swiss private label manufacturer and imported by a guy in New York that bought the rights to the name, as he did for the Elgin name also, and at least a couple of other famous watch brands. They DO look fairly similar to the classic Gruen watches, and they DO keep good time (better than the originals), and they ARE good value for the money. Probably better values than the originals as well, when viewed as an attractive timekeeper. They DO NOT have collector value and WILL NOT rise in value like a classic American Gruen watch. New Gretsch guitars are the same deal; you get a close copy when you buy the Japanese version, and maybe better value for your money than the original. If they sound great and you like the looks and workmanship, then it's as good as an American Gretsch to you. Just don't buy it as a collector's item, and nobody gets hurt.

Some cheap imports such as OLP and Peavey basses are not plywood junk. They use very good tonewoods and have good workmanship. Many other cheap imports ARE junk, but there is no reason to buy them since good cheap imports are available now. Music stores need not carry the junky brands any more in order to have something really low cost and good for beginners and poor musicians. A new OLP MM2 and Peavey Microbass for under $400 with tax can really get a kid going.

Philip, you protest too much, Gruen is not a valid example. Today's Gruen is not a watch manufacturer at all. It's a name attached to a product manufactured for several companies. But Fender and Gibson are still guitar manufacturing companies. No matter what you say, the marketplace accepts today's Fender as the real and only Fender.