Amateurs Played For Suckers
by tristero
The joke in the music industry is that if you want to go be creative, you go into accounting. And like many such jokes, it's no joke at all:
Fender’s chief executive, Larry Thomas, used to be the chief of Guitar Center. He sold the company to Bain at the top of the market in 2007 for $2.1 billion, including debt.
Guitar Center has been losing money since. Moody’s issued a junk rating of B2 on Guitar Center’s debt in October 2007, and has since downgraded the company two more times, most recently in November 2010, to Caa1.
When it comes to money, you really shouldn't fuck with the music industry unless you know exactly what you're doing.
(As the proud owner of two Fender guitars - neither bought from Guitar Center, btw - here's a personal digression:
(I've actually had my hands a few times on vintage Strats from the 50's and despite being awed by the experience of playing a legendary instrument, I can't say I noticed any particularly magical difference in the sound, so I concluded the obsession with vintage Strats was probably hype. Hell, modern Strats are built to quality standards no one practiced in the 50's. These people are guitar obsessives. Fender really does makes great, great guitars.
(Then again, I was never a very good guitar player. And musicians I do respect strongly believe those 50's and early 60's Strats are doubleplus better than anything since. Therefore, I've concluded that the most likely reason why older Strats might sound better is because of the wear and tear on the instruments. They've been broken in, the pieces have settled in a way that makes for a grateful experience, especially the woods. And that takes time.
(And that means that in 50 years, my 2004 Strat is gonna sound awesome!)