Classic Player series. Does Fender lie?

[elavd]

I bought a couple of weeks ago a Classic Player 60s strat, which (is supposed to) have the Custom Shop 69 pickups.

As far as I know, these pickups are "created, dated, and initialed by Abigail Ybarra"...

I had a set of them in the past which had the initials of her etc, and a dark gray bobbin:




BUT today I took of the pickguard of my CP60s, and besides that the pickups didn't have the CS sticker, the initials of Abigail, etc the bobbin had a pale gray color...

I've read somewhere from other CP60s owners that the first models DID have signed and dated CS69 pickups...

So this made me think:

1) Either Fender lies to its customers, by not puting anymore original CS69 pickups in the Classic Player 60s series. It's not the first time that they do it as you all know: at first, they advertised that the CP strat series had full size STEEL block, which was not true...

OR

2) They decided to put some kind of "bulk" CS69 pickups, (maybe not "aproved" by Abigail), in order to reduce the cost of the production...



What's your opinion?

[Robert****]

I think you should ask Fender directly.

[elavd]

I think you should ask Fender directly.

I've sent them an email... Let's hope that someone will answer ...

[tunghaichuan***]

Did you buy it at a shop or from an individual? Was it brand new or "pre-owned?"

Is it possible that the pickups were swapped out?

tung

[elavd]

It was BRAND new...

I've just noticed that Fender CHANGED the description on the specs:

Correct me if I am wrong, but the specs used to mention "Custom Shop 69 Pickups", while now it mentions "Custom 69 pickups" ...

[warren0728]

[QUOTE=elavd]he specs used to mention "Custom Shop 69 Pickups", while now it mentions "Custom 69 pickups" one small word...one large change of specs...

the guys at fender-talk http://www.fender-talk.com/message-board-forum/ might have an answer for you too...

ww

[marnold***]

Check the FDP Forum on this. If memory serves, there was a big thread on this very subject. I believe it was in the "Pup Tent" forum.

[Plank_Spanker]

Well.........................

How does the guitar sound? Are you happy with the sound? Did you buy the guitar for the cachet?

Not to be an evil devil's advocate, but those are very important points........

[elavd]

Well.........................

How does the guitar sound? Are you happy with the sound? Did you buy the guitar for the cachet?

The guitar sounds very good, but this can't make me stop wondering why Fender constantly changes the specs of their guitars in order to save some bucks.

And to answer the other question: YES the cs69 pickups was one of the main reasons that I bought this guitar and I'd like to know if I play with CS69s or a similar set.

Besides that, the A.Y." initials (either we like it or not) increase the value of the pickups in case someone wants to sell them...

[Plank_Spanker]

OK..............that's cool, and no slam intended on you, man.. I guess my aim is that if the guitar sounds great, then hang onto it, regardless of how the pedigree works out on the pickups.

I'm simple like that.

[abraxas]

Not to be an evil devil's advocate, but those are very important points........

No my friend, sorry, they are not.

I totally believe on your good intentions and, out of context, you are right.

But what Elias exposes here is, IMHO, an unethical business practice on the part of Fender.

As someone wrote on another forum, Fender is just a horrible company, that happens to make some good instruments.

[stingx]

No my friend, sorry, they are not.

I totally believe on your good intentions and, out of context, you are right.

But what Elias exposes here is, IMHO, an unethical business practice on the part of Fender.

As someone wrote on another forum, Fender is just a horrible company, that happens to make some good instruments.

What someone wrote on another forum is just another person's opinion.

[TS808]

My thoughts on this are somewhere in the middle....whereas Fender may have cut some corners by changing the pickups, in my opinion, they are still one of the best values out there in production guitars. Look at what people are paying for Gibsons and PRS Guitars...to me, that is an outrage.

My thought is as follows: if you bought the guitar from a well known retailer, or even a small retailer, they should know what they are selling. Also, they have the responsibility to UPDATE their websites, or store labels to reflect the changes in product.

Fender may have changed the specs, but I think the retailers more than likely were made aware of the change, or at the very least, should know of the updates. Maybe I'm wrong, with my opinion, but many times when I've purchased a guitar or amp, whether online or at a store, I've corrected the salesperson about the specs of a guitar or amp.

Surprisingly, alot of salespeople, whether online or at the stores, have no clue whatsoever what they are selling their customers. On a number of occasions I've either called or been in a store asking about a product, and the sales staff, including the managers, don't even know that a number of these products are even being made.

[abraxas]

What someone wrote on another forum is just another person's opinion.

... which just happens to mirror mine exactly. I can't see how it can get any clearer than that.

[Robert****]

Let's not jump to conclusions - as far as I understand, we don't know yet if the pickups are the real CS 69's or not, correct? Could be Abigail stopped writing her signatures, or some other reason,etc? Let's see what elavd finds out from Fender.

[Jampy]

Specifications to change at any time without notice, did anyone happen to see that on the site in little tiny print ?

I have not looked myself but many makers or many things tend to have that line printed somewhere to cover there butts..

Sorry to hear you got slightly cheated

[Tone2TheBone]

I wonder if Lev's pickups are Abbys or not. Are they Lev?

[abraxas]

Specifications to change at any time without notice, did anyone happen to see that on the site in little tiny print ?

Yeah, that happens when you let lawyers run the World.

Which just reminds me, I was re-watching some episode of the tv-series "Angel", does anybody remember this? There is in it this law firm... run by sinister demons from Hell.

Anyway, as I said, this kind of business contact can be characterized as "unethical" (in my own code of ethics, that is), certainly not illegal.

Finally let me ask you all a question. We are talking about a medium price guitar here... would you feel the same if Fender started switching around things on their most expensive CS instruments? Can Fender be trusted?

(Just to be clear about it, I would never buy a Fender anyway, so this is all theoretical to me. There are far better guitars out there to spend my hard earned money).

[elavd]

Abraxas I agree with your point. This "slight" changes Fender makes are not illegal but to my point of view are unethical...

This tactic from the company (constantly changing its specs without informing anyone), reminds me the similar tactics of the Pigs in George Orwell's "Animal Farm", if you know what I mean...

Let's see what elavd finds out from Fender.

I have no response from them up to now...

Let me ask you one thing:

If I unsolder the pickups and use a digital multimeter, I guess that I will find out the resistance of each pickup.
How accurate is to compare these values to those of an original set of CS69s?