Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I was reading at Dave's Guitars that starting next week, Fender's putting their biggest price increase in effect. I don't know now if this effects Gretsch and the other companies Fender owns, but I'm worried that the Deluxe Reverb amp I've been longing for will increase, and I'll have to go for a Vox Valvetronix...

What are your thoughts on Fender's price increase? How bad do you think it will be?

JakeK wrote:
What are your thoughts on Fender's price increase? How bad do you think it will be?

No insult intended Jake, but..........








Not taking a shot at you kiddo, sorry about the amp price increase, but all the flack RIC took about raising their prices....just sweet irony I guess, sorry.

Seeing all those faces laughing at me reminds me when I was younger (4th grade) and I went to school with my shorts on backwards.

Meh......Fender hasn't made anything I've really wanted in a LONG time......even then it was from Fender Japan, so I'm not too bothered.

That's the cost of doing business in the US (especially California), but a company like Fender has had "alternative" options in various countries for years.

There will still be truckloads of $200 squires pumped out every year, that I can assure you.

Even with whatever the price increase will be the american made ones will still be very reasonabley affordable, wont stop me from buying a couple more.

Totally agree - in the US bread and butter Fenders will remain affordable...

A friend of mine was in the US in December and was floored when he saw a new American Standard Tele in a showroom for under $500... You guys have it sooooo good...

A great price down under would be equivalent to US $1200....

antipodean wrote:Totally agree - in the US bread and butter Fenders will remain affordable...

A friend of mine was in the US in December and was floored when he saw a new American Standard Tele in a showroom for under $500... You guys have it sooooo good...

A great price down under would be equivalent to US $1200....

Not sure how an American Standard Tele could sell here at that price. It must have been a Mexican made. They go here 1000-1000USD. The Fender Standard Tele which is Mex,goes around $400.

It's about a 30-40% price increase all over the board,

SO the American strat which sold for $1000 will sell or $1300 as of February.

You still have a week to order under old price Jake!

My take on NAMM was that the bigger the company, the bigger the panic.

Fender (and all of its captive brands) went from balls-out last year (at least in terms of catalogs and swag) to--nearly zip this year. NO new Gretsch catalog (production probably stopped mid-cycle sometime last summer), and Gretsch was giving out...lanyards for show passes, whereas last year there were boxes of cool Gretsch Gear.

Not complainin'--Joe Carducci is a prince and his good cheer and enthusiasm are as boundless as ever--but observin', folks...

If swag and catalogs are the bellweather for company success . . . well, we must be completely dead, as we gave 'nuttin. Then again, we don't build all those costs into the sales price of the instrument either.

marc61 wrote: Not sure how an American Standard Tele could sell here at that price. It must have been a Mexican made. They go here 1000-1000USD. The Fender Standard Tele which is Mex,goes around $400.

Wow, maybe he caught the bargain of the century.... He's an astute guy and knows the difference - maybe a desperate going-out-of-business kind of thing...

At $1000 in the US, that one at AUD $2k in Sydney is actually pretty good.... I think... Darn, now I'm confused....

jingle_jangle wrote: My take on NAMM was that the bigger the company, the bigger the panic.

I think that idea can be generalised Paul. In a downturn, being a volume player can be a quick way to go broke, unless you have planned for the eventuality and have an extremely flexible business model. The small and nimble tend to do well....

It's affecting items across the board: the $900 or so for a '65 Deluxe Reverb becomes $1200 at my local dealer. A '52 Tele is going up by almost $500. Jags and Jazzmasters move into $1800 range. I ordered a '62 Precision Bass before the prices went up as it begins to move my favorite RI Fenders beyond the price range of a teacher. This is a really nasty increase that moves their gear above affordability for many. What is Fender thinking though? Why not just do what many are screaming: do the core line really well and offer it at an affordable price with quality to match as opposed to the vast line of variants that are inevitably phased out after 2 years due to their lack of sales? This is not going to be a solid year for Fender, it appears.

Fender price hike..........one more reason to score what in my opinion is a better crafted, better use of quality components, and splendidly sounding and playing guitars:

G&L Guitars (George Fullerton & Leo Fender)

Their American-made guitar lines are built in Fullerton, just up the road from Rickenbacker in Santa Ana. My dos centavos worth.......Goofyfoot.

Strange, but those G&Ls kind of remind me of something... I can't put my finger on it....

antipodean wrote:Strange, but those G&Ls kind of remind me of something... I can't put my finger on it....

Hmmm, I think I catch your drift, brah. They're sorta like, uuuhh-errr, uuuhh-errr, aawwhhh man! It'll come to me sooner or later.

Twirlin' in da wind,
Goofyfoot