I'm in this 10% and I'm sure I've given fender at least $10,000 over the years (as well an equal amount to Gibson).
Another quote from a different article:
"Fender's CEO says company finding out half of new guitar players are female was a "complete shocker"
Anyhow, good for Fender. They're doing something right and one of the things they're doing is *giving* free guitars away to internet influencers to sing their praises.
Something Gibson is *not* doing.
Fenders are everywhere on stages these days. Gibsons, less so.
Metal is real music. Real skill, real vocalists. Tells a story. They all use electric heh.
Both companies make fine instruments. Have both.
I’m just pissed how Barry went after Gibson about neck wood but left Fender alone.
The chinese strats are playable. Just have to be enameled because the wood’s not pretty enough to be natural. I imagine that affects the sound too. Just sold one. Keeping a modded one (carbon neck and custom pickups). They’re flooding the market.
I am in that boat too. But I don’t like bolt on necks. So I only have one Strat. I have 3 Flying V 90s. 2 Jacksons.(•Kelly) and San Dimas) 1 Esp. 1 Dean from hell.
Rock on🤘
Electric guitars are hardly dead. In most churches, the electric guitar has chased out the organ and the choir.
I love my Strat (It’s an Eric Clapton Blackie - type. Love the maple fretboard), but these days I mostly play my PRS (and I’m NOT a lawyer or dentist!)...
Personally, I play the stereo . . .
FWLIW, an old friend owns Eminence Speaker Corporation. Several years ago I asked him what are the odds your stuff is on-stage at the Tedeschi-Trucks Band show we were at.
“95 - no, 99%.”
I have a usa strat and Mexican tele, acoustic dean, schecter blackjack V, gibson les paul standard, epiphone sg modern and a guild bass.
Fendor Stratocaster from the custom shop. Also a Fender Geddy Lee jazz bass. Great instruments. Also got a Gibson Les Paul classic, another great guitar.
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. Today's innovative guitarists don't even consider playing those brands.
I’ve done MY part to help keep them afloat...
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.
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.
“ 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.