What all models are equivalent to the 100S?

[Isaac]

Of course they apparently aren't popular enough for Fender to resuscitate the brand...

Conrad needs to buy the name back and get busy!

That would be nice. I'd be surprised if Fender would be interested in selling. I'd also be surprised if Conrad has the money.

[Isaac]

Without having any inside knowledge from FMIC, I'm still pretty sure about a couple of things regarding the Fender/Sunn thing;

FMIC has researched the market regarding bringing back Sunn and determined that at this point anyway, it isn't a viable idea.
And...
You would have to sell a freekin' boatload of amps to make the terms that FMIC would want to release the name a viable proposition.

It's not just Sunn, it's also Guild, SWR, Tacoma Guitars,  Jackson, Olympia, Orpheum, Ovation Guitar Company, Latin Percussion, Gilbralter Hardware, Genz Benz Amplification, Charvel, Hamer Guitars, and sort of Gretsch. Some of them have already, and anyone of them could go dormant like Sunn did based on P&L statements. SWR and Genz Benz have already gone away.

Also, I certainly can't speak for Mr. Sundholm, however it would be very surprising to me if he would feel like taking on the monumental headache involved with doing the "Sunn thing" all over again!

Sounds like a marvelous idea to bring back these icons like Sunn, but not such a realistic concept regretfully...
 

Also Also, Search is your friend. Many subjects (such as this one) have come up repeatedly in the past.
I don't say these things to be a jerk, there are reasons I encourage people to search and resuscitate old threads;
We have had several interruptions to this forum over the years, some which have caused old threads to become dormant. Searching out these old thread and posting new comments/information on them brings them back from the dead.

And secondarily it gets a little old answering the same questions and comments over and over and over and over...

Not an economically viable proposition for Fender, certainly. A competitor might be able to make a go of it, though, possibly at the expense of Fender sales.

[EdBass]

Not an economically viable proposition for Fender, certainly. A competitor might be able to make a go of it, though, possibly at the expense of Fender sales.

Ahhh, excellent point. I strongly suspect one of the primary motivations for FMIC's acquisition of those brands was to eliminate competition and increase FMIC's market share. If I'm accurate with those suspicions, good luck getting the brand names back from them.

I doubt FMIC's acquisition and subsequent shutdown of Genz Benz and SWR combined with the signing of several new bass artists happening right before the release of the revamped Fender Bassman® high end line of amplifiers was a coincidence...

[EdBass]

Thanks for all the info! Now if I can just find one. Doing daily searches of all the gear sites I can find and NOTHING is popping up. This, of course makes total sense because I am feverishly looking for one.

Here you go if have or can get trade bait!

http://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/msg/4873635355.html

[gutterrock]

Thanks for all the info! Now if I can just find one. Doing daily searches of all the gear sites I can find and NOTHING is popping up. This, of course makes total sense because I am feverishly looking for one.

Here you go if have or can get trade bait!

http://detroit.craigslist.org/okl/msg/4873635355.html

Ha!  I have already contacted him earlier in the week.  I thought we might have a deal lined up but he kind of backed off on it.  I was offering him really more money than it is worth truthfully, but just wanted to end the search.  Oh well, he seems to think he can get a grand out of it, I think he is mistaken.

[loudthud]

A quick note: There are two ways to search, and they give different results. The search window in the upper right of the any page, and the search button next to the "Home" button on the left. Also note that these may move around depending on your individual settings. The button next to the Home button gives better results and you have more options if you use the Advanced search. The window on the right might not find what you are looking for, seems like it only searches thread titles.

[loudthud]

I heard a rumor this weekend that all is not rosey at FMC. There is a cash flow problem with one of their biggest customers. They soon could be selling off assets at fire sale prices.

[EdBass]

I heard a rumor this weekend that all is not rosey at FMC. There is a cash flow problem with one of their biggest customers. They soon could be selling off assets at fire sale prices.

I don't think that's just a rumor, 'thud. Both of my local GC's look like they've been looted, hardly any gear and empty boxes laying around. Pretty dismal. Behringer was a high volume vendor and they dropped GC/MF last summer, but GC is into Fender a lot deeper so FMIC couldn't just cut and run like Behringer did.

Here's my guess for what it's worth; Fender will expand their direct to retail sales and eventually cut out retailers altogether.
I had a conversation with a Fender rep two weeks ago, primarily regarding their fledgling American Design Experience project (I am more than mildly interested in a custom ordering a P with a blocked and bound Jazz neck), one of my questions was if I could buy it through Guitar Center so I could use the 0% incentive that's part of my GC account. He told me that there were NO retailers involved, it was direct to customer from FMIC.
Can't get a Jazz neck blocked and bound  either...
That "retailer free" transaction model is a first, even the Fender Custom Shop pieces go through a retailer. They are undoubtedly testing the direct to customer water with this program.

Got my gears spinning upstairs, and that info coupled with GC/MF possibly filing BK on Fender for enough money to buy a small Caribbean island made me think that dropping dealers altogether would probably be the way to go for Fender.

It will take quite some time, several  years even, just remember I said it in print in March 2015!

[patlaw]

The guitar market is strange. There is a lot more supply than demand in most sectors.

I'm at the point where my next guitar will probably be custom. There are some guys who have worked at Fender, Rickenbacker, and other manufacturers who can make a guitar as good as or better than a major manufacturer can - and for the same or less money.

When I go into a store and look at Fenders, it's hard to tell what the guitar is or where it was made until you look at the price tag. Gibson has Epiphone as a secondary brand. Fender has Squier, but they're not good at all. There are cheap Fenders and expensive Fenders. It doesn't make marketing sense to me.

[gutterrock]

Just an update, I ended up getting a minty Spectrum II that I know I paid too much for but I don't care. Missing the back panel, but otherwise as clean as I have seen an old Sunn. Guess I will have to fabricate a back tube guard myself. I was planning on making one out of wood but I kind of think it would be cool to put a metal grill similar to a model T on the back. Wish there was a place that carried replacement Sunn backs. How do people lose these things?!!!

[patlaw]

I'm not a real woodworker, but making a replacement back for a head would not be difficult at all. If you don't have any woodworking tools, you have some friends who do. Once you have the wooden part, get some contact cement and covering material (Tolex?) and you're good to go.