Apple Online Selling iPhone-Enabled Fender Strat Guitar

[hamkor04]

any idrums?

 

[Drunken Master]

buy a real strat

This sounds like a good beginner guitar.

My first electric guitar wasn't even as good as a Squier.

I would hate to buy a kid a real Strat only for them to lose interest in it, even if it is a used Mexistrat like mine that cost about $250.

 

[e-coli]

Nice Apple.
Just keep selling overpriced accessories for your intentionally obsoleted products, and wonder why your stock continues to dive.
The rest of us could use a good laugh. X'-D

You don't know what you're talking about.

 

[John.B]

Not totally true.

Correct, this is not a Fender strat. It is a Squier strat.

But some Squier guitars are very "Fender"... if you don't believe it, check out web reviews of some of the newer Squier guitars. To many musicians, they rival some of the American made strats, and are better than the Mexi-strats, which carry the Fender name. (For the record, I've played Strats for years, and had a '65 strat; and currently have a Squier Classic Vibe 50's guitar, which is incredible, especially for the price.)

Obviously, an instrument is somewhat subjective, but to say "there is nothing 'Fender' about this guitar" is misleading.

Yes, a Squier Strat looks like a Strat and sounds like a Strat. My point was that the only Fender involvement is licensing the trademarks and dictating build specs. The build of Squier guitars are all outsourced to a series of third party guitar manufacturers in Asia, some better at QC than others.

I think I said as much farther down the thread.

 

[tgurske]

This is a cool guitar for someone who is looking at that price range... a beginner. A more advanced player will probably have multiple guitars and can use other tech to connect to computers.

In regards to the cable: Guitar players should all be used to playing with a cable and a 100ms delay is completely unacceptable. We would set a 15ms delay difference between the monitors on the front of the stage and the ones in the back and you could tell the difference. Musicians hear everything.

 

[robertosh]

Why is the guitar not rechargeable and piping signal out via a Bluetooth or wifi link?

Is there some technical reason that one in this day and age still has to schlepp around and be tethered to cables?

Latence?

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I have the iRig adaptor for my Squier and works with Garageband aswell. i don't use often cause i have to put the earphones on my ipod and then i have two cables around me and is not very confortable for playing..and the ipod between them

 

[rainydays]

For the record, the article title is wrong. They are selling a Squier Strat, not a Fender Strat.

Well, since Fender owns Squier it's not completely wrong. Especially not since Fender has been marketing them as "Squier by Fender" lately and Fender is even in the logo. They are also displaying them on the main Fender site as a part of the family rather than on a seperate site like they used to.

So I actually don't think it's wrong to call them Fender guitars even though they are their very cheapest models.

Also, to those who bash it based on the price. I think some might be surprised how good some of the low cost guitars are these days. Sure the electronics are not good, and the finish is usually not great either, but many of them play surprisingly well for the price.

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Musicians hear everything.

Yeah. But guitarists only hear themselves.

 

[ncaissie]

http://www.electricalguitarcompany.com
Best. Guitars. Ever.

Worse site ever! LOL the menu goes up above page so there are models that you can't select.

 

[Brammy]

I went to order one of these as a project guitar. I was going to get a Squire and pretty much gut it with new hardware as a previous poster did.

This thing just shows as "out of stock." Is it sold out already?

 

[iMule]

Apogee Jam is bad@ss. I remember being in my old basement in a small room with pedals everywhere, wires tangled, you name it. Now, it's pretty convenient to hook up to GarageBand and play through the iPad.

 

[90miles]

Make me a custom shop Fender Strat with a road-worn finish and I'll buy it.

 

[nemesiswar]

Worse site ever! LOL the menu goes up above page so there are models that you can't select.

Really? nothing i can see?

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This sounds like a good beginner guitar.

My first electric guitar wasn't even as good as a Squier.

I would hate to buy a kid a real Strat only for them to lose interest in it, even if it is a used Mexistrat like mine that cost about $250.

You might be on to something there, although personally i would recommend a guitar+ amplifier set for 50-100 €.
Although it is fun to record what you are doing

 

[b166er]

This is really cool for people who are interested in learning the guitar. I'm sure a lot of apps will roll out that will use this interface to teach guitar basics.

For anyone who has been playing guitar more than a month, anyone who records even at an immature garage band level, or anyone who isn't completely tone deaf, this is a waste of money. As others have said, it's not a true Fender. There are a lot of third party interface options if you want to use a real guitar with you iOS device.

Also, for the acoustic players out there, Ovaiton has been making their "idea" guitars for a couple years now. Pretty cool idea for a mid level acoustic guitar price. I picked one up a while back just to use it as kind of a note pad for song ideas and while it is certainly not the best acoustic on the market, the sound is pretty great and the pre-amp/usb/mp3 all in one interface is idiot proof.

 

[Psychj0e]

apple are making guitars now? that's freaking awesome! even better that it can be connected up to the iphone because thats my main computer! so excited!

 

[efktd]

Is this only for garage band? I don't understand how garage band is built to receive these signals, but would acting as a midi controller allow it to be used with any DAW?

 

[The Wedge]

Um, Bluetooth, as well as wifi would offer lag in the low hundred MILISECOND range... Not enough time that the human ear would make much of distinction that there is lag. It is definitely a price/technology issue, NOT a lag issue...

Playing music isn't just about hearing, it's also about feeling. And if something is off, even if it's just a few milliseconds, then it doesn't feel right.

 

[John.B]

Well, since Fender owns Squier it's not completely wrong. Especially not since Fender has been marketing them as "Squier by Fender" lately and Fender is even in the logo. They are also displaying them on the main Fender site as a part of the family rather than on a seperate site like they used to.

So I actually don't think it's wrong to call them Fender guitars even though they are their very cheapest models.

As I said earlier, the difference is that Squiers are built by which ever outsourcing Asian builder is the low bidder that quarter, and that nobody from Fender ever sees these before they are boxed and shipped to Guitar Center. There are a few good ones out there, but you'd have to play a bunch of them to find that one, which is hard do when you're buying a pre-boxed guitar that hasn't been setup since it left the factory in China.

Conversely, Fender employees build and QC Fender guitars.

 

[thisrocks]

This is exactly how I learned to play guitar...in 2005

Having a (virtual) world of effects and Amps at my disposal kept me going, and heavy distortion helps cover up mistakes, and keeps you playing, plus you leave a bunch of recordings in your wake and can actually listen to how much progress you are making.

 

[SandynJosh]

That said, every guitar is made of wood and involves some level of hand assembly. That means variability from one guitar to the next. Someone buying one would do well to play many guitars (or have a guitar-playing friend help) to pick out the best one, and not just buy any old guitar sold in a box.

Back when I bought my strat in '61 you had to try out several as they didn't even make the necks the same widths and depths.

 

[Lex Yu]

For the record, the article title is wrong. They are selling a Squier Strat, not a Fender Strat. This will be a guitar built by a third party guitar manufacturer (in China, natch) to Squier specs. There is nothing "Fender" about this guitar except Squier's use of the parent company's trademark body shape, headstock shape, pickguard design, etc.

You are totally right! Nothing that is designed in America and manufactured in China is good, just like iPhones and iPa..... oh, wait!

Um, Bluetooth, as well as wifi would offer lag in the low hundred MILISECOND range... Not enough time that the human ear would make much of distinction that there is lag. It is definitely a price/technology issue, NOT a lag issue...

I can tell that you are NOT a musician. I'm 100% sure.

Millisecond MATTERS when you are playing guitars!

Transfer speed of WiFi/BT is not the problem, the problem is called LATENCY!!!

 

[rainydays]

As I said earlier, the difference is that Squiers are built by which ever outsourcing Asian builder is the low bidder that quarter, and that nobody from Fender ever sees these before they are boxed and shipped to Guitar Center.

So it has to come from a Fender-owned plant in order to be a Fender guitar?
By that logic Apple products wouldn't be Apple products since they are made by Foxconn.

 

[rjenovai]

I came *so* close to buying that Rocksmith game for my PS3 yesterday afternoon. I used to play rhythm guitar in a band my buddies put together back in the early 90's, and have always hung onto at least one guitar since then. Truthfully, I'm *way* out of practice and just sold my half-stack a few months ago when I relocated for a new job. (Just didn't make sense having something so big and loud when I was going to be living in a townhouse apartment right next to other families.)

I think I'm too involved with other things now to consider seriously playing in a band again, and I'm not even that motivated to learn new songs anymore. But if I had a game to hook the guitar up to, I'd probably get some more use and enjoyment out of it.

What stopped me is this: The guy at GameStop warned me "there have been a lot of issues with the cable" that comes with it --- so much so that they refuse to carry used copies of Rocksmith.

Anyone know how serious an issue this really is?

I've had rocksmith since launch for the Xbox 360 and haven't had any sort of latency issues at all. I think it's either system or setup specific. The rocksmith forums at ubi should help shed some light as well: http://forums.ubi.com/forumdisplay.php/151-Rocksmith

 

[ncaissie]

I've had rocksmith since launch for the Xbox 360 and haven't had any sort of latency issues at all. I think it's either system or setup specific. The rocksmith forums at ubi should help shed some light as well: http://forums.ubi.com/forumdisplay.php/151-Rocksmith

Thanks for the info.
Has it helped you learn or did you already know how to play? I'm looking to learn. I asked my wife and kids to get it for me for X-mas.

 

[AChia]

Will this help a beginner?

My 12 year old son is interested in this guitar. My question is will the combination of this guitar and Garage Band help him learn how to play? I'm not really familiar with the pros and cons of the interface and I would love to know if it will be able to teach the notes and correct him also?

Thanks for the help...

 

[b166er]

So it has to come from a Fender-owned plant in order to be a Fender guitar?
By that logic Apple products wouldn't be Apple products since they are made by Foxconn.

I think the big difference here is, there is Fender, and then there is Squire who are a branch of Fender but for the entry level player. Fender has operations in Asia, the US, Mexico, and probably elsewhere. These are licensed through Fender but the guys at Fender really have nothing to do with the production. Toyota, Scion, and Lexus are all the same company- look at the huge quality gaps between those three.

With Apple, yeah the products come from Asia, but they are all Apple products. There is no sister company, there is no different set of specs and standards like there is with Fender VS Squire.

Not only that but the iPhone 5 is proof enough that any product made off site is subject to a lack of QC that can effect a large percentage of customers.