Fender taking over the guitar world!

[mlrpa]

(moved to The Coffee Shop by sumgai, Dec 12th, '07)

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!


In the beginning there were acoustic guitars, and it was good. Then someone figured out that a magnet and some wire made an acoustic sound better, and the world rejoiced! And so there were 5 who made the electric sound. Gibson, Epiphone, Guild, Rickenbacker and Gretch, and those names were strummed to the Heavens.

Then an omnivorious Beast was born, and it's name was FENDER.

Gibson had the foresight, and saw that the beast was hungry, and ate it's competitor Epiphone before Fender laid it's claws unto it.

Rickenbacker hide away, and made instruments for musicians, not the poor masses that the others catered to. And thus was spared.

But alas for Guild and Gretch, who slept and laughed at the Beast. But in their ignorance fell to the Beast, then were swallowed whole.

Other companies came and went, and some stayed with us. Kramer, Tobias, Stienberger, all made musicians sing with glee. But alas times changed, and soon faded from history. But Gibson waved it's mighty hand, raised those companies from the dead, and ate them.

But the Beast was hungier. Charvel, Jackson, Alvarez, tried to run, but alas the Beast was faster, and laughed at the poor screams as it devoured them.

Now the Beast has had it's latest meal. The Kaman group was recently eaten by the Beast. Ovation, Hamer, Sabien, Latin Percussion, and the company that distrubutes most of the supplies, Music corp. (ie: cases, strings, violin bows and the ilk)are ALL products of the Beast. When will it all end?

Meanwhile, Rickenbacker still makes instruments for musicians, but what will tomorrow bring?

[ChrisK]

ALL products of the Beast. When will it all end?

When only two are left.

Fender and Gibson are both businesses run by businessmen that offered products desired by many.

Many of the assimilated were not, long-term.


And when only two (meaningful ones) are left, it will be like Intel and AMD.


And competitive pricing is not.

You'll notice that Fender and Gibson ALREADY understand why their offerings need to be differentiated. Competition isn't.

But Gibson waved it's mighty hand, raised those companies from the dead, and ate them.

Perchance Fender.


I actually posted my Fender comments prior to seeing yours.

But, I stick by them.



And, the "slug of boomers" have entered their 50's and 60's where folk en masse stop spending on discretionary toys and begin saving for retirement fer sure. Analysis has verified that all recessions follow consumer spending habits (why the next recession starts real soon now....., uh, has started already).

[newey]

Chris is right, it's a classic example of capitalism at work.

But you can also examine the question from the perspective of the evolution of design. Initially, there was a flurry of differentiation in design, a multitude of different "basic plans" for the electric guitar. But most proved less than worthy, and died out, leaving the designs that actually worked for working guitarists.

Which leaves us with Strats, LPs, SGs, Teles, and various clones thereof, and not much else. They lasted because those designs worked well enough for a broad enough spectrum of players- and boosted the fortunes of their manufacturers at the same time.

You can spot Teles everywhere from a Springsteen show to a western swing barndance. You won't see any Flying Vees at the Grand Ole Opry.

( With apologies to the late evolutionary biologist Steven Jay Gould)