Fender selling direct??

[Surf n Music]

I was in the local music store yesterday and overheard the workers talking about how fender is going to start selling guitars directly from their website. I looked around at all the fender guitars they had in there and thought dam they are really screwing their distributors. Anyone else hear this? Just curious. If it is true that is gonna take a bite out of a lot of businesses. 

 

[bagman67]

Well, if Fender sells at list, they won't be really taking that big a chunk out of disty business - distributors and retailers get a much better price than you or I would when we go to the Custom Shop, and so they can still offer the goods at a discount vs. Fender direct.  Now, if Fender wants to compete head-to-head with its distributors on price, well, I hope you also carry some other wide-margin goods at your shop, or you're gonna be hosed on the high end gear.  As usual, it's the smaller shops rather than the big-box stores that will get the pointy end of this stick.  Point is, there's a lot more Mexistrats being sold off-the-rack than CUstom Shop jobs, and it may be that direct sales will get Fender some business that the retailers would not have gotten anyway. 

 

[SustainerPlayer]

FYI

 

[Cagey]

Great. Another MBA from an obscure background in totally unrelated industries trying to run a music business. That oughta work out well. Kinda like electing an inexperienced short-term "community organizer" to run the most powerful country on the planet.

 

[sixstringsamurai]

Fender and Gibson BOTH can take a flying leap through a rolling doughnut...

I'll most likely never buy anything from either again, and I have yet to find anything off the rack that sounds better than my last two builds.

There is a reason I started buying Warmoth parts, not only the quality v.s. price point, which lets be honest, for a custom bolt neck is ridiculously good, and actual GOOD customer service.

:rock-on:

 

[mayfly]

Great. Another MBA from an obscure background in totally unrelated industries trying to run a music business. That oughta work out well. Kinda like electing an inexperienced short-term "community organizer" to run the most powerful country on the planet.

Yea, you can really see that one coming.  "well, on-line clothes work and look at all the money we save not having bricks and mortar retail!  It's a winning formula that will definitely work for guitars.  I mean, no one wants to try it out before they actually buy it do they?  My kid says that guitar stores suck anyway.  Or was that Guitar Store sucks?  whatever!"

Having said that, anyone buy something at sweetwater lately? 

 

[Cagey]

Having said that, anyone buy something at sweetwater lately? 

I have. On the plus side, the people there seem to know a lot about what they're selling. You can call and get immediate answers that make sense. On the down side, they pester the living shit out of you once you throw some money at them.

 

[Re-Pete]

From my perspective from Australia, if we can get our hands on guitars that aren't last year's models NOW, that would be good.

I'm not a fan of Fender Australia, the Australian distributor for Fender. It's wholly owned by FMIC I believe. You have to go through them to buy a Fender in Australia. Markups are obscene when you see the exact same guitar being sold online in US retail prices far below what they demand you pay in Australia.

It's far worse for Gibsons in Australia as their distributor is not well liked by retailers, quite a few have said that to me directly  but they HAVE TO deal with them if they want to stock Gibson.

And forget about Rickenbackers if you wanted one, they don't even have an Australian Distributor!

So if I could go directly to Fender USA and get a current model (if I was in the market for one that is), then I'd be a happy camper. But they better not jack up the price of delivery fees etc. as that would kill the idea.

 

[Wizard of Wailing]

    You can custom build your own Fender on their website now.  However, the options are limited, and the price is insane. 

 

[mayfly]

From my perspective from Australia, if we can get our hands on guitars that aren't last year's models NOW, that would be good.

I'm not a fan of Fender Australia, the Australian distributor for Fender. It's wholly owned by FMIC I believe. You have to go through them to buy a Fender in Australia. Markups are obscene when you see the exact same guitar being sold online in US retail prices far below what they demand you pay in Australia.

It's far worse for Gibsons in Australia as their distributor is not well liked by retailers, quite a few have said that to me directly  but they HAVE TO deal with them if they want to stock Gibson.

And forget about Rickenbackers if you wanted one, they don't even have an Australian Distributor!

So if I could go directly to Fender USA and get a current model (if I was in the market for one that is), then I'd be a happy camper. But they better not jack up the price of delivery fees etc. as that would kill the idea.

all true, but because of all that you guys have Maytone over there.  Those seem to be pretty nice.  Cant' get them here...

 

[GuitarMart]

It's in the works for next year. I'd be surprised if they dropped it on stores during the holiday season this fall.

Like people on here have said they started selling necks, body's and accessories direct off their site years ago. I don't think everyone caught on until the last year that it was possible. Then last winter was when they set up the check out area for those buying Custom and American series guitars with options. That's when most guitar stores started to wonder where this was heading and on a possible plan B.

I doubt they would start it out selling at the same prices as dealers and instead charge slightly more until they are sure it will work with customers. It could be an experiment they end up abandoning down the road. 

And like others have said you can build something better for less with Warmoth and others. Support your local luthier and have them do a pro set up / build if possible.

 

[Re-Pete]

From my perspective from Australia, if we can get our hands on guitars that aren't last year's models NOW, that would be good.

I'm not a fan of Fender Australia, the Australian distributor for Fender. It's wholly owned by FMIC I believe. You have to go through them to buy a Fender in Australia. Markups are obscene when you see the exact same guitar being sold online in US retail prices far below what they demand you pay in Australia.

It's far worse for Gibsons in Australia as their distributor is not well liked by retailers, quite a few have said that to me directly  but they HAVE TO deal with them if they want to stock Gibson.

And forget about Rickenbackers if you wanted one, they don't even have an Australian Distributor!

So if I could go directly to Fender USA and get a current model (if I was in the market for one that is), then I'd be a happy camper. But they better not jack up the price of delivery fees etc. as that would kill the idea.

all true, but because of all that you guys have Maytone over there.  Those seem to be pretty nice.  Cant' get them here...

You mean Maton? Yep their acoustics are pretty good, but their electrics aren't so well regarded.

 

[Wizard of Wailing]

      I went through the build your own section today.  An alder strat with a case and the limited features they offered me (for neck wood you can get maple or maple), would cost me $1,849. Guess I'll stick with Warmoth and live with the fact that my headstocks don't say "Fender" on them.

 

[Surf n Music]

Ya I am defiantly sticking with Warmoth. I love my strat. It is exactly how I want it. Already got my next one brewing in my head.

I just see a trend were more and more companies will start selling direct and cut out the middle man and before we no it very little stores.  I mean with the internet now it is so easy to sell direct why even bother with a middle man. Maybe I am wrong. I love going down to stores and seeing the things in person. I'm afraid it will be one more nail in the coffin for ma and pa style stores. It is sad. Those are the ones I love and try to support as much as possible... altough with my limited funds while being a student that isn't much right now.

 

[mayfly]

From my perspective from Australia, if we can get our hands on guitars that aren't last year's models NOW, that would be good.

I'm not a fan of Fender Australia, the Australian distributor for Fender. It's wholly owned by FMIC I believe. You have to go through them to buy a Fender in Australia. Markups are obscene when you see the exact same guitar being sold online in US retail prices far below what they demand you pay in Australia.

It's far worse for Gibsons in Australia as their distributor is not well liked by retailers, quite a few have said that to me directly  but they HAVE TO deal with them if they want to stock Gibson.

And forget about Rickenbackers if you wanted one, they don't even have an Australian Distributor!

So if I could go directly to Fender USA and get a current model (if I was in the market for one that is), then I'd be a happy camper. But they better not jack up the price of delivery fees etc. as that would kill the idea.

all true, but because of all that you guys have Maytone over there.  Those seem to be pretty nice.  Cant' get them here...

You mean Maton? Yep their acoustics are pretty good, but their electrics aren't so well regarded.

yea!  that's the one!  This guy seems to have no trouble with the Maton electrics...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3QzsbS9cHs

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Great. Another MBA from an obscure background in totally unrelated industries trying to run a music business. That oughta work out well. Kinda like electing an inexperienced short-term "community organizer" to run the most powerful country on the planet.

Haha. Fender selling direct? THANKS, OBAMA.

 

[stubhead]

Fender is dying. They and Guitar Center are locked into some sort of secretive, mutual death spiral, billions in debt and trying to spend their way out of it, like it's "Opposite Day" or something. I even like economics and I can't peel that onion.

 

[Cagey]

You can throw Gibson into that witch's brew. To make a long story short, they've all just gotten too big for their britches and lost sight of their mission. It's all about administration and bureaucracy, which is expensive and non-productive, with little or no consideration of customers or reality. Can't win. Resembles government more than anything else. Everything costs a lot, with very little return for anybody but those at the top of the pyramid.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Having said that, anyone buy something at sweetwater lately? 

I have. On the plus side, the people there seem to know a lot about what they're selling. You can call and get immediate answers that make sense. On the down side, they pester the living shite out of you once you throw some money at them.

I've had nothing but stellar customer service everytime I've dealt with Sweetwater, better attention even than MF or AMS.

 

[Cagey]

Plus, there's always candy in the box!  :laughing7: