Chrome-finished electric guitars have been having a bit of a moment. In September 2020, for example, Fender partnered with H.E.R. for her Chrome Glow Stratocaster signature guitar. Just last year, session ace Rob Gueringer wielded a chrome PRS Silver Sky at the Super Bowl.
To continue this trend, the Big F has now partnered with another one of its artists for yet another chrome six-string – and it’s causing quite a stir among Strat fans on forums and social media.
The model itself is a one-of-a-kind Custom Shop masterpiece belonging to Serbian blues guitar virtuoso Ana Popovic, who has affectionately nicknamed her new prized possession ‘Foggy’.
But Foggy’s tale has a few more twists and turns that your regular guitar build. It's about a guitar that's been in the works for more than four years, and that's been both the victim of Covid-induced delays and a beacon of promise and excitement for Ana as she underwent treatment for breast cancer in 2020.
The birth of Foggy can be traced back to 2019 – a year before the 20th anniversary of Popovic and Fender’s partnership. In recognition of the milestone, Ana and Fender Artist Relations rep Billy Siegle (the man who first brought Popovic into the Big F’s ranks) planned a suitably celebratory six-string.
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“At that time there weren’t many women playing guitar, and quite frankly they were not in demand either,” Popovic tells Guitar World of her early partnership with Fender. “It was very much a masculine world of guitar. Billy welcomed me to the family.”
For the special occasion model, Popovic had a very specific brief in mind: “I wanted something different and new, but that stayed true to myself as a player. I didn’t want a replica of what I already had.”
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Another potential model totally off the table was one that would replace her “road warrior” – an all-original 1964 Stratocaster that has been “an everlasting inspiration throughout the years” to Popovic.
I wanted something different and new. I didn’t want a replica of what I already had
As Ana puts it, “I didn’t want to copy what I already had and I wanted something that looked and sounded modern – something hip and cool, but at the same time rooted in old-school sound as well.”
Then, in February 2019, the work began. On Thursday 21, Popovic first visited the Fender Custom Shop to begin putting the pieces together and formulating an idea for the celebratory model.
The first port of call was the finish: during the initial Custom Shop consultation, a range of reds, golds and whites were discussed, and only after Popovic had “many sleepless nights thinking about the color of her new Strat did she land on chrome.
But it wasn’t just any old chrome. Instead, it had a unique cloudy effect – hence the name ‘Foggy’ – which can’t be found on any other Fender guitar. “Right then we knew,” Popovic recalls, “this guitar is going to be epic.”
Almost eight months to the day after Popovic’s first trip to the Custom Shop, she returned to “hold my new baby for the first time”. But though Ana’s excitement for her upcoming model was reaching boiling point, the work was far from done.
Between February and May of 2020, Popovic found herself experimenting with a range of different pickup configurations and options – numerous single coils and humbuckers among them – and formulating the design for her show-stopping signature fretboard inlay.
It was around this time that Popovic was diagnosed with breast cancer. The diagnosis rocked Popovic, forcing thoughts of retirement and retreat.
Speaking to Guitar World in April, Popovic discussed how she doubled down in the face of such adversity, and piled her focus into Power – her latest studio album, crafted with the hopes of inspiring “people who go through all sorts of things so that they can get through it as I did”.
But as Popovic tells us now, Power wasn’t the only thing she had on her mind during this period – she was also thinking about Foggy: “As I am recording Power – the record that literally gave me power to survive – I’m daydreaming about my guitar, and my world seems like on a different planet. I needed that guitar then more than ever.”
On May 20 2021, a year after the Custom Shop closed for Covid, work on Foggy resumed, with Master Builder Greg Fessler coming on at the helm to help bring the chrome-finished six-string home.
“Greg Fessler was amazing and really picked up the pieces where we left them, back when the world was normal,” Popovic notes. “He was on board to finish it and get it to me. However, Covid had left so many things on hold, so the wait wasn’t over.”
“Working with Ana on this guitar was an honor,” Fessler himself says of his involvement in Foggy’s creation. “The paint process was challenging, but I’m very happy with the way it turned out: Visually stunning! I didn’t realize it would be talked about this much when I was making it, but it is unique and quite an eye catcher, and I’m glad it got such a positive reaction.”
However, because of the backlog of delayed builds that built up over lockdown, Popovic didn’t get her hands on Foggy until earlier this month – and on August 10, Siegle shipped the chrome-colored custom model to its proud new owner, who wasted no time putting it to good use.
In terms of specs, the finished product features a large C-profile neck and jumbo frets, and comes loaded with a Seymour Duncan 78 Model bridge humbucker and two Custom Shop single-coils inspired by '60s units. There's also a shiny chrome pickguard to accompany the cloudy colorway.
“The moment I met Foggy for the first time can’t be compared with anything. I love it,” Popovic concludes. “It illuminated my world. I love everything about it. My fans absolutely love it. They want it.
“Every night I get questions like, 'Can we order it?' 'I would be honored!' Is my reply. It’s exactly what I wanted. It reflects the light, just as I want to reflect the light, positivity and excitement of being a musician and touring the world and leaving a positive message to the world.”
To see Foggy in action, follow Ana Popovic on Instagram and Facebook.
