Something I stumbled upon

[Rossie]

http://home.swbell.net/mellis99/musicman.html

There's a line that goes:
"...the Ernie Ball Music Man guitars AREN'T real Music Man Guitars!!"

 

[fbecir]

A**Holes are everywhere ...

 

[koogie2k]

If you look in the upper right corner of the page it says "...Dreaming..." ...that is exactly what he must be doing...dreaming. Idiot. I guess we are all stuck in the Matrix when it comes to our beloved EBMM's.....

 

[Astrofreq]

Boy, he showed us! We better all just sell our balls.

Yeah right.

 

[beej]

Wow, he's really a Leo fan.

Imagine how he'd feel if he played a new MM guitar with newer innovations than the ones he listed there ...

 

[Jimi D]

hehehehe... He sure thinks a lot of that primative plank... I've played a lot of those old MM Stingray guitars, and they all suffer from the same issues that plagued the '70s Fenders - weight and low QC standards seem to be the biggies... it probably wouldn't do any good to point out that you can buy better guitars today for $300 brand new... Anyway, if those Stingrays are THE REAL Music Man guitars, I'm eternally grateful to be playing the Ernie Ball pretenders...

 

[robelinda2]

his loss

 

[John C]

I've seen this page before; there's a lot of crap on it.

Like the whole bit that starts the page:

"In 1965 Leo Fender, the creator of the Fender Stratocaster and other electric and accoustic guitars and a full line of amplifiers, sold his company to CBS Music and stayed with them as a consultant. When he did, they told him, "It's time to start mass production of these guitars and amps." His response was that his guitars were hand-crafted - not made on the assembly line. When CBS stood their ground, Leo quit. When he quit,in 1966, his crew of hand-craftsmen quit with him."

Well, the first line is correct - Leo Fender did sell to CBS and stay on as a consultant. He also did have a 10-year non-compete contract; pretty standard when someone sells their designs and technology.

However, everybody knows that Leo Fender designed his guitars to be manufactured. He kept ramping up the production during his tenure. Sounds like mass production to me. Of course, the CBS did eventually expand production beyond the point of adequate quality control, but the Fender-type guitar is designed for modular production.

Sure, some people left Fender during the early CBS years, but from everything I've read (including the cited Forrest White book) it wasn't exactly a mass exodus with Leo taking "his team" with him.

Are our EBMM's the same as the old ones? No, they are competely different guitars that appeal to different people. If the author of the page loves his Leo-era, that's fine. Just don't discount the great work the EBMM folks do.

 

[Rossie]

Well said John!
Some people just have too narrow of a scope.

 

[phatduckk]

these fake music man guitars i have are pretty sweet!

 

[Big Poppa]

TOmmy walker was an original partner in music man designed the preamps for the instruments and designed the amps entirely. he worked for us until the mid nineties....

Tommy is no longer on the planet but he left an unheralded legacy that many want to credit Leo for