Whats with Strats nowadays?????!

[Zerberus]

Re: Whats with Strats nowadays?????!

...
ESP to Fender and Gibson is like the Japanese car makers to the American car makers...

PERFECT Analogy.

The US developed the market and did all teh R&D, the Japanese started stealing designs and technology and selling them back to us as "theirs" just cheaper and despite multiple lawsuits, and the sheeple were so blind that they ate it up becasue it was cheaper and thereby eventually crippled the american companies with their buying habits because "Cheaper is better, regardless what the cost" :beerchug:

If at some point a few million people would have realized that they were letting themselves be deceived and ripped off and had bought american out of protest, we may never have ended up where we are today

 

[Guitarist]

Re: Whats with Strats nowadays?????!

I don't see anything particularly wrong with Fender. Of course they could put more into their work, but they don't really have to. They make guitars that work at prices for every body.

 

[kherman]

Re: Whats with Strats nowadays?????!

I'd prefer the Edwards over the Gibson's and Fender's. But what's up with the pickups on the Explorer?

What?

The Zebra coils?
Or that they didn't take the Duncan stickers off for the photo?

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Whats with Strats nowadays?????!

That explorer is acually more of a Hamer Standard forgery than a Gibson Explorer.....

But of course Hamer is also an american company owned by Fender, so their guitars are too expensive, mass produced and the Japanese make them better

 

[kherman]

Re: Whats with Strats nowadays?????!

Hamers USA guitars are really quite the deal in the used market.
Least the Studio and stuff are.
Hamer Standard still fetch a pretty penny though.

As for the American consumer to be totally to blame for the collapse of US manufacturing? I don't agree totally.
Do we forget
Gibson/Norlin
Fender/CBS
Harley Davidson/AMF
And the Detroit big 3 of the 70's.

They sat back on their laurels, and let the product go to crap.
They kept cutting corners while still charging premium prices.
Eventually the public caught on and couldn't trust the products anymore.
The foreign product just kept improving and becoming more reliable.

Gibson and Fender got lucky, and investors who truly believed in them, brought them
back from almost being extinct.
Same with HD. Plus, the family got back involved.
Unfortunately I think they all are hurting themselves again with this "it's not a guitar or bike, etc.. . It's a lifestyle" thing they are doing.
They're going after those baby boomer dollars. And in the long run, in a way, are alienating the younger generations, as well a the middle class blue collar worker.
The gap between cost of living and the cost of products just keeps getting wider.

As for the Detroit big 3? They really never bounced fully back.
They are continuously falling behind in consumer reports reliability.
Toyota, Honda, Nissan, now even Kia and Hyundai are rating higher.

And I own two USA cars. GM and Ford.
Wife loves her Saturn Outlook. Still under warranty. But, it seems like I'm taking it in for something every few months.
Love my '00 Mustang. But, after every winter it seems I'm taking it in for rotors, discs, and calipers. Matter of fact, I drop it off tomorrow. ABS light keeps going on and off.

Now does that make me the hero or the fool for continuing to buy American?

 

[JohnnyGuitar]

Re: Whats with Strats nowadays?????!

If at some point a few million people would have realized that they were letting themselves be deceived and ripped off and had bought american out of protest, we may never have ended up where we are today

Yes and no. The thing is, American companies are also to blame. The big three auto makers are less efficient and more expensive in any possible way and it's the consumer's brand loyalty or nostalgia that helps them survive. I don't think that they would have been around if the consumers didn't have brand loyalty.

It's the same for Gibson and Fender. Only the words Gibson Les Paul, are enough to give people GAS - no picture or sound sample needed. People still keep the crappy Fender pickups they pulled out from the guitar just so it won't hurt the resale value... again, Fender and Gibson still exist only because of brand loyalty.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: Whats with Strats nowadays?????!

It's just fender for you.
I doubt all the late 50's models were even all amazing gems themselves, it just seems to me like every once in a while you get lucky and find a needle in a hay stack. They aren't designed to be beautifully constructed works of art, they are automobile assembly line instruments. They are a working man's guitar that some talented musicians have picked up along the way and made some great sounds, including the voodoo that all strats are amazing thoughout the varying decades as well. So the quest for a beautifull strat is not instantly rewarding, keep those ears open, and one day you'll find one worth buying. trust me, someone always does no matter what style of music you play.

a lot of the super expensive 50's and 60's vintage Fenders are not all great guitars... that is for sure... you can buy $50,000 for a stone no probs...

A guy i know that has a 1960 Strat... it's all original... the tuners are completely slipping, and the thing has 0 frets left... the local vintage repair shop suggested he set it aside as an investment and keep it 100% original and play a newer strat...

sounds like a use-less axe if you can't play it!!!

 

[blueman335]

Re: Whats with Strats nowadays?????!

a lot of the super expensive 50's and 60's vintage Fenders are not all great guitars... that is for sure... you can buy $50,000 for a stone no probs...

A guy i know that has a 1960 Strat... it's all original... the tuners are completely slipping, and the thing has 0 frets left... the local vintage repair shop suggested he set it aside as an investment and keep it 100% original and play a newer strat...

sounds like a use-less axe if you can't play it!!!

+1. Today's tuners are much better than the vintage ones.

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: Whats with Strats nowadays?????!

Tone, dude you are in SF, we should hang out for a coffee or something stronger. Yeah, last few months GC's on Van Ness strat inventory is not hot at all. But, on occasion they do have jewel's there, but you have to play all of them on that wall to find it.

Zerb,
You are a bit off, yeah Japanese did break in to the U.S. car market with stuff that was just cheap, but say after 1985 the quality was on par but their product was adressing what american comsumer actually wanted/needed at that time vs american cars makers who already started that "lifesyle" denial. And dont forget Toyota quality control system was perfected by the japanese and they pretty much own it, but the original idea was by an american who nobody listened to, same with a point of sale inventory/supply system. So really it ain all about dumb americans just going for the tag. And as far as ESP goes, come on dude, they cant be just copy cats by keeping names like Lynch and Hammet all these years. These guys get pitched every day by everybody else, but did they switch?

 

[blueman335]

Re: Whats with Strats nowadays?????!

You are a bit off, yeah Japanese did break in to the U.S. car market with stuff that was just cheap, but say after 1985 the quality was on par but their product was adressing what american comsumer actually wanted/needed at that time vs american cars makers who already started that "lifesyle" denial. And dont forget Toyota quality control system was perfected by the japanese and they pretty much own it, but the original idea was by an american who nobody listened to, same with a point of sale inventory/supply system.

+1. America's problems were self-inflicted.

 

[Guitarist]

Re: Whats with Strats nowadays?????!

I just got back from a 3 hour stunt with a Road-Worn 50s Strat. It felt like a ****ing toy compared to my EJ, but the tone was unbelievable. Definetely dirtier than my EJ, which in comparison sounds like a grand piano, but what a sound. And it looked great to boot. I want that guitar.

 

[greg232]

Re: Whats with Strats nowadays?????!

I recently started to look for an MIA strat. After playing many different models I stumbled upon a Godin Freeway Classic Leaftop with a rock maple neck. Believe it or not that particular kicked the strats ass. I also saved a couple of hundred bucks.