Fender gambles, Eastman's new affordable bolt ons, and more.

[@mikey-dubs]

I bought an Eastman Les Paul used and it was one of the best most MOJO filled instrument I have ever played. Traded it in with some stuff to get a custom shop Fender and I regret getting rid of that one to this day. Played better than the custom shop although both were great guitars.

[@danthedem]

I agree with everything you said: 1) I remember seeing actual Fender's (albeit MIM) being $400-$600. These were known to be perfect modding platforms while retaining the Fender name. Sad that Fender keeps upping price but not quality. I would never own or buy a Fender these days. I'd go PRS SE any day over a Fender MIM or anything like that. 2) I love Eastman guitars, even though I don't own one. One of my local stores is an Eastman dealer. They have some nice Gibson and Martin style copies. Well worth it if you can afford one.

[@rsuazon]

I think you're 100% right...the CV line will most likely go away as I can't see anyone paying for those when they can get Fender on the headstock for almost the same price. I suspect that Squier will just have the Sonic and Affinity lines for beginners/students.

[@djangle67]

The Fender looks like a Squier Affinity with a cheapo all black F logo like the Squier Sonic series. The classic vibe has alnico pickups a nice vintage tint to the necks and split post tuners and personally prefer those aesthetics and specs over a cheapo all black F logo with Affinity hardware.

[@rsuazon]

@djangle67 I prefer those aesthetics too...I'm wondering if they were originally planning to make these changes to the Classic Vibe line to keep costs down/increase $$$, but then just decided to rename the CV line altogether to this new Fender line. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens with Squier

[@djangle67]

@@rsuazon…Dont get me wrong it’s nice that customers who want the F logo on the headstock at an affordable price can snag one but the specs and logo could have been a bit more attractive.

[@rsuazon]

@djangle67 100% agree

[@richielem6413]

A lot of people seems to be surprised to see a made in Indonesia Fender linup, but remember about 12 years ago there were Made in China Fenders - I had a Modern Player Telecaster bass which was OK from this series. I don't know if they made guitars at this time. Edit : I find on Reverb that it's sold between 900 and 1300 USD nowadays. I sold it 300 USD :-/

[@AudiomoMusic]

They had korean made Fenders even before the China ones, and obviously Japanese ones before that. I try my best to try to forget the modern player line from china, not becuase of where they were made but man they butchered a lot of models like my beloved jag and mustang haha

[@elevenAD]

i had a tele from that series and it was actually a solid guitar.

[@richielem6413]

@@AudiomoMusic lol I didn’t knew the Jag, everything’s wrong on it, even the color ahah

[@smallfry89]

I don’t know yet, but Cory Wong could still be with Fender. Some artist do endorse more than one guitar brand. In the Ernie Ball video Cory said he just wanted a humbucker guitar to add to his arsenal. Implying he’s still playing his fenders. But I guess we’ll see soon.

[@Lomoholga2]

This seems like a potentially *very* Smart business move by Fender Epiphone are attempting to go high end- which marketers state is a difficult thing for a budget brand to rebrand into a higher-end brand Perhaps Fender realizes the average person’s wages haven’t increased to keep pace with the greedflation and there just isn’t the market for more expensive guitars This move gets people into the Fender brand at a ‘cheap’ price It sounds like Fender is willing to bet that the sales from ppl wanting a Fender will be more than the ppl who perceive the Standard as low value for the money

[@Markleford]

Squier Classic Vibe Series can't go away entirely, as it's also the line that has all of the non-Tele/non-Strat models. If Fender Standard eventually adds offsets and whatnot to the range, then perhaps CV can be sunset. I suspect that Fender snobs are probably the most upset about this addition, as it "cheapens" their identity to have the same name on a Squier-quality headstock for so cheap. But GearTubers should celebrate, because they can now churn out more comparison videos! So I just don't know who this move is serving! Are there really enough players out there who are embarrassed enough to be seen holding a Squier, yet so undiscerning that they don't mind playing on a reduced quality instrument? Or perhaps we just expect people to buy online and not go to a shop to play every instrument in a price range to compare? Or will there actually be a value-add for the $200 extra in terms of improved factory QC and setup service? Sorry I missed this live stream, as it's a topic I'm very interested in!

[@rotten_comics]

Fender standard series…absolutely not. Add me to “I am smart and buy from Japan” bucket lol

[@staleyexplores]

yeah I just sold my yellow bass bc I wasn't using it, having to address everything atm....hope you all are well friends!

[@elevenAD]

Dude i dont even care what factory the Fender Standards are made in, at that price point i would bite because i truly believe they cant be worse than fender MIM, even my MIC Fender tele was superior to both my current MIM fenders.

[@AudiomoMusic]

i dont care what factory they are made in either, i care that they are spec'd like affinity models with a fender logo slapped on them