We Need to Talk About What Fender Is Doing

We Need to Talk About What Fender Is Doing

From Dipped In Tone by Dipped in Tone

May 27, 2026 · 1h 8m · Episode 154

About this episode

The episode discusses Fender's legal actions against boutique guitar builders and explores various guitar-related topics including picks and the vintage market.

Don't forget to like, subscribe and leave us a comment! All three of us are back. Rhett's finally home after five weeks on the road with The Midnight, Addison has moved back to Kansas City (into the exact same house), and Zach is mid-kitchen renovation with no internet. It's fine. Everything's fine. Hot take this week: why is basically every guitar pick the same teardrop shape? We get into pick materials, shapes, Blue Chips, the Carol Kaye felt pick thing, and the Tom Bukovac acoustic strumming trick you probably haven't tried. Then things get serious. Fender has issued cease and desist letters to boutique S-style guitar builders across the EU, demanding they stop manufacturing, recall sold instruments, and destroy infringing inventory — all by Memorial Day. We dig into what's actually happening legally, why this almost certainly won't hold up, what it says about who's really running Fender now, and why LSL has launched a GoFundMe to fight back. We also talk through the vintage guitar market losing its mind — including a 1959 ES-335 at Carter Vintage listed at $107,000 — and dip a rig from Cody in Portland, who built his own SG during COVID and put Gibson on the headstock. Thanks…

People in this episode

Hosts: Rhett, Addison, Zach

Topics covered

Keywords

Sponsors

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Fender, LSL

Products: Blue Chips, Carol Kaye felt pick, Tom Bukovac acoustic strumming trick, 1959 ES-335, SG

Places: Kansas City, EU, Carter Vintage

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