Fender is going public,,,

[Ray Minich]

From MSNBC:

The company that makes the guitars that have graced some of the biggest stars of rock and pop -- including The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton -- has filed for a public stock offering worth $200 million.

Fender is “closely associated with the birth of rock 'n' roll and has a strong legacy in music and in popular culture,” the company said in a registration filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Fender said it sees opportunities for growth because of the continued popularity of guitar-based music and bands and visibility of guitars in popular culture. The increasing popularity and gradual incorporation of guitar-based music in large, emerging markets such as China, India and Indonesia is also an indicator of future growth, the company said.
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Fender is the country’s biggest seller of electric, acoustic and bass guitars, and also electric and bass guitar amplifiers. It also makes banjos, ukuleles, mandolins, resonator guitars, percussion instruments and accessories.

About $100 million of the initial public offering's proceeds will go to pay debt, said the Scottsdale, Ariz., company.

Fender will list its stock on the Nasdaq stock market under the symbol “FNDR.” The company did not disclose how many shares it intends to sell or a price target for the shares. It also did not say when it intends to go public.

Fender reported net income attributable to common stockholders of $3.2 million in 2011, up from a net loss of $17.3 million in 2010. Revenue grew 13 percent to $700.6 million in 2011 from $617.8 million the year before, the company said.

Fender was founded in 1946 by southern California inventor Leo Fender, who in 1951 developed the first solid-body Spanish-style electric guitar to be commercially mass-produced. The company was sold to television network CBS in 1965.

When CBS started selling off its non-media businesses, then Fender Chief Executive William Schultz teamed up with some of the company's international distributors and bought out the company in 1984.

J.P. Morgan, William Blair, Baird, Stifel Nicolaus Weisel and Wells Fargo Securities will manage the IPO for Fender, the company said.
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Debt of over $100 Million? Where'd the money go?

b0b: feel free to kill this or reposition it elsewhere as you see fit.

[Jay Hudson]

I was told by my local music store owner(Fender dealer) that Fender is going to resurrect the Sho-Bud brand and start building Sho-Buds on a mass scale.
We'll see.

[Rick Schacter]

From MSNBC:
Debt of over $100 Million? Where'd the money go?

Definitely not to the employees!
Trust me on this one.

Rick

[Ben Rubright]

The last that I heard, the Sho-Bud name was owned by Fred Gretsch and not Fender......unless something recent has happened.....and if it has, I would expect Bobbe Seymour to know about it, and if so, we would have heard about it thru 'Bobbe's Tips'. Perhaps Bobbe will chime in.

[Kevin Hatton]

That's not going to work. Bad investment. Guitar mania is waaay over. The new generation is about technology, not music.

[Richard Sinkler]

Although no mention of Sho~Bud, this (from Wikipedia) shows a relationship between Fender and Gretsch. I doubt that Sho~Bud will be Resurrected.

The FMIC era
In late 2002, Gretsch and Fender reached an agreement giving Fender most control over marketing, production, and distribution of guitars (although the Gretsch family still owns Gretsch Guitars).[4]
Fender quickly set about improving the line by upgrading substandard electrical components and bringing modern production more closely in line with designs and practices of the classic era. Body and headstock shapes, which on reissues from the 90s and early 00s had varied from 50s-60s practice, were made more vintage-correct. Hollowbodies were returned to 3-ply construction rather than the 5-plies of the 1990-2002 period. Filtertron double-coil pickups were redesigned by TV Jones to sound more like vintage pickups. Duo Jets were more extensively chambered, again in accordance with vintage practice, and the trestle bracing of the 1959-1961 era was re-introduced on the Setzer line and other selected models.
An array of models based on vintage designs has been introduced, with widespread approval among players and even collectors. While such judgments are always subjective and sometimes contentious, many feel FMIC-era Gretschs exhibit the highest level of overall build quality, attention to detail, and consistency in Gretsch's long history.
Gretsch also introduced new models consistent with its heritage but aimed at modern players, with features like premium pickups manufactured by TV Jones, locking Sperzel tuners, and ML bracing designed by Mike Lewis of FMIC and Masao Terada of the Terada company in Japan, where all Gretsch pro-line guitars are now built.
In January 2007, upon an agreement with the Atkins family, Gretsch announced the return of Chet Atkins as an endorser. The Country Classic models became Country Gentlemen once again, the name "Chet Atkins Hollowbody" returned to the 6120 Nashvilles, and the Tennessee Rose became the Chet Atkins Tennessee Rose. In July 2008, a limited run of Chet Atkins 6120 Stereo guitars was introduced, based on a famous prototype from 1956 which featured in several landmark Atkins recordings, but was never produced in series.
Billy Zoom, of the Los Angeles punk band X, was honored with a limited-edition Gretsch Custom Shop Jet model in 2008; this guitar is based on Zoom's own vintage Jet, and includes more extensive internal chambering than any other modern Jet, exactly reproducing the construction revealed when Zoom's original guitar was CAT-scanned at a medical facility during development.
At the same time, FMIC has refined and improved the mid-priced Electromatic line by discontinuing the low-end bolt-neck models of the late 90s and early 2000s, which incorporated generic humbucking pickups and wraparound bridges. The Electromatic Hollowbody line has proven particularly successful, from the 5125 - 5129 series with its US-made DeArmond 2000 pickups and the similar 5120 series. The 5120, a single-cutaway model inspired by the 6120, has become the best-selling guitar in Gretsch history, with an active after-market in replacement pickups from TV Jones and other makers for players who feel they provide a more characteristic tone than the stock "Gretschbucker" double-coil pickups. The double-cutaway 5122 model, introduced in 2008 and inspired by the 6122 Country Gentleman, fills out the Korean-built Electromatic Hollow line.
The Electromatic line also includes Pro Jet and Double Jet chambered solidbodies based on Gretsch's venerable Duo Jet line; these are equipped with Gretsch mini-humbuckers unavailable on any other guitar. Final members of the Electromatic line are the Corvette series, thin mahogany solidbodies based on the identically named and same-shaped model of the early sixties – but with the newly designed Mega'Tron double-coil pickups exclusive to the Corvette line. Both G. Love and Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy have been honored with signature-series Electromatic Corvettes, the G. Love introduced in January 2008 and Stump's "Stump-o-matic" in January 2009.

[Skip Edwards]

I agree with Kevin. Tech and Biotech are much better investments.
And they're really going to tank if they start building Sho-Buds on a mass scale.
I wonder what exactly constitutes "mass scale" for the manufacture of PSG's by any one company?
Can't be too many...

[Dave Hopping]

What would Leo do?

[Jay Hudson]

I find it hard to believe it would be on a mass scale.
Maybe a custom order but why bother with all the other fine steel makers.

[Herb Steiner]

Mass producing steel guitars by a major company... or by any company... is a Fool's Errand. There's too much supply right now as it is.

Whether or not buying Fender as an investment is a wise move, I couldn't say. I would venture that the aging of our population would make healthcare technology and geriatric services a much wiser field in which to dabble with investment dollars or play money.

[Leslie Ehrlich]

At the moment, Jackson and Show Pro guitars are filling the void that Sho-Bud left behind.

[Ransom Beers]

Wonder when they'll start building harmonicas on a mass scale?

[Fred Glave]

I always thought Jackson was more of the rightful heir to Sho-Bud. I realize that Gretsch owns the Sho-Bud name, but they killed the product.

[Tommy White]

What Herb said.

[Kevin Hatton]

If you want a good investment, invest in fenders that go on senior scooters. As Herb said, there is an over supply of steel makers with a shrinking market.

[Donny Hinson]

(Warning, thoughtless ramblings ahead!)

Too much competition, I'd guess, and they're losing market share almost by the day. Back in the '50s and '60s, there was no where to go but up, and both companies were innovators. The only two really big names in upper quality electric guitars were Fender and Gibson. Indeed, the same was true in the low-end guitars. Two brands, Kay and Harmony, had things just about sewn up.

But Fender and Gibson made the same fatal mistake, they stopped innovating. They found something that was successful and then they just continued to pump out variation after variation of the same old stuff year after year and decade after decade, resting on their laurels, and confident their core market would keep them successful. Quality went down, prices continued to go up, and folks, mostly younger folks, began to look elsewhere. Today, their core market is dying, both figuratively and literally, while a dozen other companies are giving potential customers something different and noteworthy, with quality equal to or better than the old stalwarts who started it all.

People just get tired of the same old stuff.

I don't think you;ll see any U.S. company mass producing pedal steels, the market just isn't there. Too many cheap used steels are out there, and our ranks aren't exactly exploding. Many players today are complicating the instrument, adding pedals and strings and thinking that will help. But people today want simple technology to do the work, and they want their actions to be limited and simple. The attention span of our population, in general, is shrinking, and I can envision the day when musicians of all types will be largely replaced by technology.

It's happening already with voice, and it's only a matter of time before it happens with instruments. When people who can't really sing become the "chart toppers", how long do you think it will be before the "best instrumentalist" will be a lousy musician with high power/speed computers and servos doing the actual playing? ?

[Kevin Hatton]

You'd make more money opening a hot dog stand. If you want to go broke fast, try building steel guitars. Fred, your local music store owner is B.S.ing you big time. Fender is not even that stupid. Fender is not going to build Sho-Bud guitars. They don't even own the name. Did I ever tell you my uncle is the King of Siam? Donny, your right on.

[Rick Collins]

Pedal steel guitars will not be mass-produced or modernized.
But, some modernization would be welcome. I like mixing the old with the new.
I have a 4G phone with a rotary dial. (...just kidding).

Fender's IPO is aimed at retiring debt.
Nanotechnology should be next for expansion in the tech. field.

[Peter den Hartogh]

Manufacturers - Pedal Steel

Count them: 36 manufacturers in total!

Beck Musical Instruments
BenRom Pedal Steel Guitars
BSG Steel Guitars
Desert Rose Guitars
Devis Pedal Steel Guitars
Emmons Guitar Company by Lashley, Inc.
ETS Steel Guitars
Excel Steel Guitars
Fessenden Guitar Company
Franklin Guitars
Fulawka Steel Guitars
GFI Musical Products
Jackson Steel Guitar
Jagiella Steel-Guitars
Justice Steel Guitars
Lamar Custom Steel Guitars
Legend Steel Guitars
Linkon Steel Guitars
Lone Star Steel Guitar
Moyo Pedal Steel Guitars
MSA Pedal Steel Guitars
Mullen Guitar Co., Inc.
Pedalmaster Steel Guitars
Promat
Rains Steel Guitars
Rayline Steel Guitars
Rittenberry Steel Guitars
Russler Steel Guitars
Show Pro Custom Steel
Sierra Steel Guitars
Simmons Pedal Steel Guitars
Stage One
Star Pedal Steel Guitars
WBS Steelguitars
Williams Guitar Company
Zumsteel Pedal Steel Guitars

From the horse's mouth:
http://b0b.com/wp/?page_id=121

[Robert Mayo]

I may be wrong but I believe "Fender" has acquired several guitar and other related companies. Problem with that for me is if one or two big companies own or have stake in ownership of most "brands" then where is the diversity?

[Joey Ace]

The main income of the company will probably be name and logo licensing, similar to Harley.

There could also be a revenue source from suing others for patent infringement.

Building instruments for a profit is a thing of the past, at least for corporations supporting high overhead.

Building specialized instruments, such as PSG, is even further down the list.

[Barry Blackwood]

Fender resurrecting Sho-Bud is sheer speculation. If they did, their debt would triple almost overnight!

[David Mason]

There are way, way too many guitars already in existence. It's embarrassing really. There are many who hold that for the sheer percentage of irretrievably-squandered resources, the insane Ponzi scheme of endless bottomless suburbanization - AKA "growth" - wins the prize, but all these guitars - lovingly authentic, high-dollar signature tribute models for braindead pottymouths who can't play their way out of a wet paper bag... gotta be worth some gilded-polyethene prize. Sure, buy stock, whatever. It's all Monopoly money anyway.

(Have a BEAUTIFUL day!)

[Dennis Olearchik]

I read that Fender's Pro Audio sales bring in the most revenue. I wonder if that includes guitar amps? Regardless, I would have guessed that guitars accounted for most of their revenue. And if they really don't account for the most revenue, I wouldn't hold my breathe waiting for a new Fender PSG. Maybe if they were made in China and Fender expected to sell them for $10K. But then, who the heck would buy one?

Also, I read that Fender bought some musical equipment companies several years ago and they want to pay down down that large debt.

Oh and one other tidbit, Guitar Center is supposed to be Fender's largest customer and GC's bond rating was recently lowered.

[Dennis Olearchik]

p.s. current Fender CEO previously ran Guitar Center.