Fender Selling Direct!?

spacecadet

This could get very interesting very quickly...

http://mmrmagazine.com/626-fender-reported-to-begin-selling-direct.html?utm_source=newsletter#

Bogwhoppit

Add 3D printing to the mix and a whole new retail selling model is on the horizon.

 

 

Myranda

Given that printer tech has been pretty well established for years and yet every now and then a printer just goes batshit crazy and prints crap instead of the letter you wrote I'm not sure I like the idea of 3D printing a guitar...

When it's a page or two of A4 and some ink you can be a little cross... when it's a slab of specially sourced tone wood that you chose specifically for it's beautiful patterning and your 3D printer drills that into a squillion small pieces (none of which are guitar shaped) I'd be too cross for words.

Nope. Much betterer to go to a shop and pay the mans to make, sand, buff, spray, set up and put in a case for me... unless I'm wanting to hand build something for the craic of it... but then I'd still not want to risk putting nice wood in what would essentially be a set of motorised cutting impliments

ToneControl

Fender & Gibson have the gravitas to do this, so if it's real, it could work.

Let's face it, I buy on ebay on the strength of branding.

OOoooooooooooohhhh scary new world

EricTheWeary

Bogwhoppit;65837" said:

Add 3D printing to the mix and a whole new retail selling model is on the horizon.  

I have played a 3D printed guitar, they had one at the gadget show. It was okay I suppose.

Bogwhoppit

The science museum as an interesting exhibition on 3D printing. History tells us that the limitations of new technology are soon overcome. Fast forward a decade and I'm sure 3D printing will be doing much more than the market ever anticipated.

Fretwired

Bogwhoppit said:

Add 3D printing to the mix and a whole new retail selling model is on the horizon.

 

 

What? For a bunch of people who think valves is the last word in amp technology .... won't happen with Fender as they trade on selling the past. Their best selling lines are recreations of classic guitars from the 50s, 60s and 70s. 3D printing won't replace wood and metal .. opening a guitar case for the first time is only one step removed from sex .... who wants a 3D printed guitar? Guitar picks maybe ...

Bogwhoppit

Fretwired said:

Bogwhoppit said:

Add 3D printing to the mix and a whole new retail selling model is on the horizon.

 

 

What? For a bunch of people who think valves is the last word in amp technology .... won't happen with Fender as they trade on selling the past. Their best selling lines are recreations of classic guitars from the 50s, 60s and 70s. 3D printing won't replace wood and metal .. opening a guitar case for the first time is only one step removed from sex .... who wants a 3D printed guitar? Guitar picks maybe ...

Very true, however, I wasn't suggesting Fender and 3D are conjoined as such, but making an observation in general. I still believe there will be some tentative future link between 3D printing and [other] major brands that will transform the market.

 

3D printing may not 'replace wood and metal' to the current  generation, but may impact on the next. Although to shoot my own argument in the foot, iconic products like the Les Paul and Strat have (so far) not been affected by todays technology. Not to mention your example with valves.

Fretwired

Bogwhoppit said:

Fretwired said:

Bogwhoppit said:

Add 3D printing to the mix and a whole new retail selling model is on the horizon.

 

 

What? For a bunch of people who think valves is the last word in amp technology .... won't happen with Fender as they trade on selling the past. Their best selling lines are recreations of classic guitars from the 50s, 60s and 70s. 3D printing won't replace wood and metal .. opening a guitar case for the first time is only one step removed from sex .... who wants a 3D printed guitar? Guitar picks maybe ...

Very true, however, I wasn't suggesting Fender and 3D are conjoined as such, but making an observation in general. I still believe there will be some tentative future link between 3D printing and [other] major brands that will transform the market.

 

3D printing may not 'replace wood and metal' to the current  generation, but may impact on the next. Although to shoot my own argument in the foot, iconic products like the Les Paul and Strat have (so far) not been affected by todays technology. Not to mention your example with valves.

I tend to think guitars are now like classical musical instruments. There are the odd innovations but conservatism rules. Line 6 found the original Variax flopped. The new one is basically a conservative guitar with pickups and some digital modelling. Likewise the company no longer makes professional modelling amps [the Spider range is aimed at the home user]. The DT range are Bogner-designed valve amps with limited digital technology that are designed to work with the POD HD500 and Variax if you want digital amp and guitar modelling.

johnnyurq

It is getting very interesting and the so called metal age if 3D printing is allegedly upon us, exciting stuff indeed.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/taking-3d-printing-into-the-metal-age

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24528306

Sadly if it reaches the mass market many guns and shivs will be made.

Great for larpers and the like too though.

bertie

Bogwhoppit said:

Add 3D printing to the mix and a whole new retail selling model is on the horizon.

 

very apt, considering the news this morning

CabbageCat

johnnyurq said:

Great for larpers and the like too though.

The bleeding-edge larpsmiths are already on it. This chap used 3D printing in making sculpts a year or two ago.

RocknRollDave

Myranda said:

Given that printer tech has been pretty well established for years and yet every now and then a printer just goes batshit crazy and prints crap instead of the letter you wrote I'm not sure I like the idea of 3D printing a guitar...

When it's a page or two of A4 and some ink you can be a little cross... when it's a slab of specially sourced tone wood that you chose specifically for it's beautiful patterning and your 3D printer drills that into a squillion small pieces (none of which are guitar shaped) I'd be too cross for words.

Nope. Much betterer to go to a shop and pay the mans to make, sand, buff, spray, set up and put in a case for me... unless I'm wanting to hand build something for the craic of it... but then I'd still not want to risk putting nice wood in what would essentially be a set of motorised cutting impliments

This.


It's 2013 and yet I still have no idea when I click on "print" if I am actually going to get a paper copy of the document or a 30 minute wrestling match to remove the jammed paper and then convince the printer that the jam has been removed and it can now continue.

There's very little in this world that can wind me up to a state of rage as quickly as a PC printer can.

monquixote

I listened to something on the radio about the police unit for confiscated weapons. They said they tested a 3D printed handgun they recovered and it exploded in a way that would probably have killed the person holding it.

johnnyurq

CabbageCat said:

johnnyurq said:

Great for larpers and the like too though.

The bleeding-edge larpsmiths are already on it. This chap used 3D printing in making sculpts a year or two ago.

That is way cool, I want a cool sword and I want one now.

CabbageCat

johnnyurq said:

CabbageCat said:

johnnyurq said:

Great for larpers and the like too though.

The bleeding-edge larpsmiths are already on it. This chap used 3D printing in making sculpts a year or two ago.

That is way cool, I want a cool sword and I want one now.

He has done a prototype for a glowing one with an LED imbedded in the hilt. The next one will have pulsing runes down the blade. They are made of high-density moulded foam so are safe to twat someone with. A snip at ~£250.

I realise this is far more exciting to me than it has any right to be. Such is geekery, I guess.

johnnyurq

Not at all @CabbageCat it is very shiny and alluring to me (rubs knees a la Vic Reeves).

When I worked in Theatre dahlings I had the props dude make me a shiny sword or two as we were both into fantasy, sword and sorcery with a touch of the old larping cept it wasn't really called that then. 

Used to get down your neck of the woods to visit a friend who moved on to working in the West End and stayed in lovely Brighton, never took my swords in case the local fuzz took a dim view of it though.

Myranda

monquixote said:

I listened to something on the radio about the police unit for confiscated weapons. They said they tested a 3D printed handgun they recovered and it exploded in a way that would probably have killed the person holding it.

There was a US group who spent about a year trying to 3D print a gun.

First attempts broke up (not fatally though) so they took a step back and tried doing a "simple" component - the magazine. 

They found that even something as simple as a magazine caused problems - the plastic is susceptible to warping while they set/cure so jams were frequent.

Another group of people (this time for purposes of asking questions about legality of 3D printing guns) just went simple and solid

There are failure issues after a number of firings and the designers didn't release information on which plastics were used.

It's certainly possible - but given how easy it is to have printing problems with paper I'm not sure I'd want to trust a 3D printed gun for years... and even then I'd wonder if the barrel printed truly straight or had accidentally printed a CV with cover letter in the barrel. 

3D printing is great for somethings, terrible for others... in the same way a 2D ink jet printer is great for letters, or printing out a recipe... but printing a book is better done on a totally different set up

Myranda

Oh, and according to the latest reports - the 3D printed gun components found in Manchester are actually 3D printed 3D printer parts... 

gusman2x

The whole benefit of 3D printing is not so much convenience, but more about being able to simplify the production process. It allows designs to be made that would not be possible with a mould. It's also going to be a lot quicker too, as generally around half the time taken from data to product, is spent doing the pattern making process. This is mainly for low volume and niche products though. Mass production will still be best served by injection moulding, for the mean time. I think they're cool as bits though.

EricTheWeary

spacecadet;4375" said:

This could get very interesting very quickly...



http://mmrmagazine.com/626-fender-reported-to-begin-selling-direct.html?utm_source=newsletter#

this discussion didn't stay on topic long did it?
Fender are probably the best known electric guitar brand in the world and yet they keep screwing up their business model. I don't know if the selling direct thing is brave or just a last gasp. Certainly worth keeping an eye on. :-?