"Influencers" are insignificant in this discussion. The word itself is a misnomer. Influencers do not "influence," they just reflect the sentiment of the overall market they're in. They're more like lighting rods. What they are doing here is consolidating the market's overwhelmingly unified collective opinion about what Fender is doing into tangible sentiments like "fuck Fender, these litigation moves are making the world a shittier place for guitar players EVERYWHERE, not just in Europe, and and I won't give them a single dime as long as things stay this way." People arrived at that opinion on their own. The influencers are just broadcasting it.
Funny you mention that. TA has declined all offers for buyout, of which there have been quite a few. He'd also make a lot more money even if he didn't sell out, but just expand, and start letting his quality slip for extra volume. He refuses to do that though, he has intentionally kept his company small and focused because he values building a world class guitar. Same basic story with Suhr.
The crazy thing is that both of those guys say they should not need to exist, but the market has a place for them because Fender will not / cannot make a guitar at that quality with the breadth of custom options Tom and John provide. Case in point, for fucking years I waited for Fender to make the following guitar: strat, silver color, dark board, hardtail, humbucker in the bridge. That's it. I wasn't asking the world. And Fender just would not fucking do it. I must have waited like 5 years. Every single year I watched their features stay the same, and their colors get shittier. Oh you want Lake Placid Blue? Inca Silver? Go fuck yourself. Those colors are locked in the "vault" so our favorite demographic, 80+ years old dudes with vintage Fenders, who have those guitars will see them increase in value, appreciate the ladder being pulled up behind them, and they'll buy more of our stuff. Here have a Cumburst finish instead, wood grain inside, white burst outside. Lovely. What, you don't love that? How about Electric Purple like you'd see on a 90's El Camino? No? Ok fine how about you just pick from 18 different shades of beige, idiot.
So I went to a Tom Anderson dealer because I knew they made custom guitars, researched all that stuff, and had a blast speccing out the s-style guitar I've always wanted. Fender couldn't have made that guitar even if they wanted to. It sucked paying for it, but it's exactly what I wanted in my head and I'm good for hardtail strats from here on out.
But instead of trying to fill a gap in the market, they're just using the law as a weapon to push out competitors. The world will be a worse place for guitar players if Fender gets their way.
shampoo by Fender Guitars
