Posted on 10/23/2022 8:47:33 AM PDT by Drew68
If you want to get under Andy Mooney’s skin, tell him that electric guitars are dead. A 2017 Washington Post article making that claim still gets him exercised even as he’s seen a renaissance in guitar sales at the company he leads, Fender Musical Instruments. That boom has been fueled partly by an increasingly diverse player base, as more women and people of color embrace an instrument long associated with white male fans of classic rock.
Many have continued to proclaim the death of the guitar since that article’s publication, Mooney says with exasperation. “It was like in the days of John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever when disco came out and guitar rock didn’t die out.” Fender’s sales show the guitar remains popular.
About 60% of sales come from fretted instruments like guitars, basses, and ukuleles; the rest are from amps and music sheets. The company is poised to hit $1 billion in sales this year, a far cry from 2015 sales, which were less than half that. Fender tapped the 67-year-old Mooney that year to fix the struggling company, which was choking under a mountain of debt.
The pandemic had lots to do with buoying guitar sales analogous to the baking boom during quarantine. Many consumers purchased guitars and ukuleles to learn new skills, relax, and pass the time. But other trends have sustained Fender’s growth beyond the pandemic’s peak, Mooney says. “The guitar is being used in more genres by more people in more geographies than ever, and it’s used for more reasons than just wanting to be a rock star,” he says.
Mooney, who worked at Nike for 20 years and then at Disney before becoming CEO of Fender, was once himself an aspiring rock star, first drawn to the instrument as a fan of Deep Purple. A key ingredient in his turnaround has been reducing the instrument abandonment rate of new players, 90% of whom quit playing an instrument within a year of purchase. That’s a big problem when nearly half of Fender’s instrument sales are from first-timers.
In response, the 76-year-old company launched Fender Play, a guided virtual program with short lessons for beginner and intermediate players to sustain their interest and cultivate an online community. It’s not a big revenue maker, but Mooney believes it will keep guitar sales on the growth track for years. “People are using it to self-develop, relax, or just learn something new,” he says.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
There’s a perception that people are gravitating more toward hobbies like video games and away from playing music. What are you seeing?
There was an infamous story in the Washington Post around 2017, and the headline was, “The electric guitar is dead.” It was the same thing when disco came out, and it didn’t die then. Before COVID, [percentage] growth was in the middle single digits. Now we’re pushing a billion dollars in annual sales, and we estimate there are 16 million more players in the U.S. and 30 million worldwide since the pandemic started.
The jump in guitar sales seems counterintuitive given that rock music is no longer dominant on the charts, theoretically leading interest in electric guitars to wane.
At the dawn of the electric guitar, a lot of the growth was from people who wanted to be guitar heroes or virtuoso players like Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, or Jimi Hendrix. There are still heaps of virtuoso players, but there are fewer guitar gods now. More people use guitars onstage, in the studio, and in other genres as compositional instruments, creating textures.
Is there a parallel in the guitar boom to how people got into baking during the pandemic, fueled by a desire to return to basic, tactile pleasures?
Yes. Like many of those activities, playing guitar is normalizing post-COVID. But we’re not going through the same thing as Peloton, meaning a massive decline in usage and the return of goods.
So how do you hang on to all those new customers?
We recently surveyed customers, and the big “aha” was that 90% of first-time players abandoned the instrument in the first year. But the 10% who didn’t will have a lifetime value of $10,000 for us and will buy five or seven guitars in their lifetime, amplifiers, and all the other equipment. So in 2017, we created an online learning product called Fender Play, which aimed to reduce the abandonment rate at the height of COVID. We see it as a massive driver for bringing more people in and keeping them.
What did you immediately want to improve when you took the reins in 2015?
It was our research that pointed the way. We wanted to invest in building a community and digital ecosystem and monetize it. That’s essentially what Fender Play has become—one of our most important marketing components.
There was talk of a ukulele boom during the pandemic, with the instrument’s small size and relative simplicity proving to be a draw for legions of newbies. Has that held up?
The ukulele segment grew faster than any other fretted instruments pre-COVID but slowed down quickly. These things tend to be driven by personalities. For example, at that point, Billy Eilish was a big-time ukulele player, but she doesn’t use it as much onstage these days.
Many iconic guitar stores have closed in the past decade, and the big national chain, Guitar Center, struggled for years before finding its footing again. Does that change your view on the benefits of selling through stores versus your website?
In 2015, 70% of our business was done in brick-and-mortar stores and 30% online. Today, it’s the inverse. During the pandemic, a big shift was that consumers were predominantly buying online. They were not going into guitar stores, and that environment for new players can be pretty intimidating. Still, there’s always going to be a desire in consumers to touch, feel, and hear an instrument. But we don’t intend to enter the retail business, because our dealer base covers the landscape well.
Are you still dealing with supply-chain chaos and product shortages?
The biggest issue we’ve faced is more on the electronics side, such as vacuum tubes [devices that control electric current flow], many of which came out of Russia. Chips are still a dogfight. A chip we would’ve paid 30 cents for last year is going for $30 this year, and it’s priced some products totally out of the market for consumers.
What makes you think the boom in music instrument sales has legs?
I’m optimistic about the future because I’m sitting in my office here at home, and nobody’s returning to the office the way we once were. So I think people may have anywhere from 50% to 80% more available time to spend on things they want to do. And I think that people will continue to bake, exercise, fly-fish, and play music.
Get to know Mooney:
*His favorite band is Deep Purple. It’s the first band he ever saw live, and the lead guitarist, Ritchie Blackmore, inspired him to pursue learning the instrument. The first riff he learned on guitar was “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath.
*Mooney’s most prized guitar, out of about 40, is his 1955 Fender Stratocaster, but these days he’s playing his Fender Jim Root Jazzmaster, named for the Slipknot guitarist, and a Tom Morello Soul Power Fender more.
*He was the chairman of Disney Consumer Products in 2000, and he spearheaded the creation of its Disney Princess franchise, a far cry from his heavy metal tastes.
I have both. A 70 LP and a Gvt. Series II Explorer. 2 Strats, also a couple Squires, a Warmoth Frankenstrat, and a Mary Kaye type that needs to be assembled.
Born and raised on Strats. A Strat player I will remain.
‘Pod
You and me both.
I havenorth of 30 guitars. Have todo an inventory. 🤔
“The Fender/Gibson target market appears to be the well-to-do Boomer/Gen-Xer who is willing to overpay to imitate their childhood heroes.”
Been hearing that for at least 40 years. Laughing in the face of folks who warned, circa 1980, that vintage Les Pauls were a terrible value and nobody would ever get their money back (because ‘boomers’ would be dying out and nobody else would ever buy an old fashioned guitar like a Les Paul).
I'd have to sit down and think about how many guitars have passed through my hands over the years. Drives my wife crazy with what I have now!
What I'm really jonesing for is a Rickenbacker 12-string, but there's a two-year waiting list for a new one. And I won't buy a used Ric. Too many of them have had their necks ruined by owners who didn't understand how to adjust Ric's patented dual truss rod system and new Rics come with warrantees.
Really, Gibson more than Fender. Fender has done a much better job appealing to younger players while Gibson is still set in their ways, marketing unchanged 50s designs with skyrocketing price tags to well-to-do Boomers.
It's Epiphone that keeps Gibson afloat. Newer, modern designs all seem to have Epiphone headstocks (and affordable price tags).
At the recent Coachella festival, almost every guitar on stage was a Fender.
Ironically, Gibsons are now seen more in the hands of country players, a switcheroo from the days where every country picker played a Telecaster.
If you can sit through this extrememly annoying video, this extremely annoying Zoomer explains why Gibsons don't appeal to her generation (and Fenders do).
Fender gave her a free guitar for her efforts.
Originally, I was from Pa; moved to Alaska 30 some years back. I had helped neighbors tear down revolutionary war grant barns down; got hand hewn Pa chestnut beams. I hauled like 30 two inch chestnut boards to Ak years back (guitar builds). Ron Kirn (Jacksonville) built me a couple guitars like 25 years back. You should see his Kirn Signatures. He has a web site; if you see the fresh Alaska in his strat gallery; that's my baby.
I still try to play, but with age (70) and sugar & Rheumatism; my fingers are warped, swelled up, and just don't work. So I started calling my cousins back east; see if any of their grandkids were guitar players. I got lucky and found a 13 year old cousins grandkid that is quite good for that age and he sent me a utube. Reminded me of when I was learning Hendrix in the late 60s. I sent the kid a chestnut tele GOLDTOP pretty sweet and he luvs it. Also sent him a baby blue strat with lollars that I bought around 2002. I want to keep the guitars in the family and will only give them to kids that play.
My sister's boys have kids. They'll take my guns but don't want their kids playing guitar; can't figure? I begged my one nephew to just put the guitar cases under the bed and his boy will find them down the road; still working on him. I just don't want these chestnuts sold. I spent like 2-3 gran on each guitar 20-25 years back. You can't buy American Chestnut that's of guitar quality nowadays from a barn built in the 1790s. I even have chestnut strats that have wood pegs in the body. They couldn't haul nails over the mountains in the 1700s.
FedEx ships everything good, but spendy; $300 for a 18 lb guitar box; nuts.
Ya luv the guitars, just wish my fingers would hang in there. Take a look at Ron Kirn Signature Guitars web site.
Fender gave her a free guitar for her efforts.
Why I HATE Gibson Guitars
I forgot to put a language warning in that vid. She drops an occasional 'F' bomb.
She's actually a very talented Canadian player and singer.
Now that’s funny. I don’t care who you are, That’s funny right there. Thanks for the great laugh.
“Just have to be enameled because the wood’s not pretty enough to be natural. I imagine that affects the sound too.”
I’ve seen that idea debated for many years. The general consensus on guitar forums I frequent is that if there is an effect it’s more likely to be to the unamplified sound of a solid body guitar - but AFAIK no one’s shown the ability to consistently detect the difference between (for example) an amplified polyurethane-coated guitar and a nitrocellulose guitar in a blind listening test (assuming identical electronics, hardware, strings, etc). As always, YMMV.
Yeah, that’s definitely on my list.
Over the last two years, I have invested in acoustics. 2 Guild 12’s, 4 Yairi’s, 2 Alvarez’s, a Yamaha 12, and am having 2 guitars hand built for me.
I mostly play acoustically, these days.
My bff is a noodler with a ton of guitars.So I ended up getting a few too. The strats do not appeal to me with all those pickups and a hole thingy in the back for bar thing. But teles seemed kewl and simple. I got a Michael Kelly one with two humbuckers (53DB) but it can do a lot of things because the knobs can be pulled up. Then I got a Michael Kelly 54OP which is a simpler telecaster with a humbuckers and only one knob pulls up. That is probably my favorite. I also bought a Fender tele that is like a Les Paul. I thought it was very pretty.Somebody named Jim Atkins designed it and it is different and has hole in it for a different sound. I also took one for partial payment on a bill. Squeeky says that it is a tranny 335. It is beautiful blood red and has two holes in front. The sound is different than Squeeky’s ones like that. It is supposed to be a semi-hollow BUT it isn’t. The block of wood does not go all the way to the back and there maybe 1/2 to 3/4 inch gap on the bottom which Squeeky says is way less than a hollow body but not all the way like a semi hollow. That guitar makes the most beautiful sound!Very bluesy and soulful even unplugged. It is supposed to be a Kay KV335. I just replaced the 3 on a peg tuners with individual locking tuners. It still sounds wonderful and I oiled the fret board real good and put 10/46 slinkies on it. Squeeky helped me and was super hard putting the screws into the back of the head board. And we had to buy 10mm bushings too and it took forever to sand just a bit out for them to fit and now they are pushing up a bit. I may have to buy some where the bushings screw into the tuner. And I have to buy a new cream colored knob for the switch.
New guitarists tend to buy something cheap, which is maybe part of the reason why they tend not to stick with it. In today’s market, it’s not very difficult to find used guitars that are a good value & sometimes better than a new one.
In the 90’s I was working as a contractor at Microsoft. They had a weekly company newsletter that included want-ads and announcements. In one I read of auditions for a production of the musical version of “Forbidden Planet” where they were putting together a stage band.
Unable to read music scores, I lost out to another guitar player but I got a call from the music director about a week later asking if I was interested in playing the bass in the project. I never quite understood why my musical illiteracy made a difference on one instrument vs. the other but I just wanted to play so I eagerly agreed.
My only Bass was a Peavey knockoff of a Precision so the music director allowed me to use from his personal collection. I quickly focused on a Fender Mk VI, which was a six-string Bass with a Jaguar body. I never had so much fun playing that beast!
I’m a guitarist, NOT a bassist, so I’m sure that my approach to covering the bass parts might have upset the purists, but I was having fun and the director was pleased with the sound he was getting so no foul. That is, no foul except for Sidney, the guy who was chosen to play guitar. Sidney perpetually had a stick up his ass about me being in the band (and I found out later behind the scenes advocated for my removal).
During one rehearsal we did an impromptu “battle of the bands” solo warz and I (on the Mk VI) ran circles around our star player. He almost quit the project over that.
I looked to purchase a Mk VI for several years but could never find one that I could afford (they quit making them decades ago).
What a great instrument that was!
What a great instrument that was!
Fender occasionally re-releases the Bass VI from time to time, most recently under their "Pawnshop" series.
Currently, an Indonesian-made Bass VI is sold by Squier for $459.
That's the absolute truth! Besides, it tends to be too darn loud. Overly loud electric instruments caused me to leave one church. Told the pastor that if I wanted to listen to loud music, I'd go to a concert.
“ Fenders are everywhere on stages these days. Gibsons, less so.”
Hmmm. I’ve notice that years ago Country music in general and Nashville in particular was Fender heavy,Al most exclusively.
These days it’s 90% Gibsons..
I believe politics played a role.
I bought an SJ200 at the Gibson Garage in Nashville this year.
I’d be in the same league but my wife will/would kill me:-)
Me too, been buying selling trading guitars etc for years. This year I retired so what I have now is what I’ll have till:-)
Interesting. I guess I’m too much of a snob but I would always regard them as inferior to an original. The one I saw, complete with sunburst paint scheme, runs around $13k.
“But I’d never, never sell my guitar ‘cause that would, honey that’d be a sin”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgsCxHGAe_8
Silly little ditty from Ten Years After but embodying a sentiment that I embraced. I’ve sold different amps and effects over the years but never any of my guitars.
I did burn one. A cheap Harmony acoustic that I got from my brother. Someone had stressed the neck and damaged the truss assembly. I could never get it to stay in tune and it almost drove me away from playing altogether.
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