Seems this is the next stroke of marketing genius from the FCS, meet the Apprentice Masterbuilt guitars. In the beginning the original Masterbuilders like J.W.Black, Gene Baker, John English, Alan Hamel built guitars pretty much on their own and thus production numbers through the 90's were low. When management changed in late 90's in an attempt to ramp up production numbers the masterbuilders were assigned apprentices many of whom became 'masterbuilders' themselves. Over the last 15 years the amount of work performed on each guitar by the masterbuilders has been diluted, yet Fender would obviously not want you to know this as prices are now hitting £8k and everyone wants think they have bought something 'special' Now it seems they have found away to make these apprentices 'special' too. This is Nick Saccone's Tele...a snip at £4300...
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Can't blame them for wringing every last penny out of their marketplace if we're happy to pay it, really. I couldn't justify the cost so I'm clearly not the target market, but there'll be plenty who will. And they'll probably hold their value pretty well.
Also, considering that he seemingly built, finished and reliced a whole guitar on his own while still an apprentice, what exactly has he got left to learn before he becomes a master.
I’m waiting for the Fender Custom Shop O Level Woodwork Project model.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
"There’s 4 Master Builder Assistants and I believe either 10 or 12 guitars have been built by them over the past full year.
I wouldn’t really consider this a marketing ploy or trying to fill a price range void.
Marketing has way bigger fish to fry than to worry about a dozen guitars a year. I’m actually chuckling at the thought of it."
"This has been a great program for the apprentices to gain experience in all the other aspects of being a MasterBuilder:
Designing, scheduling, interacting with dealers, administrative/organizing, ordering parts, etc.
It’s not just about fretdressing and wiring, they’ve got that dialed it, now let’s see how you handle everything else that’s part of the gig."
Doesn't seem worth frothing about to me
*not really
• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars
• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars
Otherwise...well yeah. In every job there's things you do that aren't directly something an end customer would give you money for as adding value to them. But it doesn't mean they're not valid required tasks.
I mean how else do you work your way up?
"Its not just about fret dressing and wiring' - yep that's about all they do to a typical Masterbuilt guitar because we know they obviously don't cut the bodies and necks, they don't paint finish them, most assemblies are pre-wired. Dale Wilson was interviewed at NAMM a couple of years back and was talking about his relic Strat on display, he let slip mid conversation that he had an assistant and the interviewer innocently said 'So wait, you don't build the guitars yourself?' Cue an awkward silence and some backtracking....ouch. Its still on Youtube. Is it Masterbuilt or not?
• Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@Goldeneraguitars
The only reason I can see for choosing 'Masterbuilt' would be to get a genuinely custom spec that isn't available off the shelf, and then I would only care that the guitar was built properly.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
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Buying a masterbuilt Fender is like getting Michelin starred chef to make you a full English breakfast. Eric Cantona told me that
I know it’s not been a huge sample size - I’ve played about half a dozen ‘Masterbuilt’ and around twenty or so ‘Team Built’ - but it’s been a pretty consistent pattern.
(And I’ve played probably over a hundred original Fenders and owned about a dozen, so I do know what they feel like.)
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
However I still think the money fender charge for custom shop, apprentice master builds and master build guitars is completely insane.