Originally Posted by
Oskar
The end of a 40 year love story
I have been a huge fan of Fender gear and of Leo Fender and here is why the love story is ending now.
(Please forgive my poor english, i am French.)
First, let me tell you that I have loved and owned Fender guitars and amps since I was 14 years old and I am 56 now.
Eversince, I have owned a MIM Standard Telecaster, an American Deluxe Stratocaster, an American pro Stratocaster, a 52 US Reissue Telecaster, two sunburst 65 Jazzmasters, one US Aztec Gold Jazzmaster, a MIM Jazzmaster, a US Darkburst American Pro Jazzmaster with ebony fretboard, a made in China Starcaster, a MIM 72 Thinline Telecaster, a Eric Johnson Strat, an all-mahogany cutaway folk guitar. In the last two years, I bought an american original 50’s Telecaster, a 60’s Mary Kay original Strat and a Ultra Jazzmaster.
On the amps side, I have owned two Blues Juniors which I sold because I did not like their sound, too harsh to my taste and a 65 Princeton that had vibrations eversince the volume was more than half course.
I hardly mention the 100 w made in China Amp, which was cheap with a cheap sound.
Almost all this gear was bought new, in my local shop, or on Thomann or Baxshop websites.
So why is the love story over, even if the main part of my favorite musicians use Fender guitars ?
Because Fender guitars and amps are too expensive, and while the prices are high, the quality control is poor.
I am just back from my local tech workshop, and he noticed that the reason why the high and low E strings of my 2000 euro Mary Kay strat would drop out of the fretboard all the time was because the nut was not correct and the holes in the bridge caused too wide spacing between the saddles.
Juste before, I had to have my brand new Ultra Jazzmaster fixed, because the wiring of the pickups was not correctly done. The toggleswithc would not change the pickup selection. Thomann argued, and refused to pay for the mending. Ok, goodbye Thomann, you are not musical instrument seller, you’re juste good at handling boxes frome A to B and killing local stores.
In the past, I sold my American professionnal Stratocaster because the B string sounded much lounder than the others.
On my MIM Tele body, after a few years, you could see numerous joints of the pieces of wood.
So was it noticeable on thy body of my US 65 Jazzmaster Reissue.
I love the shape and sound of Jazzmasters, but why didn’t Fender fix the vintage bridge misconception ? We have all made a second career trying to change this buzzing bridge for something, and there is no solution, even the awfully expensive Mastery Bridge does not allow a correct intonation of all strings. No Jazzmaster I have seen as a correct spacing of bridge pickup plots, since the strings goes wider above the bridge pickup than the neck pickup. On American Pro Jazzmasters, Fender added nylon plots to stabilize the bridge. Nylon, under a guitar bridge ??? Why didn’t they use rubber or even chewing gum ? Or maybe they could have designed a new bridge, with adjustable saddles to the correct radius and spacing, no buzzing stuff, and steel plots to the correct diameter and add some angle between the neck and the body, and between the bridge and the vibrato ? You dont need to be a genius to design this.
My 52 buttescotch Tele was nice, but the nitro lacquer was so fragile it would drop in parts just looking a it.
I was planning to buy a 57 custom Deluxe, but nobody seems to have any in stock anywhere in Europe. And anyway, although it is a good handwired amp, it is more expensive than boutique clones handmade by local craftsmen here. And then I realized that Fender does not deserve my money anymore.
So that’s it, now, I am fed up with Fender. I love the story of the brand, I love Leo creativity, I love the sound of Clapton, Hendrix, Steve Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour, Mike Stern or Wayne Krantz, all the love Fender can inspire doesn’t move me anymore. Fender is just making a living on an old legend, does not create anything new, and does not even manage to build quality reissues or vintage inspired instruments, even if they cost two months of ordinary wages.
Do Muddy Waters or SRV had money to buy custom-shop guitars when they started playing music ? We do not need custom shop guitars, we need standard quality instruments.
As a journalist, I intended to write a story of the Telecaster, since it’s its 70th anniversary, but I won’t, the magic is over.
Bye Bye, Fender.
