I may be a little behind on this. But has charvel done away

  • Thread starter Thread starter Splawnman90
  • Start date Start date
S

Splawnman90

New member
With the so-cals and San dimas models?

I'm looking for one as we speak. Any help?
 
Yes but they're said to be coming back, just not made in Japan because from what I heard, manufacturing costs were too high for guitars at that price point.
 
depositphotos_5397635-Mexican-man-poncho-sombrero-eating-red-hot-chili.jpg


"No hablo ingles ..."
 
I think the whole "Manufacturing costs were too much for that price point" argument from Fender is bullshit - a company that big doesn't do anything unless it makes sense financially. They are just feeling out the market - my bet is that they were surprised at how well the strathead charvels sold that were made in the USA, changed it to japan - still had good sales numbers, so now they are trying mexico just so they can wring a few more bucks out of us. If the mexican ones sell well, watch for them to go to vietnam or china next. Wonder how much the mexi-charvels are going to be?
 
stratotone":hiz0ax2b said:
I think the whole "Manufacturing costs were too much for that price point" argument from Fender is bullshit - a company that big doesn't do anything unless it makes sense financially. They are just feeling out the market - my bet is that they were surprised at how well the strathead charvels sold that were made in the USA, changed it to japan - still had good sales numbers, so now they are trying mexico just so they can wring a few more bucks out of us. If the mexican ones sell well, watch for them to go to vietnam or china next. Wonder how much the mexi-charvels are going to be?
Click to expand...

I don't doubt that some market research was conducted as part of the Japanese guitar line but US consumers have become so used to buying items at incredible bargains which are artificially devalued by use of countries without environmental controls and as close to slave labor as you can get that margins are an ultra-fine balancing act.

Of course Fender isn't going to do something that doesn't make sense financially and it has nothing to do with their size because that's a fundamental, universal business principle.

I have no insight into what really happened but businesses of all sizes miscalculate ventures on a regular basis and I don't think Fender is an exception. The balancing act isn't as simple as it may seem.
 
100% agree with that last statement..phillipines will be last on the list. It does however make sense considering the EVH brand and a crap load of fenders are built in MExico. All under one plant type of thing. I hope they come back out with soome H or H-S with rosewood board. Enough of this maple fretboard shit already.
 
They want to build everything int heir huge brand new Mexican facility because they own it and its state of the art and labor costs are low. I spent 2 days in the main USA Fender Plant in Corona with Chip Ellis and he told me over and over the new facility in Mexico was way more state of the art and I can tell you if they have more Mexicans working in the Mexican plant then the Corona plant it wont be by much.
 
King Guitar":3u1ivz5z said:
I can tell you if they have more Mexicans working in the Mexican plant then the Corona plant it wont be by much.
Click to expand...

Welcome to Southern California :lol: :LOL:

And we have the best tequila, chips/salsa and margaritas! Don't hate, appreciate. ;)
 
Shark Diver":1wb4f6u8 said:
King Guitar":1wb4f6u8 said:
I can tell you if they have more Mexicans working in the Mexican plant then the Corona plant it wont be by much.
Click to expand...

Welcome to Southern California :lol: :LOL:

And we have the best tequila, chips/salsa and margaritas! Don't hate, appreciate. ;)
Click to expand...

No hate here, I love my Mexican brothers. I tell Rob that all the time... :thumbsup:
 
King Guitar":1smx4ecq said:
They want to build everything int heir huge brand new Mexican facility because they own it and its state of the art and labor costs are low. I spent 2 days in the main USA Fender Plant in Corona with Chip Ellis and he told me over and over the new facility in Mexico was way more state of the art and I can tell you if they have more Mexicans working in the Mexican plant then the Corona plant it wont be by much.
Click to expand...

Let's see how much the Charvels cost now that they have a state of the art facility (which I would hope means more productivity and less production loss) and lower labor costs. I saw a Fender Blacktop Strat w/floyd on Fender's website - MSRP 699, street will probably be 399, at least it is with the other blacktop strats I could find on Musician's Friend. I'm guessing they are Mexican made since most of the stuff in that price range by Fender is.

Anyone know what the MSRP is going to be on the Mexican Charvels?
 
I wonder what CNC's they went with. The manufacturer of the CNC I use asked if I would allow their Manufacturing Director from the Mexico plant to come by my shop to check out the machine, and I did meet with him and demo the machine. Would be curious to know if they went with the Camaster machines.
 
I still don't understand the numbers when it comes to manufacturing things out of country. So you pay workers less in China to bring costs down but you still have to pay to ship everything back, pay flight/room and board for company representatives to check on the work, etc. I'd be curious to know what the difference is.

At least the quality has improved. I can tell you that when I was stationed in Korea in the early 90's, you couldn't give me a guitar from over there. :)
 
I don't think they sold that well really. They discontinued them last year and there were tons of 2011 MIJ's hanging around at close out prices for most of the year.

I'm pretty sure part of the Japan to Mexico conversion is that the factory in Japan closed. Same thing happened with other Japanese made lines in Fender brands, like the Jackson Pro series. Along with the new strat style EVH's, all now being made in the same Mexico factory.
 
Charvel just isn't what it used to be... I had an '87 Model 5 for a while... Japanese Soloist... Holy crap, you couldn't beat it!!!! But that's not on Charvel, that's on Fender. Screw Fender; if it dons the F word, or if it's affiliated with it... I won't play it. I'm not that biased, but Fender has just proven it's a for-profit company instead of one that cares about its customers... Just look at the list of endorsees that is shrinking like crazy. Many of their former "signature artists" found other companies that had: A. Better quality control, and B. More "family-friendly" service towards their clients... That goes for all of the companies Fender has bought out... Just not the same. I played a new Charvel Soloist and A/B'd it to my '87... NO comparison!! Chinese made JUNK. Yes, for the money they're okay, but why buy something new for that when you could buy something better used with a few dents in it for the same price??

I'll sum this rant up with what Steve Bailey closed his letter with on why he parted with Fender and went to Warwick... "Fender is a good BIG company... Warwick is a great FAMILY company."
 
I really don't understand the argument that Fender quality is going to be inferior coming from a plant that is more modern and only 170 miles away from the "older" Corona factory. If anything I would think the quality is improved and more consistent.
 
romanianreaper":1iuwa6kf said:
I still don't understand the numbers when it comes to manufacturing things out of country. So you pay workers less in China to bring costs down but you still have to pay to ship everything back, pay flight/room and board for company representatives to check on the work, etc. I'd be curious to know what the difference is.

At least the quality has improved. I can tell you that when I was stationed in Korea in the early 90's, you couldn't give me a guitar from over there. :)
Click to expand...

Clearly the difference must be big enough to be worth it to these companies...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top