well fender is a business at the end of the day, if you had a business you would want it to make as much money as possible. That's generally how business's work, whether its making guitars, delivering items or making petrol.
And Ray_tard is totally right....

yeah I guess the company was a small company when Leo Fender started so he could provide alot of personalized service and help to working musicians and listen to their feedback more so than a rather large Corporation would be willing to do?

It seems that what it takes to be a Fender dealer is to simply be able to pony up the bucks for the required basic inventory and maintain a particular stocking level. Here GC and Musicians Friend have the clout. I suspect they can pull the factory's strings.

I refer to GC as the "home of old new stock".

I would not send my wife or my (adult) children into a GC.

Neither Fender nor GC needs to get back to what anyone of us think is the basics. They have determined that for themselves and appear to be successful. Their customer base is ,by my perception, 80 % under 30 metal whanger guitar store groupies and the disenfranchised looking for attention and a place to "hang" and a famous prodcut with which they can align.. The rest may be serious amateur musicians, some pros and some like me who have been playing for a number of years, owned in excess of 100 guitars, 50 plus mandolins, a dozen banjos, over 50 button accordeons and assorted other stuff, looking for the next guitar.

I have grand kids near the age of the sales "dudes" and "dudesses". Add to that 25 years in a service related business where I practiced and taught customer service (nationally for international companies) and that may explain why I simply don't get this new age way of doing business which appears to be is designed to alienate serious mature buyers.

And yes, I remember going into music stores in the 50's and 60's when there was a higher level of customer care, inventory care and respect for both on the part of the owners staff and manufacturers... back when customers were called customers not consumers as does Fender. Thye and Martin consider their dealers to be their customers, and we the great unwashed a necessary nuisance.

I must say in spite of Fender calling the customer service dept CONSUMER service they do a decent job, except for one guy who always seems to want to lecture. I tolerate him, he is well meaning but sells the customers short; many customers know more about the product than they do. That was the case in my former profession. You simply can'tm know it all.

Boss Kidd,

If you want something basic, get an Am. Std. Truth is, the basics have never left the line-up. It's just now, you have options. If you want all the "bells and whistles" then there is something that will fill the gap. If you want "Bread and Butter" bare essentials, there is something for you also.

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wow, i dont think ive seen fender so kicked in the nuts publicly like this before on this forum.
then the HW1 and roadworn's are down graded all the while looking for a working mans guitar. seriously? the HW1 is a perfect example of a workhorse guitar.
do you seriously think folks want to take their $2,000 plus strats out giging?
im not gonna say fender is better than they ever where because that depends on what your looking at. i will say that i believe that they are listening more to the public about our needs/wants when they think up next yrs model's.
GO FENDER! and to think fender isnt my favorite guitars and i still feel the way i do about them. its safe to say that fender builds something for almost everybody. i love them.

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63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

thanks bohemian I agree with what you're saying.Thank you Blertels for the good suggestion I already own and have owned many american standard stratocasters over the years.yeah its a pretty subjective piece here I suppose. many sides to the coin?.

So how many necks did you wear out and need to replace?

me personally about 5 or 6 over the years by fretwear and roadwear. lots of my buddies have as well from touring the guitars hard.

I've read that Jimmie ray vaughn and jeff beck have done the same and regularly get supplied with new necks from Fender so I know I am not alone here but don't have access to the same goods as those guys hence why I suggested to Fender to make licensed Replacement necks for american standards and the most popular guitars they make that way customers don't have to deal with jerks like Warmoth to get their guitar back into playing shape and can retain their fender instruments as they were when new in a way?

Y'all are hard on them,indeed.

haha yeah I suppose so but it depends on many variables playing styles. climate changes who your roadies are! lol how many gigs you are playing all that stuff

Well,one thing Leo Fender intended was to have the necks to be replaceable...that type of logic was well ahead of it's time,but he knew that some musicians would wear them out and a neck should be cheaper than a whole new guitar.
Sadly,that's not the case now,because if you do find a gen-u-wine Fender neck,especially on Ebay,it ain't cheap.

OK... Now Bohemian 46 I have to disagree with your last post.I am not thrilled about the way G.C. operates, however Fender products are just one representation of their line of instruments.
Personally I prefer Sam Ash...
The small store I frequent carries Fender, Martin, Taylor, Gretsch, has some outstanding signature Martin models like the Rosanne Cash and the Eric Clapton as well as a couple others which names escape me at the moment.
Unfortunately they are not a Fender Custom Shop dealer, but the line they carry, Standard to Deluxe's and Squier's, are always ready to play with relatively fresh strings and if I ask, one of the tech's will adjust a guitar to my preference.
I have never had an unpleasant time in this store as well as three others who are also Fender dealers.
But I do know that if I'm not buying and that is not as often as I may like, there is a time when you can go in and make yourself comfortable with one of the displayed instruments and there is a time ( when other potential customers are in ) when it is rude to play an instrument since you are taking up space and time which is needed for the other customers.

I would send my wife or kids ( if I had any ) to GC, because you need to know what the options are. As far as Fender appealing to a younger audience which you don't recognise, I say that is sour grapes, because honestly, if you look back at Fender's advertising over the decades, they have always targeted a young audience, be it in the Malibu Surfing Culture or even in today's catalog.

Don't become what every youthful person loathes, someone who has forgotten that once upon a time they also were young, foolish, didn't think about tomorrow too much, just simply were ecstatic about life.
When I was 15, I would have killed for an I-phone or a G4 Mac had they been available at the time, let's not even bring up X-Box or PLS3 .

As far as customer care, once again I have never not been attended to by a Fender Dealer, wether that is The Muzic Zoo in New Yak or Ray Mullin's in Swanzze or the other stores closer to home.
If you go into a store like as we say " Un Vieux Monsieur Cramoisie " then Yeah.. young sales staff are going to shun you like the plague.

WE are CONSUMERS, it is an appropriate and well deserved description, the fact is that we have evolved from an industrious nation to a servicious one and not for the better
The majority do not create much of anything but that is an entirely separate subject than this thread. But in most places we are still referred to as customers, that should brighten your day a bit old chap... Come on lighten up and go and enjoy today's Fender products that were not available even just 20 years ago

Hell look at Keith Richards...talking about the epitomy of having a ball ...At his age...He should be ashamed..

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

I don't think anyone is kicking Fender in the nuts. No company, no matter how good their public perception ,is beyond reproach. They are a large corporation not a guy and his partner with a workshop. I also think they cater to their dealers more than their actual customers/consumers, and it is my opinion they are getting bad feedback from ther dealers. I'll reserve further comment on this for another time.

I was quite sincere when I said Fender has a very good customer, I mean consumer ,service dept. Aside from the one guy that insists on lecturing, and it is only one, I think they do a good job. I ask only for information not readily available... I am not there to waste their time. In most cases I have the info they want to give, and often I provide them with info of which they were not aware.

A few years back I called them to get the correct part number for replacement tuners for my 77 Strat Hardtail. They asked what the problem was. They offered to send them to me without charge. I explained I was selling the instrument and that would be generous but unreasonable on my part as I would profit off their generosity. I bought a set and provided them to the buyer.

I would not choose GC as a dealer solely based on their well known lack of customer service. But if you were Fender, you would accept that because of the larger benefit of profitability. Me, I wouldn't. Just as I would not have closed the Chrysler dealers chosen by the manufacturer. I would have chosen dealers based on their CSI ( customer service index) and not on their sales volume.

This is a new age with new rules. So anyone who was schooled by the civility of business in the 50's and 60's, regroup. It's gone. How does it go ? , "get over it" or better yet , "whatever"

We are fortunate to have Fender still in operation all these years, but just like Gibson, there hasn't been a namesake founding member or successive family member involved in the company for decades. I think that Fender does a fair job of providing excellent product at all levels.. except of course what I want : ) a simple quality American made production Tele or Strat with a 1 11/16ths nut and vintage/wide string spacing at the bridge along with a rosewood board. It isn't made unless you want to go through the custom shop.

I am a Fender customer (not a consumer) .. not a fanatic or a fanboy or a groupie.
I buy them because I like the concept of the simplicity of a bolt on neck and the spartan
utilitarian quality of the Tele and the ergonomics and stylization of the Strat. Both are brilliant designs/engineering.

FWIW

I was a surfer dude, grew up on the beach in Calif and built surfboards professionally in Calif and Florida. Professionally, not a guy in a garage. I would estimate I was involved in the production of over 1000 boards before I decided I did not like resin and foam, or rather they did not like me.

I don't resent or fail to recognize the existence of younger folks. Most think I have not grown up yet.. and I like that.

Excusing GC for the way they treat their customers, naw. Too many personal experiences and far too many stories to dismiss the obvious.

Whatever dude
Just kidding,bohemian46....I'm not far behind you and understand what you're saying,and also the original poster and his remarks,however roughly he started...
This is one site where there are all ages represented and we're all here because of some attachment we've formed with Fender guitars or amps.
About the time I feel like me and just a few other old guys are the only ones who remember the old music stores and how things were,somebody else brings it up and I know we're not alone.
The only high dollar items I've bought at the local GC are vintage amps....and I try to go when there's not 25 guys trying out whatever it is they're playing on...loudly.
Anyway I found your posts interesting,along with the always interesting 53magnatone's views.