Do Fender really want to kill off Jackson?

[Schadenfreude]

:o Jackson now sell black guitars?

[Flatpicker]

Fender wants to make money.
If a brand isn't making them money, they aren't going to invest in it --- hence, killing it off.

As for the dealers ---
I wonder if they are just telling customers that it is the rep. You need to buy in to each Fender brand, which means not everyone will carry them. Certainly a shop isn't going to tell a customer "I can't afford to pay for another dealership and have to stock product too."




For Jackson, without taking profit into consideration, my hope is ---
They quit making so many various lines. We need need a good line and a more affordable line. We do not need chinese junk. We need the USA and one import like the Professional Series. Wal-Mart priced units don't bring 'status' to a name.

Get back to the days when only a few thousand were made each year.
Let musicians drive the brand.

If musicians drove the brand, both Jackson and Charvel would have been dead and buried already.
You can't support the business like that. Even Grover and Wayne took the profits into consideration. We all have to eat.

Both names exist simply to compete against Schecter/LTD/ESP and Ibanez for a dollar that would not go to something labeled Fender.

Otherwise they are made in the same factories by employees who get paid from Fender Corporate.

[Newc]

Rep can't order just one unless it's a Custom, largely due to the cost of row-boating them over. FMIC won't mix one Jackson in with the next row-boat of Teles, Jags, and Strats, as they'd have to take out one of "theirs" to do it.

And then you have reps who just suck.

[Nightbat]

We need need a good line and a more affordable line. We do not need chinese junk. We need the USA and one import like the Professional Series. Wal-Mart priced units don't bring 'status' to a name.

Sorry, but Bullshit!
It's the cheap ass shit that keeps companies afloat, Ferrari only still lives because Fiat is pumping money from their tin-can Pandas and 500s into it
Hell. I wonder how long Chevrolet can survive if GM can't sell their cheap ass Korean shit
Most music shops stay afloat from their sales of strings and picks (and the Chinese shit)
Hell, the company I work for stays afloat not from it's €80 kitchen utensils, but it's €4,- party items (more cheap Chinese shit will be added to our catalog)

Prestige luxury items are usually Not if not Always the things that make the money

the only Jackson I bought (new) in the last 14 years is the MII AS SDX, the amount of people having the cash to buy CS guitars has HUGELY diminished during the crisis

[pianoguyy]

Boutique brands do it all the time.
Thirty years from now, we aren't going to drool over a 2015 Indian made model the way we are over a 1985 today.
We are willing to wait 3 years for a CS. The OP of this thread doesn't want to wait a couple months for a shipment of imports to arrive.

Jackson doesn't need to be in the hands of everyone. Make them good enough, and make them accessible to only a few - the select few keep you afloat.
Sully may not be stylin' 'n profilin' but I am sure he is doing alright. I haven't heard him talk about flying in his own jet, but I also haven't heard him say that he needs to work a 'day job' to keep keep the lights on at the shop for his little hobby.
Suhr isn't making cheap products that I know of.
And there are plenty of others just the same. No chinese stuff to make the brand available to everyone. Just some high end gear for those that need.

[lepard]

If Fender had any brains, they would re-release the Charvel Model Series, made at their best import plant. They would need to be super high quality like the originals. I mean seriously Fender, those 1986-1988 Model Series guitar sold by the millions ! You can't go into a pawn shop today without seeing 1 or 2. They are still loved and highly regarded. Get rid of the Desolation garbage and build some quality Model Series guitars.

[etepbbb]

Going back to the original topic, why don't you buy a guitar from an online retailer or one of JCF's sponsors?

[Mudlark]

I'd be interested to know the shipping charges for a guitar from the US to Australia, or Asia for that matter.

[neilli]

Jackson doesn't need to be in the hands of everyone. Make them good enough, and make them accessible to only a few - the select few keep you afloat.

Jackson's income is mainly from imports, so US and especially CS guitars just aren't the priority for the accountants at FMIC. If anything was to be killed, on paper it would be the US stuff. Of course, that would kill the brand because it's the US stuff that's the 'figurehead' but in terms of cold hard cash, imports are where it's at.

[Force]

Going back to the original topic, why don't you buy a guitar from an online retailer or one of JCF's sponsors?

I did explain that already, our dollar is up for shit, add another 30% to the price & that's what I pay, then add shipping, which can be anywhere from $80 to $300.

[Force]

Get rid of the Desolation garbage and build some quality Model Series guitars.

Looks like they already have, there's nothing on the website. I agree about returning the Model series as long as they're of the same quality as they use to be, that would be awesome.

[pianoguyy]

I'd be interested to know the shipping charges for a guitar from the US to Australia, or Asia for that matter.

That's the thing.
Shipping one unit person to person is much different than Fender loading up a shipping container with enough guitars to supply the country.

At the store, our pianos come from Japan.
They spend months on a boat that ports in California. Then divided up in half, east coast and west coast. Where they sit (for us east coasters) in a warehouse in Jersey until dealers order them.
In 2010/2011, right before Fukushima, there was a freak snow storm that blanketed the mid-west. Shipping routes were disrupted, east coast didn't get their half. Then the earthquake and nuclear meltdown.
We waited 7 months for one particular model that was supposed to be on our floor in two weeks.

[holycross1]

The Brand is still here.
Because FMIC has invested in the brand, new models that had features the buyers wanted.
Before FMIC there was WAY fewer neck thru models.
They did what "They" thought needed to be done to afford models with the features we have today.
Things that many asked for.
I used to be on the "FMIC sucks" bandwagon.
I can see that what they have done to revitalize the Jackson/Charvel lines, AKIA could not/would not.
Are there areas of improvement?
Of course.
But the reps are sometimes just out for the quick dollar. They don't want to incur the expense, or time it would take to make one customer happy.
Thats an issue with the rep.
They value the Strat and Tele....
But I don't know what franchise requirements are in other countries.
I do know that if a Fender dealer Wants a Jackson or Charvel to sell in the USA...They have a minimum quantity to buy. No exceptions.
So I have seen dealers blame the reps for what they won't risk.
Stock they don't know will sell?
For one sale?
It's the dealers call many times.

[Flatpicker]

Boutique brands do it all the time.
Thirty years from now, we aren't going to drool over a 2015 Indian made model the way we are over a 1985 today.
We are willing to wait 3 years for a CS. The OP of this thread doesn't want to wait a couple months for a shipment of imports to arrive.

Jackson doesn't need to be in the hands of everyone. Make them good enough, and make them accessible to only a few - the select few keep you afloat.
Sully may not be stylin' 'n profilin' but I am sure he is doing alright. I haven't heard him talk about flying in his own jet, but I also haven't heard him say that he needs to work a 'day job' to keep keep the lights on at the shop for his little hobby.
Suhr isn't making cheap products that I know of.
And there are plenty of others just the same. No chinese stuff to make the brand available to everyone. Just some high end gear for those that need.

Suhr tried making a cheap line and lost money.
They have also been sold to a vape company. I don't think their model is working anymore.

Can't speak for Sully, but is he doing guitar making full time? I thought it was on top of his regular job.

[Newc]

I'd be interested to know the shipping charges for a guitar from the US to Australia, or Asia for that matter.

I shipped an import Roswell to Australia some years ago for $180 in a hard case via UPS.

Shipped a Pedulla in hard case to Japan for about $120 IIRC via EMS.