Curious. Only two months ago, a new Fender plant was announced in Corona to add 100,000 square feet of space and and to create "hundreds of new job opportunities for Corona’s skilled workforce."
Where I get strings and some work in my guitars the owner used to give lesions but stoped because there are no one under 25 who have an interest in playing.
That's not the way mfg in China works though. It's not a U.S. managed operation. You place trust in your mfg partner, which is a huge mistake when that partner is located there. This is born out in results from many, many different company's products that are sourced from there. It should be a huge " I should have seen that coming" red flag when the stuff was ordered there. But the suits only read the bottom lines. The greed clouds their corporate vision. It is about quarterly reports and nothing more. According to some others, it may be that those reports are being read by lenders. Lenders don't care about your companies reputation after you have borrowed. - Bill
If you read the Fender book by Forest White, the Fender plant manager for 10 years, CBS did the exact same thing to them once they bought them. A low level accountant noticed that Fender was buying Banjo Tone Rings made from "Bell Steel" which have that chirpy, ringing tone that made their banjos special. But Bell Steel is expensive. So he forced Fender to buy cheap tone rings made of regular steel. The tone of the banjos took a nose dive and Fenders dealers, salesmen, endorsers and customers were very upset. Very misguided management. CBS also tried to force Forrest to use a bunch of close out magnet wire that they picked up for pennies on the dollar. The problem was it was ALL the wrong gauge for how Fender made their magnets. Forrest White , to his credit refused to use it and that was one of the reasons why CBS forced him out.
Here is something else to think about. When the baby boomers start downsizing and dying off in droves there will be plenty of large homes, collectible records and guitars flooding the market. Just saying.
Just read a couple of articles. Sounds like it was not just factory workers, but managers, designers, research/development, the guy responsible for Acoustasonic, etc. One article said it will reduce instrument production by 200 or so a day. Must be higher quality/cost stuff. Anyway, tough for the workers impacted. Have had a lot of Fender equipment, and still have a few pieces.
I don't think it's just that people want cheap, they want affordable. There's a ton of fantastic Fender Custom Shop guitars but could I justify their purchase? No way. Likewise, a parent buying a child their first guitar 1) may not want to spend big $ on a first instrument and 2) they may not have the budget to spend more even if they wanted to. US-made Fender guitars - while nice instruments - are just too much money for a lot of people.
Fewer and fewer musicians are introduced to real PAF’s- patent applied for pickups- in their natural habitat: solid, semi-hollow and hollow bodied Gibsons of the late 50’s and early 60’s. As goes PAF’s so goes Gibson.
You can blame me for this layoff. Well, maybe a teeny, tiny part of it. I own 5 bass guitars. Not one of them is a Fender. I won't own a Fender bass no matter what its country of origin. In fact, I won't own anything made by Fender nor by any brand that Fender owns. And get off my lawn! M. M.
Cheap, affordable, same thing wrong word sorry. I once had a friend who bought a Road King. He accessorized the bike with cheap, affordable bling made in China and sent 90% of it back because of quality issues. Hence my use of the word cheap sorry.
All my kids and all their friends play instruments. The local high school and several middle schools around here have guitar clubs. There are several thriving businesses around here that teach guitar, bass, and other string instruments. Some have waiting lists for music instruction. Also most kids don't use Facebook. They use Tik Tok, Instragram, and Snapchat. And you can find lots of kids showing off their musical chops on Tik Tok.
Raise wages without increased sales to compensate...raise the cost of advertising...raise the cost of shipping...raise the rent...raise the cost of heat and cooling - raise the price of guitars (which they have done) even 100$ makes a difference to struggling musicians-drives musicians to the 2ndary market which doesnt help them. So what happens.... you reduce staff and make the current staff have to do more and hire part time employees to help if needed or temps. Simple.
The quality of guitars coming out of Indonesia is top notch! I too am an amp/guitar tech, and find that the guitars made in the USA have had quality control issues. It’s hard to justify spending the money on American made, when your can roll the dice for cheap, and end up with a fantastic, playable instrument. The only company I see putting out consistently good guitars all around in their made in the USA line is PRS.
When you implement proper quality control and insist on using specific parts, the cost sky rockets. We are talking about 3-4 times price difference. In that case you have to raise price and will not save much comparing to things made here. It is only when you make high end stuff, where higher than usual retail price is tolerated, you can operate that way.
I just asked my 15 y.o. son about how many other kids in his school he knows playing guitar or piano. His answer was that he does not know anyone. Playing musical instrument (outside of school marching band) is not something kids brag about between themselves anymore. Playing electric guitar does not bring attention of peer teens. In the end most mass market guitar makers will go down. Musical instruments making will become boutique industry with 4-5 numbers price tag for master made products.
Squier and Fender Mexico have been showing them up for ages. I'm not paying triple for an inferior product just to prop up a decaying system.