Fender Is Buying Presonus

Read Time 2 Minutes

Well, this is unexpected – and sure does make me stop and think.

Fender / Presonus.

The biggest (and some would say coolest) guitar company out there, and one of the biggest, and ever growing, and (still others would say coolest) audio recording hardware / software manufacturer have joined forces.

This seems like an excellent move by both companies, and they sure are excited about it.

“PreSonus and Fender’s combined vision, the way we see the future of music creation, and the fundamental alignment of goals has made this an exciting idea since the first conversation”
Jim Boitnott, CEO PreSonus.

So will this be the match made in heaven that it appears to be at first? I think it will be good overall, for the company and customers alike, but –

Does anyone remember Gibson? How they bought Cakewalk, and Tascam, and KrK? And how that didn’t last very long – in fact – I’m pretty sure none of those companies are currently owned by Gibson anymore.

But – from a business perspective and financially speaking, Fender has seemed to be charmed where Gibson just can’t win.

And Gibson can build a kickass guitar, so it’s not a product thing.

Maybe it’s because Fender does some pretty intense research when it comes to how and why people buy guitars.

You can bet that they did some similar research before they decided to pull the trigger on the Presonus deal.

While Fender does claim to want to expand it’s product offering, I am kind of left wondering what will be different for us, the users and fans of these two great companies?

What Do We Get Out Of This?

I mean, if you don’t have stock in Fender. Why should you be excited about this merger?

Will we get any new toys? Will things noticeably change if you’re a Fender guitar guy, or if you’ve got a Presonus StudioLive in your studio?

Or will the two companies come up with the next amazing thing we’ve got to have but don’t know about yet?

Well – all good questions.

“Fender envisions an ecosystem that seamlessly integrates hardware and software to create an effortless end-to-end experience for customers at all levels in their creative journey,” the statement continued, “and joining forces with PreSonus makes that possible.”
A Statement from Fender

So, it sounds like its more about Fender staying relevant as musicians do more on their own. And we do, we record at home now. We have needs and purchasing dollars that gotta go somewhere. Personally, I’m a Focusrite guy, and while I do respect Presonus, I’m probably not going to change over just because Fender bought them.

However, new products, gadgets and recording what-nots – bring em on! I like to think about all the possibilities surrounding a merger like this.

A note – all of this has to be approved by US regulatory committees and probably other really boring processes that we don’t want to know about – but lets just say, we hope it all goes smoothly and the answer that pops out the other end is a big “Yes.”

Sounds like Guitar-Muse approves – what do you think? Lets us know in the comments below.