If Fender keeps buying companies.........

[Accept2]

Who will be left?.........

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/071029/20071029005828.html?.v=1

[Spivonious]

KMC owns Ovation Guitars, LP and Toca hand percussion products, Gibraltar Hardware, Genz Benz Amplification, Hamer Guitars, and is the exclusive U.S. sales representative for Sabian Cymbals, and exclusive worldwide distributor of Takamine Guitars and Gretsch Drums.

Well, I guess I own a Fender amp now.

[markD]

no you don't. if it says FENDER on it, then you own a fender amp. just because FMIC is the parent company doesn't make the product a fender. does a jackson soloist say fender on it anywhere? sure, stratheads have that little sticker, but because ANOTHER company is using fender's trademarked "design"....

[jwoods986]

Wow, Fender bought Kaman? The way things are going, in a couple years when you buy a musical product, it's either going to be owned by Fender or Gibson. Hopefully PRS can remain independant.

[delt]

Always some brand of junk grabbing 90% of the market in everything.

In nutritional health it's mc.donalds.... in computer software it's microsoft.... and now looks like in musical instruments it's fender......

[shredmonster]

People over at the Hamer Forum are freaking out today

I would be worried a little too given the way Hamer makes guitars - without cutting corners.

Should be interesting. Will they bring back a USA Cali ????

[AK47]

No more Hamer Standards ever, shame as I wanted a custom one.

[AK47]

Click the link for a list of really nice custom hamers sold and take a good look you will never have the standard explorers again.

http://www.rocketeria.biz/page3.html

[texasfury]

Next FMIC aquistion?

ESTEBAN!!!!!!

[CharvelRocker]

I guess the local shop that sells Takamine, Ovation, and FMIC products is loving this... That aid, I wonder what Fender will do to the companies they bought? It would be interesting if they made use of Kaman's old GTX name, to possibly make budget super strats without hurting Jackson/Charvels name, but keeping hot in the <$450 market where they're losing a lot of sales to ESP/LTD, Schecter, and Ibanez.

[shreddermon]

Wow. What are they going to do with Hamer? That's not going to merge well with the "no Gibson-esque shapes" policy.

[j2379]

yeah whats up. hamer has made a living doing gibson shapes, if they cant i dont think they will survive very long.

[AK47]

Did a member here have a really nice Hamer Standard Custom with transparent black flametop?
I think his name was Flatpicker?
Anyone got pics of his Hamer Standard?

[442w30]

Wow, just wow.

Same thing is happening in all industries:

Check out bicycles, "Pacific" owns Schwinn, GT, Mongoose, and just about everything else that's not handbuilt.

[fett]

It's called "Consolidation". Anti-trust is out the door. It's all about shaving costs. So we get Mega-Companies that get "Names" and those "Names" will never be the same. And THAT is why I buy 12 to 20+ year old guitars if I pay up for them. In a fett way.:ROTF: