gjones Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 3 hours ago, Kiwi said: It appears their bass player doesnt have any future at all. I hear them but...where are they? You're right, my niece Christina plays bass on the album. She'd love a bass player when they play live but the economics of touring mean the band will have to remain a two piece for the foreseeable future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jezzaboy Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 Gibson and Fender will survive in some form. The brand names will be worth money to somebody. As for the future of bass, I just bought a Fender Mexican 50`s P bass and it is perfect and looks stunning imo. Would I pay almost double the money for a bog standard US P bass? Not a chance. I have owned US models before but this Mexican is as good as them. Will the US just be a custom shop manufacturer, selling only top of the line models? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 Guitars have been the mainstay of rock music for the last 60 odd years and there have been many times when people have predicted their demise only for them to bounce back. Each generation re-discovers classic tunes, whether in a regurgitated or the original form which I believe creates a resurgence in popularity and sales. Guitarists love to spend their lives learning/copying old classics, while this is the case there'll be a place for Bassists and Drummers too. I agree that the increasing number of independent Luthiers building specialist equipment has had a significant effect on the sales of the big companies - no bad thing for us but clearly not so good for the big buys. I don't see the decline of guitars/ bass at any time soon - maybe of Fender and Gibson but since I don't buy/own any of either, I won't miss their demise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilco Posted March 1, 2018 Share Posted March 1, 2018 The OP mentions the decline of the 'main' brands, which as already stated is down to more choice. That is different question to a 'decline' of the guitar market in general. Both Fender & Gibson have models to compete at various price points & I'm sure they sell loads of their budget & mid-range instruments too, so it isn't just about the price of their top end products either. Fact is, there are more brands for us punters to choose from these days. Think of the impact Sire basses would have had on Squier & Fender MiM bass sales for example. Also, I'm pretty convinced that neither of those 'premium' brands actually carry as much prestige as they used to for players either, & haven't done for many years. There's many of us BC's for example that happily gig without say Fender on our headstocks. That might not have been the case as much 20 - 30 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master blaster Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 I found it interesting that Fender seemed to have released quite a few limited run guitars at Namm with their Parallel universe series. Could that be an attempt to try revitalise interest in their guitars? Lots of brands copy most of the fender the body shapes, so maybe they're coming up with more alternatives to try beat anyone else to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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