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Post subject: Re: If you were a Fender CEO for a day ...
Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 12:54 pm
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If I were Fender CEO for a day...

I'd probably take the afternoon off... !!

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cheers!

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Post subject: Re: If you were a Fender CEO for a day ...
Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2016 10:59 pm
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Great post Kyle !

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Post subject: Re: If you were a Fender CEO for a day ...
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 6:49 am
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SKcoppertele wrote:
(sorry if that was a bit more explanation than was needed.I got a little carried away.)

Personally, not being of the twitter generation, I like long texts, and people explaining! 8)

What I would like to see is a dual channel with something like 30W clean and 1W dirty.
I like the Orange Dual Terror, which can be switched from 30W to 15 or 7.5W, and has separate gain for each channel, but even 7.5W tube is too much for practice. But something along those lines, where you can play both clean with enough headroom, and dirty without bursting eardrums. With a Fender logo. That would be great.


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Post subject: Re: If you were a Fender CEO for a day ...
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 7:53 am
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arth1 wrote:
Well, power scaling does imply extra circuitry, which adds to the manufacturing complexity and costs. For single-ended class A amps, ...
Very informative post, arth1. A lot of what you wrote is beyond my knowledge base but Google is my friend and even though I spend all my time on this side of the amp it is fascinating to know what goes on inside. The good news is that my own level of ignorance gave me an idea.

:idea: When I become CEO for a day, one thing I'll do is provide courses and seminars for all Fender employees so that they can become very familiar with how the products they manufacture work and how they're used by musicians. These courses would be mandatory for ALL employees including the CEO.

Cheers!
BM

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Post subject: Re: If you were a Fender CEO for a day ...
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 2:36 pm
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Bluer Monkey wrote:
:idea: When I become CEO for a day, one thing I'll do is provide courses and seminars for all Fender employees so that they can become very familiar with how the products they manufacture work and how they're used by musicians. These courses would be mandatory for ALL employees including the CEO.


Keep in mind that Leo Fender couldn't play guitar. But a course would perhaps have prevented him from calling vibrato "tremolo" and tremolo "vibrato".

I think there are three major groups of Fender music equipment users, with some overlap:

- Musicians. Probably the smallest group of the three, and the one that is best at making their wishes heard. Apart from a few lucky ones, most musicians have shoestring budgets, but may be willing to forgo other pleasures to get something "just right".

- Aspiring musicians. Those will not know what would be good for them, and may tend to believe and repeat authority. Most of them will never become musicians, and unfortunately, I think in some cases it's because they didn't get the right instrument to start with.

- Hobby players. The ones that grab the guitar or sit down at the piano at family gatherings or group events. They need equipment they don't need to read a manual to operate, nor take in for a service/setup every few months. This may be the largest group.
They don't need a tube amp that sounds like Mayall's. They need a simple box with volume and reverb that will Just Work after being dragged out of the closet once a year. They don't need floyd rose micro-tuning or phase switches or tap-delay. Give them guitars that just work and can survive drunk uncle Willy Bill pretending he remembers a few Hendrix chords from his youth. And a good cheap acoustic that don't get warped necks or bridges ungluing just because it spent a year in a closet.
If it doesn't sound pro, so be it, as long as it sounds good enough for its purpose and brings joy.


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Post subject: Re: If you were a Fender CEO for a day ...
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 3:41 pm
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arth1 wrote:
Keep in mind that Leo Fender couldn't play guitar. But a course would perhaps have prevented him from calling vibrato "tremolo" and tremolo "vibrato". ...
Indeed. The idea behind the courses would not be to have everyone on staff able to play guitar or service an amp but to give them a certain degree of understanding. For instance I do not see myself doing more to my amps than changing tubes but I would certainly enjoy taking a course to learn how the electronics work and how the amps are put together.

As for the three major groups mentioned (Musicians, Aspiring Musicians, Hobby players) I would add another: Collectors.

Cheers!
BM

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Post subject: Re: If you were a Fender CEO for a day ...
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 3:51 pm
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arth1 wrote:
I think there are three major groups of Fender music equipment users, with some overlap:


Having just returned to the medium, I count myself firmly in the middle category, an aspiring musician, but at this stage in my life my aspirations are modest. If I can hold my own at the local open mic blues jams and have the guts (and the chops) to step up on occasion with friends who do gig around, I'll be more than happy. I'd like to think I got the right instrument to (re)start with, an American Standard Tele with a Blues Jr to push it through. The gear outstrips my current abilities (and probably always will), but I'm working hard to close the gap.

arth1 wrote:
If it doesn't sound pro, so be it, as long as it sounds good enough for its purpose and brings joy.


While I stopped playing decades ago, I never stopped listening. It needs to sound better than good enough, if not pro, to really bring the joy. My cross to bear.

And besides, I have my own Uncle Willy Bill moments. But not with this gear. Respect.

Cheers!

Mike

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Last edited by CC Blues on Thu Jan 14, 2016 9:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: If you were a Fender CEO for a day ...
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 4:46 pm
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CC Blues wrote:
Having just returned to the medium, I count myself firmly in the middle category, an aspiring musician, but at this stage in my life my aspirations are modest. If I can hold my own at the local open mic blues jams and have the guts (and the chops) to step up on occasion with friends who do gig around, I'll be more than happy. I'd like to think I got the right instrument to start with, an American Standard Tele with a Blues Jr to push it through. The gear outstrips my current abilities (and probably always will), but I'm working hard to close the gap.

I count myself there too - I can hold my own at local events, but I'm too old to tour, and limelight makes me sneeze. But I can keep on working at getting better. Perhaps I will self-publish a CD or two one day.

What I think happens too often with aspiring musicians and especially young ones is that they get a crap instrument that's hard to play and sounds bad, and they'll never bond with.
Parents who buy the cheapest possible gitar/amp combo thinking that if the kid doesn't take to it, at least they're only down $120, without realizing that they've greatly increased the risk of the kid not taking to it.
As a Fender CEO for a day, I would ban any instruments that are cheap and crappy, and especially low quality instruments intended for kids. If you want them to become loyal Fender customers for a lifetime, you don't do that by introducing them to something likely to put them off.

And, at the other end of the spectrum, there are parents who buy their spawn a masterpiece of an instrument, with admonitions to the kid to treat it like the crown jewels. Oh, and keep the volume down on that expensive amp. And thereby they have ensured that the kid will be afraid to play, and won't take to it either.

At least us older folks don't have those problems.


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Post subject: Re: If you were a Fender CEO for a day ...
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 6:08 pm
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When I hear these kinds of things it's hard for me not to think about Boogie. After all they did spring up from a Fender heritage. I have two Boogies and neither one needs to be low wattage to get a good crunchy tone at a reasonable volume level. I've had a number of channel switching Fender amps and without exception they all sounded better in crunch mode when pushed hard on the clean side rather than using the dirty side at lesser settings. That doesn't appear to be necessary with my Boogies. My .50 Caliber Boogie is a 1x12 combo roughly the size of a Blues Junior albeit heavier than a BJ and it has wonderful deep, chimey, spanky cleans and when I step on the button for the crunch it's not just very good, it's glorious. Some might argue it's not the same thing as a pushed amp but I can attest that it is very close to the same thing. Certainly close enough for the vast majority of players. It CAN be done ... and without all the complicated wizardry involved in making an amp with two different output power levels. More than that, not only can it be done but Fender themselves know how to do it. I played a Vibro-King for a whole weekend several years back and that's exactly how it behaved. Gorgeously deep, spanky, chimey, breathy cleans and then when you step on the Fat-Switch it's crunch-heaven. They put a hidden Fat-Switch on the BJ but it's not nearly the same thing. It's actually kinda gross sounding by comparison. They DO know how to do it but the question is, will they?

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Post subject: Re: If you were a Fender CEO for a day ...
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 8:34 pm
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arth1 wrote:
Bluer Monkey wrote:
:idea: When I become CEO for a day, one thing I'll do is provide courses and seminars for all Fender employees so that they can become very familiar with how the products they manufacture work and how they're used by musicians. These courses would be mandatory for ALL employees including the CEO.


Keep in mind that Leo Fender couldn't play guitar. But a course would perhaps have prevented him from calling vibrato "tremolo" and tremolo "vibrato".

I think there are three major groups of Fender music equipment users, with some overlap:

- Musicians. Probably the smallest group of the three, and the one that is best at making their wishes heard. Apart from a few lucky ones, most musicians have shoestring budgets, but may be willing to forgo other pleasures to get something "just right".

- Aspiring musicians. Those will not know what would be good for them, and may tend to believe and repeat authority. Most of them will never become musicians, and unfortunately, I think in some cases it's because they didn't get the right instrument to start with.

- Hobby players. The ones that grab the guitar or sit down at the piano at family gatherings or group events. They need equipment they don't need to read a manual to operate, nor take in for a service/setup every few months. This may be the largest group.
They don't need a tube amp that sounds like Mayall's. They need a simple box with volume and reverb that will Just Work after being dragged out of the closet once a year. They don't need floyd rose micro-tuning or phase switches or tap-delay. Give them guitars that just work and can survive drunk uncle Willy Bill pretending he remembers a few Hendrix chords from his youth. And a good cheap acoustic that don't get warped necks or bridges ungluing just because it spent a year in a closet.
If it doesn't sound pro, so be it, as long as it sounds good enough for its purpose and brings joy.

Ok, something is definitely going on here...I am in total agreement with you...weird! :lol:

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Post subject: Re: If you were a Fender CEO for a day ...
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 9:23 pm
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arth1 wrote:
At least us older folks don't have those problems.


Amen and hallelujah.

Mike

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Post subject: Re: If you were a Fender CEO for a day ...
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2016 11:40 pm
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1.
Big Fat Owners Manuals for everything, even if they're just PDF files. And by "everything", I include discontinued products.
They shall all be specific to the model, and (in the case of instruments) include detailed setup procedures. None of those manuals that are supposed to be for all guitars and basses.
F'rinstance, I have a Squier VM Jaguar. It has no tremolo lock button for a reference position, so there is no published method for adjusting the tremolo tension screw.
For electric instruments and simple boxes (for lack of a better generalized term), include wiring diagrams and schematics. There's a big difference.
The manual shall give wrench sizes.
I mean, somebody sat down and designed these products, right? They didn't merely assemble random parts out of dumpsters in random configurations. Somebody wrote up specs and and made diagrams, so the manual is already almost finished anyway.

2.
Appoint a tiger team to fix the Strat whammy bar. Almost 62 years now, and they still go floppy after half an hour of playing?

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Post subject: Re: If you were a Fender CEO for a day ...
Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 6:27 am
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Great ideas, John. I especially like the Owner's Manuals for discontinued products. As for model specific manuals, I can understand how at one time it may not have been feasible because of the cost but with the advent of the PDF this is no longer an issue.

+1000 on wrench sizes

Cheers!
BM

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Post subject: Re: If you were a Fender CEO for a day ...
Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2016 10:08 am
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John L Rose wrote:
2.
Appoint a tiger team to fix the Strat whammy bar. Almost 62 years now, and they still go floppy after half an hour of playing?

Time to call in the expert, Ritchie Blackmore's guitar tech, Dawk Stillwell.
From an interview with the Black Knight by Guitar World:
Guitar World wrote:
I used to have quarter-inch bars made for me because I'd keep snapping the normal kind. My repairman would look at me strangely and say, "What are you doing to these tremolo bars?" Finally, he gave me this gigantic tremolo arm made of half-an-inch of solid iron and said, "Here. If you break this thing, I don't wanna know about it!"
About three weeks later I went back to the shop. He looked at me and said, "No - you haven't." And I said, "Yes I have."


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Post subject: Re: If you were a Fender CEO for a day ...
Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 4:35 pm
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I would completely revamp the acoustic guitar line up.
New high end Tacoma by Fender solid wood models as high as $1995 street price.
New high quality but moderately priced Tacoma models starting at 599.
Solid top Fender models will start at $399 and go up to 995.
Squier Affinity acoustics will start at 179 and will mimic the price points of standards, VMs ,and classic vibes.


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