Why no 5s at the Fender Mod Shop?

#22
LadyLoveStingRay5 said:
Exactly this !!! Sandberg , Dingwall, Ernie Ball MusicMan , Sire, Lull, G&L, MTD, Spector, Ibanez, Yamaha , Fodera, Ken Smith, Lakland , Sadowsky and many others have mastered the 5 string . Sadly , Fender has not. I tried Fender 5’s. Been there , done that, not going back.
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Agree - I’ve tried Fender 5s = do not like - they’re just too big & clunky. If they would do an undersized body like Sadowsky, I’d reconsider. But I also just prefer smaller bodied instruments. Even the EBMM Stingray five is too big of a body for me. I like my Tobias Killer B5 and several years or so got into the Roscoe LG five string, very cool, small body and comfortable to play.
 
#23
You can get anything you want, as long as what you want is what they want you to want. As a 5 only guy, Fender lost me a long time ago. Deluxe P 5, Roscoe Beck 5, soany great 5ers discontinued.
They're like Hardley Davidson, any model you like as long as it's a Fatboy soft tail or Sportster.
 
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#24
trothwell said:
Are those numbers real? I would have imagined that Fender sold more guitars than basses, but I wouldn't have guessed the difference to be that wide.
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Using Reverb new listings, there are 16,733 electric guitars and 3,863 basses. Maybe the guitars sell 8x faster than basses, but if you assume they both sell at roughly the same rate / time for sale, basses would be about 25% of Fender's sales.
 
#28
brianrost said:
My biggest beef with Fender today is how they only make certain options available when you buy an instrument. If you want a certain color, you have to get a maple fingerboard. You need a lefty and don’t like black? And so forth. In the 60s and early 70s, clor choices, fingerboard choices and even neck widths were all listed as option in the price lists, but not today.

The Mod Shop definitely continues in that vein, the choice of colors isan’t all that wide. But the bigger question for me is why you can’t do a Mod Shop 5? Seems pretty short sighted to me.

Yes, I know that it’s probably just not enough perceived demand.
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probably the opposite... the more options the mod shop offers, the more it competes with their other models and their custom shop
 
#29
I am a Fender guy through and through. Five P's, a Jazz, a Mustang, plus a couple Teles, an Acoustasonic Tele and a Jazzmaster. (Sold the Strat and the "other" Jazz bass earlier this year.)

But when I decided I needed a 5'er, I didn't bother with my favorite company. Never ever considered it. (Same with a fretless.) I wanted a Music Man and its fat, tight B.
 
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#31
FRoss6788 said:
Sire mastered the 5 string...:roflmao:

Now that's funny....

Fender clone.
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Have you seen their 5 string sales compared to Fender? Sadowsky is also a Fender Clone , as is Mike Lull and countless others. Laugh all you want. They still do a better 5 than Fender. Especially since Fender discontinued the Marcus Miller and Roscoe Beck 5.

If you don’t finish what you started some one else will win the race. Meanwhile all these other companies are laughing all the way to the bank. 🤭
 
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#32
brianrost said:
My biggest beef with Fender today is how they only make certain options available when you buy an instrument. If you want a certain color, you have to get a maple fingerboard. You need a lefty and don’t like black? And so forth. In the 60s and early 70s, clor choices, fingerboard choices and even neck widths were all listed as option in the price lists, but not today.

The Mod Shop definitely continues in that vein, the choice of colors isan’t all that wide. But the bigger question for me is why you can’t do a Mod Shop 5? Seems pretty short sighted to me.

Yes, I know that it’s probably just not enough perceived demand.
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The soup nazi runs the mod shop, or they got his playbook 😃
 
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#35
ahadl2500 said:
My college economics professor would respond to your question by saying "Vote with your dollar". If they do not make what you want, buy from somewhere else. G&L is happy to let you configure a 5 string bass via their Option Order program.
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Exactly! The threat of substitute products is really high for 7ender, which makes their lack of QC and their high prices all the more unacceptable.
 
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#36
MultiScaleMale said:
Using Reverb new listings, there are 16,733 electric guitars and 3,863 basses. Maybe the guitars sell 8x faster than basses, but if you assume they both sell at roughly the same rate / time for sale, basses would be about 25% of Fender's sales.
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You’re interpolating.
The 2 reasons there is ANYTHING on Reverb in ANY quantity is because someone bought it and doesn’t want to keep it OR a dealer stocked it and can’t sell it quickly enough.

Reverb is not an analog for the industry.

Your “Reverb new listings” represents the fact that basses are harder for dealers to move.

Quick hit check. Outside of TalkBass, how many people do you personally know who have ever played bass? How many who have ever played guitar?
 
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#38
Killing Floor said:
You’re interpolating.
The 2 reasons there is ANYTHING on Reverb in ANY quantity is because someone bought it and doesn’t want to keep it OR a dealer stocked it and can’t sell it quickly enough.

Reverb is not an analog for the industry.

Your “Reverb new listings” represents the fact that basses are harder for dealers to move.

Quick hit check. Outside of TalkBass, how many people do you personally know who have ever played bass? How many who have ever played guitar?
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Ok, where are your numbers? You’re using anecdotal evidence at best and I believe I have mine with a caveat.
 
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#39
The Mod Shop and Custom Shop are for people who have to have a Fender, period. The Mod Shop lures those folks into the idea of a special order, one of a kind instrument. When they quickly find out they can't get what they want through the Mod Shop, they begin to seriously consider the Custom Shop. The Mod shop, unless you just happen to want what few option combos they have, is just an upselling tool for Fender.
 
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