I’ve been gone for awhile! Trying to catch up with the new models!

[gutter rock]

It’s been a long time since I’ve been here! Spent the last
couple of years in a heavy band playing humbuckers! Recently left that band to start another that will return me to my beloved jags and jazzmaster. So, trying to catch up I took a look at all the offerings that have come out since I last paid attention.
My thoughts:
Fender still must have warehouse loads of red paint they are trying to get through.
Squier VM’s are $400 now!!! Yikes. Also, seriously in all this time they still only have the same color options they were released in years ago!!!
CP series - same colors, boring
AmPro - ehh, pass. The jag might have interested me if the cool colors had rosewood fretboards.
Player series - not enough chrome on the jag
AO - good to see this option exists still, only interesting color choice is otm on the JM.
Marr - surprised this is still offered, I like them but signature guitars don’t seem to last long. That LPB model
is nice to see! Should have painted that headstock though!

In conclusion, although I’m happy with the bewildering array of offset options, nothing I would be moved to buy and still plenty to bitch about! Haha!

[Danley]

Offsets and the people who play them are funny. Some remind me of Iron Chef episodes where Chen Kenichi 'fixes' the flavor of some crazy ingredient by getting it to not taste like that ingredient at all - "These are excellent beets - they don't even taste like beets! The beet flavor is masked entirely!" Then there are people who think every square inch of the guitar needs to get 'boutiqued' - Pickups by the winder of the week, the most fashionable/least obtainable bridge/vibrato, super-specific tort. pickguards, custom plates, custom finishes etc. Then there are purists who claim any need to modify the guitar speaks to user error, Leo was god, etc.

In other words it's impossible for Fender to please everybody. Then again it makes for vibrant discussion and thus a vibrant community. For example: I'm a member of the G&L forum, where conversation typically goes along the lines of: "Your guitar still play/sound perfect?" - "Yep." "Yup." "Sure does!" A lot less to discuss when no one has a problem keeping things in tune, or finding out your pickups were actually just the same as a Stratocaster all along.

I'm grateful that (as pointed out in another thread) Fender does cater to just about all markets at this point - You can get an Active Humbucker Jazzmaster, or a sub-$200 beginner's guitar, or something near vintage correct. But sometimes I wonder if it would be better if they stopped with so many 'series' and just made a single 'Jaguar' and left it up to the liberties of the assembler to just bolt on the next piece out of the bin luck of the draw, turning your quest for a guitar into a Pokemon-esque hunt.

[gutter rock]

Yeah it surprised me just how many new models have come out since I stopped paying attention! Looking at them I couldn’t help but wonder what the perception was on this forum that I used to spend so much time on! I do feel like we are some of the pickiest fans of a guitar model! Fender really can’t win with us, but some of their choices still befuddle me! I REALLY couldn’t believe the Squier VM’s are still the same color options! It’s just paint, 3 or 4 new colors would completely rejuvenate interest in that line! I am happy to see all the models though, we would have given a kidney for all these options in the 90’s!