Stub Mandrel Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Fender/Squier have made a determined assault on the entry level market with the new 'debut' series on Amazon for £129. Looks like they are squaring up to Glarry in the USA and Harley Benton over here, even cheaper than the Squier mini-P. This suggests the market is segmenting even further with Squier having almost as many 'levels' as Fender with affinity, CV, paranormal and Anniversary models. If anyone drops the cash on one, it would be useful to know how these square up as beginners' instruments. I'm assuming these are going to be closer to the old Korean budget jobs than recent models. Site stripe link .... https://amzn.to/3U1lAVW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted April 22 Author Share Posted April 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeftyJ Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 I don't understand these, to be honest. That's not that far below the recently introduced Sonic series, and close to (I think slightly above) the discontinued Bullet series. Doesn't seem to add a whole lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted April 22 Author Share Posted April 22 11 minutes ago, LeftyJ said: I don't understand these, to be honest. That's not that far below the recently introduced Sonic series, and close to (I think slightly above) the discontinued Bullet series. Doesn't seem to add a whole lot. I forgot those! It's an insane level of market segmentation. I assume they want to compete at every level. It's hard to see what meaningful differences there can be between £129 and £155 basses without making the cheapest deliberately cruder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 What about that massive gap between the top end of Squiers and the least expensive Fenders? Are they just going to leave that to the likes of Sire then? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeftyJ Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 9 minutes ago, neepheid said: What about that massive gap between the top end of Squiers and the least expensive Fenders? Are they just going to leave that to the likes of Sire then? I believe they did that on purpose. Fender had the Modern Player series for a while that was made in China, to fill this gap. But it had a ton of overlap with the more expensive Squiers in the Vintage Modified and Classic Vibe line. It was confusing many potential buyers, and in terms of quality the Squier CV and Fender MP were identical. They were quite succesful, but at the same time they made it even more difficult to justify paying that much more for a MIM, let alone an MIA Fender when you could have the Fender name on the headstock of a €400-500 guitar or bass! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted April 22 Author Share Posted April 22 (edited) 25 minutes ago, neepheid said: What about that massive gap between the top end of Squiers and the least expensive Fenders? Are they just going to leave that to the likes of Sire then? I think @LeftyJ is right, quality wise there's not much to call between CV and VM Squiers and Fender Player whatever the logo snobs say. Certainly, the Squier Anniversary models were the equal of any entry level Fender. They are walking a narrow line to keep the Fenders as 'premium' instruments. I saw a GuitarGuitar video yesterday comparing Gibson and Epiphone 335s with a 10:1 cost ratio. They sounded a bit different but... Edited April 22 by Stub Mandrel 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jono Bolton Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 14 minutes ago, LeftyJ said: I believe they did that on purpose. Fender had the Modern Player series for a while that was made in China, to fill this gap. But it had a ton of overlap with the more expensive Squiers in the Vintage Modified and Classic Vibe line. It was confusing many potential buyers, and in terms of quality the Squier CV and Fender MP were identical. They were quite succesful, but at the same time they made it even more difficult to justify paying that much more for a MIM, let alone an MIA Fender when you could have the Fender name on the headstock of a €400-500 guitar or bass! The Chinese Classic Vibes were excellent; even if you took the price out of the equation, they were just good instruments. I think it was definitely intentional to merge the VM and CV lines to drop the quality on them and move them further from the lowest rung of the fender ladder. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Well, from my point of view (and I appreciate that I'm an odd fish at the best of times), Fender's most basic offerings are too expensive for what you get. It's the bass that's important to me, not the name on the headstock, and Fender are banking on most people being unlike me. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asingardenof Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 This inspires a lot of confidence in the quality... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 1 minute ago, asingardenof said: This inspires a lot of confidence in the quality... That's Amazon being Amazon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asingardenof Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Just now, neepheid said: That's Amazon being Amazon. They can be more specific if they want to be though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 Exactly. Did you know that the bass has 2 hidden strings, and it does not play itself - can only be operated manually... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 The world was crying out for a cheap copy of the Precision bass. How fortuitous that Squier are filling that vacant niche in the marketplace. 1 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asingardenof Posted April 22 Share Posted April 22 7 minutes ago, tauzero said: The world was crying out for a cheap copy of the Precision bass. How fortuitous that Squier are filling that vacant niche in the marketplace. A cheap copy of a cheap copy of a cheap copy of the Precision bass. A very specific niche indeed, I'm excited to see how it plays out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 Could be handy as a mod platform? Particularly for those of us who risk serious injury attempting any form of DIY, I would probably just buy a HB but they don't do one in red (yet!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 When I first saw these, I thought they'd simply be renamed sonic series in limited colours to compete with amazon cheapies, however I've noticed that the debut doesn't have the dark surround in the truss rod adjustment orifice, where the sonic does. I wonder what other costs they were able to shave off. If they did a black one with maple fingerboard I could easily be tempted to get one to mod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulThePlug Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 (edited) Amazon Special... nothing on the Fender Website... This Green Meanie for £175... https://www.fender.com/en-GB/squier-electric-basses/precision-bass/limited-edition-squier-sonic-precision-bass/0373901535.html Crying out for a Kawasaki ZX750RR logo... Edited April 23 by PaulThePlug Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeftyJ Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 4 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said: Crying out for a Kawasaki ZX750RR logo... LOL, quite right! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asingardenof Posted April 23 Share Posted April 23 12 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said: Amazon Special... nothing on the Fender Website... This Green Meanie for £175... https://www.fender.com/en-GB/squier-electric-basses/precision-bass/limited-edition-squier-sonic-precision-bass/0373901535.html Crying out for a Kawasaki ZX750RR logo... I thought it was the Ninjas that were green? I admit to no knowledge on the subject beyond my sister owning a Ninja many years ago 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted April 23 Author Share Posted April 23 Squier Wiki has incomplete information on the strat. Says the body is 'popular' and they are made in ... China! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 22 hours ago, PaulThePlug said: Amazon Special... nothing on the Fender Website... This Green Meanie for £175... https://www.fender.com/en-GB/squier-electric-basses/precision-bass/limited-edition-squier-sonic-precision-bass/0373901535.html Crying out for a Kawasaki ZX750RR logo... Love that! Green finfishes ought to be more common. Green has taken over as my absolute favorite finish over black, though sadly I own no green basses, yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grahambythesea Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 The statement in the ad about “quality” might be open to challenge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raslee Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 …ahh, the Sue Ryder still rules 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baloney Balderdash Posted April 26 Share Posted April 26 (edited) 6 hours ago, Grahambythesea said: The statement in the ad about “quality” might be open to challenge! Yes, personally in that price range I would chose a Harley Benton over a Squier, any time! Edited April 26 by Baloney Balderdash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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