Post by Tony Ravenscroft on Mar 16, 2024 14:08:36 GMT -6
I'm going to skim lightly over the messiest era of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. You can look up details in the various Wikipedia articles (which I will eventually unify here). This will doubtless need revision. 
In 1980, FMIC stopped making its "beginner grade" (e.g. the Lead series) guitars in the U.S., instead going to various producers in Japan, the first exporting of the Fender brand. Though FMIC was somewhat addled from needed to resurrect the near-dead brand AND build a new factory from scratch - twice, actually, but THAT is another story - AND not only recreate but expand the distribution chain of its heyday, the corporate honchos can be forgiven for being a little slow in making a few realizations, though entering Japan certainly forced them to focus on a few points. For starters:
One purpose of essentially licensing Japanese factories to produce branded Fender guitars was to lever them away from producing excellent clones (e.g., Tokai) that cut into Fender's potental market.
While thrashing around, FMIC variously created Fender-branded guitars that were sub-branded as Squier Series and Squier II, finally settling on Squier as a main brand ("by Fender") for overseas-built guitars, with Ensenada instruments branded Fender as the Standard Series.
Those early Squier guitars - apparently all Stratocasters - were variously made in Japan (primarily for their student market) and Mexico (before the Standards), and transitioned to Korea (first Cort, then Samick).
And there were moments in that tumultuous decade when parts or even partial assemblies would be shipped halfway around the world. There are many tales such as Japan bodies and Fullerton necks being assembled at Ensenada with Korea pickups. Unlike Washburn Guitars - which got sued by the Feds for selling guitars assembled in Chicago from import components as "made in USA" - FMIC seems to have played (reasonably) fair and branded these guitars as from Japan or Korea.
While this annoys purists, I find it interesting, even exciting, to look at any given late-'80s Fender/Squier and trying to figure out its story.
In 1980, FMIC stopped making its "beginner grade" (e.g. the Lead series) guitars in the U.S., instead going to various producers in Japan, the first exporting of the Fender brand. Though FMIC was somewhat addled from needed to resurrect the near-dead brand AND build a new factory from scratch - twice, actually, but THAT is another story - AND not only recreate but expand the distribution chain of its heyday, the corporate honchos can be forgiven for being a little slow in making a few realizations, though entering Japan certainly forced them to focus on a few points. For starters:
- List item 1
- customers seemed to LOVE Fender guitars so much they'd buy any vaguely credible copy
- there was a robust Japanese market for high-quality copies
- Japan also had a huge-and-growing market of beginners and students
One purpose of essentially licensing Japanese factories to produce branded Fender guitars was to lever them away from producing excellent clones (e.g., Tokai) that cut into Fender's potental market.
While thrashing around, FMIC variously created Fender-branded guitars that were sub-branded as Squier Series and Squier II, finally settling on Squier as a main brand ("by Fender") for overseas-built guitars, with Ensenada instruments branded Fender as the Standard Series.
Those early Squier guitars - apparently all Stratocasters - were variously made in Japan (primarily for their student market) and Mexico (before the Standards), and transitioned to Korea (first Cort, then Samick).
And there were moments in that tumultuous decade when parts or even partial assemblies would be shipped halfway around the world. There are many tales such as Japan bodies and Fullerton necks being assembled at Ensenada with Korea pickups. Unlike Washburn Guitars - which got sued by the Feds for selling guitars assembled in Chicago from import components as "made in USA" - FMIC seems to have played (reasonably) fair and branded these guitars as from Japan or Korea.
While this annoys purists, I find it interesting, even exciting, to look at any given late-'80s Fender/Squier and trying to figure out its story.
That's just so painfully pedestrian... even though the ivory pickups were enticing, and the maple fretboard and original paperwork sweetened it further.
