You know the deal at this point – if it’s got a Squier name on the headstock, people scoff at it. But if it’s got a Fender logo up top, it instantly becomes less of a conversation. Which begs the question of why Squier wouldn’t just rebrand as Fender, right? In a new interview with Music Radar, Fender‘s executive vice president of product Justin Norvell discussed exactly that… and why it ain’t happening.
“I think everything is a discussion,” said Norvell. “We’re open enough as a company and we listen enough to think about it. But there’s so much equity in the Squier brand name. There are people that love Squier. There are people that proudly play Squier over Fender. Squier, on its own, is one of the biggest electric guitar brands, so it would be crazy to get rid of that.”
The conversation was centered around Fender’s new Standard Series which starts at $599, or about the same price as a better Squier. Norvell noted that one of the main differences between the two brands is that Squier is more of a platform for customization, while Fender is more of a plug-and-play.
“Yeah, it very much can be a base platform for someone to do what Fenders were built to do. Fenders are wide open. Everyone wants to be unique and personalise things, and this is a perfect personalisation platform – for people who have a bunch of guitars and they want a guitar just to get into modding, this is a great step into that realm. There’s nothing too precious about it.”
Check out the full interview here and check out everything Fender has to offer (including the Standard Series) here… and Squier here, of course.
