The pandemic likely pushed a lot of people to get new hobbies, and almost 16 million of them picked up the guitar since lockdowns began in March of 2020. Fender is taking the opportunity to introduce new rockstars in training to U.S.-made Jackson Guitars. Andy Mooney, the CEO of guitar-maker Fender, joined Cheddar News to talk about the rebirth of the instrument. "We saw a kind of market opportunity for very high quality, U.S.-made production that we're in a price zone somewhere between our offshore production models and our custom shop models. So we know based on the results from the early launch of the product that there's going to be really strong demand for these."

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Fender CEO on the Demand for American Made Jackson Line Electric Guitars

almost 16 million people picked up the guitar during the pandemic according to a study by fender and you got to capitalize on the new guitar Gods Offender is releasing its first marketing campaign for its brand. Jackson. I spoke to fender ceo Andy Mooney about why was the right time to bring the legendary metal guitars to the masses and why alternative music is making a comeback. Take a look? Well, there are two really kind of strong consumer driven trends in the marketplace right now. You know, one is kind of retro trend um for for brands and for for products. And in some ways, the introduction of us made Jackson is deja vu all over again and that's really California made Jackson's was where the brand started. And the others, we were seeing very strong demand for premium price custom shop Jackson product, an artist who originally started with Jackson coming to us and asking to do signature models. So we saw a lot of demand potential out there for a whole grouping of us made Jackson's for the future. So we've heard for years that the electric guitar is dead, but why is it not dead in your opinion? Well, not, not only as was that headline factually mistaken. Even prior to Covid, the guitar segment was actually growing at a healthy, high single digit, low double digit rate during Covid absolutely mushroomed. And you know, now we're starting to see a little bit normalization of demand, particularly the low end, but at a significantly higher plateau than when we entered Covid. So the category is live and kicking and in very good shape. Now Jackson is a brand that's mostly known by metal guitarists. And right now we're seeing a comeback of alternative rock, punk and emo music which I'm super excited for. So why do you think this style of music is becoming popular again? Well, again, even before Covid, when when it comes to live music, heavy metal music was the fastest growing segment of live music. With now the kind of re emergence of live music we're seeing again pick up in demand as consumer driven for guitars that really appeal to that type of player and it's the home of the largest percentage of virtuoso guitarist. Guitar is using a much wider way than than it ever has been. But there's a higher percentage of virtuoso guitarists in metal than in any other genre. And I know we talked a lot about how Jackson is perfect for metal, but how can you help Jackson expand past its metal roots and kind of appeal to other kinds of musicians who might want to pick up electric guitar. Well the the guitar that's on the wall behind me, the the Pearl White um soloist, which is the platform. We just launched the way that's configured which is called H. S. S. Set up the two single coil pickups, 11 hum bucker pickup. You can shred with highly distorted guitar you know to your heart's content but you can also get very Cheney melodic tones by use of the tone controls and the five way selector switch. So it actually functions for a very broad range of genres. Now you decided to bring Jackson production from overseas back to the U. S. So why make these guitars american made? Well, two reasons, I mean one is the we're still actually growing kind of overseas business. Um but we are we also simultaneously. So this tremendous pickup in demand for very premium price custom made guitars which our only affordable by a small percentage of the community. So we saw a kind of market opportunity for very high quality us made production that we're in a price zone somewhere between our offshore production models and our custom shop models. So we know based on the results from the early launch of the product that there's going to be really strong demand for these. It's in the price zone that we've never really operated in four years. Now, during the pandemic, you mentioned this, we saw a huge increase in the number of people who learned how to play guitar. So how is Jackson? Parent company fender keeping those players playing. Okay, well, one of one way we're doing it is to continue to invest in our online learning product fender, play on that that that program, that product, you can learn any number of genres. You know whether it's country music, blues or heavy metal. We really think providing beginners with the right product and the right motivation through education and encouragement. We've, we really have been focused on really since about 2016 reducing the abandonment rate of first time players, which is actually pretty high for guitar players as high as 90% abandonment rate in the first year historically. So last question, any tips for anyone who wants to pick up a guitar? Well, I think you should begin with picking up the right guitar if you're a very young first time player, my encouragement would actually be to pick up an island strong acoustic guitar to really familiarize uh, with yourself with the instrument and then graduate to short scale of electric guitar and then ultimately to, to steal strong acoustic guitar. That's the route I took when I was a very young player. That's the route that a lot of very significant guitarist like Edge, that's the path that he took. Try to eliminate the pain early on. And then, uh, then really, you, you kind of connect with the instrument over time and trying to get good, good tuition either online or in person