While in my pondering place last night, I pondered this - there are plenty of entities, large corps down to boutique builders, who are making a living by basically copying Fender designs for guitars and amps.
So who gets it right? Who's doing it better than Fender? Thoughts on this, dumbasses...?
s'all goof.
Better?
Hmm.
With their guitars, Fender does some cool things.
The Classic Player series includes some nice models with features I like.
I started a thread about the Xavier Offset models yeaterday.
Having never played one, I wouldn't put them against Fender in terms of quality.
But the mixing of parts of classic Fender features- JM body, Strat trem, some other p'up type - seems like an idea Fender could play with.
"Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello
A lot of people do it well, from a home builder with good parts to companies like G&L. The Fender custom shop is capable of incredible work.
as far as amps go, I think they have removed too much in the act of cost savings. substituting volume for quality seems to popular now days. They wanted a ton for a 5E3 (built the old way) not sure how that ended up selling.
Guitars are still good, they are built very consistently. They have done quite a bit with 4 basics (P, J, tele, strat)
do I look like I know what I'm doing?
In Germany, people really value Blade brand Strats. I don't know if they're better, but the ones I knew with them thought so.
If we'd known we were going to be the Beatles, we'd have tried harder.--George Harrison
If you aren't into decals or fancy finishes,you can buy some great aftermarket parts and build a super guitar.Some of these parts are sanctioned by Fender (Allparts).If you can finish,well...........there you go.
"My flesh and my heart fail...but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
PS. 73:26
MY JAMS--
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/defa...&content=music
Back before I started my green Tele, I played a tone of Tele variants to research what sort of bridge pickup I wanted.
I played a Hollow T Classic (just like this one) that I kind of fell in love with.
Again, it's a variation on Fender than "doing Fender."
It was a really lively guitar, with a great neck and a sweet, full bodied sound from the bridge pickup.
"Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello
Fender Japan?
Suhr?
old Schecter?
Warmoth also pays a license fee to reproduce the peghead. This guitar walks all over every CS guitar I've ever played, and is made to my precise specs, so it plays like... well, like it was made for me.Originally Posted by refin
http://www.gravitymusic.com/images/ZcasterFinal.jpg
http://www.gravitymusic.com/images/headstock.jpg
I think Warmoth's take on a "hollow" Strat is one of the best ideas in Fenderworld for along time.
well, they're sort of half fender anyway, but G&L gets a lot of kudos around the internetz for their guitars. I almost ended up with a seafoam green Legacy back when I was shopping.
Thanks, guys. Just curious. I don't need to build or acquire another guitar. :)
My strat is a part-o-caster with a Warmoth hollow body. I really dig it. The light weight is very easy on the back.
s'all goof.
I heard of some random guy that does amps like Fender used to do. He lives in Texas or Oklahoma or somewhere...I want to say it was uh...Bald Eagle Amps? Hmm maybe not.
No......I know, Brett.
It's Green Hawk Amps. In Laredo or Abilene (I think).
"When injustice becomes law then rebellion becomes duty."
I just picked up a G&L over the weekend and I'd like to add to the praise. This is a well built guitar with a finish that my Gibson envies.
A good, screaming Strat just might be the greatest guitar sound of all..... -Slash
I like mine. This one was refinished after it soaked in a flood, in 1992.
Only just now the bridge p'up is starting to go. Low output on the high E pole.
The older ones I've played, as well as more recent CS Schecters are good stuff.
"Well, I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused..."
Elvis Costello
I heard that. Despite the cool tonal thang, the weight is great. A friend of mine brought over three of his partscasters this last week during a mastering gig... all three of them were gorgeous, and all three of them felt (to me) like they weighed a freakin' half-ton. I'm just too used to the Zencaster to comfortably play a solid guitar anymore.
The ol' Z-caster is due for a spring-time set-up, though. I am seriously considering setting it up for .09's this time.
Last edited by Gravity Jim; 03-16-2010 at 05:16 AM.
I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE Sadowsky's. And my main bass for about eight years was a Schecter from back when they used the Fender headstock. It was an all black rear routed Jazz Bass copy with an ebony fretboard and black hardware. Once I did a gig wearing mostly black in front of a black wall, playing that black bass. In the pics I was a floating head-shaped balloon.
USA Custom Guitars, builds THE BEST Fender replica necks. Yes, the headstock shape for both the Tele and Strat are slightly different ( to avoid the lawsuits), but the quality, craftmanship and finish are on par with the best Custom Shop necks I have come across. Many players have said how much they liked the neck I had on my Tele. They could'nt believe it was an "aftermarket" neck.
There's enough meat on a USACG headstock to reshape it & give it some "classic" lines. They're the best, in my book.
I don't really think getting the Fender build right is terribly difficult. Fender guitars were designed to be easy to assemble. Flat-top bodies, bolt-on necks, etc. Leo Fender's ideas were revolutionary to guitar building, but they were revolutionary the way that Henry Ford's ideas were revolutionary to the auto industry. Modern CNC carving equipment has made it even easier.
Fender-style guitars are marvels of engineering and design, but not so much old-world craftsmanship. Personally, that's one of the things I like about them. It's why they're so easily modified.
After messing around with partsocasters for some time I've come to the conclusion that a Classic Vibe Squier is as good as any Fender. There are incremental differences (quality of tuners, trem design, etc.) and if you're one who believes the devil's in the details, then examination of them might be in order. Otherwise, modern technology has significantly closed the gap between the knockoff and the real thing.
Better yet, get the inlaid epoxy USACG logo on the headstock and leave the shape as is.
The T-Style has a USACG body and neck. The neck is a .900" thick soft V with a 7.5 radius fretboard and 6105 frets.
The Strat is a Feander Hwy1 with a USACG boat neck. It's thicker than the T-Style's neck, has a 7.25-9.5" compound radius fretboard and 6105 frets. The neck cost what I sold the original Fender neck for!
The T-Style is the best of it's type that I've ever played and the Strat is real nice, too.
I read the same thing time after time, fancy finishes and this after market company is the best! Does anyone here ever think about what they write? Do people really think that the price of a boutique guitar is all about the,( fancy finish)? Ask why, if these so called expert body and neck makers are so good at what they do! Why don't they produce guitars and compete themself?
Simply, they can't! Their market is to you, the screwdriver and rattle can bunch, you do their bidding and make it possible for them to exist.
They do it to make a living. They can't all be bitter, struggling artists.
Apparently not.
I have to say, USACG are the only ones I've seen where they don't follow the traditional Tele headstock design but still nail that "look".
That's a nice Strat/Tele combo by the way :)
i bet this really annoy's you if your a grammar freak.
They do what they do because the profit margin is higher selling unfinished parts versus whole guitars. It's simple economics.
Just like the dozen or so ebay sellers that make a business of buying used whole guitars cheap and then selling the parts individually.
I understand why some boutique builders ask what they do for their guitars. I've played some very nice boutique axes that had nary a flaw and played perfectly. I've also played some so called boutique guitars that don't do anything better (at least for me) than my well set up CV Strat.
The advent of CNC machining has made it possible to consistently mass produce bodies and necks in any shape desired. USACG offers some options that are hard to find or expensive from Fender. The necks are also very consistent in size and shape.
From a buyers standpoint I like the idea of being able to get nearly the same neck shape when I order a neck. I've never been much for Gibson's "hand shaped" necks which vary so much that you never really know what to expect.
Boutique builders (at least those who aren't using USACG or some other CNC'd parts) are like Gibson in that the consistency is lacking.
If handmade and boutique = larger variances, I'll stick with CNCd parts, a good Plek job, screwdrivers, and rattle cans. I know how to do a set up! Thank you very much.
Suhr, founded by a former Fender custom shop builder, is the undeniable creme de la creme of bolt-on neck instruments. Only, I think the prices are too high for a bolt on neck instrument.
Grosh, which I'm surprised nobody has mentioned, is another premium brand with fewer options, but better prices, than Suhr.
G&L. Duh.
Carvin. They have more custom options at a lower price than anyone else, but they are not a premium brand like Grosh or Suhr. They use 4A rather than 5A maple tops. Nonetheless, their "deep" stain option for their maple tops results in the prettiest looking tops I've seen from anyone. They are the only 1 of these 4 to offer ebony fingerboards, including on their bolt on neck instruments. Suhr offers pao ferro as an ebony substitute.
This isn't to say that any of them are "better" than a Fender custom shop guitar. But there's no point in sticking with Fender for the brand name.
Last edited by MerlynKing; 01-09-2011 at 12:37 AM.
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