FENDER CEO Response to 'Is the Electric Guitar Dying?'

WezV

Alnico said:

@professorben ........do schools still see electric guitars as silly toys with no depth?
When I was at school the Music Dept. had that view and only classical acoustic guitars were taken seriously. I got the point that they wanted to teach classical but it always wound me up, especially in the 80's when the electric guitar was so big, that they held that view.

Is it still like that now?
(I've got it in my head that you're a Teacher.........I might be wrong, apologies if I am.)

The average music teacher now is probably a fair bit younger than you.  

I would guess times have moved on and most accept it for what it is.  

schools do tend to stick to classicals, not just because it's cheaper.  10 classicals being played badly is a lot better for your hearing than 10 electrics.

Rabs

WezV said:

 

I would guess times have moved on and most accept it for what it is.  

You can say that again..  Especially when I was watching that Fender Play video and this is one of the artists they list as Legendary just after listing U2  :O  (I know its just marketing, but still)

http://i.imgur.com/MVvyHJz.jpg ;

Alnico

 @professorben ;;
 @WezV ;;
Interesting insights, cheers.
Ben I hadn't really considered the cost factor of the amp as well for students. 
Wez. ......I was really hoping things had changed because I'm not kidding about our school's attitude to electric guitar.
They literally called us "Wasters" in the music Dept. For not wanting to play a nylon stringed classical guitar.
I had my revenge though. I started the school band and introduced them to my 2203 full stack. They hated me just as much as I hated them.

 @fandango ....I agree entirely about the chronology of guitar music and how enlightening it is to follow it when learning.
My Dad taught me for the first 5 years and he started me off in the 30's - 50's with everythig from Robert Johnson to chuck berry and THEN the 60's with the Beatles and the Merseybeat era which he was part of before he showed me how to play anything by Pink Floyd and hendrix.
That basis and following the progression of music was a proper foundation and I'm still really pleased he did that for me.

I agree about the yard birds version of smokestack lightning too.
Excellent music.

Bridgehouse

Here, @Alnico - have you turned this into a debate about hooking your thumb over and wearing chinos AGAIN???

underdog

Alnico said:

@professorben ........do schools still see electric guitars as silly toys with no depth?
When I was at school the Music Dept. had that view and only classical acoustic guitars were taken seriously. I got the point that they wanted to teach classical but it always wound me up, especially in the 80's when the electric guitar was so big, that they held that view.

Is it still like that now?
(I've got it in my head that you're a Teacher.........I might be wrong, apologies if I am.)

My daughter does electric guitar for her GCSE music, I wish that was an option when I was in school.

Alnico

Bridgehouse said:

Here, @Alnico - have you turned this into a debate about hooking your thumb over and wearing chinos AGAIN???

Chinos have haunted me ever since that ONE TIME I wore them in 1988.
My life has been a misery every since.
LOL.

Damn those Levi's adverts !

Bridgehouse

Alnico said:

Bridgehouse said:

Here, @Alnico - have you turned this into a debate about hooking your thumb over and wearing chinos AGAIN???

Chinos have haunted me ever since that ONE TIME I wore them in 1988.
My life has been a misery every since.
LOL.

Damn those Levi's adverts !

Bet they were salmon pink chinos

professorben

Alnico said:

Bridgehouse said:

Here, @Alnico - have you turned this into a debate about hooking your thumb over and wearing chinos AGAIN???

Chinos have haunted me ever since that ONE TIME I wore them in 1988.
My life has been a misery every since.
LOL.

Damn those Levi's adverts !

Well if you wear them in an advert.....,

Alnico

professorben said:

Alnico said:

Bridgehouse said:

Here, @Alnico - have you turned this into a debate about hooking your thumb over and wearing chinos AGAIN???

Chinos have haunted me ever since that ONE TIME I wore them in 1988.
My life has been a misery every since.
LOL.

Damn those Levi's adverts !

Well if you wear them in an advert.....,

HAHAHAHA
Genuine LOL.

Ravenous

He quoted an interesting statistic on the video though - that a large percentage of their guitar sales are to first-timers.

That doesn't really sound like a dying industry to me.  Perhaps total sales aren't so good but it sounds like there's new interest still...

(It probably included acoustics as well as electrics, and of course the Squier brand as well as Fender brand.)

stickyfiddle

Ravenous said:

He quoted an interesting statistic on the video though - that a large percentage of their guitar sales are to first-timers.

That doesn't really sound like a dying industry to me.  Perhaps total sales aren't so good but it sounds like there's new interest still...

(It probably included acoustics as well as electrics, and of course the Squier brand as well as Fender brand.)

To be fair, if 80% of sales are to first timers but the total number of those people is declining, then it's bad news. But if that number is static or increasing then you only have to convert a small proportion of those single-guitar folks into 2-guitar folks and you've massively increased the size of your market. If, for example, Sheeran goes full-electric for his next record that would make a huge difference overnight

crunchman

There are a lot of guitars around, it's just that the music is not built around them - unlike a lot of the old stuff most on here listen to.

We had the Voice on in our house last night (mods please don't ban me) and they had some bloke from One Direction on.  It had a guitar in it.  What it didn't have was a huge guitar solo.

If you listen to the incidental music in a lot of TV shows it has guitars.

Taylor Swift has guitars in her music.

It's not the guitar that's dead.  It's the guitar hero.

Roland

ICBM said:

I also think that the shift from guitar as a virtuoso instrument to guitar as a songwriting tool, which he identified, is also probably going to reduce the average number of guitars owned. If young players don't really care about having the exact sounds that guitar heroes used, why will they need so many guitars? One or two that cover a few sounds they like will do fine. 

He did say that the guitar was also becoming viewed as a performance tool. That ought to encourage uptake amongst a section of the populace.

Later on, when questioned about lifestyle branding, he did say that the Fender brand is being expanded to include pedals and lessons alongside guitars.

It's a good interview. It says to me that Fender have a future if only because their CEO has his head above water, and is providing leadership and direction. Henry does give me the same feeling.

underdog

stickyfiddle said:

Ravenous said:

He quoted an interesting statistic on the video though - that a large percentage of their guitar sales are to first-timers.

That doesn't really sound like a dying industry to me.  Perhaps total sales aren't so good but it sounds like there's new interest still...

(It probably included acoustics as well as electrics, and of course the Squier brand as well as Fender brand.)

To be fair, if 80% of sales are to first timers but the total number of those people is declining, then it's bad news. But if that number is static or increasing then you only have to convert a small proportion of those single-guitar folks into 2-guitar folks and you've massively increased the size of your market. If, for example, Sheeran goes full-electric for his next record that would make a huge difference overnight

I think that's what it's going to take to be honest, if Sheeran started writing sing along songs on an electric then it'd be a huge boost, if he threw in the odd tasty solo (which he's more than capable of) then it'd be like the boom caused by Oasis all over again. 

professorben

underdog said:

stickyfiddle said:

Ravenous said:

He quoted an interesting statistic on the video though - that a large percentage of their guitar sales are to first-timers.

That doesn't really sound like a dying industry to me.  Perhaps total sales aren't so good but it sounds like there's new interest still...

(It probably included acoustics as well as electrics, and of course the Squier brand as well as Fender brand.)

To be fair, if 80% of sales are to first timers but the total number of those people is declining, then it's bad news. But if that number is static or increasing then you only have to convert a small proportion of those single-guitar folks into 2-guitar folks and you've massively increased the size of your market. If, for example, Sheeran goes full-electric for his next record that would make a huge difference overnight

I think that's what it's going to take to be honest, if Sheeran started writing sing along songs on an electric then it'd be a huge boost, if he threw in the odd tasty solo (which he's more than capable of) then it'd be like the boom caused by Oasis all over again. 

Have you not heard? Sheerans doing a Blackmore and going mediaeval. 
https://imgur.com/gallery/6YZtH

guitars4you

stickyfiddle said:

Ravenous said:

He quoted an interesting statistic on the video though - that a large percentage of their guitar sales are to first-timers.

That doesn't really sound like a dying industry to me.  Perhaps total sales aren't so good but it sounds like there's new interest still...

(It probably included acoustics as well as electrics, and of course the Squier brand as well as Fender brand.)

To be fair, if 80% of sales are to first timers but the total number of those people is declining, then it's bad news. But if that number is static or increasing then you only have to convert a small proportion of those single-guitar folks into 2-guitar folks and you've massively increased the size of your market. If, for example, Sheeran goes full-electric for his next record that would make a huge difference overnight

interesting to know where they get some of these stats from - Has anyone asked you for various data info when buying a guitar ? - 1st time buyer - home - semi pro - pro etc 

So if it has come from an on-line warranty date again how many have ever filled in this info ?

Granted Fender will have access to price points on guitars made and I dare say a $199 Squier Strat Pack with amp, tuner, bag etc is almost certainly a beginners package - Is a $149 acoustic the same ?- It might be sold to an existing player with a  Mex Strat but wants a cheap kick around acoustic - How do they know or not know a $399 Mex Strat is not to a beginner who wants something better than a $199 pack

I can understanding them wanting to know more data but I'm not sure how accurate their info is

If the data said 80% of guitars made are under $300 or $500 then I can accept that and see it as a different set of data

Dave_Mc

Did he mention those other key points? He said the data they collected came up with 5 key points and then only mentioned one (which was very interesting, to be fair).

But yeah that was very interesting, I liked it.