May 27, 2026

We Need to Talk About What Fender Is Doing

1 hour 7 minutes

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 so much to the sponsor of today's episode, Sweetwater! Make sure to check out all the gear we use here and more: https://www.sweetwater.com/shop/dipped-in-tone/

Check out our website & merch: https://www.dippedintone.com

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/dippedintone

Dipped In Tone is:

Rhett Shull https://www.rhettshull.com

Zach Broyles / Mythos Pedals https://mythospedals.com & https://highvoltageguitars.com

Produced & Edited by Addison! https://www.instagram.com/addisonsauvan

00:00:00 Intro

00:05:14 Rhett’s Update

00:07:02 Addison’s Update

00:0832 Zach’s Update

00:10:21 Thanks Patrons!

00:10:42 Big thanks to today’s sponsor - Sweetwater

00:12:04 Hot Take

00:22:15 What is Fender thinking?

00:48:39 The Vintage Market is insane

00:59:13 Rig Dip

01:06:32 Thanks again Sweetwater!

01:06:58 Join us on Patreon

Some of our favorite gear (Affiliate Links):

Universal Audio Enigmatic - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/o42Mve

Fender Triple Caster - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/qzRMvq

Suhr Classic S Antique - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/DyEomG

Benson Delay - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/jeEb4b

Boss Roland DM-101 - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/K0Nj5A

TC 2290 - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/e1oz26

Universal Audio Volt 876 - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/jeko9M

Boss Katana 50 Gen3 - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/DyEom5

Shure 545 (new production) - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/ravMyj

Echo Fix EFX3 - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/APzZMK

Helix Stadium - https://sweetwater.sjv.io/LKVnJa

...more

View all episodes

By Dipped in Tone

4.7

219219 ratings