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Am I Missing Something Here?


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Yeah, I know, these were announced at NAMM months ago, but they've just hit the stores/shops this month.  What's to like about this guitar that I wouldn't like better on a Strat with an ash body and a H/S/S pickup arrangement?

https://shop.fender.com/en-US/electric-guitars/other/the-sixty-six/0145022300.html?clickref=1100l6dc4yco&aff_id=305950

https://www.guitarworld.com/gear/fender-launches-new-alternate-reality-series-sixty-six-electric-guitar

I know that April Fool's Day is long past, and it seems to me like this guitar would've fit better in Fender's 'Pawn Shop' Series from about five years ago.  'Alternate Reality Series'?  More like 'Altered Reality Series', Fender must've released this model to celebrate 4/20.  I predict this guitar is gonna wind up being called the 'Eighty-Six'.  <_< :rolleyes:

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I'm guessing Fender is capitalizing on the trend for offset and hybrid guitars?  Plus, the bodies on these look smaller. Strats can feel a little big on some people.
I get the feeling they'll just switch to something else when this niche expires. 

Scroll through these pictures and see if this guitar suits you better. 

https://www.toopics.com/p/1962653333392766035_3323351893


 

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I've been doing something similar with Warmoth Mustang bodies and necks.  The 24" scale with a normal 1 11/16" width is pretty interesting.  Really improves reach and allows heavy (.011 -.052) strings that bend as easy as .009s.

WbTQZkzhQbG+mEi6alePWQ.jpg

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What Fender ought to do is release a guitar with a strat shape, two humbuckers, fast neck and put on a trem that never goes out of tune, then call it a wonder strat, no, uber strat, no wait...erm...Super Strat. I bet people will play them, probably play them very well.

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8 hours ago, BadgerDave said:

I've been doing something similar with Warmoth Mustang bodies and necks.  The 24" scale with a normal 1 11/16" width is pretty interesting.  Really improves reach and allows heavy (.011 -.052) strings that bend as easy as .009s.

It would kinda make more sense to me (the operative word being 'kinda'), if Fender was gonna use a shorter, or a different scale on this model (Baritone, anybody?).  Thing is, is that they're using the standard 25 1/2" scale instead.

Edited to add: Now that I think about it, maybe tuning down to B and using heavier strings for this model might be a plan.  Hmmm....

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1 hour ago, Studio Custom said:

They are trying to catch lightening in a bottle, its highly unlikely, but if they did nothing we'd complain they are sitting on their laurels. 

I agree. I guess a feeble attempt is better than abstinence, but why the hell don't they just build their own version of the Robin Ranger? I suspect that sort of design/configuration would attract many more buyers than a 70s-style Strat neck on a Jazz Bass body shape with two Tele neck pickups in the neck/middle positions. 

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12 minutes ago, Biz Prof said:

I agree. I guess a feeble attempt is better than abstinence, but why the hell don't they just build their own version of the Robin Ranger? I suspect that sort of design/configuration would attract many more buyers than a 70s-style Strat neck on a Jazz Bass body shape with two Tele neck pickups in the neck/middle positions. 

My guess is the people at Fender, who do this all day every day, have a pretty good gauge on what will sell and what won't based on extensive market research, customer data, etc.

As for building their own version of something else, look no further than the Dimension bass, their take on the EBMM Stingray. Failed miserably. Gibson and Fender are the Coca-Colas of the guitar world. People don't want innovation from them. They want the same formula that's been a winning one for more than half a century. Variations like the Sixty-Six and Orange Vanilla Coke are simply the result of marketing people trying to keep their well-paying jobs.

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28 minutes ago, Biz Prof said:

I agree. I guess a feeble attempt is better than abstinence, but why the hell don't they just build their own version of the Robin Ranger?

Like this?

image.png

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6 minutes ago, kizanski said:

Like this?

image.png

I'd thought of the '51, but no, not exactly...other than that pickguard and Tele headstock.  I'm thinking body binding, a honkin' Tele bridge p'up, neck humbucker, and 22 frets. A cut-off three barrel bridge would be icing on the cake. 

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13 minutes ago, hanspanzer said:

I like the idea of these hybrids but it`s not always a success design wise. Cudos for trying at least. 

The XII from the Alternate Reality-series on the other hand ❤️

https://www.gearnews.com/namm-2019-leaked-fender-alternate-reality-xii-12-string/

FEND014-3913-302.jpg

Headstock reminds me of this guy:

 

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And something else.  

 

 

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I was already waiting for Fender to come up with something radical like this (see pic) before. A pity that they're not interested in other designs. It is even based roughly on Jazzmaster dimensions. That Sixty-Six isn't interesting for me. It might be based on the Jazz Bass, but what does it offer? To me it looks like the previous ill-fated attemts to create "bad taste" guitars, like what grunge bands might have played in the 90's. I mean I liked the Pawnshop 51 and 72, even the Pawnshop 70's Strat Deluxe, but what they did last year looked like crap to me, including the Meteora. But, hey, they got me with the Acoustasonic, which I am interested in. The Fender Lead design screams for a mahogany body and neck reissue and P-90's in cherry and TV yellow, like a 25.5" scale bolt-on version of the LP Jr. and I want the Jaguar Bass pendant to Gibson's Thunderbird, with either soapbar high output pickups or something like TV Jones pickups.

Fender_new_design.jpg

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3 hours ago, black magic said:

I`d buy a Strat with a Tunamatic bridge and just 1 humbucker or possibly 2. I can`t remember if they tried that one yet?

Steve Morse's Frankentele had a tunamatic, and the Music Man Steve Morse model has one, too. 

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I had kinda hoped the troublemaker tele would be as intriguing as the promo looked.

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Then I got to actually play one and it was pretty dead. Not sure the neck was bolted on straight. Plus none of them appeared to have flametops like it was initially promoted as having.

About 8 years ago they did an 'American Select' series, with the only Jazzmaster  I ever wanted. For whatever reason they seem to command far too much on the used market. Or at least the asking prices are ridiculous.

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