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Fender is making some changes?


HAMERMAN

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Maybe they finally got the memo?? Boutique builders have been shaping the heel for years!! I loved the way my Mirage 1 was shaped!! Really comfortable neck and easy to use the entire neck with ease!!

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What the hell? They very recently already brought out a whole bunch of new product lines. Now they are doing MORE?

Now to see how this goes over. When they took the American Standard Telecaster, and contoured it, people ran from it like it was on fire. This really IS a business where "legacy" means so much.  Any type of change can cause all kinds of issues. I personally have never noticed the huge problem of the neck joint. Contoured or not, it's still there, and the high frets are still less accessible.

I mean look at the Gibson SG. MOST of the models they currently offer still have that UTTERLY INADEQUATE short neck joint, yet people still buy them left and right over the SG standard and Modern, which have the late 60's longer neck joint.

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Send your old Fender's to me.  People hate them, I'll play thick ploy finish 90"s and 00's Fender's all day.  I like the plain jane American Standard pickups with the plastic bobbins.  I've tried nearly every upgrade Strat pickup Fender makes and the American Standard's are still my favorite.  The neck profile on the 90's Strat Plus is my favorite Fender neck.  It's just a hair thicker than a regular "C" shaped neck.  Parts are also in abundance for these guitars.  What's not to like.  I currently have Fender Fat 50's in the white Strat.

I don't know how Fender (or any other company) can make a profit selling new guitars when the market is flooded with their used guitars.  There is nothing Fender offers right now I'm interested in.  Well, maybe an offset Telecaster.   If I was Fender I'd look into a model with SS frets.  What else can you improve, a Strat is a Strat and a Tele is a Tele.

Fender's.JPG

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The Johnny Marr Jag is the best model Fender has put out in decades.  It is a great guitar.

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On 11/1/2019 at 5:18 PM, cynic said:

Yet 35 years later, people continue to buy and play those cumbersome Fenders.

Some people have great difficulty letting go of certain habits/mindsets.

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                                            I have played "Old School Fender" Stratocasters and some Telecasters [Less so] for years, [I own 3 Stratocasters right now] never had a issue with the necks with  regards to fret access or being uncomfortable due to the heel shape or anything else like that. Look at all the incredible music that was made with vintage...................traditional instruments.Some times you can wander to far off the reservation and then that works against you. Example........................Tu4C7Bl.jpg

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On 11/1/2019 at 5:30 PM, tbonesullivan said:

What the hell? They very recently already brought out a whole bunch of new product lines. Now they are doing MORE?

Now to see how this goes over. When they took the American Standard Telecaster, and contoured it, people ran from it like it was on fire. This really IS a business where "legacy" means so much.  Any type of change can cause all kinds of issues. I personally have never noticed the huge problem of the neck joint. Contoured or not, it's still there, and the high frets are still less accessible.

I mean look at the Gibson SG. MOST of the models they currently offer still have that UTTERLY INADEQUATE short neck joint, yet people still buy them left and right over the SG standard and Modern, which have the late 60's longer neck joint.

I agree about that American Standard Telecaster change. But the newish American Professional Teles look interesting to me and I like the changes (on paper at least) they made to those. Unfortunately, I need another Tele like I need etc etc.

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On 11/1/2019 at 4:18 PM, cynic said:

Yet 35 years later, people continue to buy and play those cumbersome Fenders.

 

8 hours ago, diablo175 said:

Some people have great difficulty letting go of certain habits/mindsets.

Yeah, they're called musicians in general, and electric guitarists in particular.  ;) :lol: :ph34r:   Anybody remember those Parker Guitar magazine ads in the 1990s, where they compared their guitar (and it's 'innovations') to what had happened in 1954 with the Stratocaster?  The analogy didn't quite take hold in the market.

Ibanez has pretty much cornered the market for mid-price shredder-type guitars, because they've stuck to that formula and refined it for at least the last 30 years.  Yes, they do tweak their designs frequently, but not radically...at least not to the point that they're unrecognizable (Firebird X, anyone?).

It's a very old story...all the fixin's for a solidbody electric guitar as we know it now (AKA 'Spanish' electric guitars) were readily available by the late 1930's, along with improved, stronger, and much smaller pickup magnets made of AlNiCo; but it took another 10 to 15 years for the concept to take off in any significant way...for no apparent reason other than it was a matter of taste and public (read: guitarist/musician) acceptance.  World War II didn't help, either.   

The closest instrument to a solidbody 'Spanish' electric guitar back in the late '30s was 'Hawaiian' electric lap steel guitars, and many of those even had a body shape like 'Spanish' electric guitars, though the bodies were much smaller...so, it's not like the idea wasn't there right in front of anyone's/everyone's face for all to see.  It wouldn't have been much of a stretch to modify one (or even design/make one) with a proper neck and bridge for a 'Spanish'-style electric guitar.  A few makers like Rickenbacker and Slingerland did try to market an electric 'Spanish' guitar in the mid/late '30's, but there weren't many takers.  Les Paul's early 'Log' guitars still had a full archtop body size and shape with those tacked-on (and unnecessary) body sides, because nobody could grok an electric 'Spanish' guitar back then that didn't look like an archtop.

I know I tend to be a hardcore traditionalist when it comes to my Teles, either Fender made or Partscasters.  The old three-barrel bridge on a Tele ain't perfect; and yes, it does kinda look like a lap steel bridge (probably because it's not that far removed from one, design-wise); but I like it, warts and all.

 

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8 hours ago, Hfan said:

I agree about that American Standard Telecaster change. But the newish American Professional Teles look interesting to me and I like the changes (on paper at least) they made to those. Unfortunately, I need another Tele like I need etc etc.

The American Professional series actually made a lot of sense. They also may have finally figured out that being confused with a brand of Toilets was not the best idea. They worked with some kinda big names in pickup design to revamp their pickup lines, and put out some more user friendly versions of the Jazzmaster and Jaguar. As much as the tons of switches were cool to look at, I don't know how many people actually would use them on the "Rhythm" circuit. That's probably why the Am. Pro. series took them out.

But, then they brought out this "Vintera" series, and various other "American" series that just really muddied the waters.

I mean, I guess it really depends on what you want out of a guitar. if you don't use the trem, and are just gonna block it, getting something like the American Performer, which replaced the "American Special" line, would make the most sense. They also made the American original series, for people who want a guitar in the style of a vintage strat, but not entirely vintage correct and super expensive.

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4 hours ago, tbonesullivan said:

The American Professional series actually made a lot of sense. They also may have finally figured out that being confused with a brand of Toilets was not the best idea.

That's funny...because the album cover photo was taken inside a restroom, Epic Records wanted to call Heaven Tonight 'American Standard', but CT nixed that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heaven_Tonight

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6 hours ago, Sentinel said:

The curved heel indicates some sort of Deluxe/ Elite series and or addition/change!? Right?

🤔🙂

That'd be my guess too - Elites, which were Deluxes. With any luck, they'll change the name yet again :P

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On 11/3/2019 at 6:22 AM, diablo175 said:

Some people have great difficulty letting go of certain habits/mindsets.

It's funny though.  All my guitar playing life I avoided Fenders.  Owned a few but never bonded.

Didn't keep me from embracing Super Strats though, c.f . Hamer Cali, Jackson SL 1 etc, etc.

Then about 5 years ago I happened upon a MIM Deluxe Players Strat, and shortly therafter

a Jeff Beck Strat [2nd gen] which has been significantly modified [new PUPs, fretboard radius

flattened due to a warp] and voila, the Beck is my no. 1 guitar and the Player also gets played a lot.

The Beck has displaced most of my guitars, including my Hamers, somewhat sadly.

So, ya can teach an old dog new tricks...

 

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2 hours ago, SSII x 2 said:

It's funny though.  All my guitar playing life I avoided Fenders.  Owned a few but never bonded.

Didn't keep me from embracing Super Strats though, c.f . Hamer Cali, Jackson SL 1 etc, etc.

Then about 5 years ago I happened upon a MIM Deluxe Players Strat, and shortly therafter

a Jeff Beck Strat [2nd gen] which has been significantly modified [new PUPs, fretboard radius

flattened due to a warp] and voila, the Beck is my no. 1 guitar and the Player also gets played a lot.

The Beck has displaced most of my guitars, including my Hamers, somewhat sadly.

So, ya can teach an old dog new tricks...

 

It sounds like you need to unload that Cali ;) 

I'm the other way around, more or less started on a '76 CBS Strat and played that for years until I discovered the Super Strats- Kramers, Charvels, Jacksons, Ibanez, etc. A few pointys and other shapes aside, I then found Hamer. Right now it's pretty much a even split between the Hamer Cali's and my HEL Spitfire- (another dinky super Strat).

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