Members Anonymous Guy Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 Back in the "classic-rock era" when humbuckers provided the tone of choice over single coils, why wasn't Fender quick to adopt humbuckers into their guitars? I remember hearing that CBS Fender was coming close to discontinuing the Stratocaster and the Telecaster due to slumping sales (not to mention, slumping QC). One of the more popular mods for players who couldn't afford to buy entirely new guitars was route out their Strats for a humbucker at the bridge/neck, or their Teles for a humbucker at the neck. If Fender knew this, why didn't they jump on making production models with those mods? Back in the earlier days of Fender, they were quick to jump on the five-way switch configuration when it became popular for Strat players lodge their 3-way switches to get those "hidden" tones. The catalyst that finally pushed Fender to make the jump towards including humbuckers was the 80's, but that was only because every other company seemed to be producing beefed up Super Strat clones with humbuckers and Floyds. Strangely enough, Fender's own incarnation of the super strat, despite being the "originator" of the Strat design, was unpopular. (The headstock logo makes me cringe: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v302/mazibee4/Strat/Fender_HM_Strat_001.jpg) I'm not implying that Fender should've only focused on adopting the humbucker during the 70's, but stubbornly sticking with a solely single coil lineup when they knew there was a market for modified Fender designs was a bit of a bad move. Although I'm not saying they didn't try. Maybe they were discouraged by how the '72 Telecasters and the wide-range humbuckers weren't able to compete with the Les Paul and the PAF. It is funny that the '72 Tele Deluxe/Custom/Thinlines are more popular now with the reissues than they ever were back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tiltsta Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 Well, in the early years, Gibson had a patent on the humbucking pickup...making the use by Fender impossible. I guess by the time the patent for the humbucker expired, the single coil fender sound was a classic guitar tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chippy Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 If you were making oodles of $$$, would you change what you were doing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anonymous Guy Posted June 9, 2009 Author Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 If you were making oodles of $$$, would you change what you were doing? But I remember they weren't with those designs - the Stratocaster and Telecaster were close to being discontinued. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eurotrashed Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 Fender made humbuckers in the 70s. Wide Range Humbuckers are badass. Plus people in the 70s were on drugs, thats why they liked humbuckers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bizze Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 In the beginning nobody really liked the sound of the humbucker because it was 'noisy'.. But someone elkse later found out that the 'noisyness' can be a good thing.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bengerm77 Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 Plus people in the 70s were on drugs, thats why they liked humbuckers. HAHAHAHAHA Oh my god that was funny:lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wagdog Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 I had a humbucker in my '78 tele custom. I miss that guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Angry Tele Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 I dunno but in the end it wasn't such a bad move afterall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sbrett Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 because they got it right the first time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members shredtilurded Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 culture shock:idk: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anonymous Guy Posted June 9, 2009 Author Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 because they got it right the first time? Remember, this was CBS Fender - the guys that threw around wacky designs that didn't work for the sake of deviating from the original Fender formula Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members olgluefoot Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 speaking of bad fender decisions... I wonder how much money they really saved doing this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Cassette Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 if fender switched to making all guitars with humbuckers, what would people who wanted single coils play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Beatles27 Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 speaking of bad fender decisions... I wonder how much money they really saved doing this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anonymous Guy Posted June 9, 2009 Author Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 if fender switched to making all guitars with humbuckers, what would people who wanted single coils play? Losing variation would have been a bad idea - I was thinking more along the lines of releasing products that mimicked often used mods on Fenders of the era. Of course H-S-S Strats and S-H Teles are commonplace now, but just for the time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jerry_picker Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 Plus people in the 70s were on drugs, thats why they liked humbuckers. lmao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Invader.CC Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 Fender was not actually slow putting out humbuckers the Jazz master came out in 58 and it was a double humbucker guitar just wasn't as popular as the Tele's and Strats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anonymous Guy Posted June 9, 2009 Author Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 Fender was not actually slow putting out humbuckers the Jazz master came out in 58 and it was a double humbucker guitar just wasn't as popular as the Tele's and Strats The Jazzmaster uses single coils in an oversized casing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Electric Blues Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 Back in the "classic-rock era" when humbuckers provided the tone of choice over single coils, why wasn't Fender quick to adopt humbuckers into their guitars? If it ain't broke, why fix it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anonymous Guy Posted June 9, 2009 Author Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 If it ain't broke, why fix it? Fender was losing favor as the go-to guitar of choice for rockers. Also, look at all the other cost-cutting/tradition breaking modifications Fender was doing to their guitars of the era - like the hardtail Strat with the missing tone knob and repositioned jack posted earlier. I'm sure a Fat Strat model wouldn't have been too damaging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jisatsu Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 two words. Telecaster Deluxe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anonymous Guy Posted June 9, 2009 Author Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 I mentioned it earlier: "Although I'm not saying they didn't try. Maybe they were discouraged by how the '72 Telecasters and the wide-range humbuckers weren't able to compete with the Les Paul and the PAF. It is funny that the '72 Tele Deluxe/Custom/Thinlines are more popular now with the reissues than they ever were back then." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nuclear arsenal Posted June 9, 2009 Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 speaking of bad fender decisions... I wonder how much money they really saved doing this? can someone explain what he meant here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anonymous Guy Posted June 9, 2009 Author Members Share Posted June 9, 2009 can someone explain what he meant here? CBS era Fender was known for its cost cutting practices. This Strat was an example of the stripped down experiments CBS Fender made. This Strat removes the routing of the tremolo and input jack (making it a hardtail), and eliminates a tone control in favor for moving the jack to the now vacant pickguard hole. It doesn't even look like a proper hardtail, it's a toploader bridge with some dodgy looking saddles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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