{"id":907618,"date":"2026-05-22T13:17:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T18:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/22\/this-is-a-pr-disaster-that-will-haunt-fender-for-years-two-of-guitars-biggest-youtubers-are-cutting-ties-with-fender-over-its-cease-and-desists\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T13:17:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T18:17:22","slug":"this-is-a-pr-disaster-that-will-haunt-fender-for-years-two-of-guitars-biggest-youtubers-are-cutting-ties-with-fender-over-its-cease-and-desists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/22\/this-is-a-pr-disaster-that-will-haunt-fender-for-years-two-of-guitars-biggest-youtubers-are-cutting-ties-with-fender-over-its-cease-and-desists\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThis is a PR disaster that will haunt Fender for years\u201d: Two of guitar\u2019s biggest YouTubers are cutting ties with Fender over its cease and desists"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As the fallout from Fender\u2019s high-profile cease and desist strategy continues, two of YouTube\u2019s biggest guitar players have begun burning bridges with the brand.<\/p>\n

This week, Fender relaunched its legal campaign against the S-style electric guitar<\/a> market, allegedly sending cease and desist letters to multiple builders<\/a> instructing them to stop producing Stratocaster<\/a>-inspired instruments.<\/p>\n

The strategy is a continuation of Fender\u2019s re-energized protection of the Strat, stemming from a court ruling that was made in the Regional Court of Dusseldorf, Germany<\/a>, that established a legal precedent for Fender to \u201cprotect its designs in global commerce\u201d.<\/p>\n

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I’m About To Burn a Bridge With Fender – YouTube<\/span>
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\u201cWhat are you guys doing?\u201d Shull says in his video, addressing Fender directly. \u201cI completely understand and can make a case for a company defending their intellectual property, but in my opinion, it’s commonly understood that the Stratocaster\u2026 and other Fender body shapes at this point are basically public domain.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo to go after this weird backdoor technicality way of trying to monopolize this sector of the guitar market is insane to me, and I think this is a PR disaster that will hurt you and haunt you, Fender, for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

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All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

He continues, \u201cIn my opinion, that\u2019s what this reads as: they\u2019re trying to eliminate any and all competition so that the only way to buy a Stratocaster\u2026 is to buy it from Fender. This is going to make the ‘Play Authentic’ debacle [Gibson\u2019s controversial video that threatened rival guitar makers against using its body shapes] look like child\u2019s play.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re going to spark a huge boycott of Fender,\u201d he predicts. \u201cI won’t play Fenders if that’s what’s going to happen. If you start going after my friends who have companies who build guitars \u2013 not just Strats, but lots of other designs as well \u2013 so that you can monopolize the Strat shape, I’m not playing Fenders anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it’s important that we, as a community, talk about this and push back against Fender on this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shull\u2019s sentiments were echoed by session legend and fellow YouTube favorite Tim Pierce. In his own video, Pierce says Fender has committed \u201cbrand suicide\u201d and panned the company for its cease and desists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have friends who work at Fender, and I\u2019m concerned for them. I have friends who work at guitar companies that aren\u2019t Fender, and I\u2019m concerned for them,\u201d Pierce begins.<\/p>\n

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Fender Commits Brand SUICIDE – YouTube<\/span>
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\u201cFender, if you made better guitars, you wouldn\u2019t have to do things like this,\u201d he continues. \u201cYou won a case in Dusseldorf, where your opponent didn’t show up because they were counterfeiting guitars. Cool, I’m glad you won.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut to turn that into this letter that all my friends are getting… that is draconian and unfair and turned you into the biggest bully in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m really concerned for my friends at the company, because it’s such a bad look, and I’m concerned for my friends who I’m talking to at the companies that are being threatened. It’s very scary, it’s very unfair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though he doesn\u2019t overtly boycott the brand, and says he may well end up making more videos about Fender gear, Pierce predicts that may be tricky for him in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Fender makes something that I like and I think I should show to you, I’ll simply buy it and talk about it,\u201d he notes. \u201cI’ve never made a video where I was quite sure that I would end my relationship with the company, in a sense \u2013 not with my friends at the company, but whoever these people are, these mythical people upstairs that make bad decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fender\u2019s stance has been widely criticized by commenters online, with Guitar World<\/em> readers<\/a> and guitar fans alike all weighing in on the discussion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Matt is the GuitarWorld.com News Editor, and has been writing and editing for the site for five years. He has a Masters in the guitar, a degree in history, and has spent the last 19 years playing everything from blues and jazz to indie and pop. During his GW career, he\u2019s interviewed Peter Frampton, Zakk Wylde, Tosin Abasi, Matteo Mancuso and more, and has profiled the CEOs of Guitar Center and Fender.<\/p>\n

When he\u2019s not combining his passion for writing and music during his day job, Matt performs with indie rock duo Esme Emerson, and has previously opened for the likes of Ed Sheeran, Keane, Japanese House and Good Neighbours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n

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(Image credit: Future) As the fallout from Fender\u2019s high-profile cease and desist strategy continues, two of YouTube\u2019s biggest guitar players have begun burning bridges with the brand. This week, Fender relaunched its legal campaign against the S-style electric guitar market, allegedly sending cease and desist letters to multiple builders instructing them to stop producing Stratocaster-inspired […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":907619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079,94486,104640],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-907618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-this","category-fender","category-youtube-videos"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}