there was a time when you could walk into a Fender showroom in the 1950's and be presented by the salesmen with a few different guitar designs that were amazing and for a variety of styles of music the quality spoke for itself in spades!

now you go to a website and are confused with what to buy especially if you are just starting out and most of the time the product is total garbage setup like crap and just plain bad but you buy it because of the name and you didn't know any better this is the main problem I hear from many including myself musicians of all calibers.

please just focus on making a good strat supplying the public with high quality REPLACEMENT necks for them and making super high quality hardware upgrades forget about blacktops highway ones and those roadworns thats absurd because part of the initial spirit of Fender guitars was that they were workhorse guitars that were designed so you can impart your own soul and spirit into the instrument not fake it !

I thought the online Guitar builder feature on your website is so cool but you can take it a bit further I have excellent marketing and strategic plans how you guys can keep it real while still driving sales based on your quality not hype promotions. please feel free to PM me on this if you guys are interested.

I am a big fan of your products but I think you guys are getting too greedy with your prices and substandard service stations across the nation of all the techs I asked about your "GOLD standard service status" the techs laughed or didnt know WTF it was in the first place?

come on dudes give musicians what they want stop just going for Profits please! thank you and I mean this in the most respectful way long time fan and buyer of your guitars

I'd say that fender are giving musicians what they want.
They wouldnt have all these different products if there was no market for them.

imo, ymmv, my 2c etc etc tec

I work at a guitar shop that deals Fenders, we're also a certified Fender warranty center so checking out Fenders is part of my job.

I'd say that variety is a good thing, and it's not overwhelming if you know what you're after. Some setups aren't so great, but you could attribute a lot of that to changing weather conditions and the fact that it's a new guitar. Things are going to shift on it, wood will expand and contract, it happens. And no, current Fender products are not "total garbage". I think they're better and more consistent now than they ever were. They don't have the same vibe vintage guitars do, but so what? You don't have to worry about pickups dying, frets that are worn out, necks that are warping, bodies that are cracking or anything else that you have to think about with old guitars. Repairs for things like that come into the shop all the time, and they often cost almost as much as the guitar is worth. Which is all right on a 1950's Martin, but not on a $300 Airline. I'm in the middle of a guitar build right now myself, and let me say this, the fact that Fender can create a quality instrument at the price they sell for is amazing. Have you seen the prices of some other brands lately? Or ever stopped to think of how much each individual part of the guitar costs or how much effort goes into building it? Of course, machines help but it's still an extremely involved process. And without those newfangled machines, most of us would be playing crappy knockoffs and only a select few of us could afford to drop $3000-$4000 on a handmade Strat.

Oh, and for the record every pro level musician I've talked to, (which are quite a few between work and jamming) I've never encountered a single one who thought that Fender's were "total garbage". Quite the opposite in fact. Even if they prefer another style guitar than a Strat or Tele, they still vouch for the quality. One of my favorite guitar players whom I know personally is a blues/jazz/anything and everything guitarist who's been playing for over fifty years. And guess what? He has seven Fender Strats in his arsenal, and they're newer ones.

Anyway, that's the end of my little rant.
I'm trying to stay civil and not confrontational. I don't want to fight over stupid things like this, just to point out that my experience with Fender products has for the most part been very positive.

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Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
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B/S....If you know anything about Fender Strats you can find a "workhorse" without any trouble......plenty of musicians,including myself,have no trouble doing so...and I'm a long time Fender player/owner also.

Punctuation...It's your friend.

Welcome to the forum(if you did not get that already)

As mentioned by other forumites, Fender guitars are a workhorse guitars and get modified, personalized and adapted for the player all the time. Fender recognizes that and wants to be be part of that game. Variety is good.

If you are new or confused which strat to get, go for Standard Mexi or Standard US (depends on your budget) and you can't go wrong. Get id setup by a good luthier and you are going to be very happy.
Once you figure out what it is you want from guitar to be like, you can take the mod or upgrade roads. It is fun either way, and you will end up with a bunch of guitars.

BTW, your post sounds like a rant. You will get a lot more informative answers in regards to which guitar to get if you turn it more positive and give us some info what you play, amp, effects, etc.

Hope that helps

+1

And if you cannot find one, do what I and many others have done -- build one yourself!

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

If you know what a "basic" strat is, then you will EASILY find several models to choose from lol. They make them to imitate the 50's, 60's and 70's models. Then they have the MIM and USA Standards. These are as basic as it can get. As for the "replacement neck" issues you mentioned......WHY would Fender sell items to further the problem with fakes and such? Besides.....how often have you seen a strat that needed a replacement neck anyway? They usually don't break!

i wouldn't hold my breath on a response after a comment like that. If that is your idea of marketing yourself, your cover letter and C.V. would be relegated to the bottom of the pile with a do not Contact stamped upon it, if not just shredded immediately.


Did you actually walk into a Fender Showroom in the 50's Because if so, that would date you at around your mid to late 70's. Marketing as well as the consumer base has evolved dramatically since then.


I'm not sure what you are basing your input on but, Fender offers an affordable quality strat at just about every imaginable budget.
No you are not going to get a Custom Shop strat for Squier Bullet pricing, however a Squier Bullet being offered when I was 15 would have been light years from the then available options. Especially when you compare the cost/versus quality equation.

Evidently, you needed to rant about something or other, what We are not quite sure.
Is it a quality issue Is it a Fender rep. issue Is it that someone did not respond back to you fast enough Is it you purchased a Strat thinking it was going to be something exceeding that particular model

It's Ok to be annoyed or frustrated at today's corporate levels of contact. However, everytime I have had a question or a problem, Fender Customer support ( 1st step ) has always responded fairly quickly and if they did not have an answer informed me as to who to contact to resolve the issue. ( All my issues were resolved in an expedient manner )

So if you really have a viable issue ( other than getting up on the wrong side of the bed, reversing this may help ) you might want to try sending Mike Eldred a to the point and polite letter describing your problem and asking for his suggestion

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Additionally... BKB... What's with the rant
Since you've been on the forum since 2007

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

What are you trying to say? There is a careers page here on the site were you can upload your information and resume if you are serious about your abilities. You have been a member here since it began in 2007, my question for you, is the site a lot better than it was back then?

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Strange way to get employed....tell the prospective employer how bad his products are!
Can't see how that will get you in the door.

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

"c'mon dudes".... "I mean this in the most respectful way"
"please feel free to PM me if you GUYS are interested"
"greedy"... "hype promotions"
"I have excellent marketing and strategic plans"

Oh, please "bosskid", do send us your resume. I am certain we can move you right to the top, perhaps even a team leader of our planning and promotional department. How about corporate training specializing in effective communication.

firstly I'd like to apologize to everyone it seems that I have ruffled a few feathers out here in the forum which was not my intention. I like fender guitars I just wanted to give them some feedback on legitimate issues that alot of players have.

Fender kindly please address these issues.

-please make Authorized high quality Replacement necks for working musicians that are setup for direct retrofit to your most popular model guitars (possibly the us and mexi standards?).

-apon awarding gold service repair status to guitar techs in the countries you service please monitor their work and dialog with customers on some level and retest them constantly so customers are assured of getting proper work done by Fender experts instead of being dissappointed with the results given by sub par supposed technicians.