Fender Adds Two Guitars, Two Basses to Pawn Shop Series
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Fender has added four new models to its Pawn Shop Series, which the company calls a line of "guitars that never were but should have been.”
There's the Pawn Shop ’70s Strat Deluxe, Pawn Shop Super-Sonic, Pawn Shop Mustang Bass and Pawn Shop Bass VI.
The Pawn Shop ’70s Strat Deluxe is one of the most unusual takes ever on the world’s most archetypal electric guitar, with a pronounced 1970s style and vibe. For tonal versatility, its alder body houses a Telecaster single-coil neck pickup and an Enforcer humbucking bridge pickup with a smaller Wide Range chrome cover.
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Other distinctive features include a "U"-shaped maple neck with 22 medium jumbo frets, 9.5" radius and "bullet" truss rod; four-ply white pearloid pickguard; three-way blade pickup switching and two Jazz Bass control knobs (master volume, master tone); ’70s-style hard-tail Stratocaster bridge and vintage-style "F" tuners. Available in 2-Color Sunburst, Black and Vintage White.
The Pawn Shop Super-Sonic model resurrects an unusual, short-lived and increasingly collectible ancestor of the late 1990s, the Squier Vista Series Super-Sonic guitar. Very little about the Pawn Shop Super-Sonic isn’t highly distinctive—from its diminutive offset "reverse" body (resembling an upside-down Jazzmaster or Jaguar) and upside-down headstock to its short scale (24") and dual canted Atomic humbucking pickups (only the bridge pickup was canted on the original Squier models).
Then there are the controls — neck pickup volume and bridge pickup volume only (no tone control), which are reverse-wired like the Squier original, meaning that the bridge pickup volume is the one closest to the bridge and the neck pickup volume is the one farthest from it.
Other features include a "C"-shaped maple neck with "bullet"-style truss rod, 9.5"-radius rosewood fingerboard with 22 medium jumbo frets, three-way toggle pickup switching and dual Jazz Bass control knobs, three-ply parchment pickguard, vintage-style synchronized tremolo bridge, vintage-style tuners and new Super-Sonic four-bolt neck plate. Available in Apple Red Flake, Dark Gun Metal Flake and Sunfire Orange Flake.
With its racing stripe (305) and short scale (30-inch), the new Pawn Shop Mustang Bass authentically evokes the original "competition" Mustang Bass of the early 1970s. This time, though, you get the huge bass sound of a single humbucking pickup (the original had a single-coil pickup) and several classic Fender finish options.
Other features include an alder body, "C"-shaped maple neck, 9.5"-radius rosewood fingerboard with 19 medium jumbo frets, four-ply white pearloid pickguard, two Jazz Bass control knobs (volume, tone) and a string-through-body bridge with four adjustable saddles. Available in 3-color Sunburst, Candy Apple Red with Olympic White stripe and Olympic White with stripe.
The Pawn Shop Bass VI marks the return of a historic Fender instrument, the Fender Bass Guitar (also known as the Bass VI). This updated version of the baritone classic features the short scale (30-inch) and is armed with Special Design Hot Jaguar single-coil neck and middle pickups and a powerful JZHB humbucking bridge pickup.
Other features include a "C"-shaped maple neck with 9.5"-radius rosewood fingerboard and 21 medium jumbo frets, five-way pickup switching, four-ply tortoiseshell pickguard (3-Color Sunburst and Black models) and three-ply parchment pickguard (Candy Apple Red model), two Jazz Bass control knobs (master volume, master tone), vintage-style adjustable six-saddle bridge with "floating" tremolo tailpiece, and vintage-style tuners. Available in 3-Color Sunburst, Black and Candy Apple Red.
For more information, go to fender.com.
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Sourmash Guitars
January 14, 2013 at 5:27pm
That Pawn Shop ’70s Strat Deluxe is a rip off copy of Elijah Everheart's '51 JagCaster Custom (With the excepton of Fender using a Strat body, versus Everheart's choice of the Jag body)! Everheart took the control plate, bridge, and pots from a Fender Squier '51, a 1962 Fender Jaguar body, Vintage DiMarzio X-S at the neck, and DiMarzio X-2N Humbucker at the bridge, keeping the bridge a 'hardtail', and added a '61 Fender Strat neck. The bridge pickup has a coil split, activated by pulling out on the volume control knob, to switch between single-coil and humbucker configuration. The second control knob, which normally would operate as a tone control on a Telecaster or early Precision Bass, is a three-position pickup selector switch for choosing between the neck alone, combined neck/humbucker, or humbucker alone. It has a six-saddle hardtail top-loading bridge. Man, even Fender is copying other's ideas. Never seen that coming! Ha ha ha!
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kenstee
January 14, 2013 at 3:35pm
IMO, this new Pawn Shop Fender Bass VI (if you can even call it that) is a total disappointment. It's features have been rather dramatically reduced/downgraded from the real thing. Gone are the separate on/off switches for each pup - instead a cheap, less customizable blade assembly has been used. Gone is the strangle switch. Gone are the 3 single coil Jag pups which gave it that amazing sound. Gone are the great .095>.026 strings which gave it that classic bass response and tone. Instead, it comes with significantly lighter gauge strings - which greatly impacts tone. Not even sure it can accommodate the proper gauge strings as an option. The truss rod is not the stronger reinforced one found on other VIs. So, structurally may be an issue with thicker strings. And they might not fit in the stock tuning pegs/nut or bridge. Some of the first players to try one out have said it feels a bit flimsy (especially the floating trem) and the bass response was poor - particularly on the E string.
You might be much better off getting the 2012 Schecter Hellcat VI which is more true - IMO - to the classic Bass VI and is very reasonably priced for what you get (uses 3 Seymour Duncan SJAG-1 pups - which sound great btw) except it does not have a trem- which for me is kind of useless with thick strings anyway OR get the UltraCure Robert Smith VI also from Schecter OR get the new MIJ version of the Fender Bass VI - which is MUCH closer to the specs of the classic Bass VI - available from Japanese retailers and some US ones OR get a Burns Barracuda. Why couldn't they just do this right and produce a "real" Bass VI like the current MIJ model and made this stripped-down version the cheaper Squire version? What a missed opportunity. I'll pass.....YMMV
Some early user reviews and comments can be found here...https://www.facebook.com/groups/34542190945/



















