Norman86 wrote:
If you're saying that by saving a few thousand rand you're not saving much, then i dont know.
You'll spend far more in smalls over time than you will on guitars and amps (unless you collect). Straps, cases, capos, problem-solvers, mic clips. Ask anyone who has recabled their home studio how much it costs. Or anyone who has done a complete inventory for insurance purposes. Add to that all your consumables like picks, strings polish, polishing cloths, etc. It all adds up.
Taken over a career, money spent on consumables like strings is staggering. For me, that's a dozen sets of strings per guitar per year. Least I've ever had is one guitar and the most is 24. Not everyone is as meticulous as I am about strings, but it depends on how much you are playing too - I know pros who go through a few sets a month.
saving half of the price of what the amp costs here seems more than just a few bucks to me. and then its for a properly built, no shortcuts taken only the best components used, custom amp!
Matta did exactly that and his Champ cost him over R12,000. If you can build a Princeton for half that, you are not using the best components. A BF Princeton Kit from Mojo costs over $1,000
before shipping, VAT, etc. and that's all good but still pretty standard parts. Start upgrading trannies, caps and speaker to top quality and the price escalates rapidly. And what about the time spent building a kit like that? You work for free?
At some SA retailers, the princeton in question retails for R23000...
Depends on when they bought it. The exchange rate fluctuates - when I reviewed the Princeton it was R24K, it's now R20K. If an importer or retailer brings in new stock that is cheaper than the old stock, the retail price drops to the new rate but their cost on the old stock stays the same. It often works out as yet another of those overheads you continually ignore as the store ultimately ends up discounting it below cost to move it.
When i look at Fender UK's prices, its not far off from the USA prices...
US retail for an American Standard is $1,400 (GBP839), UK retail is GBP1,510 - a difference of GBP 671 (or ZAR 7,378.65 to put it into context).
They are making huge profit
You know this how? You're taking the difference in price between the states and here and assuming it's all going into one person's pocket, which is wrong.
maybe not the retailers, but the suppliers most definitely!
You're guessing, based on little to no knowledge of how the industry works and getting it wrong. Take it from the people that do.
When its cheaper to fly to the states, buy a custom shop fender, know that you will get support because its a custom shop model and fly back, and its still more than R30000 cheaper than it would have cost here, then something is wrong.
So you expect the local distributor to foot any expenses arising from your refusal to allow them to make a profit? You won't get support here - or you will pay for it. Your warrantee covers repair only and is handled by the store that sold it to you. This means you either have to ship it back to the US at your expense and the retailer who sold it to you will have it sorted for free and ship it back to you at your expense. A local distributor will make a plan for a muso touring from another country and do any repairs themselves, but that is a courtesy (and yet another overhead). Don't expect them to extend that courtesy to you.
and lets be honest, how often DO fender products break? hmmm... hardly ever?! Exactly.
Even the best products have the occasional flaw. Take it from an authorized Fender, Gibson, Martin, et.al. repairman...
