
“Generally speaking, I don’t think it is a big factor in the industry”: Fender CEO Andy Mooney on the vintage guitar market
Fender CEO Andy Mooney has weighed in on the surge in the popularity of vintage guitars and how he doesn’t think it has a “big effect” on the industry.
With Slash recently speaking out against collectors overspending on vintage guitars for the wrong reasons and renowned guitar connoisseur Joe Bonamassa condemning “elitist” collector culture for keeping aspiring vintage gear experimenters at bay, it’s clear that the increase in demand for vintage instruments has been met with equal scrutiny.
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In a new interview on The Zak Kuhn Show, Mooney explains that while there is a growing affection for vintage guitars, their rising popularity does not significantly impact the broader dynamics of the market.
“I don’t think it generally has a big effect. But where I do think it makes a difference is on limited edition runs,” says the executive [via Ultimate Guitar]. “I could see people who bought the Jack White guitar, or the John 5 guitar… They’re buying it just to trade it.”
“They’ll buy it, they’ll put it in their collection. They’ll hold it for four or five years. So, I think, as was the case in my last life in Nike, I think limited-edition products can appreciate value.”
That said, “I would never encourage people to buy them because of it,” Mooney continues. “But I think it does help people kind of get over [thinking], ‘Am I really going to pay $5,000 for this guitar?’ Yes, if you’re having a conversation with your partner that says, ‘Well, I could sell it for $6,000 next year’, even if you never do, it helps you get over that hump [chuckles].”
“But generally speaking, I don’t think it is a big factor in the industry.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Mooney also notes how “digitisation is changing the landscape quite a bit”, as well as Fender’s “very ambitious” digitisation plans moving forward.
“I’m really happy with what we’ve done with the Tone Master Pro but it’s really just the first step,” Mooney teases. “We have very ambitious plans in that space – both on the performance side with Fender but also on the recording side. Because we definitely are seeing a kind of almost tidal wave of creators coming into the market who are going to create in many many different ways from how I used to create when I was their age. So I’m hugely optimistic about the future.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net