What's left for Fender to do?

[JVG]

Lefty models?

Whoah, whoah, whoah. Let's not get crazy here. It's not like there are 770 million lefties in the world. I mean...it just doesn't make sense to go after a market that small.

Honestly, I wouldn't even care about some of the crazier models. Sure, I'd love to see a lefty XII, but seeing as how righties would also love to see a XII, I don't see that happening. Hell, just to get a Tele that's not black or 3-tone sunburst, would be amazing. I'd love to see one of the decent, less expensive Jazzmasters in lefty...

I hear ya, brother! I'm proud of being a lefty, but jeez it's frustrating as fuck when it comes to guitars! This is what originally pushed me down the custom assembly route. Thank fuck for Musikraft, MJT, Warmoth, et. al.

Cheers!
J

[invisible man]

Hire the most skilled OSG members for design and build, there are years worth of product ideas on here

Continue producing the 60th anniversary Jazzmasters with a new set of colors every year, maybe oil the Pau Ferro a bit more like one of our threads here

Headstock in matching colors in the mod shop ( with proper decals)!

[simonhpieman]

So, the acoustasonic, then...

https://youtu.be/OuhsAyRpM6U

[marqueemoon]

So, the acoustasonic, then...

https://youtu.be/OuhsAyRpM6U

What’s left for Fender to do?

Make this again, but less hideous.

The vestigial soundhole is stupid. Gibson and Godin figured this out decades ago.

[601210]

So, the acoustasonic, then...

https://youtu.be/OuhsAyRpM6U

I've seen a lot of derision towards it, and that was my first reaction, but thinking about it it's not that bad. I think the goal is to be a casio workstation for guitars, i.e. a guitar for guitarists who just need something to play and don't really obsess about the minutiae, i.e. the type of guys who buy Yamaha silent guitars.

I feel like the body/wood type pairings it claims are way too specific for it to be anything close, but I think as long as there's a decent acoustic sound an a decent electric sound, it has a pretty good chance to do well in non-gearhead circles.

Or maybe I'm just dumb.

[marqueemoon]

Frankly I’m pretty impressed with the sound from what I’ve heard.

Think if you had a breakout box that could control the guitar’s onboard switching, split its output and send and receive MIDI commands though.

Not something I’m personally interested in but lots of bands play along with sequences.

Granted, the average guitar player might not have much use for such options, but I can see big touring acts or worship bands being all over that.

[simonhpieman]

I mean, I'd be all over it if it were about £1000 cheaper...

Not sure on the UK price but assuming it's upwards of £1500 if it's $1999 and that's just way too much.

[timtam]

This vid on the development of the acoustasonic, and Ron Thorn's stuff, suggest that Fender are giving their developers a bit more freedom to think outside the box ... and if it works out it becomes a production guitar ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcuPxpfVCug

[Larry Mal]

So, the acoustasonic, then...

https://youtu.be/OuhsAyRpM6U

Jesus fucking Christ. So it's come to this, then.

I would have been happy to be wrong, you know.

[N0_Camping4U]

You don’t like it Larry? Could be worse, imo.

[Larry Mal]

You don’t like it Larry? Could be worse, imo.

Let me backpedal a little bit.

[Shadoweclipse13]

I hear ya, brother! I'm proud of being a lefty, but jeez it's frustrating as fuck when it comes to guitars! This is what originally pushed me down the custom assembly route. Thank fuck for Musikraft, MJT, Warmoth, et. al.

Cheers!
J

Same!! Very proud to be lefty (and more comfortable doing so anyway), and I love that it got me to the point of the custom stuff. I remember some of the guitars I lusted after when I was a kid. So glad I didn't have to deal with like 95% of them.

[N0_Camping4U]

You don’t like it Larry? Could be worse, imo.

Let me backpedal a little bit.

Shit, I actually kinda like these. Am I in the minority? I may grab one used down the road for cheaper.

Now.. I know I'm being that guy, but man I would kill for a 12 string version...

[Embenny]

I have never found any of those halfway/hybrid plug-in "acoustic" guitars, like the Taylor T5, any of the Acoustasonic-type Fenders (there have been a number over the years), Ovations, etc to achieve anything resembling an acoustic guitar tone. This has the same awful, plinky dynamic response of an undersaddle piezo pickup, just with some dressing on top.

A UST piezo through a Fishman Aura can sound surprisingly ok. Otherwise, soundboard and bridgeplate transducers (K&K pure westerns, Baggs iBeam, etc, Taylor ES) on an actual acoustic guitar run circles around this type of thinline, and always will. The most useful systems are typically multi source like the K&K trinity.

This will do the job for someone who is otherwise just using an undersaddle piezo in an Ovation or something, but I'm not impressed by the fidelity of that "Acoustic" tone at all.

Here's a little trip down memory lane from 2002, the Acoustasonic Stratocaster:


And 2010's Acoustasonic Telecaster:


It fails every time, because they sound like the piezo pickups that power them...which is not good.

[Larsongs]

Make real Squier CV Jazzmasters & Jaguars. Not fancy VM's from the Indonesian factory with a CV Sticker.... I guess we'll see....