Why not a Broadcaster?

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

zzzz, zzzz. Borrring. Same ole same ole!

And the sticker above, a small one on the back of the headstock for me!

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"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a Conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst." J. Edgar Hoover

Maybe boring to you...maybe not to others:

http://home.provide.net/~cfh/50tele.html

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Just airing my opinion and trying to rally support for something new. Again, I'd like to see something completely different; further, something unique, something that incorporates all of Fender but with some upgrades! It would be a better representation of the way the forum is evolving to me!

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"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a Conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst." J. Edgar Hoover

Granted, it would be really something (and not to be a "killjoy") but I doubt very strongly FMIC is going to dedicate any significant resources to (re)design any guitar in their line to accommodate a comparatively small handful of their "faithful" of which, most will probably not buy said guitar any way. Now I'm not saying the interest/desire isn't there, surely it is. However, money is tight for most everyone, non-existent for many more nowadays and then there's those who will 'beat the drum' for it but have no intentions of buying it in the first place. Consequently and in this context, we're talking about a handful of the aforementioned handful who would be actual buyers. I'm sure too, FMIC remembers the whole Forum T-shirt initiative which ultimately wound in a liquidation sale.

Now before you collectively flame me, please remember that as always, this is merely IMO where YMMV.

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You dig?

Martian, a guitar like I described would revitalize sales. Of course, it would need to be made internationally.

I've seen many guitars of that design and variations thereof selling new for prices between $400 to $1,000.00, I've purchased a bunch of them too, from the Steinberger Spirit to the Ibanezes to the ESP JH-600. Combine all that junk with Fender quality, using my suggestions, wow, people would be wearing holes in the local GC floors!

If Fender put their mind to it, using quality tone wood and parts, they could easily manufacture the guitar I described including hardshell case for $799.00 and make a nice profit!

The question is, taking into account how gummed up the economy is, the industry devoid of anything revolutionary in design, are they willing to do it!

Your reply is phenomenal -- you nailed everything!

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"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a Conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst." J. Edgar Hoover

Martin,

I agree with what you stated as well. Maybe Fender could do a "limited" factory sale once all the details are finalized. Maybe only build ones for people who are willing to pay before guitars are built so they know just how many to build. The lowest series numbers go to the ones who pre-ordered. If they have to build a certain number for cost reasons, those guitars could go to places like Sam Ash, Musician's Friend, or an international whole sale distributor for those who like them that are not able to pre-pay.

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

I thank you for enjoying my viewpoint!

I do see your points and surely I could be wrong but I would think that from a corporate point of view, there's no motivation for FMIC to allocate resources to initiate a "poll" among a small sub-segment of their retail customer base for what would amount to an unsecured "Just take our word for it, we'll buy it" limited run instrument. Or to put it another way, this is an unsecured pledge unlike all of the huge FMIC wholesale customers who enter into a bonafide agreement with FMIC, to buy say for example, 2,500 pieces of whatever with whichever component combination(s). This is already a done deal where all FMIC has to do is to schedule the run. Here, this is a totally bottom line situation. There's absolutely no major logistical allocations on FMIC's part, the money is guaranteed and FMIC knows they will have indefinite future agreements like this. Logic dictates (to me, any way) that in spite of the fact that FMIC has been super indulgent to us with this forum where of course, we the majority are most grateful, I don't think they'd go out on this kind of limb. Premising FMIC did want to accommodate those interested to a practical degree, even going as far as selecting one or more of their dealerships to sponsor this would be a serious logistical and then monetary gamble for said dealership(s).

As always, this is merely IMO where YMMV.

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You dig?

You're welcome!

I just looked at the 2012/2013 Fender line...boring. Leo's rolling in his grave!

If FMIC is not in the position to get innovative during 2013, it's time to pack it in!

FMIC should have a firewood sale -- get rid of all the sub-$1,000.00 junk on the shelves and fund some new projects.

I want a Thread Locker and will settle for nothing less this year!

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"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a Conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst." J. Edgar Hoover

I own #18 of 68 from this run - very nice guitar too!

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Nice guitar, but zzzz, zzzz, ...borrr-ring. Everybody and their grandmother's got a strat! I want something completely new and different to compose on!

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"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a Conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst." J. Edgar Hoover

It would be financially prohibitive for most forum members to buy a totally newly designed guitar that was exclusive to Forum Members only.I doubt very much if Fender would produce a limited edition guitar that they were guaranteed to loose money on unless they charged exhorbitant prices for each one-which wouldn't be economically feasable for most members.There are monumental costs involved in producing a totally new model of guitar,machines have to be reconfigured or they most likely would
have to have new machines made to handle the new design.They would also have to create new tooling and moulds for new hardware such as bridges,pickup mounts etc.

The only way this would work and be suitable for most people-both Fender and the Forum members-would be to use a current body style and modify that with existing hardware from the Fender parts bin.With the incredible number of different accessories available in Fender's large parts inventory a guitar unique to Forum members would be quite possible. Even if the guitar was MIM or even MIC,with quality materials from the parts dept.,it could be an extremely good and dependable guitar that would be unique and desirable but still not break the bank like a Custom Shop Run of guitars would.

A Forum No-Caster would probably be a pretty economical design, yet since it's such a good basic guitar,it lends itself to all kinds of modifications and upgrades.As I said in a previous post,they could even have 2 or 3 different trim levels so if people wanted Noiseless Pickups or a Bigsby they could avail of it with the top trim level,yet the base model could have Tex-Mex pups or some other great pickup as standard issue.That way those of us with limited resources could get a very good and limited production run guitar for a comparitively low price.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Actually, this is the perfect vehicle for Fender to try out new ideas and then mass produce what's working.

The guitar I described above can be made internationally and sold w/ a *solid*, long lasting case for $799.00 US, delivered.

Guitar companies manufacture those types of guitars all day long, all over the world for that and less, and yeah, a few bucks more.

$799.00 is what it costs to build and profit from a guitar of extreme quality in mass production. When you pay big bucks, you are paying for brand name and select builders.

It doesn't take much to put a graphic artist to work on a design, and then carve out a few headstocks, necks, and bodies for paint production, assembly, and testing.

guitslinger, this is Fender we're talking about here, they use and have access to state-of-the-art equipment that can be easily configured to carve new guitars verrrry quickly!

The strat and tele and everything else are history, but...it's time for something new, and not some piece of junk neither, posers please, tone wood and hard steel, bone and good pickups and frets, x-jumbo please!

Not only did they Highway One spoil me for any other Stratocaster ($699.00 delivered, $799.00 w/ case), the 2012 Gibson SG Standard I got delivered to my door for $799.00, with hardshell case and real fast 24-hour customer support, is a stone-cold state-of-the art, precision SG with a quarter-sawn neck and primo mahogany body, blow-ur-mind pickups, and a nice tight nut with stable tuners, and a prefect, fat neck -- shockingly good guitar...classic Gibson all the way. I sold my Highway One to get it. So, the next guitar I buy from Fender will need to as good of a guitar as the SG. Internationally made, the above specs won't be a problem for that price.

So, what's Fender gonna do this year? If they do what I described above for $799.00 w/ case, I'll take one!

Essentially, however, this becomes the point where the Authorized Sellers are marginalized, and Fender becomes the store-front at a substantial savings to Fender and the customer.

If you'll remember from another thread, I stated that; eventually, Fender will be centralized and we'll come to them directly and order a guitar online. It's verrrry cost effective for both parties and sustainable manufacturing. There's no expensive supply chain and store-front -- drones delivering guitars, you get a satellite up-date as to when the guitar will arrive, no more waiting and you get the guitar you specify or they mass-produce.

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"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a Conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists. The American mind simply has not come to a realization of the evil which has been introduced into our midst." J. Edgar Hoover

Let's take this down to the bottom line...cause I'm a bottom line kind of guy what is everyone willing to pay for a special run Fender Lounge guitar?
(This might also help Brad and Fender decide if this is worth doing).

So, what say you?

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I'd pay $500-$700

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