I remember back in the 60s when I started playing guitar, there were a limited number of choices. If you wanted to get the guitar of your dreams, you had to save your money or beg your parents to buy it. Today, Fender has so many lines of their classic guitars (strats and teles) I can’t keep up with all of them. They have made in Japan, made in Mexico, made in the USA, and their Custom shop guitars. Gibson has made in Nashville, Custom shop stuff and their Epiphone line which is now a less expensive alternative to the Nashville made guitars. This market is either a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it.
Myself, I think it dilutes the desirability of these guitars and make them like a cheap commodity. I mean, you can get a playable, electric guitar these days for the price of a coffee maker. Which, in my opinion takes away some of the magic that was part of getting a guitar when I was growing up. It’s great that kids who want to learn how to play guitar have a lot of options to buy an inexpensive highly playable instrument, but after their first starter guitar, where do you go from there? To a $600. guitar, then an 800. guitar and a 1200. guitar etc. Um, it’s product marketing 101… You know, you buy a product, for a certain price, then realize the features you want are on the more expensive model. Very frustrating. A lot of old players still have their first guitar because it was a quality instrument in the first place, that they saved their money to buy…
For instance, I think Fender should have 3 models: the American made guitar, the Custom Shop guitars, and a less expensive “starter” guitar line for beginners which could be made in Mexico or overseas like Korea and Indonesia. The Fender Japan guitars could be special limited run guitars with unique specs, colors etc. The current lines of Vintera, Ultra, Luxe, Vintage blah, blah, blah… I don’t even know what all that means anymore. I know I can go to Warmoth, buy a beautiful lightweight Swamp Ash body (finished or unfinished) a quartersawn flame maple neck and assemble the guitar with the best pickups, bridge and tuners available for less than even the middle priced factory guitars. Of course there won’t be that Fender logo on the headstock… which is the main problem with “brand” recognition. A cheaply made real Fender guitar will have better resale value than a so-called “partscaster” regardless of how great the parts are.
I learned that the hard way… I built this beautiful custom “T” style guitar from Warmoth parts… Chambered ash body, maple neck with rosewood board and DiMarzio custom pickups. And a Callaham hardtail bridge. It was a great playing and sounding beautiful guitar with all the best components. I ended up “parting it out” because I couldn’t sell it for the price of a cheap Mexican built Fender guitar! Literally the parts were worth more than the completed guitar. It was a real bummer to disassemble this guitar and sell the parts. But I learned a lesson. Brand and Image is more important than quality… Today that logo on the headstock is everything.
Conclusion
Where is this heading? 5 years ago a custom shop strat or tele (not a masterbuilt) was around $3500. They are now $5500. and up. Masterbuilt guitars are up into the $7500. to 10k range. Gibson custom shop guitars are heading up to 10k. On the other end of the spectrum, you have $350. guitars from China, Korea and Indonesia, some of them highly playable options for a beginning guitar player. Crazy.
As I periodically check out the new stuff at Sweetwater to see what’s available, and the prices, I roll my eyes and WTF… I have a strat and a tele, I custom built from Warmoth parts: they’re lightweight, look great and cost a fraction of what a new Fender costs. So I have to take all this with a grain of salt. My headstock doesn’t say Fender but it is pretty cool… and I designed it myself!
DHR Create 
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