A California guitar store is calling for help from the community as it seeks to recover four Fender Custom Shop guitars that were stolen from its Pasadena store.

Posting CCTV images to its Instagram page yesterday, Wild West Guitars has revealed that the quartet of high-value Stratocasters was swiped from the store, before the perpetrators fled the scene in a getaway car.

“Today [June 5] at 4:18 PM, two individuals stole four Fender Custom Shop Stratocasters from our shop while a third acted as the getaway driver,” it states.

“They were seen leaving in a grey Chrysler 200 with a large visible dent on the rear passenger door and above the rear tire near the taillight.”

In the images shared, Wild West Guitars has used AI to enhance its low-resolution CCTV footage, providing a more detailed representation of what the thieves – one of whom is seen wearing a Pearl Jam shirt – look like.

The store will also be hoping that imagery of the car they escaped in will further help its cause. Wild West Guitars is located at 2840 E Foothill Blvd, Pasadena, California 91107.

“We need our community’s help,” it says.

Two of the guitars stolen – 1960 hardtail Strats with Madagascar rosewood fingerboards and heavy relic’d finishes in Fiesta Red and Black – were made to celebrate the store’s 25th anniversary.

The other two include a Fat ’50s Stratocaster Relic in Chocolate, and a 1962 model with hand-wound pickups, a AAA dark rosewood slab fingerboard, and another heavy relic finish, this time in Lake Placid Blue. This distinctiveness of the relic’d finishes may help the recovery.

While guitar store thefts are disappointingly common, some stories do have happy endings. In April, police arrested a suspect linked to a crime ring that had been targeting Guitar Center stores across the US.

Last month, Police officers in California recovered an incredible $60,000 worth of stolen guitars, all of which still had their Guitar Center price tags on. Let’s hope they can have similar results here.

Readers with any relevant information can contact Wild West Guitars via email at info@wildwestguitars.com or via phone at (626) 507-5575.

Two guitars from the collections of Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan are up for sale and are set to fetch a combined $1.55 million.

A classical guitar from the King of Rock n’ Roll, and a unique Fender Stratocaster from folk icon, are both up for grabs via New Orleans antique experts M.S. Rau. They have $900,000 and $650,000 price tags hanging off their headstocks, respectively.

Dylan’s custom Strat, as revealed by Robb Report, was crafted in 1993 at the then-new Fender Custom Shop by master builder J.W. Black, who also worked closely with Jeff Beck.

It features a unique aluminum body engraved with an impressively intricate Art Nouveau-style design that extends across its fretboard, making it a little more Tim Henson than typical Dylan.

The guitar was one of four experimental builds showcased at NAMM 1993, while beneath the pickguard an inscription reads: “J. Black for Bob Dylan.”

Though Dylan started his career on an acoustic guitar, he controversially pivoted to electric at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, with a Strat as his weapon of choice.

The Telecaster played by his foil, Mike Bloomfield – which was dubbed the guitar that killed folk – went up for sale for $275,000 last year. The $900K price tag here puts the Tele to shame.

Elvis’ classical guitar, meanwhile, represents a more traditional instrument and is believed to have been his sidekick circa 1958, when he was stationed in Germany during mandatory military service.

It sports a natural finish with a smart black trim, and single-dot inlays at the fifth, seventh, ninth, and 12th frets.

Presley reportedly gifted the guitar to a close friend in Las Vegas in 1976 after an impromptu rendition of That’s All Right. He then signed the acoustic’s soundboard as one final parting gesture. Although a little worn now, that signature is still visible.

Between Germany and Las Vegas, the guitar reportedly remained by Elvis’ side for nearly 20 years as he became a global superstar in the 1960s and ‘70s.

The instrument is being sold with a certificate of authenticity issued by Graceland Records in 1995, as well as “unique images” of the late icon.

It comes after the King’s 1968 Comeback Special Hagstrom Viking II hit the auction block with a $1 million estimate in April.

“Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan are two of the most influential musicians in history, and these guitars are among the most important examples of music memorabilia I have ever encountered,” says M.S. Rau owner Bill Rau.

“To have a classical guitar owned, played, and signed by Elvis Presley alongside a limited-edition Stratocaster custom-built for Bob Dylan is nothing short of extraordinary, with comparable examples having approached and surpassed the million-dollar mark.”

Head over to M.S. Rau for more.

Fender’s Custom Shop is the home of the company’s dream machines, which are built to the highest quality the California-based company can offer.

But there are tiers within tiers even at this level, and the Custom Shop’s Masterbuilt instruments offer the closest any large guitar maker can get to the hand-craft of master luthiers, with a small cadre of highly experienced Fender guitar makers personally crafting dream guitars from headstock to end-pin.

Recently, we were lucky enough to sit down for a chat with two of Fender’s most in-demand Master Builders, Austin MacNutt and Andy Hicks.

Who better to ask about the sonic soul of Leo Fender’s classic designs and the best ways to mod and maintain them for maximum performance – and also give their views on the way ahead for aged guitars, trends in custom guitar making at Fender and more…

It’s the 75th anniversary of the Telecaster – so tell us, what’s your best setup tip for the classic Tele?

Austin MacNutt: If you’re dealing with a vintage three-barrel saddle kind of thing, that’s the first big thing that comes to mind. If you don’t have compensated saddles, you’re just kind of splitting the difference [in terms of intonation] – that’s all you can do.

So one’s going to be a hair sharp, one’s gonna be a hair flat on each of those saddles. But if that’s not what you want to do, you can get the compensated saddles and then you’re off to the races.

On Fender’s recent American Ultra Luxe Vintage ’50s Tele, we notice they used six individual block-style saddles but made them of brass, presumably to keep that classic Tele twang while offering more accurate intonation – do you think that style of bridge can offer the best of both worlds?

Austin: I haven’t been hands-on with that particular [type of bridge and saddle] myself yet, but from what I can see it’s a great setup – because you still get the brass and you know it’s still got that vintage DNA but just brought into the modern world a little bit.

How about Fender electrics with a vibrato – especially the Strat? How do you avoid niggling issues with the guitar not returning to tuning when you use the vibrato a lot?

Andy Hicks: All the setups are going to start, for me, with making sure that your fret dressing is done properly. Because if you’re having to fight that, then you’re going to run into issues through a lot of your setup.

There are different kinds of nut files – there are ones that have a flat, squared-off bottom, and then there are ones that have a curved bottom that more [closely] replicate the shape of a string. And that’s what I like. It allows them to smoothly roll through the nut and return to the position that they want to be in.

Also, when I cut the slot, I don’t oversize it, but I do roll the file a little bit as I’m doing it – to remove any burrs, anything that could catch one of the winds on one of the strings. I’ll also be making sure that all the strings are stretched properly and that there are no burrs on the saddles at the bridge as well.

So many issues can be solved by just taking some small file and, without much pressure, dragging it across the surfaces where the strings are going to be – because you’re catching these little metal fragments that bind the strings. What is causing the tuning issue is the string is being stretched or loosened, but then it’s not returning to its original tension.

How do you tend to tailor the break angle over the nut to optimise tuning stability?

Andy: I’m pretty careful about cutting my nut slots so that the angle is going to be the natural angle of the string from the break point to where it’s meeting on the tuning key. If you’re slotting too steep of an angle, then you’re going to have a sharp point that the string is resting on again, and that’s going to be a binding point.

If it’s not steep enough, then you’re going to have this area where it can slide and not really have a meeting point. So it takes a little bit of practice, but once you can really nail that angle, that also is doing a lot of the heavy lifting for making sure that you’re not having tuning issues.

Austin: It doesn’t matter if it’s staggered tuners or traditional tuners with a string tree; that angle needs to just match the natural path of the string.

It’s surprising what quite subtle tweaks can do to optimise the overall performance of the guitar.

Austin: Yeah. I do some setup work for session players out in LA and they’re always surprised that they’ll bring an instrument over and I’ll immediately know what the issue is. It’s just a case of one swipe of a file, and they’re like, ‘That’s it?’ And I’m like ‘Yeah.’

And they say, ‘I could have done that.’ But [you couldn’t really fix it that quickly] unless you do this stuff enough to the point that it becomes second nature to you – and you can just hear or feel the problem and know pretty immediately what’s going on.

How about classic offset guitars like the Jazzmaster – anything you take extra care over in terms of setup for those?

Austin: I think the first thing I would try to tell somebody who has a vintage Jazzmaster bridge and the tremolo that goes with that is, just understand what it is and what the pros of that are – and also that it wasn’t a perfect design. It’s still being fiddled with today.

So, you know, there’s not really an answer for everybody’s playing style. But one of the things that I’ve found – and we do this [as a matter of course] in the Custom Shop – is that when you take the bridge out, you want to make sure that all the components fit properly.

It’s all metal pieces that are acting on a pivot, and they can create these little burrs and bends. For example, sometimes, I’m taking the bridge off and filing the bottom of the screw for the height adjustment. And just doing that a little bit can help with the tuning stability on the Jazzmaster.

And I know this is not really what you’re asking, but if you’re talking about Custom Shop instruments – specifically Masterbuilt ones – the person who’s assembling the bridge is also the person who’s going to be setting the guitar up later and doing things to the components before they even assemble the bridge. When I’m undertaking that kind of work, I know what could potentially be an issue later. So it’s just an experience thing.

How do you think what the Custom Shop offers to players has evolved over the past 20 years?

Andy: Obviously, it originated as just strictly recreating examples of true vintage instruments, which we are still doing today. But then there are also [models we make] that are a little bit extra or that have weird colour combinations, stuff that is not vintage-correct…

Austin: Things that live in the world of fantasy a little bit.

Andy: Yeah, so it’s expanded to that and that opens up a lot of opportunities for really cool-looking instruments – you can really have a lot of fun getting some extravagant relicing or weird colours going. So it started from trying to recreate vintage stuff, which we still do, but now it’s become its own thing, too.

I think also there’s always this thought of like, ‘Will the relic fad go away?’ And I don’t think it will. When you’re ordering that kind of instrument, it is – by its nature and how we do the work on it – a one-of-one instrument. So if you’re getting a NOS [New Old Stock finish – namely, pristine and unaged] Candy Apple Red Strat, then you’re going to see other Strats out in the wild that look like your Strat.

But if you’re having any level of relicing done on it, you can always pick yours out from the crowd. And I think for customers, especially if they’re spending that kind of money on an instrument, it’s like, ‘My guitar is now one-of-one, just because it has this unique [artificial ageing] fingerprint on it that doesn’t exist on any other guitar.’

It’s like relicing has become a kind of aesthetic all of its own that goes beyond simply trying to make guitars look authentically old.

Andy: Yeah, I mean, there are still people who want an instrument that looks like it’s straight out of the early ’50s, and then there are other people who see [relicing] just as another aesthetic part of the guitar. In just the same way as people have got their favourite colours, they also tend to have their favourite relicing level.

And it’s not about, ‘Does it look like it actually happened to the instrument?’ Something that you’ll hear a lot of is that relicing is like ‘stolen valour’ – like, ‘Oh, you didn’t earn that relicing.’ But I think people who like it are not thinking of it like that.

They’re not thinking, ‘I want this instrument to look like I’ve played it for 60 years.’ They just think it’s cool. And I don’t gatekeep that kind of [choice] because it’s your instrument – and whatever makes you feel like you want to pick it up and play it, that’s what you should do.”

Austin: I always tell people there’s nothing stopping you from ordering a NOS [non-relic] guitar. I’m more than happy to not beat it up [laughs] – so you can have both.

As time goes by and children of the 1990s enter the market for high-end Fenders, do you notice an increase in shred-inspired orders in the Custom Shop?

Andy: I would say that’s a pretty accurate assessment. I’ve done some more Floyd Rose stuff recently than I have in the past, for sure – there’s definitely more of that.

Austin: We’re entering the era where the guys who grew up listening to Eddie Van Halen, they’re the customer base now who are buying Custom Shop, and they’re not looking for their dad’s guitar. They’re looking for their guitar hero’s guitar. So I know that a big part of my clientele is our customers who want those ‘Super Strats’ and I probably do more Floyd Rose HSS than anybody else in the shop.

It’s not surprising to me at all because guys who are my age and slightly older, I know that those are the instruments they grew up listening to: their dads grew up listening to stock ‘Blackguards’ and vintage Strats, and their heroes are screaming on high-performance instruments.

What other interesting new avenues do you think Custom Shop guitars can go down?

Austin: Well, there’s no shortage of interesting requests and it’s fun to fulfil someone’s dream guitar. They might be the only one that has that idea or that specific group of specs on the guitar – so it’s always something new.

Andy: But there’s a balance you have to do with Fender because, at some point, if you take too much away from what makes it a Fender, it’s losing some of that soul. And Leo created these incredible instruments – and when I talk about Leo Fender and his early instruments, I compare him to somebody who invented the game of baseball, and then his very first turn at bat, hit a home run. He did it so well that even now, 70 years later, everybody still wants to have their version of the Strat and the Tele.

And so [you ask yourself], ‘Am I at some point going to take away so many parts of the soul of the instrument that now it’s no longer a Strat?’ And if I’ve done that, I’m probably not doing my job correctly. There are other brands under the Fender umbrella that maybe have the freedom to do that, but I try to always strike a balance with it.

It seems like more and more guitar makers are now offering some form of aged finish for their instruments – obviously inspired by the Relic trend that Fender started. Does that increasing competition influence what you do to any degree?

Andy: For me, I’m just so proud of the quality of work that all of the Master Builders are putting out, and the rest of Custom Shop, that I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about who else is chasing that look. If somebody else wants to try to do it and it benefits them, then great.

But I’m not too worried about what somebody else is doing. I’m focused on my own builds and making sure that there’s a certain standard of quality that goes out. Everybody’s free to try it. It’s not as easy as they think. A lot of people say, ‘I can drag a guitar behind my car and then sell it for that price,’ and it’s like, ‘Okay, go do it then! [Laughs]’

• For more info on Andy and Austin’s incredible work, head over to the Fender Custom Shop
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

Hugely respected luthier Levi Perry has left the Fender Custom Shop to launch his own firm, Gavilan Guitars, which he’s describing as a “full circle moment.”

With considerable Master Builder experience, and having built high-level instruments for the likes of MkGee, Buddy Guy, and Matty Healy, Perry has relocated to New Mexico for a challenge that “keeps the spirit of childhood adventure alive.”

Perry joined Fender straight out of high school and, by Casino Guitars' count, became Fender's youngest-ever Master Builder after acing his Master Builder apprenticeship.

“Gavilan Guitars is a full circle moment for me,” he says of his newly launched brand. “It brings together so many of the moments and memories that have shaped me. It’s where my childhood adventures meet my career. It’s so much more than just a name for me. It’s my home. It’s my family.”

Gavilan is the Spanish word for hawk and is also the name of Perry's childhood home in California. The Miramonte – a quirky, stunning offset that has some delicious relic'ing – is his brand's first build, with many more set to follow.

“It's important to me in a lot of ways because it has these contradictions that I like that I think show my personality,” Perry explains. “I’m an old soul in a lot of ways. I grew up pretending to be a cowboy and watching old black-and-white movies. But at the same time, I'm a ‘90s baby who loved skate videos and grunge. And so there's this feeling of something familiar and old, but at the same time it's new, and it's original.

“I wanted that to happen organically,” he adds. “I hope that you feel that sense of childhood adventure in each instrument.”

Gavilan has built a nine-strong dealer network to start with, including Casino Guitars, Chicago Music Exchange, and Andertons to ensure it has a presence on both sides of the Atlantic.

Perry follows a handful of Master Builders who have left the Fender Custom Shop roster in recent years John Cruz now works with Iconic Guitars, which has brought the Strat recipe into the year 3000 via Josh de la Victoria. Carlos Lopez, meanwhile, set up Castedosa Guitars in 2022.

It’s an exciting new chapter for Perry, who has already launched a new(ish) body shape to the market, and put his relic’ing experience to great use with these first P-90 loaded guitars.

See Gavilan Guitars for more.

The relic’d guitar trend has swept through the market in recent years. Be it Gibson’s Murphy Lab going to extreme lengths to make new guitars look like they’ve seen decades on the frontline, or firms like Charvel offering pre-roughed-up axes as a stylistic choice, relic’d guitars are selling like hot cakes.

As Fender Masterbuilders, Andy Hicks and Austin MacNutt have seen this trend gain traction firsthand and believe they understand the reasons for its growth, and are also keen to dismiss one of the biggest counterarguments.

“There are people who want an instrument that looks like it’s straight out of the early ‘50s, and then there are other people who see [relicing] as another aesthetic part of the guitar,” Hicks nods, in conversation with Guitarist.

There are guitars like Rory Gallagher’s $1.16m Strat that aged naturally, through years of playing and the Irishman’s particularly acidic sweat, and then there are distinctly modern guitars like the Solar relic’d series that come pre-worn – like buying jeans with holes in them already. For the Fender team, it’s all kosher.

“In just the same way as people have their favorite colors, they also tend to have their favorite relicing level,” Hicks adds. “And it’s not about, ‘Does it look like it actually happened to the instrument?’ Something that you’ll hear a lot of is that relicing is like ‘stolen valor’ – like, ‘Oh, you didn’t earn that relicing.’ But I think people who like it are not thinking of it like that. They’re not thinking, ‘I want this instrument to look like I’ve played it for 60 years.’ They just think it’s cool.”

Indeed, Hicks says he isn’t here to “gatekeep” – his job is to build a customer’s guitar just the way they want it. It’s the same whether he’s building for Joe Bloggs down the street, or a guitar superstar like Iron Maiden’s Dave Murray, having crafted one of his most recent Custom Shop builds.

“I always tell people there’s nothing stopping you from ordering a NOS [non-relic] guitar,” MacNutt returns. “I’m more than happy to not beat it up [laughs] – so you can have both.”

Speaking to Guitarist previously, fellow Fender Custom Shop Senior Masterbuilder Paul Waller revealed what he believes gives a guitar its spirit. Guitar World previously sat down with Levi Perry in 2023, who rose through the ranks to gain Masterbuilder status after a decade with Fender.

To read the pair’s interview in full, head to Magazines Direct to order a copy of the new issue of Guitarist.

Fender has put the powers of its Custom Shop behind a campaign to support communities affected by the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, unveiling the first of four custom, one-of-one electric guitars that will go to auction, with all proceeds going to the San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity (SGV Habitat).

All of these guitars will be built using reclaimed wood, with Angel City Lumber in charge of the salvage operation.

The first instrument to emerge from Fender’s Corona, California Custom Shop is the Altadena Telecaster, which has a body carved from a Deodar cedar tree that was damaged in the Eaton fire. The area around Altadena was devastated. Some reports estimate that more than half of its tree canopy, much of it cedar, was lost in the disaster. Fender has given one tree a second life.

Elsewhere, the Altadena Telecaster is your typical Custom Shop heritage build (also, the fact that it uses whatever wood was at hand makes it a quintessential Fender build; it’s what Leo would have done). It has a pair of ’51 Nocaster electric guitar pickups hooked up to a Modified Nocaster wiring loom.

The cedar body has been given a thin spritz of satin urethane to tease all the detail out of the grain. Fender has given this a AAA figured maple neck, and you’ve got the black single-ply pickguard to take you back to the O.G. Tele builds.

The neckplate is engraved with “We Are All Altadena” artwork from Eric Junker. It ships with a deluxe hard-shell guitar case and COA. Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes [below] has already given this unicorn Blackguard a test drive, playing it live at A Concert For Altadena.

Bidding is open now via the non-profit auction platform PLUS1, and closes February 4 at 5:59 p.m. PST. The estimated value is $5,000 (bidding is currently at $5,100).

PLUS1 has already distributed $425,000 to various wildfire recovery organizations in Los Angeles. Money raised from Fender’s campaign with SGV Habitat will go towards rebuilding homes and providing housing security for families impacted by the disaster.

“Rebuilt homes are a symbol of recovery for a community after a disaster,” says Bryan Wong, CEO of SGV Habitat. “Partnerships like this will help ensure the fabric of the community of Altadena (which was known for its vibrant arts community) can return. These instruments are building more than houses, they are restoring hope.”

“Music has always been about connection, and this project brings that spirit to life through an instrument built to give back,” says Justin Norvell, president of Americas at Fender. “This partnership represents our commitment to the artist community affected by the fires, honoring their resilience while supporting long-term recovery efforts in Los Angeles.”

To view the auction or donate to the wildfire recovery fund, head over to PLUS1’s page on Givebutter.

Fender will unveil the three other guitars as and when they are completed.

In the aftermath of the LA wildfires, Guitar Center also launched an initiative, via its charitable foundation that offered one-time grants to replace any gear that musicians lost.

The likes of Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan were both evacuated from their homes, while Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith and Primus guitarist Larry ‘Ler’ LaLonde were among thousands who lost their homes to the fire.

Recently, Iron Maiden and Fender collaborated on a host of new signature guitars for the band's legendary players. Now, Fender has revealed a touching behind-the-scenes story, shining a light on the luthier who played a key role in the project.

Andy Hicks, a Masterbuilder at Fender’s Custom Shop, says the moment he first picked up a Fender Stratocaster aged 12 changed his life forever. He has two passions in life: his family and building guitars.

As such, building a Stratocaster for Dave Murray – who just so happens to also be Hicks' ultimate guitar hero – was a real pinch-me moment.

“I can't talk about my favorite builds without first talking about the Dave Murray Strat,” he says in a new video from Fender, entitled Meet the Builder. “I built this for him two years ago to take on tour with Iron Maiden.

“It's a surreal experience to receive a phone call and ask if you want to make a guitar for your favorite guitar player ever,” he smiles. “What's absolutely insane is seeing photos of him on my social media feeds every day, with them on tour, and I can see my little signature decal [on the back of the headstock], and it's like part of my soul is on stage with my favorite band every single night.”

For the Maiden gang's new signature drop, Murray’s super-clean and sharp white Strat was reissued as a Masterbuilt model. Elsewhere, Steve Harris was honored with a Precision Bass, Adrian Smith stayed loyal to Jackson, and Janick Gers also got his own axe.

It's not the first time Hicks has spoken about how much this project meant to him. Speaking to Guitar World during a recent Fender Japan event – where Hicks' Godzilla Strat was unveiled – he said the Murray Strat and the Godzilla guitar were his two prized builds.

“This is the most fun guitar I've done. I would say it's between that and the Dave Murray Strat. Dave Murray is my favorite guitar player,” he said at the time.

“To best describe what it is to be a Masterbuilder, I first have to describe what the Custom Shop in general is,” Hicks continues in the Fender interview. “It is the dream factory. You come to us with your dream guitar, and we're going to make that dream come true.

“I'm literally talking with customers at the beginning of their ordering process, and my job does not stop until I carry the guitar to the shipping department. I'm responsible for every aspect of the guitar.”

In related news, Murray recently attributed much of Maiden’s success to the fact that their lead songwriter is a bassist, and his bandmate, Adrian Smith, also recalled the time he got to spend an afternoon alone with Kirk Hammett’s prestigious “Greeny” Les Paul.

Suicide Silence’s riff beast Chris Garza may be the proud owner of the world’s first official seven-string Fender Strat, but he says getting the firm’s Custom Shop to commit to the build was a massive challenge.

Strat shapes are a common sight in the extended-range guitar world but, save for the short-lived Squier Stagemaster 7 – which came and went in the early 2000s – Fender hadn’t dipped its toes into that particular market until Garza twisted its arm.

Sure, its family of firms has done so in the past – Charvel’s latest signature seven-string for Angel Vivaldi is proof of that – but getting Fender to follow suit was another matter altogether.

Discussing the instrument’s origins in a new video with Sweetwater, Garza says seeing Korn at age 12 sparked his seven-string obsession, though he first had to make do with a six-string Stratocaster gifted by his dad.

“My whole life revolves around the seven-string,” Garza begins. “I've played almost every company out there and nothing’s ever felt right. Then one day it hit me: I want a Fender seven-string Stratocaster. They're not out there, but I'm going to try to get one.

Through his friend's dad, who worked at Fender, Garza approached Fender's Custom Shop, called them, and before long he was in the workshop.

He quickly struck up a partnership with luthier Jason Klein, who “stuck his neck out” for Garza, but a series of roadblocks lay ahead.

“I got a lot of nos,” he sighs. “A couple of years passed. They got a new Master Builder, Carlos Lopez, and he was the guy who wanted to take on all the new stuff – the weird things that Fender wouldn't normally do.” Finally, Garza got the green light he craved.

Aside from the extra string quirk, Garza also side-stepped some typical Stratocaster ingredients. He opted for a mahogany body and 24-fret ebony fingerboard. It has a 26.5" scale length and is saddled with Bare Knuckle Aftermath humbuckers.

Garza now dreams of turning his custom cab bruiser into a signature guitar to give players “access to what I didn't have”.

“This is for the 13-year-old who wants to start a band,” he explains. “This guitar can do it all. It combines the old school foundation with the most modern specs. No guitar can touch this.”

This isn't the only left-field seven-string we've seen in recent years. Johnny Marr also made a surprising venture into the world of seven-strings with his latest signature Martin acoustic guitar, but his build isn’t what you think it is.

During its 65-year history, the Fender Jazz Bass has been subject to various specification and design changes, some subtle and others not so subtle (MonoNeon High Visibility Orange, anyone?!).

You can get versions with extra pickups, five strings, active electronics and all sorts, so exactly what features should such a significant legacy of live and recorded music be celebrated with?

Bass players of the stature of Adrian Younge don’t tend to accept compromises. the producer is best known for his bass work with Jay-Z, alongside collaborations with some of the biggest hip-hop artists of all time, including Wu-Tang Clan, Common and Kendrick Lamar.

His recently launched limited-edition signature model is dressed in Journeyman Relic Aged Silver Sparkle lacquer, while the fretboard flashes a unique half-fretless design. The hardware has also been artificially aged.

“I wanted to create something that looked like it was made during the late-‘60s,” said Younge. “So imagine a ‘60s Jazz Bass that somebody has tried to keep looking brand-new, but they didn't do the greatest job. That's why it has cracks in the finish, rust on the hardware, and there’s a patina on the tuning pegs.

“If a bass looks dope, then it will probably sound amazing. As far as vintage shit is concerned, that idea’s been proven over and over.”

A major departure from Leo Fender’s original is with the half-fretless fingerboard, which is fretted up through the 9th fret, and fretless from there all the way to the 20th.

“It’s not that I particularly wanted a fretless sound, but I wanted to hear the sound of my fingers and some of those more acoustic accents that you can’t usually get with bass guitar. So you get this kind of classic flatwound punch.

“What’s really cool is that you don't even realize you're on the fretless part of the board. The transition is seamless. The whole bass is kind of fucked up like that, but for some reason it's kind of beautiful.”

Other features include a built-in fuzz and a square-wave tremolo that can be sped up and slowed down, accessible via switchable push-pull toggles on the master volume and tone knobs.

“Those effects are based on some of my own vintage effects. They modelled the fuzz on my Ace Tone Bass 9. There’s a song called Jenipapo Robe that shows you exactly what the onboard fuzz sounds like.”

It has a distinctive tone too, thanks to a Hand-Wound ‘62 Split Single-Coil Precision Bass pickup and a Curtis Novak BS-DS pickup.

“When you plug this thing in, it just sounds like it belongs on an old soul record. I’d go as far to say that if Leo Fender had released a Jazz Bass like this back in the ‘60s, it would have changed the entire history of popular music.”

You’re known for your collaborations with Jay-Z, Wu-Tang Clan, Common, and Kendrick Lamar. If you look back at all those sessions, is there a particular bassline that jumps out as being special?

“My basslines have been sampled by so many different hip-hop artists, but I think the most popular is from a Jay-Z song called Picasso Baby. They sampled a loop of my bassline for that track.”

When did you start sampling records? Was it before you took up the bass?

“It was around 1996. I wanted to be the next DJ Premier or Ali Shaheed Muhammad, but I soon realized that I had to learn how to actually play real instruments. So I put the sampler down and I bought a bass, a guitar, a piano, a drum kit, and I started learning how to play.”

What records had you been you sampling?

“Anything from 1968 to 1973. I found those records to be way more inspiring than any of the derivative music I was making.

“All of those records were recorded to analog tape, and that’s really what started my own journey into analogue recording. Everything I do now is dependent on tapping into that golden period.”

Do you think hip-hop will always be tied to those old records?

“Those records would never have survived without hip-hop. Hip-hop looked back and said, ‘We think this King Crimson psychedelic rock is dope, check out the drum break in this country song, and this jazz song.’ Hip-hop brought all of that music back and made it something brand-new.”

Do you have a favourite record?

“If you’re looking for a masterclass in bass playing then you should listen to the Superfly soundtrack by Curtis Mayfield. That came out in 1972 and changed the way that people play bass all around the world.

“Ennio Morricone also wrote some incredible basslines for those early ’70s soundtracks. They have a thump to them that’s reminiscent of the lines that Wu-Tang sampled. James Jamerson on What’s Going On is another one.”

How do you feel about digital technology reshaping the music industry?

“For me, the digital world doesn't exist. Digital software cannot capture the same frequencies as an analog studio. It just can’t do it. It can emulate it, but that’s all. So if someone really wants to embrace digital technology, they should just hook something up with MIDI. They shouldn’t even play bass.

“And it’s not that digital sucks; it’s just the kind of music that I make can’t be done without recording to tape with real instruments.”

Why do you think so many people are drawn to digital music technology?

“If you look at the timeframe from the late-‘60s to today, what has really guided music technology? Has it been based on how good something sounds? Or how much something costs to be produced?

“We’ve gone from tubes to transistors, and now we’re going from transistors to IC chips, or from hardware to computer software, and now to iPhone. It's all about what's going to sell and what people are willing to accept.

“Once the consumer base accepts the idea of a Pro Tools plugin, then why spend money on the real thing? I guess it's getting harder for people to understand that somebody is still willing to go the extra distance for their art.”

Are you the type of person who spends days going for that perfect tone?

“I just plug my bass into my amp, check my levels, and I'm ready to go! I've been doing this for 30 years, so I already have my sound, and I know what my chain is.

“Before I knew all this shit, I would stay for hours trying to figure out which mic to use and how best to fine-tune my tone.

“One of the goals with my signature bass is to help other people find that same kind of sound, so they don’t have to spend as much time tweaking things in the studio as I did.”

• For more information on the Limited Edition Masterbuilt Adrian Younge Jazz Bass, head to Fender Custom Shop.

For almost four decades, the guitars that live closest to the edge of dreams at Fender are those built by the Custom Shop.

What began as a means to give players the highest-quality classic electric guitars money could buy has become a place where Fender heritage is studied and venerated but also combined with the bleeding edge of tone-making tricks and mash-up aesthetics.

And the hill of innovation keeps getting steeper as players become ever-more savvy to the options they could order for their dream guitar. Let’s find out what the state of the Custom Shop’s art is in 2025.

How has the Custom Shop evolved over the past 20 years?

Paul Waller (master builder): “I would say that when I started, we didn’t have the amount of limited-edition replica guitars that we’re making now. Back then, they were just starting to come into their own, with the Jaco [Pastorius] bass and stuff.

“But then we really started doing a lot more of that as artists were coming into the fold and seeing what the potential was. So I think it just elevated our status [and showed] how good we’ve gotten at doing relic guitars and emulating old guitars. It’s really a statement, like planting a flag on the hill saying, ‘We are really good at it.’ That evolution has really helped to boost the status of the Fender Custom Shop, in my opinion.”

Chase Paul (director of product development): “For me, the Shop has always been the pinnacle of Fender instruments. So we can build a perfect replica of either an artist model like a signature guitar, or something historic – whether it’s an early ’50s Blackguard or a mid-’50s Strat…

“Those things have always been the touchstone for the golden era of Fender in a lot of ways because the guitars have always been built the old-fashioned way.

“So, for me, it’s kind of been this peak of what Fender instruments should be. And then over the past 10 or 15 years it’s really taken on this ‘if you dream it, we’ll build it’ kind of mentality. Where customers can come up with things, dealers can come up with things that make guys like Paul or Dennis [Galuszka, fellow master builder] be like, ‘Yeah, let’s try that.’ Those are guys who’ve been building guitars here for 20 years or more.

“I think it’s always been – and hopefully will always be – the absolute aspirational peak of what Fender instruments are. But I think [its role as a] playground for the builders to perfect guitars that they dream up, or that customers have come up with… Hopefully that never changes.”

Do customers want different things from CS Fenders than they did a decade ago?

Paul: “Yes and no. I mean, in some cases, we follow trends just like fashion. One of the bullet points to that is colour. We’ll see specific vintage colours come in and out of fashion, Shell Pink being one of the statement [custom colour finishes].

“It’s really popular for a couple of years, then we won’t build one for a while, and then it’ll get so popular that Chase will inevitably have to spec one out at a Team Built level just to keep up with the demand. And then it just falls off again. The same thing with sparkle finishes and some others – usually the greens and some of the blues.

“The ones that always get built are the blonde Teles, the black Strats, sunbursts… We make those in the same quantities no matter what is in fashion. It’s interesting to see all that stuff happen, but the thing that has evolved is the players. They have a more discerning taste and can hear a lot more of what we’re throwing [into the design of the guitars] in terms of pickups and tonewoods, specifically [through the use of] the roasted maple and alder and ash bodies.

“Those that are in the know and seeking out that tone can find it through some of those avenues. And, again, it can be a trend that might fall off or it might stay in – but we’re a made-to-order shop, so we just make what people are ordering.

“So the trends are a big part of what we do – and staying in front of them and making sure that we have good communication with our dealers. I always tell people I’m kind of living two years in the past because a lot of my orders are two years old. So it’s nice to have events where I can talk to dealers and see what’s currently the hot trend.”

Fender’s online Mod Shop tool now makes production-line guitars customisable. Have you repositioned what the Custom Shop offers because of that?

Chase: “Interesting question because [Mod Shop offers] personalisation to a much more accessible price point. But Custom Shop is the upper echelon of guitar making at Fender – so what we do in the Shop is rely on our creativity to push the boundaries of what Paul was talking about – [making guitars with] new pickups, new tonewoods, things like that.

“We continue to explore [all the possibilities] every time we’re in a room together and you get three, four or five of us talking about stuff: ‘What if we tried this or this?’ Within Mod Shop, however, there’s a finite number of options, right? There are things that rotate in and out, so it’s [a case of]: here’s the platform, here are the things you can spec out. It’s a really cool tool to access and see how you can build a guitar that’s personal for you.

“But within the Custom Shop, there are no limits. It’s basically: how long will it take and how much is it going to cost? Those are the two things we have to figure out. But we’ve had people literally send us lumber from a tree taken down on their own property, and asked us to build a guitar body with it. We will absolutely do that – we’ve just got to figure out how. For us, if you dream it, it will be.”

Over the years, the Custom Shop has forensically examined hundreds of vintage Fenders in order to make its own reissues more accurate. But does that process uncover any surprises about the way Fender made guitars back in the day?

Paul: “You know, Leo was a frugal person and so he didn’t throw anything away. There’s a lot of misconceptions around this – today, when a new car comes out, that new model is the new model [with fixed, uniform features for that year]. But in the past, when they had parts left over, they used them up.

“So ’58 decals would get used on ’59 guitars. 1959 was an example of what we call transition years, where there’s a little bit of both. And actually ’59 is an interesting year because a lot changed in that year with overlaps of specs.

“So you’ll see different variations of scratchplate – from single-ply to three-ply, different screw-hole patterns. Rosewood was introduced in 1959, too, but some of them were still made with maple necks. It’s just [the product of] what they had left over when they were putting guitars together, to move them out.”

“Those are the interesting anomalies that we see because as they begin to move through the production years [the specs associated with a given iteration of a model] stayed pretty tight for a couple years at least after that.

“Sometimes, it’s fun to mess around with some of those transition years. As a builder, I might say to myself, ‘I’m going to call this a ’59, but it’s going to have a maple neck and a single-ply pickguard or a different decal,’ or something like that. So there’s a little bit of room to work in.

“But for the most part, a lot of what we do is vintage – so we’re kind of in a box. But, to go back to my other point about doing a lot of replica guitars, modifications were frequently made [to famous guitars used by famous artists], so now modifications are becoming the norm. For instance, a humbucker in a Strat in the bridge position is now widely accepted and almost demanded in a modern Strat.

“Same thing with a different neck pickup in a Telecaster. Some of those vintage drifts have become standard practice in the factory, and even some of the models that are being spec’d out currently in the Custom Shop. So [it’s about] following the trends in customer demands, while staying true to the vintage but providing a modern instrument for players that are looking for something a little bit more refreshed.”

Chase: “What’s fun, too, is there are two ways that we get to see these [unusual or one-off] guitars. One is through these artist replicas, where we’ll have artists bring in their instruments and we’ll do what we refer to as an ‘autopsy’, where it’s a full inspection of the instrument. You get to see pencilled neck-dates on instruments, where you’re like, ‘Wow. I thought for a long time this was a ’59, it’s actually a 1960,’ – and so there are all these things that you get to see hands on, through artist models.

“And then, being in Southern California, we’re so close to where a lot of these guitars basically stayed once they were originally sold in the ’50s and ’60s. There are all these great independent guitar stores nearby, and something that we saw recently was a 1968 custom Tele, right? Double-bound, three-colour sunburst…

“Traditionally, in the mid-to-late ’60s, those would have had rosewood fingerboards. Or if they had maple fingerboards, they’d have the big 7mm dot inlays. This one was a maple-cap neck, so it was like a standard ’68 Tele, but it had quarter-inch dots instead of 7mm dots. And it was at a store that we trust, where we knew that this was original and that they’ve done the full inspection on it.”

“A friend of mine and I were literally in there with calipers, measuring the dots, like, ‘There’s no way those are the quarter-inch dots!’ And we’re like, ‘Holy shit. I’ve never seen this guitar before.’ So even on a daily basis, we’re exposed to things that can inform our ability to be the stewards of the Fender past. We can release something and confidently say, ‘This existed like this.’

“To Paul’s point, there were no real, clear lines in the sand where they said, ‘We stopped using this material or this spec on this date, and everything after that was a new material or a new spec,’ or whatever it is. These transitions lasted a long time. I’m sure that that guitar existed because they just found a stash of old black dots before they transitioned to the larger dots and decided to use them up.”

Custom Shop hardware such as the RSD Stratocaster vibrato and RSD Tele bridge – to name but two designs – add cool aesthetic and functional twists to familiar designs. Who comes up with those bits of hardware?

Paul: “A lot of that stuff that you’re referring to is designed and built by Scott Buell. He’s kind of a mad genius in the Shop and he’s also like the godfather of the Shop . He’s been here since the beginning days of the Custom Shop. And that’s exactly what it is – trying to make it look vintage but have a more modern spec and a more beautiful feel to it as well.

“That’s the kind of stuff that we love to do when we have free time and we’re not too terribly busy. I mean, the demand for J-bridges right now… I almost feel like it sells more guitars because of the bridge alone. That’s how good it is. And then, if customers are leaning towards a modern spec, I’ll say, ‘Why not try the RSD bridge?’”

Chase: “An important thing for us is trying to elegantly push things forward, and Scott has been such a huge part of being able to look at a vintage design and approach it using the design language of, ‘How would this have been done if this was originally implemented in late ’50s or early ’60s? What’s the problem we’re trying to solve, and how do we fix it in a way where it feels authentic to the design of the instrument?’

“Because one of the biggest things for us is, it’s not just one spec that makes a guitar – it’s, how does the entire guitar come together? And what is the full picture of what that instrument is supposed to be? So using new hardware is a way of informing that whole broader point of what that instrument is supposed to become – and things like the RSD Strat tremolo are the perfect example of this.

“If you see it on a guitar hanging on a wall in a shop, it looks like a vintage Strat bridge, but it has slightly more narrow string spacing, so it’s a little bit more comfortable for people who are doing fast picking or have more intricate picking patterns – things that modern music is calling for.

“But it still has the steel plate, it still has the bent steel saddles, it still has a cold-rolled steel block. The arm is a pop-in arm and you can adjust the tension on it so it’ll sit right where you want it to, instead of having to hope that when you screw it in it’s gonna hang where you need it to hang when you’re not playing it.

“It’s about making really thoughtful improvements on the original design while retaining the original character. That’s the lens we try to use as we’re looking at new product – whether it’s pickups, hardware… We want to try to be as respectful as we can to the things in the past and still honour the legacy of what it is that we’re doing, but move it forward incrementally so it’s a better playing experience for the artist.”

The Custom Shop has developed some pretty amazing pickups, many of which can be bought as standalone parts. What’s in the pipeline on that front?

Paul: “Pickups have always been a big thing for me because I think the heart and soul of a Fender is the pickup itself. I think everyone’s aware that we’re the biggest electric guitar manufacturer on the planet. And I say, ‘Well, that also makes us the biggest pickup manufacturer on the planet, and we make a pretty good one.’

“We’ve been doing it a long time, and there’s generations of people that have been working in the factory since the ’50s and ’60s that are still doing it. To me, that’s super-important; that’s the quality ingredient that goes into it. I draw a lot of inspiration from the hot-rod world, where you want to make it look like it’s an old part, or make it look like it existed back in the day but modernise it. And I employ that kind of same idea to the pickup.”

“Currently, I’m working on a humbucker that’s a more Fender-ish sounding humbucker that would work well in both the neck position in a Telecaster and the bridge position in a Strat, and doesn’t have that high volume when switched between the two, and then in the middle position, it makes it a lot sweeter and more balanced as well. So that’s what I’m really focusing on right now, in terms of pickups.

“It’s a Josefina [Campos] hand-wound humbucker that I’ve been putting in a lot of builds for my customers. I would hope that we could develop some other platforms to get it out there in wider use – just because of the high price point of a Master Built guitar – so the average guitar player can pick one up and try it for themselves. That’s maybe in the works in the future, wink, wink…”

In recent times we’ve seen the Custom Shop work with an increasing range of non-canonical tonewoods such as okoume, redwood and pine. What’s the scope for further evolution in that area, do you think?

Paul: “Personally, I don’t get too far away from the vintage stuff. My thing is, that’s the music that we’re all emulating – the day that we start emulating something that is not [performed on a guitar with] an ash body or an alder body, and that’s when the trend will heavily shift, but that’s the music we’re emulating.

“I’m now seeing this new generation kind of ripping off ’60s and ’70s music and ’90s music. And so I’m happy to hear that because that means there’s going to be another future generation of rock ’n’ roll guitar players coming out because that’s what’s cool.

“As long as that stays true, then I will always have a gig at least as long as I’m alive! For me, being a traditionalist, those few tonewoods that we mostly use are still tried and true.”

“I will say that redwood makes for an excellent-sounding guitar and so does pine, but pine can be a bit unstable and cause cupping and some issues with that, and then there’s consistency in weight and grain and all that. I think that’s why we use the woods that we use, and that’s why Leo used the woods.

“From his standpoint, he was choosing materials that were inexpensive, readily available and painted well. Ash was one of those materials that was plentiful, but it didn’t paint very well, so I believe that that was a big part of the push to move to alder – it just painted way easier.

“There was no need for grain-fill and the shrinkage wasn’t as bad, so the guitars looked better longer. I also believe that if Leo knew about urethane, or had access to urethane in the ’50s and ’60s, he probably would have used it because it would have made a nicer finish.

“But we get stuck in this vintage thing of ‘it has to be lacquer’. The reality is we can actually spray urethane to half the thickness of lacquer and achieve a beautiful finish that’ll last longer. And it’s more durable – it’s just a better material for what it is we’re doing. But we can’t get away from lacquer because of the vintage thing that we’re doing. So we need both.

“When it comes to [progressive] tonewoods, I do like roasted [wood] as it gets it more into a vintage sound, and I like redwood. But I’m not a big fan of quilt-top guitars, personally. I think it adds too much brightness. But it’s amazing how much the pickup does – arguably most of the work – but it is flavoured by the wood that surrounds it, for sure.”

Chase: “We’re trying to emulate the sound of these instruments that have been revered for decades, right? So you can’t step too far outside of [that] when you start using different materials. I think we end up experimenting here and there, with roasted woods or figured tops on some things – or combinations of woods – to try to emulate the sound that you would get from [traditional Fenders] but have it look a little different.

“At the end of the day, that’s the key: how does it sound? The reality is that the recipe of Fender style – single-coil pickups with a bolt-on neck that’s mostly maple or all maple… there’s a finite number of things you can ‘drift’ before it starts to not sound like that any more. And that’s okay, but it has to be an intentional choice to make it sound different.”

The archetypal Fender tobacco sunburst has to be the most iconic finish of all time. What’s your favourite version of it, Paul?

Paul: “Oh, boy, I kind of like the ‘day-glo’ ’60s-style ’bursts where the yellow is really bright [in the centre]. I think it’s because, when I was a kid, print ads in the ’80s and the ’90s weren’t as good as they are now and there were no digital platforms.

“But that’s how you would see guitars if you didn’t actually go to the store, and the print ads would always make those sunbursts look really vibrant. I know that most people don’t like the ‘day-glo’ style of sunburst, but to me that’s a ’60s guitar – with the bright yellow and the real contrast with the red and everything.

“Of course, I’m not building what I want. I’m building what somebody else wants, so I have to be very careful about not steering somebody towards my [preferred] direction. I’ve got to make sure I’m building their guitar because I pride myself on building somebody their No 1 guitar: I don’t want to give them my guitar; I want to give them their guitar. But if I get an order for one of those, man, I get excited because I love that ‘day-glo’ ’burst.”

Tell us something we don’t know about the Custom Shop.

Paul: “Bunch of clowns [laughs]. We have a lot of fun in the Shop, but we also work really, really hard and put in a lot of hours. It’s very stressful. Unlike the production line, we don’t have the option of just pulling another body or neck to facilitate a quota. We only have one chance to make that guitar because almost every guitar is completely different, unless we’re doing batching.

“With all that, plus the fact [we’re essentially] a group of artists, we have our moments of just being silly and I think it’s a necessary part of the creative environment that we all work in.”

Chase: “You took the words right out of my mouth. It truly has the dynamic of a family atmosphere, where you might have the crazy uncle, you might have the siblings who have a rivalry… But everybody knows how to have fun with each other at the right time and place. It’s an inspiring atmosphere.”

On the one hand you’re trying to accurately and consistently recreate classic Strats, Teles and other Fenders, day in day out, to exacting standards and with a big reputation and a lot of heritage to uphold. But you also have to be imaginative and take risks. How do you square that circle?

Paul: “Interesting you say that because it is probably the hardest part. Balancing between getting the sometimes monotonous work done and being creative… it’s almost like you have to bank the creative [ideas when they occur] because you can’t go looking for it; it just comes out of the sand.

“Then, once you have a moment where you can say, ‘Okay, I’ve finished my ‘have to dos’, now I can do some of my ‘wanna dos’, you can take another look at what you banked and say, ‘What do I have time for?’

“Sometimes [those stored-up creative ideas] stay there for a while before they get made into something, but sometimes it’ll be a brand-new thing and I just execute it straight away. It is difficult, but that’s the part that comes with experience.

“What we try to impress upon the next generation of master builders that are in the Shop currently is [that you need to be] able to spin all those plates simultaneously while riding a unicycle over a shark pit, juggling chainsaws on fire! Just don’t forget to be creative…”

• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

A customer walks into a shop. Nothing unusual about that, did you say? Well, the customer talks to the man behind the counter. And that man is Leo Fender. The customer has an acoustic guitar but wants to be able to plug it into an amp. He’s heard Leo might be the guy to make it happen.

This apparently unimportant event happened around the start of the 1940s at Leo’s Fender Radio Service store in Fullerton, Los Angeles. But this walk-in would result in a guitar with a retrofitted pickup – in other words a customised guitar. And all this happened many, many decades before the Fender company opened an official Custom Shop, and indeed a number of years before the Fender company even existed.

Of course, Leo himself wouldn’t have described that instrument as a ‘custom guitar’, not least because the term hadn’t been invented yet. However, he did create a special piece for a specific customer, which is where the term ‘custom’ originates from.

What makes a guitar a custom guitar? It has to be individual, set apart from regular production models. There’s an emphasis on the handmade aspects of guitar making, and sometimes personal attention from a named builder.

Sadly, there will also be a difference when you come to pay the bill. But let’s get back to Fender, a company now under way and gradually picking up business as the ’50s loomed ahead.

Customarily Colourful

As Fender began to grow into the early ’50s, and with the addition of the Tele, P-Bass and Strat expanding beyond the firm’s original steels and small amps, the emphasis remained firmly on production of a set line of distinct models. Each of those models was offered in a standard finish, either blonde or sunburst.

Any notion of customising at Fender in the ’50s was largely confined to non-standard colour finishes. This happened on a casual basis, and sometimes it was for local musicians who deserved something special.

For example, Bill Carson and Rex Gallion, who helped with the advent of the Stratocaster, were awarded splendid red-finish Strats for their trouble, while Eldon Shamblin of the famous Western swing band led by Bob Wills landed an even more impressive gold-finish model.

As the ’50s rolled on, Fender began to hint publicly yet discreetly in its catalogues and price lists at the availability of colour options, at first at “an additional five per cent cost”. You may want to sit down for the next piece of information. That small price uplift meant a gorgeous brand-new Custom Color Strat could have been yours in 1957 for a few cents short of $288.

There was more. First seen on an early ’57 price list was a “Stratocaster (with tremolo) in Blonde with 14 Carat Gold-Plated Hardware” and a price of $330. This was the model that became known as the Mary Kaye, thanks to the Detroit-born singer and guitarist who appeared with just such a blonde-body/gold-hardware Strat in a series of photos that ran in Fender promo material.

Kaye appeared in the movie Cha-Cha-Cha Boom!, released late in 1956 and with three featured performances where she played that now-famous Strat – a guitar she never possessed for longer than a few hours at a time.

Beyond these rare early sightings, Fender eventually came up with a defined list of officially available Custom Colors, and in the ’60s, when the firm was making many more coloured guitars, it issued colour-chart pamphlets to publicise and help select the various shades, from Dakota Red to Shoreline Gold Metallic, Daphne Blue to Teal Green Metallic. It was an early sign that custom choices could be made to work for a mass-production maker.

Custom Preludes

Long before Fender had its own official Custom Shop, some guitars were nothing like production Strats, Teles, Jags or Jazzmasters, and therefore qualify as early examples of Fenders that might deserve the custom name.

One such was a Jaguar specially built by Fender for a ludicrous 1963 movie called Bye Bye Birdie. In it, a rock ’n’ roll star briefly strums a luscious black-finish Jag that sparkles with gold fittings and has a body decorated to incorporate his (fictional) name – Conrad Birdie. 60 years and more later, however, we are still awaiting a Conrad Birdie signature Jag.

Later in the decade, Fender’s maverick designer Roger Rossmeisl was let loose on the short-lived Montego and LTD, introduced in 1968. They were archtop electrics, quite the antithesis of Fender’s regular fare, although both kept the customary bolt-on neck. Rare and unusual – so certainly candidates for early custom models.

CBS had been Fender’s new owner since 1965, and evidence of the new overseer wringing every drop of potential income from the factory came with the Swinger and the Custom. That’s right: one of them was called the Custom, the first time Fender had used that word as a model name since the double-bound Custom Tele and Esquire of 1959.

Following pressure from CBS to stop wasting spare parts, Fender’s product manager created the Swinger by teaming unused Musicmaster or Bass V bodies with unpopular short-scale Mustang-style necks, and the Custom (aka Maverick) by converting disused Electric XII necks, bodies and pickups.

Both were shortlived, but the idea that it’s possible to rearrange existing materials and styles into something new and potentially successful would become central to at least one strand of custom building.

Fender’s UK distributor

CBS/Arbiter opened the Fender Soundhouse superstore in London in 1973, and the boss, Ivor Arbiter, invited a sculptor friend Jon Douglas to come up with something unusual. He made a replacement Strat body from cold-cast bronze, with a metallic layer over a fibreglass shell.

A small batch of these Rhinestone Stratocasters was offered for sale at the Soundhouse in ’75, but a fire destroyed the premises soon afterward. Apparently, two had already sold, but the rest probably perished in the flames.

Douglas would make fresh moulds for a further small run in the early ’90s, but the originals were arguably the first of Fender’s “art guitars”, a category that would later find a suitable home at the Custom Shop.

What We Need Is A Custom Shop

At the start of the 1980s, CBS management needed fresh blood to energise Fender. The brand’s income had climbed spectacularly – in 1980, it tripled 1971’s figure of $20 million – but reinvestment in the company had wavered and Fender’s reputation for quality was in poor shape.

In 1981, CBS headhunted an experienced team from the American musical-instruments division of Yamaha – Bill Schultz, Dan Smith, John McLaren and Roger Balmer – who joined Bill Mendello from the existing setup, all charged with guiding the firm to better things.

The following year, the new team created Fender Japan, a joint venture with two Japanese distributors. Fender USA licensed Fender Japan the right to have Fender guitars built in Japan – initially only for sale on the Japanese market – which led to the first Japanese Fender vintage reissues and the Squier line of guitars.

However, the improvements were not enough for CBS, and in 1984 it put the Fender name and business up for sale. There were several bidders, but the Mendello/Schultz/Smith/Balmer team won, and in January ’85, almost exactly 20 years since the corporation had acquired it, CBS confirmed it would sell Fender to “an investor group led by William Schultz, president of Fender Musical Instruments”.

It was during the months and years of upheaval and uncertainty following the management buyout that Fender’s official Custom Shop was born. The intention at first was for a facility that would build one-offs and special orders for players with the money and the inclination.

Dan Smith said that in the absence of the Fullerton factory, which was sold separately from the Fender name and business, the buyout team reckoned their limited resources would stretch perhaps to making just 10 vintage reissues a day at their small new premises in Corona (about 20 miles east of the defunct Fullerton site).

Meanwhile, the revived Fender operation’s primary source of production guitars was from the Japanese Fuji-Gen Gakki factory via the Fender Japan deal. “So we were going to start a Custom Shop at Corona to build special projects for artists,” Smith explained, “to make certain that the prestige was still there for the company.”

Artist Specials

George Blanda was the guitar builder hired by Fender in 1985 to make special guitars for artists, effectively starting the idea of a Custom Shop. An early job led to one of Fender’s first signature guitars, the Eric Clapton Stratocaster.

Clapton had discovered that his faithful old ‘bitsa’ Strat, Blackie, was coming to the end of its useful life, and he began discussions with Fender about a modern replacement.

“The big thing was the neck shape that Clapton wanted,” Blanda recalled. “Dan Smith and I made about a dozen neck samples for him to play. He ended up liking two and couldn’t quite decide between them: one was like a pre-war Martin he had, with a very deep V shape; the other was a kind of soft ‘rounded V’ like Blackie, whose neck had become pretty thin through so many refrets.”

Fender had given Clapton one of its Elite Strats a few years before, and he liked the sound of the guitar’s active circuit. He wanted something similar but with more boost, which he called compression. With all this in mind, Blanda and Smith delivered prototypes to Clapton in 1986.

“Then he was on the road for some time, over a year, and we didn’t hear much back,” Blanda said. “At some point, he had a problem with the prototype he had been playing most, the one with the neck like the Martin with the deep V, and he sent it back to us to be fixed.

“We had done all our drawings and tooling and were ready to make this deep-V guitar for him, but then he started playing the other one, like Blackie – and said, ‘Yes, I like this a lot better.’ So we ended up changing back to that for the signature model! It was a very long process because he was on the road so much – his career was having a renaissance.”

The final design eventually went on sale to the public in 1988 as a regular Fender factory model, the Eric Clapton Stratocaster. Clapton retired Blackie around this time and soon began playing his new signature models. (An actual Custom Shop Clapton Strat would have to wait until 2004, when it joined other Custom Shop signatures such as the Albert Collins Tele and the Ritchie Blackmore Strat.)

At Last: A Custom Shop!

George Blanda moved to R&D and that left the idea of a Custom Shop up in the air. Fender had discussions with guitar maker Michael Stevens and with Fender’s former R&D man John Page, who had left the company a year earlier to concentrate on his music.

The result was that in January 1987 Stevens and Page joined up to properly start Fender’s Custom Shop, gaining space later that year in an area within the Corona factory and later moving to various separate Corona buildings nearby.

One of the Shop’s first official orders was to make two left-handed guitars for Elliot Easton of The Cars, a Thinline Tele in Foam Green and a ’57 Mary Kaye Strat.

The order was placed at the end of February 1987 and completed by John Page later that year. Other guitarists who lined up for the Shop’s work in its early months included Robert Cray, Steve Cropper, Jerry Donahue, Robben Ford, Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen, Cesar Rosas, Arlen Roth and Keith Scott, along with a slew of switched-on Fender dealers.

The Shop turned out its first numbered limited edition, the 40th Anniversary Telecaster, in 1988 (a few years early – vintage lore knew no better at the time).

Another historic moment marked by the Shop was the Pine Telecaster & Amp set, issued in a limited edition of 50 in 1996 to celebrate the 50th birthday of the Fender company. The set recreated the original solidbody prototype, with its steel-like headstock shape and angled control plate, alongside a replica of an early Model 26 amp.

More guitar builders were added to the Shop’s growing staff. Fred Stuart’s Egyptian Telecaster, made in 1994, was the first Custom Shop art guitar. Stephen Stern took responsibility for the D’Aquisto hollowbodies when they moved that same year from Japanese production to the Custom Shop. And around the same time, Larry Brooks helped Kurt Cobain create the Jag-Stang from cut-ups of his fave Jag and Mustang.

The expansion of the Custom Shop’s business prompted various moves, notably in ’93 to new buildings still close to the Corona factory, providing extra space and a shift to better efficiency. When Fender’s new plant on Cessna Circle in Corona was unveiled five years later, the Custom Shop moved there.

Ageing Gracefully

JW Black had started at the Custom Shop in 1989, and one day he saw a Strat that a friend of his, Vince Cunetto, had made with an aged finish. He showed it to John Page and they agreed it was interesting. Black suggested offering aged replicas, called Relics, as a regular line in the Custom Shop catalogue.

“It started almost as a tongue-in-cheek thing,” Page said, “like worn-in Levi’s or something. It would look cool – and in the first three rows, it would look like you’re playing a valuable Nocaster. But only you know that it’s not really. That was how it started.”

Black and Cunetto set about making a couple of aged ’50s-style guitars as samples. One was a Nocaster, the transitional Broadcaster/Telecaster with removed model logo, the other a Mary Kaye blonde-and-gold-metalwork Strat.

Fender took them to the winter ’95 NAMM Show and displayed them like works of art. Page said: “Visitors would come along and say, ‘Oh, that’s really cool: you brought original ones as a tribute.’ And we were saying, ‘Er, yeah – how many do you want?’ People went nuts! It was amazing.”

Back at the Custom Shop, plans were quickly under way to offer an initial line of a Relic Nocaster and a few ’50s and ’60s Relic Strats, and this soon expanded to include a ’60s Jazz Bass and options of various sunbursts and colours.

Cunetto and a small team started work in the summer of ’95 at his workshop in Missouri, receiving bodies, necks and parts from Fender, shooting nitrocellulose lacquer and then setting about the ageing processes. The pieces would then be returned to the Custom Shop for final assembly and setup.

Fender moved everything in-house and introduced the Time Machine series in 1999: the Relic (heavily worn); the Closet Classic (as if played a few times and then forgotten in a cupboard); and the NOS (New Old Stock, as if bought in the ’50s or ’60s and then magically transported to today).

By now, the Shop had a growing catalogue of regular items, aside from the one-off work, and in 1996, as well as four Relics, it comprised 12 Namesake (signature) guitars, six Set Neck and Contemporary models, and no fewer than 28 vintage-style Custom Classics, plus six amps. At the start of the 90s, the Shop built about 2,500 guitars a year; by ’96 that had risen to 7,000.

What’s The Difference?

Custom Shop boss John Page talked to this author in the early ’90s about the types of instruments his team were producing at the time. “There are the absolute vintage reproductions,” Page said, “and we’ve found that people want everything just so. Obsessive, almost. But great, you know?

“One example: Elliot Easton had a ’62 or ’63 left-handed Burgundy Mist Strat that was, like, priceless. He wanted to play it, but he didn’t want to play it – you know what I mean? So we duped the guitar for him and he liked it so much better that he sold the original.”

Next up in our ’90s chat about Custom Shop categories were what Page called quasi-exact reproductions. “Anything where the guy doesn’t necessarily want to be exact – he wants it to be close and he wants that vibe. He wants to stand on stage and make it look like it’s a ’50s Esquire, but he wants a fatter neck, hotter pickups… so that’s another vein.”

As for the Shop’s one-offs, Page reckoned the sky was the limit. He recalled leather-tooled body covers, checkerboard binding, B-Benders, a 30-inch-scale Telecaster, an electric banjo with pedal-steel tuners on the floor, eight-string Strats, quilted-maple Jazzmasters with Floyd Roses, bizarre headstock inlays, and many, many more examples in out-there territory.

“Oh, and did I mention the Rocketcaster? That was a three-tone Jazzmaster that looked like an old ’50s Oldsmobile, all the brass handmade, lots of chrome strips, and the knobs off a Rocket 88 cigarette lighter.”

Page left the Custom Shop in 1997, and Mike Eldred took over the running of the place. But one of the questions Page had to answer regularly when he was there concerned the difference between a factory Fender and a (much more expensive) Custom Shop Fender.

“Normally, I tell people if they can’t tell the difference when they pick up and play the guitar, then they should buy the cheaper one,” Page said, smiling.

But he knew that for people who could tell the difference, it was like night and day. “I had a couple of gentlemen here yesterday that I was showing an instrument to,” Page said in that ’92 interview. “They were asking what we were doing on a particular model – they were businessmen, not players. They took a look at the guitar, and I can tell in their eyes it’s like, ‘Well, this looks like everything else.’

“And yet two days before that, I had a couple of players in here, and they asked the same question. I handed them the guitar and they just about creamed themselves. They couldn’t quit playing it.”

• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

The Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres recently battled it out for the Vedder Cup trophy – a literal custom electric guitar that takes inspiration from the 1963 Telecaster that Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder plays on stage.

For years, the two teams have been linked by Pearl Jam fans thanks to Vedder's association with each city, with fans jokingly dubbing their matchups “the Vedder Cup.” In 2025, MLB decided to make this official, and, in keeping with the theme, the trophy is a real, playable custom guitar designed by Vedder himself in association with Fender.

However, before it became the official trophy of the Vedder Cup, the Pearl Jam frontman couldn't help but give it a test run.

“We spent about an hour with it. He gave it a good run through,” George Webb, Pearl Jam's longtime equipment manager, tells The Seattle Times.

“He always likes to feel like he puts a little energy, you know, spiritual energy, into an instrument. Not just hand off something that’s brand-new, never-touched kind of thing. So yeah, jammed on it for about an hour. Had a good time.”

And while the name and logo for the event were unveiled in March, the guitar trophy (which, spoiler alert, was awarded to the Seattle Mariners) was only revealed recently, since the actual instrument was only finished in the last few weeks.

“Typically, on a custom build like this, it will take us six months or so to source the wood, get everything mapped out ready to go, and take our time to vet the process, apply the graphics, do some test runs,” comments Chase Paul, director of product development for Fender.

“On this, we just kind of headed into it in parallel with testing and the production version at the same time, and kind of getting it ready to go. Really incredible effort by the team in the shop.”

After all, the intricacy is in the details. Aside from resembling the same model that Vedder plays in terms of specs, there's also a silver-and-black cresting wave, hand-drawn by Vedder, that envelops the top of the instrument to the strap button – an element which proved tricky to add.

“It’s airbrushed on there and to try and get that to match what we had mapped out on the original graphics that George sent over, and tried to get that to pop, really, against the silver background of the guitar, that is probably the most difficult part of the whole thing,” explains Paul.

Other notable design elements include Vedder's signature on the front of the headstock, black interlocking team logos on the body and etched into the volume and tone control knobs, and a marking for EB Research Partnership (a charity co-founded by Vedder and his wife, Jill).

Plus, there are small chrome plates for the winning team of each season series to engrave the results of the matchup and their logo, and an arrow and a mod symbol between the two teams' logos that serves as a tribute to The Who, Vedder's favorite band growing up.

As Webb perfectly sums it up, “He wanted to make something that potentially could live in the team’s clubhouse during the season and be played by players, and appreciated and used.

“He doesn’t want it to be a hang-on-the-wall trophy piece. He wants it to be played. That’s his attitude with everything. It’s a living, breathing instrument. It sounds great.”

Speaking of custom and signature guitars, Vedder recently debuted one of Jack White’s signature guitars on stage to play a Pearl Jam deep cut.

Since 1987, Fender’s Custom Shop has been turning wild ideas into playable realities. Naturally, it’s learned a lot about what makes a guitar truly sing over the past four decades, and now its Master Builders are sharing some of their findings in the new issue of Guitarist

During an in-depth exploration of the Fender Custom Shop, Senior Master Builder Paul Waller offered his own two cents and what he believed makes up the soul and spirit of a Fender electric guitar.

“Pickups have always been a big thing for me because I think the heart and soul of a Fender is the pickup itself,” Waller believes. “I think everyone's aware that we're the biggest electric guitar manufacturer on the planet. And I say, 'Well, that also makes us the biggest pickup manufacturer on the planet, and we make a pretty good one.'

“We've been doing it a long time, and there are generations of people who have been working in the factory since the ‘50s and ‘60s that are still doing it.”

Abigail Ybarra is perhaps the most famous example of the lineage that Fender is proud to boast. She retired in 2013 after 50 years of winding pickups, but returned for a new project last summer.

“To me, that's super important; that's the quality ingredient that goes into it,” Waller continues. “I draw a lot of inspiration from the hot-rod world, where you want to make it look like it's an old part, or make it look like it existed back in the day but modernise it.”

When Waller isn’t building something to a customer’s exacting spec – or undertaking projects like the awe-inspiring Prestige Collection, the stunning ‘59 Journeyman Stratocaster, and luxurious Bvlgari Strats – he's experimenting. And pickups are at the centre of his attentions.

“Currently, I'm working on a Fender-ish sounding humbucker that would work well in both the neck position in a Telecaster and the bridge position in a Strat,” he teases. “It doesn't have that high volume when switched between the two, and then in the middle position, it makes it a lot sweeter and more balanced as well.”

Elsewhere in his Guitarist chat, Waller revealed the Fender guitars that will never disappear.

Head over to Magazines Direct to pick up the latest issue of Guitarist.

Like most industries, electric guitars are subject to ever-changing market trends. Some styles, though, are timeless, and Fender’s Custom Shop team has now revealed which staple six-strings will never fall off the production line.

Trends and fashion are both hugely influential in the guitar space. Fender's divisive Antigua Burst, for instance, is making an unlikely comeback, while the return of Gibson's Dark Purple Burst has proven so popular it's been extended to an Epiphone Les Paul.

Then there’s the growing offset trend, which has seen Jackson revive the Surfacaster silhouette, and Aristides launch its own with Mike Stringer.

Yet, while Fender Custom Shop requests change like the weather, certain staples are always on the menu – and always will be.

“The ones that always get built are the blonde Teles, the black Strats, sunbursts,” Senior Master Builder Paul Waller tells Guitarist. “We make those in the same quantities no matter what is in fashion.”

If anything, the trends that the Fender Custom Shop team are noticing these days aren't particularly concerned with aesthetics, Instead, they're focused on components – and that's a result of the evolution of guitar players.

“The thing that has evolved,” Waller adds, “is the players. They have a more discerning taste and can hear a lot more of what we're throwing [into the design of the guitars] in terms of pickups and tonewoods, specifically [through the use of] the roasted maple and alder, and ash bodies.

“Those that are in the know and seeking out that tone can find it through some of those avenues. It can be a trend that might fall off, or it might stay in – but we're a made-to-order shop, so we just make what people are ordering.”

Of course, the tonewood debate – whether certain woods affect tone or not – is one for the ages. Guthrie Govan said, “the entire audience in the room could hear the tonal difference” during an experiment last year. Paul Reed Smith, meanwhile, has said that alternative tonewoods, such as Guatemalan fence posts, shouldn't be dismissed.

The point here is that, with players becoming more aware of the nuances certain features can have on the overall sound of an instrument, their knowledge is reflected in their specifications.

“The trends – and staying in front of them and making sure that we have good communication with our dealers – are a big part of what we do,” Waller says. “I always tell people I'm kind of living two years in the past because a lot of my orders are two years old. So it's nice to have events where I can talk to dealers and see what's currently the hot trend.”

Other trends currently surging through the guitar world include the stratospheric rise of rubber bridge guitars, as championed by Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers, and, as far as metal guitars are concerned, single 'bucker builds. But whatever is on trend, requests for blonde Teles and sunburst Strats are inevitable. They will never die.

To read Waller's interview in full, grab a copy of Guitarist from Magazines Direct today.

We don’t often feature the fruits of Fender’s renowned Custom Shop here for the simple reason that nearly all the guitars it produces go straight to dealers. But we managed to snag this rather beautiful ’59 limited-edition Strat by chance and decided to display its dashing good looks.

What we have here is a Journeyman Strat in faded Sonic Blue, with many characteristics that are shared by Stratocasters of the period. Journeyman guitars have the lightest amount of relicing available, and here it’s limited to slight crazing in the nitrocellulose finish, as if the guitar has been used but certainly not abused during its fictitious lifetime.

On some of these instruments Fender has aged the hardware and removed some of the playing area finish from the back of the neck. Not here; this one definitely leans more towards the company’s ‘new, old stock’ designation.

Another thing we see here represents that snapshot in time when Fender was transitioning from maple ’boards to the ’60s rosewood staple and had started to experiment with tri-laminate pickguards as opposed to the single-ply white that had been standard beforehand.

We say ‘experiment’ because you’ll notice that this ’59 Journeyman still has eight screws in its ’guard as opposed to the 11 that were to become the norm a few months later on.

Apparently, you’ll find an assortment of variations in this regard from Strats of the period. You’ll also note that the pickguard is a darker, more greyish green to emulate the colour of the celluloid (or nitrate) ’guards of the time.

Spec-wise, the body is two-piece alder with an outrageously flamed maple neck, the profile of which is at a point between a chunky ’50s V and a ’60s C. The spec sheet says that it is a “60s style oval C”, and there’s certainly plenty of heft to it compared with a regular C-profiled ’61 Strat we have handy. A handful, for sure, but not uncomfortably so.

One concession to the 21st century is that the fingerboard radius is the modern 241mm (9.5 inches) variety as opposed to the 184mm (7.25 inches) of yesteryear.

Other highlights include a trio of hand-wound ‘60/63’ pickups (which sound delightful, by the way) and a specially chosen dark rosewood ’board with the famous clay dot position markers.

• Price: $4,600/£4,400
• Contact: Fender Custom Shop
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

Country guitar hero Brad Paisley has joined forces with Fender on the Limited Edition Brad Paisley 1967 “Lost Paisley” Telecaster – a vintage-inspired guitar that revives the cult classic Paisley finish originally introduced in 1968.

“From the very beginning, there has always been a pattern following me, from the moment they wrote my last name on my birth certificate,” comments Paisley.

“It’s unreal that my own name is one of the coolest finishes I think Fender has ever done. This is an attempt to show what this lost color could have been. It’s the best guitar I’ve ever had.”

First introduced in the late ’60s, the Paisley Red and Blue Flower finishes, albeit short-lived, were Fender's response to the Summer of Love counterculture movement – featuring decorative Cling-Foil paper adorned with vibrant colors, a matching metallic burst, and a psychedelic flair.

However, the finish's composition made the instruments particularly vulnerable, with chipping and flaking becoming unavoidable. By late 1969, Fender had discontinued the line, and these guitars became somewhat of a rarity.

However, Brad Paisley, who shares a name with the design, naturally gravitated towards these guitars. In fact, together with close collaborators Zac Childs and Joe Glaser, Paisley set out to restore one of his well-worn ’67 Teles and revive the Paisley finish, and, through painstaking research and craftsmanship, managed to recreate the original Paisley Cling-Foil paper.

Now, through his collaboration with the Fender Nashville R&D team, Paisley will personally build 19 guitars (available exclusively through his channels) while the Fender Custom Shop in Corona, California, will produce 67 guitars, which will be sold through Fender's dealer network.

Featuring a lightweight body crafted from a combination of alder, paulownia, and spruce, the “Lost Paisley” Tele promises to deliver “exceptional resonance and comfort”.

Aside from its striking Blue Paisley Relic finish, it's fully kitted with a ’60s Oval “C” maple neck with a round-laminated maple fingerboard, Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Hand-Wound Lost Paisley pickups, and Glaser “G” Bender system for “fluid, pedal-steel-like bends.”

And for a period-correct touch, the $7,000 guitar is bundled with custom accessories, including a vintage-style case and Fender strap, as well as a certificate of authenticity.

For more information, visit Fender Custom Shop.

Earlier this year, the elite team of Master Builders and Apprentices launched the Cocktail Collection – a keenly spec'd collection that blends the artistry of fine guitar-making with the vibrant aesthetics and spirit of classic cocktails.

Fender Japan is accustomed to producing electric guitars that look like they could double as art pieces – look no further than the many Art Canvas Esquires for proof – but for its latest drop, the Big F’s Asian branch has raised the bar beyond arguably anything it’s ever released before.

See, for what has been badged the ‘Deck O’ Cards Collection’, the Fender Japan Custom Shop has assembled an all-star quartet of Masterbuilders, each of whom have sculpted an outrageously styled, meticulously crafted Stratocaster that takes design inspiration from the four suits of a deck of cards.

On paper, it doesn’t sound like a particularly ambitious project – we’ve seen Fender Japan take aesthetic inspiration from other sources before, for example – but the execution is quite hard to comprehend.

Why? Well, because these might be some of the most cosmetically advanced Custom Shop Fenders we’ve ever seen before – and, given the fact this very writer spent an evening wandering round the Fender Custom Shop showcase at NAMM earlier this year, that’s saying something.

Senior Masterbuilder Paul Weller helmed the project, which was seen as something of an initiation for three of the firm’s most recent Masterbuilder recruits at the time: David Brown, Austin MacNutt, and Andy Hicks.

“We had a hunch that it would be a great 'introduction' project for the four of us to work on together,” Weller recalls. “We each chose our favorite design and collaborated with Pamelina [H., artist] on the design, resulting in an unprecedented collection.

“The artwork, with its vibrant red and black against the white base color, and the paint on the neck make each guitar a true custom guitar.”

The guitars are, by and large, regular Custom Shop Strats underneath all the bells and whistles, with two-piece alder wood, V-shape necks, hand-wound Josefina Campos 1969 single-coils, and a six-point vintage-style synchronized tremolo among some of the more conventional appointments.

Where these four Strats stray off the beaten track, though, is in the design department. With variants for Hearts, Clubs, Spades, and Diamonds, the Deck O’ Cards collection quite clearly shows four genius guitar builders at the very top of their game.

While Brown was in charge of Hearts and Hicks was responsible for Clubs, Waller went for Spades and MacNutt took care of Diamonds. The artwork for each extends well beyond the top of the body, with the central suite motif extending into exquisite artwork on the back and rear of the neck and headstock.

“The most difficult step was hammering in the frets after painting, but this was the best way to get the best finish,” reflects Brown, while MacNutt notes, “I'm really happy to have been involved in this project from the beginning. The design of the playing cards goes very well with the aesthetics of the guitar, and there's a sense of unity throughout.”

“The Deck O' Cards Collection, the fruit of the passion of master builders and the artistic vision of Pamelina H., is a truly special collection that will become a new legend of the Fender Custom Shop,” the firm adds.

Naturally, the one-of-a-kind Deck O’ Cards Strats are absolutely absurd pieces of guitar art, so it’s no surprise that their price tags are equally eye-watering. Apparently, they are available at 22,000,000 Japanese Yen apiece – approximately $152,500.

Visit Fender Japan for more.

Not only has Fender Japan been leading the way in guitar production for quite some time now, it is also looking to revolutionize the retail space, too. Last year, Guitar World’s Michael Astley-Brown visited Tokyo to find out how Fender Japan is looking to change the guitar retail game with its flagship store.

One of Fender’s biggest launches in recent memory has been the Standard Series – an all-new range of Indonesian-made, Fender-branded electric guitars and bass guitars that sit between the Squier Classic Vibe and Fender Player II families.

It further closed the gap between the Fender and Squier brands, and made genuine Big F instruments more accessible than ever, ushering in price tags that start from $599.

At the time of the announcement, there was much discussion over the Standard’s merit over the top-of-the-line Squier Classic Vibes – which are made in the same Indonesian factory – with some online commenters dismissing them as ‘re-badged Squiers’.

With Fender looking to bring its own instruments to more players than ever before, and trying to develop unprecedented price points in its own range, it begs the question over what the future holds for Squier.

Indeed, could we ever see a time when Fender takes over the responsibility from Squier, and puts its own name on the entire production line from affordable beginner guitars to Custom Shop instruments?

“I think everything is a discussion,” Justin Norvell, Fender's EVP of Product, tells MusicRadar when asked that very question. “We’re open enough as a company and we listen enough to think about it.

“But there’s so much equity in the Squier brand name. There are people that love Squier. There are people that proudly play Squier over Fender. Squier, on its own, is one of the biggest electric guitar brands, so it would be crazy to get rid of that.”

It makes sense: the retiring of the Squier name would be a mistake. Even if Fender does seek new ways to push down its price points, there’s no way they could match Squier. In its own catalog, for example, Squier has its $199 Sonic range.

Plus, as Norvell states, some players are proud and loyal Squier advocates, and prefer playing those instruments over what are perceived to be 'better' Fenders.

Not only that, according to Norvell there’s an inherent difference between Squier Classic Vibe and Fender Standard Series, regardless of the fact they are all made in the same workshop.

“Because Squier starts to bend more vintage at the top of its line, we wanted to go with something that’s a little more modern, more overwound – distortion-friendly, more aggressive,” Norvell reflects of the Standards.

“This [Standard Series] guitar was designed with the price thing removed, basically, so it was just like, ‘What is the best guitar that we can make with this partner, in this facility, that would be worthy of the Fender name?’

“The guardrails that almost keep something Squier were off, but we were still conscious of what was above it and what was below it and what would make sense.”

Norvell spoke about the Standard Series during a conversation with Guitar World earlier this year, and explained why Fender opted to produce the guitars in Indonesia alongside Squier.

“I think we have been maybe overly dogmatic or just controlled by the idea that Fender is for Mexico and U.S models,” he noted.

“The way things are these days, it’s not about what factory it’s made in. “It’s really like, ‘Squier goes to 500 bucks in the US, and Fender should start there and go up.’ And so we kind of just got out of our own way, I guess.”

Though John Mayer is now a loyal PRS player – and has become firmly synonymous with his best-selling PRS Silver Sky signature guitar – the modern-day guitar great first made a name for himself as a Stratocaster player.

After all, before he defected to the ranks of PRS, Mayer was a Fender player through-and-through, and over the course of his relationship with the firm there was one electric guitar in particular that defined their time together.

That, of course, was the Black One – a brutally relic’d, Custom Shop creation built by Masterbuilder John Cruz in 2004 that, as Mayer once explained during a short documentary, was designed to be his “main guitar”.

Heavily inspired by the Stevie Ray Vaughan Tribute Strat that Mayer was so fond of, the Black One was completed in late 2004, but when Mayer first received his new (ahem) pride and joy, he wasn’t completely satisfied with its tone and the way it played.

So, what did he do? Well, he didn’t send it back to the Custom Shop for further inspection or refinement: he stuck it in the freezer.

“I started playing it and it wasn't there. I was sort of heartbroken,” Mayer once recalled in a video that charted the creation of the Black One. “I started thinking to myself, ‘This guitar, I know it can be something.’ It was just going, ‘Yaank, yaank, yaank [when I played it].’

“I remember I put it in the freezer overnight, because I was so desperate to have something molecular happen to this guitar. I said, ‘Something has to molecularly change with this instrument. I will not accept that this is the way this instrument has come out.’

“I had one of those freezers where it’s the whole length of the left third of the appliance. I took everything out of the freezer and sat the guitar in overnight. I was like, ‘You just sit in there and change.’”

Mayer has always had something of a ‘think-outside-the-box’ approach to his music and guitar design, but... a freezer? It is certainly a left-field method for fixing the issue, that’s for sure.

Unsurprisingly, it didn’t quite have the desired effect, as Mayer explains: “The next day, I took it out and started playing it… and it still wasn’t there. It was just cold.”

So, Mayer’s second course of action was to open up the hood of his Strat (something that would probably have been the first approach for the vast majority of players), and lo and behold – the problem revealed itself.

“I opened it up and the ground wasn’t hooked up,” Mayer added. “Something wasn't hooked up. As soon as it was hooked up, it started playing right.”

Once it started playing right, Mayer wasted no time in putting his new prized possession to work. At the time, he was beginning work on what would become Continuum – arguably his definitive body of work to date – and the Strat played a key part from day one.

The first song it made its way onto was Bold as Love – Mayer’s cover of the Jimi Hendrix classic – but it would have a hand in shaping countless other tracks, both on that album and beyond, all the way up until Mayer gave Paul Reed Smith a call.

Recently, Mayer pulled his Black One Strat out of exile when he played at Madison Square Garden in late 2023 – footage of which you can see below.

Joe Bonamassa has launched his latest signature pickup set with Seymour Duncan, this time based on the tonal delights of the obscure 1964 Greenburst Stratocaster he acquired in 2023.

The Joe Bonamassa “Greenburst” Stratocaster Pickup Set has been described as a faithful capture of one of the besuited bluesman’s most cherished instruments. The single-coils feature “precisely staggered Alnico 5 magnets and an authentic design that recreates the magic of this special '64 Strat”.

The pickups are handcrafted in the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop, and they include gray bottom flatwork and a pad-printed signature from JoBo for a more exclusive touch.

Bonamassa’s rare Strat pre-dates the firm’s much-mired CBS-owned era, with the gray flatwork pickups of the Greenburst’s time adored for a “notably punchy sound and higher output” that sets them apart from their later counterparts.

Watching JoBo’s playthrough, the twang and bite of the pickups cannot be disputed. It's also impressive how close the tone is when he swaps the guitar out for another Greenburst pickup-loaded Strat. It's very close indeed.

“It's for power Stratocaster playing,” Bonamassa says of the newly created set. “It's not subtle! It's the power and projection of the gray bottom characteristics that really balance out the front, middle, and treble positions.”

Made with period-correct wiring and the aforementioned staggered magnets, no corners have been cut to replicate the tone of the Greenburst, a guitar he called an “instant star” when he first laid eyes on it.

The guitarist has a knack for ultra-rare gear finds, even if it means taking exhaustive measures, like a 15-year search for Lowell George’s Dumble Overdrive Special amp. For a man whose home-turned-gear-museum has been the subject of two Reverb documentaries, though, the fact the Greenburst stands as one of his finest finds is quite the achievement.

Bonamassa bought the Strat in question from revered vintage guitar emporium Norman's Rare Guitars in early 2023. Its green finish – clearly not a stock colorway – had initially piqued his interest, and it's believed that the guitar's repaint was done in the 1970s at the latest.

The Joe Bonamassa “Greenburst” Stratocaster Pickup Set costs $375. The first 500 sets sold will have an aged finish. They will also include limited-edition packaging and a certificate of authenticity signed by Bonamassa and Seymour Duncan.

Head to the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop for more details.

NAMM 2025: Fender truly returned to NAMM with a bang this year.

In one of its biggest launches in years, the company unveiled the $599 Standard Series lineup, an Indonesian-built line that aims to bring the concept of an affordable Fender back to the table, and marks a real sea change for the company.

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, though, were the two lines of electric guitars from the company's always-impressive Custom Shop that made their debut at the show.

One of these was the booze-inspired Cocktail Collection, and the other is the equally awe-inspiring 2025 Prestige Collection.

There are 11 Prestige Collection models in total – half-a-dozen Strats, a pair of Teles, a Meteora, a rare Performer model, and, most notably, a baritone Jazzmaster, the last of which has proven to be a very hot commodity in recent years.

Let's start with that Jazzmaster, then. Built by Custom Shop Masterbuilder Andy Hicks, the Prestige Sub-Sonic Jazzmaster boasts a Black Limba body with a quarter-sawn roasted maple large “C” Sub-Sonic neck with a 9.5” radius fingerboard and an extended 27" scale length.

A Thin Black Burst lacquer finish, period black inlays, and a black headstock with a chrome Fender decal give the guitar its look, while a trio of mini-humbuckers lead the sonic charge.

Another eyebrow-raiser in the collection is the Prestige Carved Top Meteora, built by Custom Shop Masterbuilder Kyle McMillin.

This quirky offset is built with a select mahogany body topped with a bound and carved 5A quilted maple top, and features a 3A flame maple neck with a slab ebony fingerboard. A pair of Sonic Pickups humbuckers and a recessed Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo also come aboard.

The attention of collectors will be piqued by the Prestige Performer, which brings the cult, short-lived, mid-80s Fender model of the same name back to life.

The 21st century version is a painstaking recreation of the original, but for a few modern-minded points – a contoured neck heel, 9.5” to 12” compound fingerboard radius, and Custom Classic Hardtail Strat bridge.

The collection's Telecasters are no less impressive.

The Prestige Custom Tele, built by Custom Shop Masterbuilder Austin MacNutt, features a gorgeous custom Feldthouse Family Woodworks top, and the combination of a Custom Shop Josefina Campos Hand-Wound ’55/’56 Tele bridge pickup with a Curtis Novak mini-humbucker in the neck.

Built by Senior Masterbuilder Dennis Galuska, the Paisley Telecaster XII boasts a custom paisley finish, a quartersawn maple neck with a “Gumby” 12-string headstock, and a Custom Shop Josefina Campos hand-wound ‘67 Tele bridge pickup paired with a Curtis Novak Electric XII neck pickup.

Highlights of the Prestige collection's six Strats include the Prestige '66 Stratocaster, which is powered by a trio of Custom Shop Josefina Campos Hand-Wound ’66 Strat pickups and boasts a stunning Aged Cherry Sunburst finish, and the Contura Stratocaster, which is built with 27 feet of gold wire and 25 diamonds along with various cuts of hand-selected maple.

For those unaware, these one-of-a-kind Fender Custom Shop builds are more for most of us to look at and admire than buy. The Prestige collection guitars range in price from $10,200, for the Prestige '66 Strat, to $50,000, for the aforementioned Contura Strat.

“The Prestige Collection showcases bespoke masterpieces, each one a testament to the individual creativity and technical brilliance of its builder,” a statement from Fender reads.

“With intricate finishes, exotic tonewoods, and immaculate details, these instruments exemplify Fender’s commitment to pushing the limits of guitar innovation.”

For more info, visit the Fender Custom Shop.

NAMM 2025: When a version of Jack White’s Triplecaster was made available to the wider guitar world, it was big news: here was a Tele that was really pushing the boundaries of Fender lore. It retained most of what made White’s model so brilliantly bonkers, but part of us wondered: will we ever see a replica of the real thing?

Well, hold the phone, because the Custom Shop is making a fully spec’d-out Blue Sparkle Triplecaster a reality.

The news was confirmed to us by White’s tech Dan Mancini, who gave us the skinny on the forthcoming model, which was available to play at the Third Man Hardware booth at NAMM 2025.

There have been a host of changes since White first started road-testing the guitar, making constant tweaks and improvements, even since we saw the last incarnation at NAMM 2024.

The first thing you’ll notice is just how clean the guitar looks – there’s a complete absence of screws and polepieces around the pickups and, indeed, the pickguard. The former are rear-mounted – highly unusual for Fender – which hides the screws around the back, while the scratchplate is secured with adhesive. The end result is a little like if Apple had a hand in designing the Telecaster back in the ’50s.

White himself even showed us the guitar’s new neck shape – it’s less pronounced than the deep V of his previous incarnation, and gently contours towards the heel to allow better access to the upper frets.

Speaking of, the partial scallops of the previous model have returned, starting at the 7th fret. They’re subtle under the fingers, and give the fretboard an effortless playability on the upper three strings. The headstock has swapped from a Stratocaster-style to a Tele, too, to reduce weight.

The three pickups remain the same as the production Triplecaster: a CuNiFe Wide Range humbucker in the neck, JW-90 in the middle and a custom Jack White humbucker in the bridge. They’ve just been given custom covers and that rear-mounting for a cleaner look.

Like the production model, there’s the Hipshot Xtender drop-D tuner on the back of the headstock, as well as the Bigsby B-5 vibrato and three-saddle bridge, arcade-style stutter switch, and a knob that doubles as a three-way toggle to mute the signal or route pickups direct to the jack.

But the Custom Shop version also gives you the Glaser Bender – Nashville luthier Joe Glaser’s take on the B-Bender – for yet another form of expression.

White later announced the model on his Instagram account, sharing a photo of last year’s model and the forthcoming incarnation, so we can all play spot the difference.

“Wanted to show y'all a sneak peek of the first Fender Custom Shop Limited Edition Triplecaster (on the left),” he wrote.

“You can see all the subtle changes that have happened compared to the Franksteined model from all the years of road testing next to it on the right! Too many interesting features to mention at this moment, but this brand-new creation is at NAMM right now at the Third Man Hardware booth for you to play, it’s not for sale… yet.”

A release date and price tag have yet to be set for the new model, but we’ll bring you more as we have it.

NAMM 2025: Every year, Fender Custom Shop's elite team of Master Builders and Apprentices join forces to create a boundary-pushing collection centered around a particular concept. While previous collections have drawn inspiration from the guitar itself – its materials, finishes, and colors – this year, they're moving beyond the guitar world and into mixology, with the Cocktail Collection.

“Everyone in the Custom Shop pushes one another to test the boundaries of their creativity and technical skills,” comments Chase Paul, Director of Product Development at Fender Custom Shop.

“This year, the Master Builders and Apprentices continued to lead the way with truly remarkable instruments. The Cocktail Collection offers players a glimpse into the personalities of the people behind these incredible guitars.”

Bourbon Barrel Sub-Sonic Tele

Crafted by Master Builder Andy Hicks, this Tele draws inspiration from the “deep, rich, and complex notes” of the Smokey Old Fashioned cocktail. Keeping in line with the cocktail's spirit, the guitar is made from oiled Bourbon barrel lids.

Other features include Custom Shop Josefina Campos Hand-Wound ‘50-’51 Blackguard Tele neck and bridge pickups, and a Sub Sonic 9.5” radius with a “C” shaped neck finished in “Nicotine Tint.”

This Sub-Sonic Tele is priced at $11,200.

Moscow Mule Esquire

Moscow Mules are often served in hammered copper mugs, and this drinkware sparked Master Builder Austin MacNutt's imagination, ultimately forming “the north star for the build.”

With hammered copper appointments, and a lime burst top with white pearloid binding, this ’59 Esquire conveys a “rustic” element while honoring the guitar's “rich history” as a "symbol of the golden era of music.”

Custom Shop Josefina Campos Hand-Wound ‘51 Nocaster bridge pickup, a 9.5 radius fingerboard, and a ‘60s style Oval “C” shaped 3A birdseye maple neck round up this guitar's specs.

It's price tag? $11,200.

PR Esquire [image unavailable]

Another Esquire, this time drawing inspiration from the Purple Rain cocktail. As a nod to this classic cocktail, Master Builder David Brown hand-stained the body using water-based products, allowing collectors and players alike to hold purple water in their hands.

Its standout feature is, quite obviously, the beautifully vibrant floral-themed artwork that Master Builder David Brown hand-stained onto the scratchplate.

Sporting a ’59 Esquire select ash body and 3A quilted maple top, a “comfortable, familiar” Modern “C” shaped neck, and a Custom Shop Josefina Campos Hand-Wound Custom Blackguard bridge pickup, this guitar is up for grabs for $10,450.

Lemon Drop Martini Strat

Drawing on the swirling yellow hues of a classic lemon drop martini, Custom Shop Senior Master Builder Dennis Galuszka crafted a hydro-drip white, silver, and transparent yellow Strat – with a finish running from the body, right up the neck and headstock – that encapsulates its cocktail counterpart.

With a select alder body, a one-piece ’54 Soft “V”-shaped neck, and Custom Shop Josefina Campos Hand-Wound Fat '60s Strat pickups, the guitar promises an “expressive, dynamic, and highly resonant” tone.

The price for this Lemon Drop Martini Strat is $9,625.

Manhattan Strat

With this $10,675 Manhattan Strat, Master Builder Jason Smith aims to emulate the experience of drinking a Manhattan cocktail in a bar. In short, “there is nothing quite like it.”

Featuring a slightly worn look, a Bourbon Metallic body color, a pickguard adorned with prism cherry stickers, and an enamel Manhattan martini emblem affixed to the ball of the Stratocaster headstock, this Strat is well and truly, erm, Manhattan-ified.

Blackberry Bramble Strat

With a unique first-fret inlay – a clock with all 5s, a reminder that it’s always five o’clock somewhere – this Strat, built by Senior Master Builder Todd Krause, exudes mixology through and through. The eye-catching deep burgundy sparkle-finished select alder body is loaded with a trio of Custom Shop Josefina Campos Hand-Wound Fat ‘50s pickups, guaranteeing “unrivaled” Strat tones.

The price of this Strat is $10,275.

Absinthe Strat [image unavailable]

Inspired by the “whimsical imagery of absinthe,” Master Builder Apprentice Mike Morales hand-stained the guitar's green finish to emulate the drink's milky transformation. High-end specs include Custom Shop Josefina Campos Hand-Wound Texas Special Strat pickups, a 5A flame-roasted maple ’60s-style Oval “C”-shaped neck, and a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard with mother-of-pearl block inlays.

This guitar is priced at $10,050.

Cantarito Tele

This Tele is a stunning display of Mexican heritage, realized through the hands of Master Builder Apprentice George Ruiz.

Drawing inspiration from Jalisco’s vibrant culture, Talavera pottery, and the classic Mexican cocktail, Cantarito, it features a hand-painted pickguard by Mexican artist Lucero, a “Cantarito Creme” finish, and a mocha-tinted 3A flame Bosnian maple neck.

Its 27” baritone scale delivers resonant tones that harken back to traditional Mexican instruments like the guitarrón, further enhanced by Curtis Novak JM-WR pickups. Other specs include gold-plated vintage-style hardware, including a hardtail Strat bridge and tortoise tuning pegs.

Further leaning into its Mexican inspiration, this guitar – priced at $11,650 – comes with a pair of Talavera-style Cantarito mugs that match the guitar’s design.

Mai Tai Strat Thinline

Growing up by the beach, Master Builder Apprentice Dylan Del Pizzo brings the ultimate surf and summer cocktail – the Mai Tai – to this build, the only Strat Thinline in the collection.

Features include a bound, highly figured quilted maple top, pineapple-shaped knobs, and a birdseye maple neck with abalone dot inlays. Del Pizzo continues to hone in on the beach theme with its engraved wood pickguard, which, paired with the Thinline body, promises a “lively [and] highly-resonant” playing experience.

The price of this guitar is $9,900.

For more information, visit Fender Custom Shop.

Correction 2/4/24: This article has been updated to correct details relating to the PR Esquire and the Cantarito Tele.

NAMM 2025: Fast-rising boutique guitar firm Iconic Guitars has welcomed former Fender Custom Shop luthier John Cruz to its team as it champions the start of a “groundbreaking partnership”.

Cruz held the role of Senior Master Builder at Fender’s high-end Custom Shop, but left in 2020 amid online controversy linked to a social media post. He later branched off on his own business venture, John Cruz Custom Guitars, which closed in 2023. He’ll bring a wealth of experience and expertise to Iconic, which was founded in 2012.

It’s a shrewd move from a firm that hinges its builds on classic designs – including ones inspired by Strats, Teles, and Gibson Les Pauls – and embellishes them with modern twists.

The new partnership, which will see Cruz work closely with CEO and founder, Kevin Proctor, aims to “blend Cruz’s acclaimed relic techniques with Iconic Guitars’ modern design ethos and cutting-edge manufacturing capabilities”.

They’ll primarily work out of Iconic’s California facility, but Cruz’s Tennessee workshop will also be utilized. Their joint creations will feature a special Iconic-John Cruz logo on the back of the headstock “symbolizing the fusion of two luthiery powerhouses”.

Iconic prides itself on “preserving the timeless art of luthiery”, offering a host of builds – including the La Playa (Les Paul-style), Solana (Strat-style), and Tamarack (Tele-style) – that are delivered at the hands of skilled luthiers.

“John Cruz is a name synonymous with excellence in this industry,” says Proctor. “His artistry perfectly complements our commitment to producing the highest quality instruments that inspire players and collectors alike. Together, we’re setting a new standard in boutique guitars.”

The hire will also help the firm grow, with a new tier of limited-edition guitars mooted.

“Our goal is to provide retailers with products that resonate with players and collectors on a deeper level,” Proctor continues. “This partnership is an investment in their success, as well as ours.”

The first fruits of their collective labor will be showcased at NAMM 2025 before becoming available via its website and selected dealers.

Visit Iconic Guitars to find out more.

Recently, former Guitarist editor Neville Marten and I ventured down to World Guitars in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire. A haven of high-end lutherie, the store is one of the most welcoming places to try top-drawer PRS, Gibson, Fender and Tom Anderson electrics, to name but a few premium brands it stocks.

Intriguingly, the store also has quite a few Nik Huber electrics in at any one time, including – at the time of writing – three quite different examples of Nik’s stunning Orca ’59 model, which takes its inspiration, quelle surprise, from Gibson’s celebrated 1959-spec Les Paul Standard.

Nik Huber is no slavish copyist, however, but an extremely skilful and distinctive luthier, so the Orca ’59 has various refinements and finessed details that the original never had – while keeping the main ingredients intact.

Gibson, for its part, is the only company who can make a ’59 ’Burst reissue with the right name on the headstock – and that’s obviously a big deal if capturing the spirit of the originals is your aim.

As you’d expect, the Custom Shop is the home of Gibson’s highest-quality reissues, and World Guitars stocks many fine examples of its work, ranging from very mildly aged VOS ’Bursts to Collector’s Choice exotica that mimics every scratch and wear mark of a specific, celebrated ’Burst that is known to aficionados as a particularly good surviving original example.

Intrigued, Nev and I thought we’d take the chance to sit down with both the modern, evolved take on the sound of 1959 Les Pauls – as interpreted by Nik Huber through his Orca ’59s – and Gibson’s own high-end reissues, which set the benchmark for complete fidelity to the originals.

We had two examples of each: one ‘merely’ a high-end standard version of the model in question, and then one example that was really top of the tree in terms of craft, materials and cachet.

Killer Wails

Here’s what we pulled down off the rack. On the Huber side, we grabbed a brand-new Nik Huber Orca ’59 in Nitro Semi-Gloss Tobacco Sunburst, plus something rather special: a Nik Huber World Guitars 5th Anniversary Orca ’59 Brazilian Limited, made back in 2014 to eponymously mark five years in business for World Guitars.

Decked out with eye-popping amounts of the coveted Brazilian rosewood – right down to control knobs and switch tips – and all, of course, fully certificated, this guitar represents as high a spec in the world of boutique inspired-by-’Burst single-cuts as you can really get.

In the Gibson corner, we selected a ’59 Les Paul Standard VOS (Vintage Original Sheen – Ed) Made 2 Measure Hand Selected Top. As our top-tier choice we picked out what Julian White of World Guitars said was one of the best-sounding single-cuts in the shop, a Collector’s Choice #45A 1959 Aged Les Paul ‘Danger ‘Burst’, created as an exact aged imitation of a specific surviving ’Burst that rejoices in that unusual moniker.

Which would our favourite be? Would the highest-tier guitars sound best? And would any of them match our mental template of what a ’59 Les Paul should really be? Without further ado, we plugged into a Matchless SC30 head and also a Fender black-panel Deluxe Reverb reissue combo and began to compare and contrast.

Picking up the poshest of the already impeccably turned out Hubers, we A/B’d it with the more prestigious of the two Gibsons, the Collector’s Choice replica of the improbably named ‘Danger Burst’, which we were told had its brace of Custombuckers wound hotter than usual to more closely imitate the specific guitar it is based on.

Sounds & Handling

Our first impressions were as follows. The Huber had abundant clarity, warmth and suppleness when played clean. Its expressive Häussel pickups were almost like playing a guitar with extra-fat, plummy single coils.

From a tactile point of view, its impeccable satin finish and beautifully refined details – such as the sculpted neck joint, which permitted easier access to the higher frets – made it seem effortlessly comfortable to play.

Turning to the ‘Danger Burst’, our impressions were also very enjoyable but quite different. Here, we found every scratch, nick and ding of the character of a 70-year-old electric guitar faithfully replicated, compared with the Huber’s silk-smooth sophistication.

The clean tones were decidedly on the woody and vintage side, not as crisply defined or versatile, debatably, as the Huber 5th Anniversary but firmly rooted in a past where Peter Green played melodies of haunting beauty on a Lester.

Not for the first time, Nev and I were struck by how different two guitars made with broadly the same general ingredients can be. And that impression only grew stronger when we added a bit of overdrive to the equation – now the Gibson’s woodier voice turned into beautiful splinters of jagged, vintage growl.

That ’60s British blues scene was just brought vividly and excitingly to life, exactly. The Huber, meanwhile, was more poised and composed and long-sustaining, almost Gilmourish. Boy, were these both great guitars. But we felt they would appeal to quite different players, or maybe the same player in quite different moods.

Time to pick up our ‘less expensive’ pair – though, of course, in this company, that was very much a relative term since the ’59 Les Paul Standard VOS Made 2 Measure Hand Selected Top is currently on sale for just over £5k. We now pitted that against the brand-new Huber Orca ’59, which may have lacked the Brazilian rosewood opulence of the 5th Anniversary model but lacked nothing in hand-crafted panache.

Plugging these in, we were greeted with some very interesting results. Firstly, the ‘standard’ Huber ’59, built far more recently than the 5th Anniversary, seemed to occupy a Goldilocks-like ‘just right’ mid-point between the clarity and poise of the Huber 5th Anniversary and the vintage charm of the ‘Danger Burst’ reissue by Gibson Custom. It had loads of smooth, bell-like sustain but some juicy, old-fashioned chewiness, too.

The Gibson ’59 Les Paul Standard VOS, meanwhile, was just a delight. Perhaps not quite as woody as the ‘Danger Burst’, it just had bags of characterful edge and snarl. It felt like everything a really good Les Paul of any era should be: stinging, singing, ringing. And while, cosmetically, it didn’t have the artful battle scars of the Collector’s Choice, it felt as comfortable as a favourite pair of worn-in jeans and played beautifully.

Thoughts & Conclusions

So what real-world conclusions were we able to draw from this rather gentrified dust-up between modern interpretations of the fabled 1959 Les Paul Standard and the faithful reissues?

Well, firstly, diminishing returns is a real thing. Some five grand or so separates the Gibson ’59 Les Paul Standard VOS we tried, which is already a very high-end guitar, and the Collector’s Choice ‘Danger Burst’. For sure, the detailing on the latter is insane and so evocative, as is its incredible sound, especially when driven. But the VOS sounded just fabulous, too. It’s hard to conceive of anyone feeling disappointed by its on-paper ‘lower spec’.

At this end of the market, top money buys forensically aged details, incredible craft and high-cachet extras, but you won’t necessarily hear £5k’s worth of difference in the sonic performance. I thought the ‘Danger Burst’ sounded best of the Gibsons, while Nev thought the VOS had the coolest tone. So any tonal differences between them are in the realm of subjectivity, not quantifiable ‘better’ or ‘worse’.

The same is true of the Orcas. Without any kind of disrespect to the frankly stunning 5th Anniversary, Nev and I probably enjoyed the standard, new Orca ’59 just as much if not slightly more.

We confess we don’t know how much or little Harry Häussel has evolved the construction of his PAF-like pickups in the years between the 5th Anniversary being built and today, but we really felt the touch of extra vintage vibe in the sound of the newer, less pricey Orca ’59 was welcome.

But here’s that reality check again – our ‘less expensive’ Orca is still £6,495! That’s a gulp-inducing amount of dosh for a new electric guitar, though we have no compunction in adding that the level of craft and sonic performance it embodies is exceptional.

But we must also say, in enjoying these incredible guitars, that it is not necessary to spend this much to get a nice Les Paul under your fingers. Epiphone’s Kirk Hammett ‘Greeny’ 1959 Les Paul Standard sounded and played absolutely great when we reviewed it a while back, for example, and that streets for just over a grand.

But if beautiful lutherie, exquisite details and small but significant incremental gains in performance are what you want, guitars at this level are where you’ll get it – if you can afford it.

The second realisation we had is that, despite having the same classic sound as a template, the character of the Gibsons and the Hubers was distinctively different. The Gibsons really had that old-guitar vibe and mid-’60s Blues Invasion sound.

The Hubers had it, too, but in a subtly more contemporary and finely finessed guise. One might say they offered stellar performance with vintage roots. In other words, you really would have to try both to see which suited you best, especially at these prices. As you’d expect with instruments of this quality, there were no bad choices, only different kinds of great – but those differences could mean a lot to you as an individual player.

Above all, if you were lucky enough to be in the market for a guitar like one of these, we’d say it’s essential to play all the guitars you like the look of plus a few you maybe weren’t considering. That ‘click’ moment when you really take to a guitar only happens by playing it, not just admiring its looks or its spec from afar.

Kirk Hammett recently gifted Jack White one of his Gibson Greeny Les Paul signature guitars, and received the White Stripes legend’s wild Fender Triplecaster in return.

White made headlines a few weeks ago when he swapped signatures with Living Color’s Vernon Reid, after the pair had bumped into each other at the airport.

Now, White has given away another one of his wild Fender Triplecasters to the Metallica guitar maestro, but this time it wasn’t as part of a random encounter in a public place – it was done “in the interest of reciprocity”.

In a post on social media, White – proudly posing alongside his new Gibson ‘Greeny’ Les Paul – explains that Hammett had kindly sent him his signature Gibson Les Paul, which immediately made an impression on the gear experimentalist.

“Guitar slaying maestro Kirk Hammett of Metallica was kind enough to send me one of his new remakes of the famous "Greeny" guitar the original of which now resides with him,” he writes.

“Owned by Peter Green, and Gary Moore, it is well known for its accidental out of phaseness from the neck pickup being upside down and wired "wrong" etc. You really can hear it up around the 15th fret in my opinion, that's where it sings.”

Now, a few different variants of the Greeny Les Paul have been reissued over the past few years, but it looks as though White is now the proud owner of the widely accessible Gibson Les Paul Standard version.

Unlike the $50k Collector's Edition or $20k Custom Shop Standard models, this particular example – which costs just shy of $3k – doesn’t come with any of the relic’ing or artificial aging that attempts to recreate the aesthetics of Hammett’s OG model. Instead, its Greeny Bust finish is entirely unblemished.

To say thanks for the gift, White parted ways with another of his own Fender Triplecasters, which was sent to Kirk Hammett – who now seemingly can’t put it down.

“Thanks so much @officialjackwhite for such a great cool innovative, fun Triplecaster guitar,” Hammett wrote in a reply post. “I love it so much Greeny is getting a bit jealous!!!”

The Triplecaster arrived last year as part of a bumper drop of Jack White signature Fender products. A spiritual remake of his Custom Shop Telecaster, the Triplecaster was one of 2024’s standout launches, with three different pickups and a host of curious specs.

Whether either guitarist will play their new instruments live on stage or in the studio any time soon remains to be seen…

What is it?

A penny for Jimmy Bryant’s thoughts. Oh to have a time machine to travel back and present the original master of the Fender Telecaster with this just as he was about to track 1954’s 2 Guitars Country Style.

Just what would Bryant have made of this, Fender’s seminal, groundbreaking yet utilitarian electric guitar design reborn in the American Ultra II series as a high-performance six-string? Speedy West would’ve fallen off his seat. What would Albert Collins have made of it, or Muddy Waters?

We have grown accustomed to thinking of the Telecaster as Fender’s hammer; the workhorse. But great guitar designs can be refined without losing a sense of themselves (Keith Richards prefers his Teles with just five strings).

That’s what Fender has been doing since time immemorial, and it’s what it is doing with the American Ultra II series, a range also including the Stratocaster, Strat HSS, the relatively new Meteora offset, and variants of the Jazz Bass and Precision Bass.

See the Custom Shop if you want to live out that time machine dream, 1962 all over again, or the American Vintage II range, which picks a date and era of Fender design and riffs on it.

The American Ultra II Telecaster is not that; it is a sequel that pushes the boundaries of modern refinement.

As soon as you take it out of its molded (and stackable) hard-shell guitar case, you can get the drift; the Ultra Contours, the belly cut, the forearm sculpting, all the timber that’s been whittled away from the lower cutaway and the heel to improve upper-fret access.

Or it could be the 1-ply anodized aluminum pickguard that tells you we have started a new chapter for the model. The original was launched just in time for the rock ’n’ roll revolution.

The American Ultra II makes its debut in the era of AI, Big Data, shrinkflation, ChatGPT, Netflix and chill, TikTok shredding and crypto. But don’t worry, there’s still something familiar. This is not a pair of Ray-Bans that connect to Google; it’s still a Telecaster. But what does it add to the Telecaster story?

Specs

Launch price: $2,199/£2,259/€2,649
Made: USA
Type: Six-string electric guitar
Body: Select alder
Neck: Maple / quartersawn, Modern D, bolt-on
Fingerboard: Maple, 10" to 14" radius
Scale length: 25.5"/648 mm
Nut/width: Graph Tech Tusq / 42.8 mm
Frets: 22, medium jumbo
Hardware: Locking tuners, Chromed brass hard-tail six-saddle string-through bridge, 1-ply gold anodized aluminum pickguard
Electrics: Pickups, controls, switching
Weight: 7.23lb/3.3kg
Options: Ebony fingerboard with Texas Tea and Solar Flare finishes (same price), silver pickguard on Texas Tea and Avalance, black on Sinister Red and Solar Flare
Left-handed options: No.
Finishes: Ultraburst (as reviewed), Avalanche, Sinister Red, Solar Flare, Texas Tea
Cases: Fender Hardshell case
Contact: Fender

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★1/2

The American Ultra II series models all have a lot in common. We have select alder bodies. The necks are all quartersawn maple, which as the timber enthusiasts among you will know is more expensive, more stable. In this case that neck and fretboard all one in the same.

Ebony fingerboards are offered with other finishes. The Modern D neck shape is a leitmotif and key selling point of the range, with each neck bolted to the body just as Leo had intended them, and finished in Ultra Satin as, surely, every player will want a neck to be. Spoiler: this is a thoroughly agreeable neck treatment that is one of the most, if not the most, tactile playing experiences you could imagine.

For all the 21st-century details – the Fender logo in gold, the locking Fender-branded tuners, the Luminlay glow-in-the-dark fret markers down the side of the fingerboard, “Ultra Rolled” fingerboard edges and of course the 10” to 14” compound radius fingerboard – you strap this up and it feels like a Telecaster.

I have an American Ultra II Stratocaster HSS right here for comparison, dressed similarly in Ultra Burst with gold pickguard, and it feels like a different guitar, even if its neck is fundamentally the same.

A pair of Ultra Noiseless Vintage Telecaster single-coil pickups assume their usual position at the neck and bridge, and there is a three-way slider switch to select them, volume and tone controls, and an S-1 switch on the volume pot that, when engaged, bypasses the pickup selector to run both pickups in series.

Fender has used agreeably knurled metal knobs for this purpose. Like the rubber-gripped skirted knobs on the AmUltra II Strat, they are real quality. The switches, too, they clunk confidently into place; this is luthiery as engineering.

There’s no quibble with the finish or the factory setup. This is the Corona, California facility operating at the top of its game. Fret edges are on-point. The frets, indeed, are worthy of comment. They’re nickel, not stainless steel, but polished with such vigor you might think they were.

For all the modernization here, Fender has not gone full Charvel with these (FMIC already owns Charvel) so the AmUltra IIs are not hot-rodded per se. The frets are medium jumbo, and there are only 22 of them, no need to go full two-octave here. The Graph Tech Tusq nut is cut nicely, with Fender using short-post locking tuners to improve the break angle over the nut.

The bridge is full of surprises. It’s one of those modern adjustable six-saddle designs, an antidote to the bane of traditional Telecaster tuning compromises. And it is finished in chrome to match the tuners. But it is brass, “chromed brass”, so we’ve theoretically got a tone profile similar to those old-school Teles we all know and love – three brass barrel saddles and the truth.

Vintage enthusiasts have all kinds of peccadillos when it comes to Telecaster specs, and that’s fine, but surely we can all agree that being able to adjust the truss rod via the headstock is an improvement.

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★★

Full disclosure: I was looking forward to playing the American Ultra II Telecaster but John 5 ruined it for me. The Stratocaster HSS had got me hooked on the neck. Anyone could get used to that fit and finish. And yet, just before strapping up the Telecaster, I made the mistake of watching John 5 demo it, a spectacle that would leave most of us feeling inadequate, as though we are playing the guitar with boxing gloves on. Needless to say, he makes the most of the high-performance platform.

But here’s the rub. The American Ultra II Telecaster makes you a better player. Or at least makes you think you are. There’s something so accommodating about it; how it sits, how balanced it is, how those rolled fingerboard edges offer a subtle but telling contribution to the playing experience. It’s a guitar that gets out of your way and puts the wind at your back.

Country and bluegrass virtuosos might frown upon it because it’s just not sport. I’ve got a Classic Baja Player Telecaster for comparison, a much loved guitar; great, hulking slab of ash that it is, and while it still feels like Telecaster land with the AmUltra there is something almost obnoxiously easy about how it plays without feeling like someone has slipped you a Charvel Style 2 when you weren’t looking; in other words, that 10” to 14” compound radius is well judged, contemporary but not radically so.

It simply feels like sensible dimensions for a playable guitar, for those inspired by the Jumpin’ Jack Flash riff and Rising Force alike. And furthermore the speed does not come at the price of comfort. There is a lot to love about the primal wood slab of a '50s Tele but, goodness, this is nicer after an hour of playing. And hey, with all this playability, maybe that John 5 stuff is achievable. Maybe.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★1/2

The American Ultra II might be souped-up for slinkiness but it presents a familiar set of core sounds. The control circuit is similar to the Classic Baja Player Tele, with the S-1 switch presenting a fourth voice presenting those two single-coils in series for a tone that’s kinda funky, appropriate for country, and interesting when you’ve got some effects on it. Let your compressor pedal do its worst and it’ll be great for the former, but with some drive and a bit of flanger it’s kind of psychedelic.

But what the world needs from a Telecaster is twang and this one’s got it in abundance. That bridge pickup has all the moxie you would want from a Tele. Even if it hits you will that slim-jim high-end cut it’s got a lot of personality, pure Nashville fried chicken when picked closer to the bridge, and Led Zeppelin I when played with amp overdrive at high volume. The clarity is forensically detailed.

It’s interesting putting this side by side with the Baja Tele, a Mexican-built Custom Shop collaboration with a Twisted Tele pickup in the neck and a Broadcaster-style vintage single-coil at the bridge. It is a great-sounding instrument. But the AmUltra II Tele sounds a little more dialed in by comparison, more hi-fi – if that makes sense. The Noiseless pickups help. They really are effective. This is a quiet guitar.

That said, there’s nothing sacrilegious about the sounds you’ll get out of this thing. We have 21st-century playability but the tones would not spook anyone who had made the quantum leap here from the ‘50s.

The pickups are perfectly balanced. That middle position, with both pickups in parallel, is a great rock rhythm sound. The neck pickup is precise and punchy, addictive. Dial back the tone and put a hint of grit on the amp and it sounds great for jazz.

And, as yer man, John 5, ably shows, it can take plenty of gain. Telecasters always have but with those Noiseless pickups that is now a very real option.

Verdict

Fender’s state-of-the-art Telecaster is not cheap. It has competition, too, and it is coming from inside the room, so to speak, from Fender-owned Charvel, from Fender’s own Player Plus series, which does a similar job at half the price. But does it do it quite as well as this? More to the point, does anyone?

It is hard to find a more playable T-style than this. This American Ultra II series builds upon the good work of the original AmUltra models that launched in 2019.

It takes the Telecaster further while playing to its strengths. It’s still a workhorse, still hugely versatile, offering reference tones to unleash in all kinds of musical styles and a speedy, up-to-the-minute ride.

The finish options are a disappointment, at least by Fender's high standards (no one does a solid color better). But if what you are looking for is classic Telecaster tones, no hum, the X-factor of that S-1 series mode and a guitar so playable that you might need to put the brakes on yourself and remember to play to the count, then this is it.

Tactile, streamlined, impeccably put together, there’s no way Jimmy Bryant wouldn’t have dug this.

Guitar World verdict: A radical revamp of Telecaster playability reaffirms a commitment to classic Tele tones in Fender’s modernized take on the solid-body electric that started it all. Those Noiseless Vintage pickups give it a high-fidelity, EQ’d quality; the Tele as the best version of itself. It’s a workhorse for the biggest job you’ve got.

Also try

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• Fender Tone Master Pro review

Grammy-nominated riff-monger Josh Rand, best known for his role in post-grunge/hard rock outfit Stone Sour, has launched an official Reverb store – and it’s an absolute treasure trove of rare, vintage and signature guitar gear.

The guitarist has decided to part with a weighty score of gear that gives a fascinating insight into the players that get his shred motor running.

“My store is going to consist of 26 guitars and five basses,” he says. “90% of these instruments are custom shop signature models from other artists spanning over three decades.”

It reads as a who’s who of elite shredders and guitar virtuosos, with signature offerings from Steve Vai (a relic’d 2008 Ibanez Jem EVO), Joe Bonamassa, Paul Gilbert – an example that was used in the studio by the Mr. Big and Racer X maestro – and Tool’s Adam Jones among those for the taking.

Of his Ibanez 1963 Paul Gilbert PGM, Rand says: “As a guitar collector, when you get the opportunity to buy one of your heroes’ guitars, you just must do it. That’s the case with this guitar.

“When the opportunity arose to buy one of Paul Gilbert’s guitars used to record a Racer X project, I just couldn’t turn it down. After being on display at my house, I’ve decided it’s time for someone else to enjoy it.”

Alongside gear signed by John Petrucci, Korn’s Munky, Sting, and Paul Stanley is also a rare EVH ’78 Eruption electric guitar.

Only 40 were made, with this particular listing coming with a ’78 chain guitar strap, a 3-in-1 oil can, and a whammy bar. It features a sole humbucker and also comes with two packs of ’70s-era Fender Super Bullets strings in recreated packaging, Van Halen ’70s tortoiseshell picks, and a Certificate of Authenticity.

Other notable picks include a Stratocaster signed by Yngwie Malmsteen – no mention of a free Ferrari this time around – a historic John Lennon Gibson Museum, and a curious Custom Shop Ibanez.

The Malmsteen-scribbled Strat is a Fender Custom Shop “Yngwie Malmsteen” Duck, heralding from a signature run that was limited to 100 pieces. Fender Master Builder John Cruz had been tasked with turning the batch around, but with deadlines looming, Rand’s model is one of six to be built by fellow luthier Yuri Shishkov, making the rare axe even rarer.

Rand’s 2010 Gibson John Lennon J-160E “Bed In” Tribute Museum electro-acoustic, meanwhile, is signed by Yoko Ono and features a sketch of her and her late husband. One of 70 ever built, its electrics are said to be in full working order.

There’s also an Ibanez Prestige 12-string, of which Rand notes: “Although this has a Prestige neck on it, it was actually built during the LA custom shop for me to use during the recording of [Stone Sour double album] Hydrograd.”

“At first glance, you might ask yourself, ‘Well that looks the same as all the other ones,’ but if you take a closer look, what makes this one specifically unique is it has a Floyd Rose instead of the Kahler,” Rand says of his 2010 ESP Jeff Hanneman Signature Series axe – another addition to his Reverb shop store.

It’s decked out in an ironically unmissable camo finish and features Slayer’s eagle logo in place of the HH found on most of Hanneman’s signature guitar builds.

For fans of Rand’s low-end activities, a Gene Simmons-signed Punisher bass, produced by B.C. Rich in the early-mid-’90s, is also up for grabs. At $3,500, it represents one of the cheaper instruments available, alongside a seven-string Ibanez Apex 20, signed by Korn’s Munky, which is selling for $3,000.

Head to Reverb to peruse the full listings.

Legendary pickup maker Abigail Ybarra is one of the most iconic individuals to ever be associated with electric guitar pickups, and is widely recognized as something of a “pickup god” for the work she carried out over her 50-plus-year career at Fender.

Indeed, after joining the Fender Custom Shop in 1956, Ybarra began hand-winding and hand-building pickups for the firm two years later.

Soon, her hand-crafted creations were being fashioned into some of Fender’s most popular guitars, and were played by the likes of Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, Stevie Ray Vaughan and countless others. It wasn’t long before her pickups became highly sought-after by artists and collectors alike.

So, in other words, she’s a pretty big deal when it comes to the world of guitars and pickups – but Ybarra’s daughter had no idea her mother was such a high-profile name until she got mobbed by fans.

In a new interview with High Voltage Guitars, both Abigail and her daughter Aurora sit down to discuss Ybarra Sr.’s legacy, with Aurora recalling she only realized her mother was such a legend in the game after witnessing the fan hype that surrounded her during a Fender event.

“I never knew that my mother was a legend in the making,” Aurora says. “When I was a young kid, I knew the business. I was familiar with Fender, I was familiar with pickups and what it was that my mother did as a kid, but I did not realize that my mother was a thing until 2006.

“I went to a Fender event with her in Arizona. She had asked me just to help her there at the event,” she continues. “And when we got to work and they allowed the public to come into the exhibit, people were just losing their minds. It kind of scared me, because people were crowding her.

“I remember thinking, ‘Hey, back up, back up. Give her space.’ That's when I realized, ‘Oh, my goodness.’

“And a friend of mine who knows of my mom's reputation – and I didn't even know at the time – he said, ‘Your mom is Abigail Ybarra?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘I thought your mom was just like an employee at Fender.’ I go, ‘She is.’

“He goes, ‘Yeah, but that's like saying my mom's a baker and then finding out that your mom is Betty Crocker!’ I was like… wait a minute, I work with this guy at UPS, which has nothing to do with the business that my mother's in. I just thought that was crazy.”

Abigail Ybarra retired in 2013 after a decorated 50-plus-year career. She came out of retirement earlier this year to help former Fender Master Builder Carloz Lopez create the Castedosa ABI – a guitar named after her – and more recently built the pickups that can be found in John Frusciante’s recently unveiled $20k signature Stratocaster.

David Gilmour’s Black Stratocaster is one of the most iconic electric guitars of all time, but it was by no means the only notable Strat to have been owned by the Pink Floyd legend.

When Gilmour sold the Black Strat at auction back in 2019, he also put another one of his go-to Fenders under the hammer: a hugely sought-after, unusually styled Stratocaster from 1954, which bears the serial number ‘0001’.

The 0001 Strat is often overlooked by casual guitar fans in favor of the more recognizable Black model, but for Fender CEO Andy Mooney, the 0001 model – which had previously belonged to Leo Fender, Seymour Duncan, and Gilmour’s personal guitar tech, Phil Taylor – was the one for him.

In fact, as Mooney reveals in a new interview with Zak Kuhn, he once attempted to convince Gilmour to let Fender build a Custom Shop reissue of the elusive model – and even had plans to buy the original when it went up for auction.

However, when he eventually got his hands on the guitar he had been pining over for so many years, Mooney was left feeling rather underwhelmed by the whole experience.

Speaking of his guitar collection, Mooney explains, “The one I lusted after is a guitar that David Gilmour owned with the serial number 0001. I asked after I joined the company if he would be willing to give it to us to do faithful reproductions, as he did with his Black guitar from Dark Side of the Moon.

“He wasn't willing to do it, and then they went up for auction,” he adds. “He auctioned them all off. So, I actually got a chance to play that guitar, because it went on tour with his creme de la creme of his collection.

“I played it down at Christie’s Auction House in LA. The Black guitar is really something special, and then I played the 0001 and I was actually disappointed in it, relative to what I really thought it was. My expectations were a little too high.”

Nevertheless, Mooney’s heart was set on owning the 0001 Strat, so when the auction eventually rolled around, he went in with a pre-set budget with the hopes of acquiring his dream guitar.

“I had to have it,” Mooney goes on. “So I agreed a price with my wife, which was pretty darn high, and it went for double that. I think the same guy who bought the Black guitar paid about $1,000,005 for the 0001.”

While he might not have the real deal, Mooney does have the next best thing: a meticulous Custom Shop recreation, which has even been set up precisely the way he likes it.

“I went out and collected every photograph that had ever been taken off that guitar and gave it to the Custom Shop builders,” Mooney says. “And not only does it look exactly like 0001, now it plays exactly the way I want it. It's in my collection, but it's a little bit of a fake.

As mentioned, 0001 is often overlooked ahead of the Black Strat, but the white-finished, gold-hardware'd Strat was comfortably one of Gilmour's most prized and historic instruments.

It made its first appearance in live promo clips filmed for Gilmour's first solo album in 1978, and saw action during The Wall sessions – including the rhythm guitar on Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2).

Gilmour also used it to help record Paul McCartney's Back to the Egg Wings album, and played it live at London's Wembley Arena during a 50th anniversary celebration of the Fender Stratocaster in 2004.

In related Gilmour guitar news, the Pink Floyd icon recently revealed he can't tell the difference between his signature Fender and his original Black Strat.

Fender has officially announced a new ‘Padre’ version of Tom DeLonge’s sought-after signature Strat years after the elusive original was first built.

It continues Fender’s current theme of blink-182 revival electric guitars, having brought back DeLonge’s ultra-minimalist signature Strat last summer.

Now the collaborative partnership has gone one step further to bring back the Padre, which predates the OG TD Strat. As the story goes, Fender’s Custom Shop had built the pop-punk icon several prototypes before his signature guitar proper, and among them was an especially eye-catching brown and orange model.

Now, that elusive Padre variant, arguably the most iconic of those prototypes, is getting a limited-edition run “for the first time ever”. Only 300 will be made exclusively for DeLonge’s To The Stars enterprise.

Yours for $1,749.99 – if you’re quick enough – it features a ’69 Strat neck with a modern C-profile for a nifty blend of old and new.

Its 9.5” radius rosewood fingerboard has 21 medium jumbo frets, with other appointments coming in the form of Fender deluxe locking tuners and locking strap buttons to keep guitar straps secure.

The guitar pairs a black Seymour Duncan JB humbucker in the bridge with a single volume control for no-nonsense electronics and “all the tones you need”.

Each of the 300 guitars boasts stamped and serialized neck plates. They all come with a signed and numbered certificate of authenticity, and a hardshell guitar case inspired by the orange-clad beauty that carries DeLonge’s six-string from show to show.

DeLonge’s signature Strat got a (nearly) all-black makeover late last year, while the Indonesian-made version of his Starcaster, which broke cover in April, represents one of 2024’s most anticipated releases.

The bar has been set high for the Padre, after DeLonge’s standard Strat was described as a “powerful, straightforward tool for pounding away on heavily distorted power chords” in GW’s comprehensive review of the axe.

The Fender TSS Padre Stratocaster is available to pre-order now and costs $1,749.99.

The original Mary Kaye Strat – one of the most iconic Fender electric guitars of all time – has sold for $227,500 at auction.

That puts the 1956 Stratocaster, which is draped in a historic translucent-blonde finish and gold hardware, comfortably in its estimated sale price of $200,000 to $300,000 after 10 bids.

Believed to be Fender’s first-ever Custom Shop model, this particular Strat first debuted as part of a now-iconic Fender promotional photoshoot from 1956 that featured the legendary Las Vegas performer’s ensemble, the Mary Kaye Trio.

At the time, it was the first Strat to feature this particular aesthetic set up, its translucent blonde finish complemented with a maple fretboard, white plastic, and gold hardware. The term ‘Mary Kaye’ quickly came to represent the instrument’s entire chic and, 68 years later, it remains one of Fender’s most recognizable cosmetic set-ups.

Google ‘Mary Kaye Strat’ and you can be hit with some crazy asking prices for second-hand Custom Shop builds and copies of the 50th-anniversary edition, which was released in 2006. None are a dot on the price the real deal has gone for, though.

“Of all the rare, sought-after custom model guitars introduced by Fender over the decades, few have inspired the kind of cult following that the Mary Kaye Stratocaster has,” says Fender.

Yet, ironically, the guitar in the photoshoot never actually belonged to Kaye. Instead, she favored custom D’Angelicos, but because of that one photoshoot – and a few one-off uses – her name will forever be linked to that Strat.

Then-Fender president Don Randall loaned Kaye the guitar again for the Mary Kaye Trio’s appearance in the 1956 film Cha Cha Cha Boom! This merely added further fuel to the guitar’s mystical fire and Kaye’s association with it.

“Within the broader context of pop music, we have examples of artists who became heavily associated with a color: Prince with purple,” Mike Adams, the in-house guitar appraiser of auction house Julien’s, recently told Guitar World.

“David Gilmour’s famous black Strat comes to mind, Zakk Wylde’s Bullseye Les Paul, The White Stripes’ iconic red and white scheme, and even Jack White’s recent fascination with blue could all be good examples of this phenomenon.”

Yet none can claim to have taken ownership over an entire aesthetic quite like Kaye.

“The Mary Kaye is interesting because of the unfortunate nature of the guitar industry,” he expanded. “Women historically haven’t received the coverage and attention they deserve compared with their male counterparts, and as a result, you don’t see as many cited examples of women who are heavily associated with a single instrument.

“This Stratocaster is inextricably linked to a female artist which makes it that much more special, and thankfully, things within the industry appear to be changing.”

Of course, Superbowl-smashing guitarist H.E.R. has made history with her series of signature Strats, and more recently Jackson – part of the Fender family – made Tetrach’s Diamond Rowe its first female signature artist, and Jackson’s first African American female signature artist.

Visit Julien’s to find out more about the Mary Kaye Strat.

Fender has lifted the curtain on one of its most anticipated launches of the year – the Chris Shiflett Cleaver Telecaster Deluxe.

A long-awaited release that’s been designed in collaboration with the Foo Fighters electric guitar maestro, this particular new signature guitar arrives after months of speculation, which first began when Shiflett confirmed the existence of a new P-90-loaded Tele that he and Fender were working on.

At the time, it was revealed the then-unnamed Cleaver Telecaster had been rigorously road-tested, with Shiflett himself taking to the stage with a Charcoal Frost-finished variant that was inspired by his original P-90 Telecaster.

Indeed, the design brief for the Chris Shiflett Cleaver Telecaster Deluxe was to replicate its master’s Masterbuilt Tele – complete with P-90 pickups – without emulating the Custom Shop creation’s lofty price tag.

To that end, the Corona-made single-cut – which is available in both Charcoal Frost Metallic and Dakota Red colorways – streamlines the spec sheet but works to retain the Tele Deluxe charm of the source material.

That means there’s a classic alder body with a comfortable belly cut, as well as a C-shape maple neck, 12”-radius rosewood fingerboard with 21 frets, and a 25.5” scale length. Other core components include pearloid block inlays, a bone nut, string-through-body hardtail bridge and F-style tuning machines.

According to Fender, though, the magic of Shiflett’s Cleaver Telecaster comes from the pickups, which are a pair of Custom Chris Shiflett ‘Cleaver’ Noiseless CS-90s. Wired to a regular Tele Deluxe control circuit comprising two volume and two tone controls, the P-90-style pups promise “a throaty midrange punch” and the singing highs of a vintage single-coil without any hum.

This tonal versatility is a key feature of the no-nonsense workhorse, which has been aptly named “The Cleaver” for its ability to “positively slash through the mix with a voice that snarls dirty as well as sings clean”.

Naturally, this is imperative for Shiflett, whose body of work – from his Foo Fighters responsibilities all the way to his solo career – runs the entire gamut of hard-hitting rock ‘n’ roll to full-throttle country.

“Going way back, Keith Richards is probably the first person I associated with the Telecaster,” Shiflett tells Guitar World in upcoming interview of his affection for Telecasters. “Then Joe Strummer, of course, is a huge one. Then you get into all the country pickers.

“The Telecaster is so closely associated with country music – it’s the gold standard of honky tonk guitar playing. I think of it as the perfect workhorse guitar. You can’t really break them. You can drop them or kick them and they just keep coming back for more.”

“We put a lot of love and research into creating the American made version of my signature model, The Cleaver,” Shiflett continues in the Fender release.

“It’s been road-tested, dropped on its head, kicked around, x-rayed, strummed, chicken-picked, and arpeggio swept! I’m excited to announce we’ve made a great guitar that's adaptable to all situations. Can’t wait to get this into the hands of players everywhere!"

“Chris has a lot of guitars, plays a lot of styles and demands versatility, and our goal was to capture that spirit in the design,” adds Fender’s Justin Norvell. “This guitar is not just an instrument; it’s an extension of his musical identity and tone that both he and his fans demand

“Fun Fact: we didn’t nickname it ‘The Cleaver’, his Front-of-house person did the first night he played it live, because ‘it cut through the mix like a cleaver,’ which speaks for itself!”

“It was in reference to the sound of the original one,” Shiflett explains to Guitar World. “We called it 'The Cleaver' because it cut through!

“In Foo Fighters, we have a lot of sound coming off the stage and that’s always something – as one of the guitar players in the band – that I’m thinking about. Where should my tone sit? The P-90s just have that growl.”

The Chris Shiflett Cleaver Telecaster Deluxe is available now for $2,499.

Visit Fender for more information.

The original Mary Kaye Fender Stratocaster – the distinctive electric guitar, which coined a completely new term for Strat finishes – is set to go under the hammer later this week.

As far as Stratocasters go, it’s one of the most influential examples to ever exist. The translucent blonde-finished, gold-hardware six-string first made its debut in the arms of legendary Las Vegas performer Mary Kaye, who was famously snapped holding the guitar in 1956 during a Fender promotional shoot that featured The Mary Kaye Trio.

Assembled in 1956, the guitar in question was arguably the first-ever Fender Custom Shop Strat ever produced, and was the first to feature this particular color scheme.

That color scheme comprises a blonde finish, gold hardware and white plastic, paired with a maple neck. A relatively unassuming colorway, but one that had never been seen before – and one that quickly became synonymous with the artist who was first pictured playing it.

As such, in guitar circles, the term ‘Mary Kaye’ doesn’t refer to the Stratocaster itself. Instead, it evolved into an identifying term for an entire colorway, which has now become one of Fender’s most recognizable cosmetic set-ups.

Indeed, a quick search for ‘Mary Kaye Strat’ on Google and you’ll be met with a series of Custom Shop models and vintage reissues that all use Kaye’s name as a way to describe the aesthetic.

It’s a phenomenon that hasn’t been replicated to the same extent since. As Mike Adams – Julien’s in-house guitar appraiser, who handled the Kaye Strat for the auction – tells Guitar World, players are often associated with a finish or colorway, but it’s very rare that a player’s name becomes the actual tagline for an entire aesthetic.

“Within the broader context of pop music, we have examples of artists who became heavily associated with a color: Prince with purple…” he says. “David Gilmour’s famous black Strat comes to mind, Zakk Wylde’s Bullseye Les Paul, The White Stripes’ iconic red and white scheme, and even Jack White’s recent fascination with blue could all be good examples of this phenomenon.

“That said, I’m hard-pressed to think of another example of an artist’s name being the industry-wide term for a type of finish. Buck Owens’ Red White and Blue look might be an exception, but his name feels a little less common these days within guitar circles, recent Fender reissues notwithstanding.

“Eddie Van Halen is certainly a contender with his red, white, and black striped paint job, but even he had a number of color schemes on his most famous guitars.”

As such, the arrival of the original Mary Kaye Stratocaster to the auction circuit is a fairly significant development, and although it’s been set a lofty $300,000 upper estimate, it wouldn’t be ridiculous to suggest it could go beyond that.

What’s more intriguing is the fact Mary Kaye never even owned the Strat in question. Instead, she merely held it during the 1956 photoshoot – and used it during three numbers on the movie, Cha! Cha! Boom! – but that’s where the connection ends.

As Adams further explains, Kaye instead preferred to play her D’Angelico guitars, meaning that when people seek out a ‘Mary Kaye’ Strat, they have that nomenclature “thanks to a single photograph”.

“The Mary Kaye is interesting because of the unfortunate nature of the guitar industry,” he continues. “Women historically haven’t received the coverage and attention they deserve compared with their male counterparts, and as a result you don’t see as many cited examples of women who are heavily associated with a single instrument.

“Gilmour and Eddie Van Halen come up more frequently than Bonnie Raitt and her Strat, Joan Jett with her Melody Maker, Susan Tedeschi and her Caribbean Mist Tele, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe with that white three pickup SG Custom.

“This Stratocaster is inextricably linked to a female artist which makes it that much more special, and thankfully, things within the industry appear to be changing.”

Over the past few years, the OG Mary Kaye Strat has been in the hands of a collector, who in turn acquired it from Iain Ashley Hershey, who featured the guitar on the cover of his albums. Before that, it belonged to a string of high-profile owners, from Johnny Cucci to Jimmy Crespo.

When it came to Julien’s, Adams – who has previously appraised John Lennon and Kurt Cobain's guitars for the auction house – was responsible for looking it over.

“Playing it, now that was an experience,” recalls the vintage expert. “The Mary Kaye – what a guitar. The neck is delightful with its large, soft V profile, light weight, warm and dynamic pickups, and it resonates wildly with every strum.

“[It’s] definitely in the top five Strats I’ve played over the course of my career, maybe the top.”

Owing to its historical, cultural and social significance, the Mary Kaye Stratocaster is expected to sell for upwards of $300,000.

“The Mary Kaye Stratocaster primarily appeals to guitar fans who understand the historical importance of the woman, the finish, and the Fender Stratocaster itself,” Adams concludes. “Folks who know what we mean by “Mary Kaye” and why we say that in the first place.”

The Played, Worn & Torn auction kicks off tomorrow (November 20). Head over to Julien’s to find out more.

Other guitars set to feature in the upcoming auction include Prince's Sadowsky model, George Harrison's Futurama, and Eddie Van Halen's Canada Flag guitar.

Fender has announced it will be opening an Artist Showroom in Shanghai next year, as the US firm continues to expand its physical presence and influence in Asia.

News of a potential Fender Showroom in Shanghai emerged earlier this month, when Yicai Global reported the company’s President of APAC, Edward Cole, had announced its upcoming move in a then-unquoted interview.

Now, in an exclusive quote supplied to Guitar World, Cole has indeed confirmed plans for a new Fender Artist Showroom in one of the world’s leading hubs for finance, manufacturing and tourism.

"For nearly 80 years, it has always been Fender’s mission to equip artists with ‘wings to fly’ as Leo Fender always said. We are dedicated to building a direct connection with the artist community in China to further that mission,” Cole tells Guitar World.

“In 2025, we will open a dedicated artist showroom named 'The Fender Backstage' in Shanghai, to support our Chinese artists as they continue on their musical journey and to tap into the incredible energy and excitement exploding out of the China music scene.”

Notably, ‘The Fender Backstage’ is not the firm’s only high-profile operation to take place in the Asian guitar market in recent years. In July 2023, Fender ushered in a new chapter of its history by opening its flagship Tokyo store in Harajuku.

The four-floor, state-of-the-art store offers test spaces for gear, and stocks a huge selection of instruments from across Fender’s ranges, from affordable Squiers all the way to Custom Shop Masterbuilt electric guitars.

That all said, it’s worth noting the upcoming ‘Fender Backstage’ in Shanghai has been officially badged as an ‘Artist Showroom’, rather than a ‘flagship store’, which means it will serve a different purpose to the Tokyo operation.

Instead, it will likely operate in the same way as Fender’s London Artist Showroom, which only opened in 2022. Situated in Covent Garden, that particular building is seen as a hub for Fender artists, who can use the space to test gear, use Fender resources, collaborate with the team and more.

Fender has been placing new strategic importance on its overseas operations over the past three years – a decision that Fender CEO Andy Mooney discussed with Guitar World at the time of the Tokyo store’s opening in 2023.

“The reason we're doing that primarily is because Tokyo has become one of the major tourist destinations in the world, particularly for tourists coming out of mainland China,” Mooney explained.

“And in Southeast Asia in particular, you're almost not a legitimate brand or a high-status brand if you don't have your own branded store, so this truly is a flagship that I believe will prove the economic model works.

“The Tokyo store perhaps will be used as a model to create franchise retail throughout Southeast Asia.”

In other industry-related Fender news, earlier this year the company announced its first-ever Certified Pre-Owned program on Reverb.

Fender has painstakingly replicated John Frusciante’s legendary 1962 Stratocaster for its latest Limited Edition Masterbuilt Custom Shop signature guitar drop.

There have been plenty of iconic Strats across the decades – Gilmour’s Black Strat, Eric Clapton’s “Blackie”, and Rory Gallagher’s own 1961 model, to name just a few – and Froosh’s own heavy relic’d sunburst model is comfortably up there with the lot.

Perhaps the main electric guitar from his entire collection, the ’62 has been used extensively throughout his Red Hot Chili Peppers stints, and was responsible for tracking – and bringing to the stage – a huge assortment of the band’s biggest hits.

A foundational aspect of both Frusciante’s heralded guitar tone and the wider RHCP sound, the 1962 model has become deeply synonymous with its influential owner – and now, at long last, it’s been reproduced by Fender.

You may recall that rumors of a Frusciante signature Strat began circulating in May last year, after Frusciante was spotted playing a replica of his original model.

More than a year later, a hugely anticipated signature version of the Strat – which marks Frusciante’s first-ever signature Fender – has finally dropped, but this isn’t your regular US-made signature, nor is it a more affordable Ensenada-made spin-off.

This is very much a top-of-the-line Custom Shop replica created by Senior Masterbuilder Paul Waller. As such, it commands a hefty price tag: $20,000, to be precise.

That expense is reflected in the level of detail that’s been applied to this replica. As Fender stresses, it “spared no expense” in recreating every detail of the source material, from the dings and dents on the headstock and neck, to the heavy aging of the sunburst finish.

Naturally, the electronics and the physical playability of the replica have all been modeled on Frusciante’s OG model. That means it has a “singular worn in quality that is usually only attainable with a pre-owned vintage guitar”, while the pickups offer an ILLITCH hum-canceling system as per the source material.

Those pickups, notably, are hand-wound single-coils built by legendary pickup winder Abigail Ybarra, who first retired back in 2013 after spending more than five decades working as part of the Fender family.

Underneath all the cosmetics bells and whistles, you’ll find a select two-piece alder body, a rift-sawn maple neck, and a slab rosewood fingerboard that offers 21 narrow tall frets and a vintage 7.25” radius.

Other appointments include vintage-style tuners, a bone nut, Vintage Strat wiring, and a vintage-style synchronized tremolo.

All in all, it’s undeniably the closest thing you’re going to get to experiencing the real Stratocaster, which Frusciante bought way back in the late 1990s when he re-joined the band for the Californication era.

“The main guitar that I played was my ’62 Strat, which is the same guitar that I got when I rejoined the band back in 1998,” he told Guitar World in 2022. “Back in ’98 I didn’t have money for a Strat, but I told them all I had was a Fender Jaguar, and I felt that I should have a Strat for it to sound like the band.

“Anthony [Kiedis] and I went to Guitar Center and he lent me the money to get a Strat, and it was the one that spoke to me off the wall. And ever since then, I’ve had many other Strats – from that period of time, generally – and that one that happened to be there that day, I’ve never found one better than that.”

Now, $20k is hardly accessible for the majority of guitar players, but fear not: Fender also rolled out the red carpet for Mike McCready’s own sunburst Strat, which received a similar Custom Shop treatment before a Made in Mexico variant arrived later down the line.

Could a similar thing happen here? There’s no guarantees, of course, but it would be a no-brainer for Fender, which clearly recognizes the historical significance of this particular Strat.

“Frusciante’s Strat is right up there with the most iconic Fenders of all time; being able to work on his first-ever Signature model was a true privilege,” notes Waller. “Recreating this instrument’s many beautiful imperfections was no easy feat, but behind every ding and dent is a story and it’s our job to make sure that this guitar’s narrative is told in full, stunning detail.

“For an instrument this heavily reliced, it still retains so much of its original beauty. A ton of work went into this one, and while much of that can be reflected in its visual components, the whole team is tremendously proud of how this thing plays.”

Visit the Fender Custom Shop to find out more.

Official Fender seven-string electric guitars may become a reality in the not-too-distant future, after the firm’s first-ever seven-string Stratocaster recently broke cover.

On the latest episode of his eponymous podcast, Chris Garza of deathcore metal outfit Suicide Silence took the opportunity to show off his latest custom build – a history-making seven-string hardtail Strat that has been seven years in the making.

After recently receiving his long-awaited Custom Shop creation, Garza wasted no time in playing it live almost immediately. Now he’s given Fender fans a closer look at the extended scale Strat in a detailed post.

“Shout out to Javier Cuba [Fender Custom Shop manager], he really put in a lot of time [on this],” Garza says. “A lot of people at Fender, I’ve known for many years. From the conversation to the first one, to this – getting it in my hand – it took almost seven years. Definitely well worth the wait.”

As Garza explains, the guitar features a mahogany body, maple neck and ebony fingerboard, as well as 24 jumbo frets, a 26.5” scale length, and Bare Knuckle Aftermath humbuckers. It also flaunts a sole volume knob, some unique body contouring, and a string-through-body hardtail bridge.

And, perhaps most notably of all, it features seven strings. That is an exceptionally rare feature to see on a seven-string Strat, and has only ever been experimented with on a few select Squier models over the years.

Examples include the near-impossible-to-find Squier Stratocaster VII from 2000 – which arrived in both hardtail and tremolo configurations – and the more aggressive Squier Stagemaster 7, which came with a Floyd Rose-style trem. Needless to say, neither model was particularly successful, and were swiftly discontinued.

Never, though, has Squier’s parent company released an official, Fender-badged seven-string. Now, it's happened, and we might be one step closer to finally seeing production run seven-string models thanks to Garza’s long-term project.

“This is the first ever official Fender – not Squier – seven-string hardtail. The first one ever in history is actually this guitar. It’s a real thing. Honestly, it still doesn’t seem real.

“There’s a bigger vision with this guitar. I do want this to be a signature model at some point. We’ll see what happens.”

With Fender continuing to close the gap between its hero and speciality brands – such as Charvel and EVH, as evidenced by the American Ultra II line – it's not completely beyond the realms of possibility that a dedicated seven-string range could be introduced at some point in the future. There certainly seems to be enough interest to justify such a move, too...

Blues maestro Joe Bonamassa has, once again, teamed up with Seymour Duncan on signature Broadcaster pickups that promise to add that extra vintage, 1950s-inspired flair to your Telecaster.

Joe Bonamassa's 1950 Broadcaster Set takes inspiration from the Tele predecessor, of which only 250 were built between the fall of 1950 and the spring of 1951.

Right after its introduction, a trademark war ensued with Gretsch, which owned the BroadKaster trademark. This led to it becoming known as the “Nocaster”, which eventually resulted in the model we now know as the Telecaster.

As you can imagine, these guitars are now extremely rare. However, as befits a bona fide vintage collector, Bonamassa is the owner of one of these scarce models.

“The Broadcaster will be turning 75 years old next year, and it's just an incredible invention of electric guitar,” Bonamassa tells Seymour Duncan.

“My original guitar has a nice bright front pickup, which is hard to find on early Telecasters because they tend to get a little bit muddy. They're either overwound, underwound, or generally just a little lower in volume. So it's hard to get a really nice, punchy bright front pickup.”

However, according to Bonamassa, Seymour Duncan managed to capture his Broadcaster's unique tone and present it to the masses.

In fact, this 2024 replica is arguably so close to the real thing, that Bonamassa himself demos the set on an affordable Squier Tele and compares these pickups to his original.

“These are the prototypes of the Broadcaster set,” he explains. “The front [neck] pickup is a nice, bright, punchy pickup, and the flat-pole [bridge pickup] has a nice bite and a crunch.”

More importantly, they're authentic to Leo Fender's original design, which is why the tone evokes the early days of blues, rock, and country.

The set is built in the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop and features Alnico 2 magnets in the neck, Alnico 4 magnets in the bridge, and cloth push-back cable.

What's more, the raw steel bottom plates will be signed by Bonamassa and Seymour W. Duncan, aged to match the original set from the Broadcaster that inspired this new release, and individually numbered.

If you don't manage to nab one of the 250, Bonamassa and the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop will offer these pickups as built-to-order models for $160 a piece or $310 a set.

For more information, visit Seymour Duncan.

There’s currently plenty of action occurring in the UK’s guitar-making community. From solo and small-team builds to almost industrial scale, there’s considerable choice for us guitarists now. But crafting anything in the UK isn’t easy, it seems, and PJD’s progress hasn’t been straightforward.

Having created a small but well-received range of Standard and Elite models, the company co-created UKGB, an intended manufacturing hub for smaller brands such as Seth Baccus, Cream T, Chapman, and, of course, PJD itself. Despite building some great guitars, the venture failed commercially and all those brands lost a potentially viable manufacturing home.

But post-UKGB, in early 2023, PJD dusted down (the two companies had always been separate), set up new premises and, well, carried on with the highly streamlined production of the new-spec Standard range that launched later in the year with a starting price of £1,299.

As of 2024, PJD has announced its Custom Shop, which aims to make around 50 instruments a year, centring on the higher specification and ‘posher’ Elite models, plus one-off custom orders. To test the waters, we ordered up one of each.

Carey Elite

The Carey Elite was one of the first PJD models we had the opportunity to play. This was around five years ago, and at first glance you might ask, what’s changed? Quite a lot.

The foundation of the PJD line, the Carey is a nicely modern creation: a mixture of the familiar with the slightly wider LP-style outline, its Fender scale length and six-in-a-line headstock, and typically powered by either dual humbuckers, as here, or bridge humbucker and neck soapbar single coil.

From today’s perspective, however, the Elite does return to the style of PJD’s earlier models in that, unlike the current solid obeche-bodied Standards, the two-piece bookmatched body is quite heavily chambered, and here it’s a 50-year-old Brazilian mahogany sourced in the UK.

It’s capped with a thin maple flat-top with a subtle but rather beautiful flamed figuring (the same maple is also used for the rear cavity covers), a single f-hole, and cream edge binding that’s nicely rounded. The back also now gets a ribcage contour and the heel is more contoured compared with the earlier models.

This new Elite also returns to the deep-caramel-hued, quarter-sawn roasted maple neck of those earlier models and it’s quite eye-catching with a deep flame to the satin nitro-finished back and topped by an unbound dark rosewood fingerboard with a 254mm (10-inch) radius. We get PJD’s standard Jescar fretwire, perfectly installed and with those rounded ‘hot-dog’ ends, and mother-of-pearl rectangular inlays on the face with smaller dot inlays to the edge.

What hasn’t changed is the Gotoh hardware, although here we go up a level to the 510 Series with the 510FX-6, which uses a brass-walled bridge base that surrounds the steel-block saddles. The SG510 tuners look equally classy with a high 18:1 ratio and ebony buttons paired, as usual, with a perfectly cut unbleached bone nut and single string-tree.

We also get the same control layout with the pickup selector LP-style on the bass-side shoulder and the widely spaced volume and tone controls, here with gold reflector-top knobs that certainly suit the honey colouration.

The final change comes with the hand-wound PJD pickups; these use gold-foil fronts and a dual row of screw-adjustable poles with partial covers. It’s a very classy, well-considered piece. However, the same can’t be said for this Carey-based custom-build…

Carey Custom

‘Half an idea’ might be a good description for this instrument – and we have to take the flak for that. But hats off to PJD’s Josh Parkin who turned our partial concept into a very viable musical tool.

Now, classic guitar boffs might be thinking that, outline aside, this Custom build emulates the specs of a rather famous guitar: Andy Summer’s modded Fender Telecaster Custom. Full marks if you spotted that as, indeed, it was the half-idea that kicked off the build.

This writer had been chatting to PJD main man, Leigh Dovey, about Summers’ unique guitar and that, despite the huge success of the band it fuelled, you can’t buy anything like it today. ‘Let’s make one,’ said Leigh – and that’s how this party started.

While the Elite shows off very tasty timbers, the Custom’s build is based on the production-spec Carey Standard, which typically features a slab-sawn plain maple neck with an obeche body.

The first change here is the alder body given a bit of a Junior vibe with its two-tone low-gloss nitro finish (which is actually more old-Fender-style) and the standard Carey’s Junior-style black phenolic pickguard. Its slab-body ‘Junior’ style is enhanced with just a rear ribcage cut-out and, as usual for PJD, the maple neck is attached with proper bolts, not screws.

This hybrid style continues with another of PJD’s usual appointments in that Fender scale length, along with a Gotoh T-style bridge plate, as used on the PJD York Standard, with its suspended single coil and through-body stringing. Then it’s back to Gibson with the ’50s-style humbucker in the neck position.

Along with the standard Carey control layout, there’s a third control, which is a variable active boost that’s engaged by a push-push switched pot. Low on the body back is a flip-top battery compartment – an idea borrowed from John Mayer’s ‘Dead Spec’ PRS Silver Sky, which uses the Alembic Blaster clean boost. Another trick from Summers’ guitar is a pickup phase switch engaged by pulling up the tone control.

One aspect of the build that needed some consideration is that near-mythical active boost. Andy Summers had described it as a boost and/or overdrive, and by the time Fender got around to replicating the guitar in 2007, the original circuit was apparently no longer functioning.

PJD tasked Ben Marshall (who makes the Mars-Tronic Treblemaker variable treble-bleed circuits used on PJD’s original Apprentice guitars) to create the boost circuit, aka the Deci-Boost, and that’s what we have here.

Feel & Sounds

If you’re lucky enough to have played or owned a guitar from any of the well-established custom shops or smaller ‘boutique’ makers – Nik Huber and Patrick Eggle spring to mind – neither guitar here will disappoint.

It’s not just the perfect detailing of the build, but the Carey recipe is very player-led and it’s a great platform for customisation as these different versions illustrate: the Elite is PJD’s state-of-its-craft showpiece; the rather utilitarian Custom looks, by design, decidedly Junior-like.

Then there’s that lovely light weight of the Elite (earlier chambered ash versions can be even lighter), and while the alder-bodied Custom is heavier it feels about right for the T-style it loosely emulates. The neck shapes disappear in your hand – no, they’re not vintage baseball bats, they’re more contemporary with a finely shaped, pretty classic C profile averaging 21.5mm at the 1st fret and 22.5mm by the 12th, with nut widths a shade over 42mm.

The detailed fretwork just seems enhanced by the Plek process that each PJD guitar now goes through, and both guitars are extremely stable and very in tune straight out of their cases.

Unplugged, the Elite sounds very vibrant, a little darker and with a fuller midrange compared with our reference old-spec ash-bodied Carey Standard, perhaps as you’d expect. The Custom obviously sounds very Fender-like with less ‘acoustic-ness’ but a more steely, sustaining and vibrant response.

We start the plugged-in test with the untricky Elite. Some while later we’re still at it. Not that anything’s wrong, it’s just that it nails so many classic styles, like its design suggests. At the neck, played clean with a little volume and tone roll-off, there’s juicy and plummy jazz/blues that you could play all night in the right context.

Pulling up the volume, there’s more push and thickness, but the word ‘classic’ springs to mind again, with the construction and scale length just bringing a little snap and definition.

For rockier intent, the bridge pickup is well voiced; it has a nice old PAF-y honk with that slight seat-of-your-pants ride from the lively unpotted pickups as you wind it up.

The voicing is definitely a little darker than our reference ash-bodied Carey Standard, but both recipes are very flavoursome – the Elite a little more ‘Gibson’, the Standard a little more ‘Fender’.

Where to start with the Carey Custom? Again, the unpotted neck humbucker nails those low-volume plummy cleans perfectly, and the volume and tone controls are very well-voiced here. The mix adds considerable jangle with depth, and the tone control shades that very usefully again.

The phase switch was included simply because that’s what Andy Summers’ Tele had, but the different style of pickups means it’s not overthin, and as we experiment with sounds it works so well with Summers-style modulation or a much gainier amp voicing where we’re getting into more grungier, gnarly territory – not least with some of that onboard boost.

As you’d expect, the bridge pickup is considerably brighter than the neck humbucker and, yes, if Tele-style is your aim then it’s well voiced: not oversharp and with good steely bite.

But roll back the tone and the bridge becomes more humbucker-like and, of course, you can again add in that boost, which easily edges our valve combo amp into juicy overdrive.

If you’re happy to play with the three controls, the range of voices is considerable, not to mention the clean-to-grunge versatility even before we touch our amp or kick in any outboard dirt. It might look like a lowly ‘Junior’, but the quality of sound, not to mention that range, is quite something.

Verdict

It’s ironic that while we’re in a golden age of British guitar-making, the shrinking market and increased dominance of the big brands means it’s harder for lesser-known makers to get a foot in the retailer’s door. Even then, without expensive and constant marketing, many smaller makers are overlooked.

But the instrument has to be world-class if it stands a chance and that’s been the focus at PJD in recent years: sharply produced instruments with superb playability that might not have the kudos of the much more established brands, but that do have the quality of some other frankly much more loftily priced builds.

The understated Carey Elite would satisfy any seasoned player needing to nail those classic sounds, and its pared-down drive is perfect for the performing musician. Our Carey Custom is a unique build, nodding to one of the greats, perfectly executed with an extraordinary range of voices, particularly with that active boost. Clearly, if you can imagine it, PJD can probably build it for you.

Specs

PJD Carey Elite

• PRICE: £3,199 (inc case)
• ORIGIN: UK
• TYPE: Single-cut chambered body electric
• BODY: ‘Old Growth’ Brazilian mahogany, chambered, w/ figured maple top
• NECK: Roasted and highly figured 4A grade quarter-sawn maple, original PJD profile, bolt-on
• SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”)
• NUT/WIDTH: Unbleached bone/42.2mm
• FINGERBOARD: Rosewood, rectangular mother-of-pearl inlays, 254mm (10”) radius
• FRETS: 22, medium (Jescar 55090)
• HARDWARE: Gotoh 510FX-6 string-through 6-block saddle bridge, Gotoh SG510 18:1 ratio tuners w/ ebony buttons – nickel-plated
• STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 52.5mm
• ELECTRICS: PJD hand-wound ’57-spec humbuckers, raw nickel partial covers with gold foil inserts, 3-way toggle pickup selector, master volume and tone
• WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.20/7.04
• OPTIONS: Anything is possible, but there are options in wood, colour, chambering, ’board radius, pickup type/voicing (£POA)
• RANGE: New Valhalla Custom, plus original cracked nitro, single soapbar Carey and St. John Apprentice. St John and Woodford Elite to come (£TBA)
• LEFT-HANDERS: Yes, no extra
• FINISHES: Original Burst (reviewed) – satin nitro body and neck back

PJD Carey Custom

• PRICE: £2,699 (inc case)
• ORIGIN: UK
• TYPE: Single-cut solidbody electric
• BODY: Alder
• NECK: Maple, PJD standard profile, bolt-on
• SCALE LENGTH: 648mm (25.5”)
• NUT/WIDTH: Bone/42.6mm
• FINGERBOARD: Maple, black rectangle inlays, 254mm (10”) radius
• FRETS: 22, medium (Jescar 55090)
• HARDWARE: Gotoh BS-TC1S bridge with brass ‘In-Tune’ saddles and relaxed side w/ through body stringing, Gotoh vintage-style SD91 split-post tuners – nickel-plated
• STRING SPACING, BRIDGE: 54mm
• ELECTRICS: PJD hand-wound ’57-spec covered humbucker (neck), PJD hand-wound ’51-spec single coil (bridge), 3-way toggle pickup selector, master volume and tone (w/ pull switch out-of-phase), Mars-Tronic Deci-Boost
• WEIGHT (kg/lb): 3.68/8.1
• OPTIONS: Just ask!
• RANGE: The non-Custom Shop Carey and York Standards both cost £1,299
• LEFT-HANDERS: Yes, no extra
• FINISHES: Two-Tone Burst (reviewed) – satin nitro body and neck back
• CONTACT: PJD Guitars

Not only is Fender Japan responsible for masterminding some of the firm’s most forward-thinking instruments – see the Elemental Series, for example – it’s also been known to leaf through the history books to revive a number of cult classic electric guitars.

With that in mind, Fender Japan has announced its newest knockout release: a collection of 12-string Stratocasters and Telecasters.

12-string Strats and Teles are very rare beasts indeed. In fact, Fender 12-strings altogether are pretty uncommon, and have only appeared in a handful of formats over the decades. The original – the Fender Electric XII – led the way in the 1960s, but it wasn’t until the late ‘80s that a 12-string Strat arrived on the scene.

However, according to Fender’s own records, that first Strat attempt was discontinued in 1997, before it was briefly revived between 2003 and 2004 for the Classic Series. After that, it became a Special Edition model, but was again discontinued in 2010.

12-string Telecasters are perhaps even rarer. Exclusively available as a Custom Shop model in the 1990s, these particular guitars were only made in a short period between 1995 and 1999.

That means, for over a decade, Fender has been without a 12-string electric model to its name, but now Fender Japan has brought two back following heightened player demand.

The Electric XII – an offset-style model – was the source of inspiration for these newly revived instruments, which both offer elongated headstocks to accommodate the extra tuning machines.

Alder and ash bodies (for the Strat and Tele, respectively) are paired with rosewood fingerboard-topped maple necks, which sport a U-shape profile, 9.5” radius, and a 1.650” bone nut. It’s also worth noting that the Strat has a hardtail bridge.

Otherwise, it’s basically business as usual for the Strats and Teles, which both offer their standard configurations of single-coils and control circuits that look to deliver an authentic Fender playing experience but with the added oomph of six extra strings.

As for cosmetics, the Strat is available in 3-Color Sunburst, Lake Placid Blue and Olympic White, while the Tele is Black and Natural.

“This model has been released as a limited edition several times in the past, and has been highly praised in the 12-string market for its unique 12-string sound,” Fender Japan says. “As a result, there have been many requests for it to be re-released.”

They’re reasonably priced, too: around 165,000 Japanese Yen, which roughly equates to $1,137. Unfortunately, they’re exclusive to Japan, so we once again find ourselves pleading to Fender to bring some overseas. We’re used to it at this point.

However, there is a silver lining. While Fender might not have a 12-string on its books, Squier does. Last year, it launched the affordable Jazz XII as part of its Paranormal Series.

Visit Fender Japan to find out more.

Fender’s Custom Shop has continued to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Stratocaster by partnering with luxury Swiss watchmaker Bvlgari for a new limited-edition launch that channels the spirit of Fender Japan.

The Limited Edition Bvlgari Stratocaster will be joined by the Bvlgari Aluminum GMT x Fender Watch for a celebratory dual-drop to help the Big F commemorate the milestone.

Now, the watch is nice ’n’ all – it’s been designed to aesthetically match its partner electric guitar, naturally – but the guitar itself is arguably even more eye-catching, given the fact it’s not your standard Strat.

Instead, it’s got a distinctly unique vibe about it, seemingly drawing on the Aerodyne and Elemental ranges with a streamlined pickguard, downsized control layout and body-mounted single-coils.

Specifically, there are master volume and tone control knobs that have been fashioned from knurled metal, as well as a quarter-sized, one-ply parchment pickguard.

Elsewhere, there’s a mid-’50s Wide-Fade Chocolate 2-Color Sunburst finish, which has been strapped to the two-piece select ash body, and a 7.25”-9.5” compound radius rosewood fingerboard, as well as a soft V-profile quartersawn maple neck.

“The Fender Stratocaster has been at the forefront of musical progress and sonic exploration for the last 70 years, and to celebrate its anniversary, we wanted to partner with a brand with a similarly rich history in its respective field,” Fender’s Justin Norvell says of the launch.

“As enthusiasts of both horology and music, we naturally joined up with Fender for a collaboration that transcends aesthetics; it’s a celebration of heritage, design and innovation,” adds Jean-Christophe Babin, CEO of Bvlgari. “This collaboration is the fusion of two iconic legacies.”

The whole thing absolutely screams “luxury” – which is totally expected, given the company that Fender finds itself collaborating with.

Having said that, we wouldn’t mind seeing this sort of Strat design become a more common occurrence in standard lines. The Elemental range was, after all, one of the tastiest Fender Japan releases of the last few years, but was almost entirely exclusive to Japanese markets – save a select few examples that shipped to overseas retailers.

Could this in fact be Fender’s first step towards introducing some more modern-minded, Elemental-inspired Strats to wider markets? It’s a Custom Shop launch, so it might be unlikely, but we can still dream.

As for this Bvlgari Strat, only 70 standalone guitars (at $4,525 apiece) will be made, while 140 will be available as part of an anniversary set that arrives with the watch. 1,200 watches, meanwhile, are set to be launched.

All of the above will go on sale tomorrow (August 30).

Head over to Fender Custom Shop to find out more.

Actor-turned-rockstar Keanu Reeves has taken his love for the low-end to a whole new level with his first Fender Custom Shop bass guitar.

The custom one-off Precision Bass was unveiled during the latest episode of Fender's Dream Factory video series. Built by expert luthier David Brown, the P Bass was put through its paces during a studio session with Reeves' band, Dogstar.

It's based on a P Bass Ultra and has a special body and neck joint incorporating a five-bolt design. A wide, 21-fret P Bass neck was an important feature, with Brown ultimately taking one of Reeves' own much-played instruments apart to make sure its shape was properly emulated.

“The intention was to do something modern with the Ultra body, and then something kinda classic with the neck,” Reeves details. “I have a '65 P Bass so I wanted to match that neck.”

When it came to the instrument’s circuitry, Reeves' request was a little more obscure – and it ended up inspiring an all-new wiring that had never been used in a Fender P Bass before.

“I was thinking about doing a split tone control,” Reeves explains. “So a PJ setup, but then I'd have a separate tone [control] for the single and then the split. I hear that hasn't been done before.”

It hasn’t, as Brown explains, and so it has been dubbed 'the Keanu wiring'. It has a Master Volume, a Blend for the neck and bridge pickups, and an individual tone control for each pickup, controlled via a single knob with a dual stack.

“It's very simple, it looks stock,” Brown says. “He’s the first person that thought of this electronic setup and I'm going to use it in the future.”

The final special request Reeves had concerns the instrument’s finish. While its Three-Tone Sunburst look is very traditional, it's also been given a Shell Pink coat underneath the black part of the ’burst. Those flashes of pink will therefore be revealed the more he plays and wears the finish away.

It’s an interesting idea that caps a bass full of detailed customization, and it will be interesting to see how the shell pink changes the vibe of the instrument over time.

The actor, whose credits include The Matrix and John Wick, released two albums with his alt-rock trio, Dogstar, in 1996 and 2000 but put the band to one side as his acting career took off.

He reformed Dogstar in 2022 and together they released Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees last year.

Reeves enjoyed “a musical conversation unlike any other” with Guitar World at the start of the year, discussing what kind of bass Neo would play, weed-fuelled Bill & Ted bass duels, and having a one-on-one lesson with certified bass legend, Flea.

Throughout his time with Def Leppard, Phil Collen has most commonly been associated with Stratocaster-style electric guitars. They’ve appeared in various forms over the years, but the double-cut design has always been Collen’s preferred axe of choice.

However, that looks like it’s all about to change after Collen took delivery of a rather special custom shop creation that he says is his “new favourite guitar” – and, in what will come as a surprise to many, it’s inspired by the Fender Telecaster.

In the new issue of Guitarist, Collen and Jackson Master Builder Joe Williams discussed the creation of the relic'd, blue-finished, single-cut six-string, with the guitarist revealing this particular build is the first prototype of many.

“I just recently got my new favourite guitar!” he says when asked about the model, which he’s been snapped playing live in recent months.

“Jackson made me a ‘Telecaster’[-style model] that’s just amazing. It’s got a [DiMarzio] Super Distortion in the neck position, no whammy bar or sustainer, and it’s got the fattest neck Jackson has ever made.

“Joe Williams, who is a luthier at Jackson, said, ‘I’ve kind of made it really big and tried it out...’ I said, ‘Okay, am I going to be able to play this thing?’”

Well, he was able to play the thing, and now he can’t seem to put it down. In fact, he’s got more on the way, and he fully intends on taking them all on tour with him when they’re ready.

“It’s a beast. I love it. It’s easy to play and the tone is just ridiculous,” he continues. “It’s an ash body with a cut-out like a regular Telecaster, but there’s a bit more wood involved because the neck is so heavy and big.

“It’s a prototype, this one, and my tech had to put a couple of bars that are actually old blocks that we took out when we put the titanium ones in, so we have a couple of them to balance this thing out because it’s so big.

“The tone on it is crazy! We recently recorded a live thing for Sirius XM in LA. It was one of my favourite and best-sounding guitars, and it kind of freaked me out. They’re actually building me another one; I’ll be using that on tour for sure.”

As for how the project first began, Williams reveals Collen once brought an old Fender Tele into the Jackson Custom in search of equipping it with a fatter neck. Soon, an entirely new creation was in the works.

Specs-wise, it features a pickup-mounted Gotoh bridge, a one-piece ash body, and a reverse headstock – oh, and the largest neck of any of Collen’s guitars. In fact, the two collaborators set about setting a record with the neck.

“That was one big change, obviously, the giant neck,” Williams recalls. “It was like, ‘Let’s see how big we can go; let’s go for a record-breaker and see if we can hit that ceiling for him’ [laughs].

“If we had gone any bigger, it probably would have messed with the balance of the body or caused neck dive, but it didn’t. The neck is essentially twice the thickness of many standard necks.”

Williams confirms more Collen custom shops are in the pipeline – “We’ll do a red one with chrome hardware and a maple fingerboard” – but also teases a standard run may also be a possibility.

“As for a run of them, that’s out of my wheelhouse. But I wouldn’t be surprised,” he adds. “If there’s a lot of demand, it’s not uncommon for sales, marketing and the product team to want to do a run.”

Visit Magazines Direct to pick up the latest issue of Guitarist, which features the full interview with Phil Collen, during which he also recalls recording the solo to Stagefright in one take.

Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor has taken to social media to show off his latest electric guitar – and it's a beauty.

A custom shop build that merges a Charvel Surfcaster body and a Fender headstock with the kind of appointments found on his brutal Jackson signature guitars, this particular axe looks strikingly similar to Mike Stringer’s very own recent Jackson Custom Shop acquisitions.

Both Stringer and Mansoor's builds marry ultra-desirable retro aesthetics and relic’d finishes with modern-minded metal-ready hardware, continuing a trend that sees metal guitars increasingly embraced by the mainstream and metal guitarists turning to vintage guitars.

With both high-profile players now using variations of these classic-silhouetted metal machines – and having their fanbases drool over them – could a full production run be next?

As the djent guitarist details, his new guitar sports an extended 30” scale to cater for its hellishly low tuning, with a roasted ash body paired with a roasted maple bolt-on neck and a flame maple fretboard.

Its fretboard has been curated with a 20” radius, delivering 22 Jumbo stainless steel frets, while its electronics are headlined by a pair of Misha’s signature Bare Knuckle Ragnarock humbuckers.

Other appointments include Gotoh locking tuners and his go-to Hipshot fixed bridge. There are also Dunlop Dual Design strap locks and Luminlay side dots, while it’s strung with a Horizon Devices eight-string set of strings, tuned to drop E.

“Jesus Christ, this is so sick,” Mansoor says as he opens up its hardshell case in a video posted to Instagram. “I've been waiting a year and a half for this. I've never ordered anything like this before.

“This is my version of a Jazzmaster using a Charvel Surfcaster body with a modified pickguard shape so that Fender would be happy me having the Jackson logo on the headstock,” he continues.

“I don't know exactly what kind of music I'm gonna make with this but I'm excited. It's gonna be heavy.”

He later returned to Instagram to showcase how the guitar sounds, and you won't be surprised to hear just how gnarly this build gets, its low-end tight and aggressive but gleaming with clarity.

Mike Stringer was equally as impressed with his builds, which also paired a Surfcaster body with a Fender headstock and a raft of modern fittings, such as an Evertune bridge.

“I’ve always been obsessed with classic vintage looking guitars, (offsets specifically) and wanted to do a modern take based on [Jackson's] classic Surfcaster model,” he said at the time.

“The team at Jackson were super down with the idea, and I got the opportunity to spec out two offset customs. The end result is mind blowing!”

Although it must be reiterated that both guitarists custom-ordered their axes, the commonality between their specs points to a wider growing desire for heavy offsets that we hope Jackson capitalizes on.

With Jackson and Charvel both standing as part of the Fender family brand, there’s a freedom to meld headstocks and body shapes together without falling foul of lawsuits. And when the results are this good, a production run would surely be an open goal.

In their current states, like-for-like reproductions of Mansoor and Stringer’s guitars won’t come cheap, but there is clearly an appetite for these instruments. Watch this space.

Back in 1958, when the first Gibson Explorer guitars appeared on the market, there was no heavy metal, hard rock, Marshall stacks or overdrive pedals. Distortion was something that amp manufacturers and players generally frowned upon, embraced only by a handful of hooligans and raucous rebels.

Gibson president Ted McCarty conceived the Explorer’s design as a modern, space age-inspired competitor to the Stratocaster, but its radical sharp-angled “arrowhead” (on the earliest version) and “hockey stick” headstock shapes and pointy geometric body that resembled Thor’s lightning bolt were just a little too futuristic for musicians who still considered crew cuts and suit jackets the height of rock ’n’ roll fashion.

Although the Gibson Flying V, which was introduced at the same time, found a small but devoted cult of players during the late ’50s and ’60s, the Explorer didn’t really catch on until the ’70s. This was partially due to the extreme rarity of the original Gibson Explorers; only 22 were built in 1958-59, and fewer than 50 were assembled from leftover parts during the early ’60s.

There were a handful of “early adopters” during the mid ’70s: Eric Clapton, who acquired a second-hand Explorer with a chunk of its lower bass bout sawed off; Rick Derringer, who owned a very early example with a V-shaped headstock; and J. Geils and Allen Collins of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Soon afterwards, Explorer copies built in Japan, upscale custom models made by companies like Hamer and Dean and reissues offered by Gibson helped fulfill demand as changing musical tastes and fashion caught up with this rediscovered gem.

Truthfully (IMHO), the Explorer does not sound significantly different from most other Gibson-style solidbody models with a 24 ¾-inch scale, set neck, dual humbuckers and stop tailpiece. It can sing like a Les Paul, bark like an SG and spank like a Flying V, with the pickups installed in it arguably playing a bigger overall role than its tone woods or body shape.

The three controls (individual volume for each pickup and master volume) are perhaps slightly more limited than a four-knob configuration, but that’s hardly a handicap. Some players feel that the extended lower bass bout and extra body mass below the bridge enhance its bass response, but that could just be a psychologically influenced observation.

From Metallica to Mastodon and Kiss to Coheed and Cambria, the Gibson Explorer has become an icon of metal guitar, although numerous non-metal players, most notably the Edge of U2, have also used Explorers on occasion.

In addition to several of the previously mentioned players and bands, Gibson has produced Explorer signature models for Sammy Hagar, Matthias Jabs of the Scorpions, Jason Hook of Five Finger Death Punch and others. The current Lizzy Hale signature Explorer model is very successful, and a forthcoming Dave Mustaine model has been in development for a while now.

The Gibson Explorer might not sound dramatically different from many of its dual-humbucker solidbody brethren, but few guitars look as cool or as menacing. As the Kenny Rogers-look-alike boomer in those old Hair Club for Men ads used to philosophize, “Ninety percent of feeling good is looking good,” and few things feel as good as strapping a Gibson Explorer around your neck and wailing on some power chords.

Fender is continuing to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the humble Stratocaster with the release of commemorative sunglasses, made in partnership with California brand, Knockaround. 

We’ve seen all-star jams and Custom Shop drops as the firm celebrates seven decades of the Strat, but now it’s time for the year-long party to offer something different. 

Available in standard and prescription formats, the glasses are “a tribute to the creative soul of the Stratocaster.”

According to Knockaround, the Black and Surf Green designs “echo the iconic colors of the iconic guitars”, while their sleek lines and curves emulate the Strat’s “timeless body”. 

They're designed to be robust too, making them viable for the beach and the stage in equal measure, thanks to impact-resistant lenses and sturdy frames. 

Their polarized Smoke lenses are FDA-compliant and provide full UV400 protection.

It’s hard not to notice the maple and rosewood fretboard designs that span across the wood grain arms of these sunglasses – a less-than-subtle touch that may divide opinion. But it leaves you in no doubt about its inspiration.

Luthier aesthetics are continued with silver hardware and the Fender logo, which is etched on the lens. 

The range consists of Fort Knocks and Fort Knocks Rx models, with the latter FSA and HSA eligible. The two colors are available across both ranges. 

Each pair also comes with a soft carry case featuring a Fender amp design. The Fort Knocks models also come with a hard case for added protection.

File the release in the soon-to-be-bulging 'Fender Fashion' folder. The glasses follow in the wake of a Brixton hat with built-in pick holders and snow goggles. 

The Fender x Knockaround sunglasses start at $45. 

Head to Knockaround to cast a glance at these celebratory shades. 

Cast your mind back to the January 2005 issue of Guitar World. Yeah, you should remember this one. It was a great issue, with Crazy Train and Back in Black tabbed, Slayer and Pink Floyd interviewed. On the cover you would find Henry Garza of Los Lonely Boys, brandishing a Strat behind his head.

Well, with this being the 70th anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster, GW has been reaching out to its cover stars of yore who chose to bring Leo Fender’s septuagenarian game-changer to learn a little bit more about the model in question.

So we had a few questions for Garza about this Custom Shop ’60s Reissue Strat, better known as “Tejana”, and he was more than happy to answer them. Its story goes back to 2000, and a little ol’ guitar store in Texas…

Where and when did you buy this Strat?

“At Ray Hennig’s [Heart of Texas music store] in Austin in 2000.”

Why did you choose this Strat, and what made it special?

“I felt like we chose each other. What made it special was the way I felt when I looked at her; it seemed like she was already mine. Also, my brothers were there with me when I got her.”

Did you use this Strat on any notable recordings?

“Yes, on almost everything [Los Lonely Boys’ five studio records].”

How about on tour?

“A memorable moment that I will cherish about this guitar is when we were on tour with Carlos Santana, and he picked it up and played it at soundcheck.”

What about this Strat felt right in your hands?

“It just felt right all up and down her neck and all the way to her body.”

Why did you choose this Strat for your GW cover shoot?

“Her name is Tejana, and she is my Number 1.” 

I assume it’s safe to say you still own Tejana? 

“Yes, and I still play this guitar. She is my Number 1.”

What does the Fender Strat mean to you?

“I’ll say this: my grandson is named Fender. What does that tell you?”

Joanna Shaw Taylor has revealed that adding a Gibson Les Paul to her toolkit was key to improving her technique and pushing her sonic palette. As a dedicated Tele player, incorporating a Les Paul felt almost like a painter using a “different paintbrush”.

“I mean, I’m still predominantly a Tele player, but around 2012 I was doing my third album [Almost Always Never], and I felt like my guitar playing had got a bit stale,” she explains in the latest edition of Guitarist.

“So I went through a lot of practice, trying to reboot it, and I decided to switch guitars. I also switched guitar picks and moved to [Dunlop] Jazz IIIs, which are a lot smaller, just to try and tidy up my right-hand technique.

She continues, “I think it was one of those things where you spend every day on the same instrument and you tend to form lazy habits. Maybe I felt like a different paintbrush, or whatever, would make me think a bit more outside of my usual comfort zone.”

However, this doesn't mean she abandoned her go-to model, the Fender Telecaster. “I switched to a Les Paul for about a year and I think it did the trick; it did help tidy up a lot of my playing and helped me grow a bit as a player. But it was nice then to revert back to my signature tone and apply what I’d learned to the old workhorse.”

For her latest album, Heavy Soul, Taylor used a 2008 Custom Shop Les Paul, which she admits was a random purchase from Reverb. She also opted for her workhorse Junior, a ’66 Esquire.

“I found him [Junior] on Denmark Street when I was 15. I’d been playing for a couple of years, gigging, and was working in a guitar shop on weekends,” she said in a 2022 Total Guitar interview. “My nan and dad said they’d match whatever I made as a reward for working hard, and I managed to get together £1,200.

“With Esquires, there’s always a gap underneath the scratchplate where you could put a neck pickup, and I think the previous owner had attacked it with a knife and gouged it out doing a home job to put a humbucker in. So I got it slightly cheaper. I just love him.”

For more Joanne Shaw Taylor, plus career-spanning new interviews with Junior Marvin and Scott Graham, pick up issue 513 of Guitarist at Magazines Direct.

Ever since he departed Fender and joined the PRS family, John Mayer has, for the most part, been unwaveringly loyal to his Silver Sky signature guitar.

Having said that, recent months have seen Mayer flick through his wider electric guitar collection. This has resulted in him bringing some old favorites back to stage – including a couple of his prized Fenders, such as the Black1 and Monterey models.

Now, Mayer has been spotted playing yet another Fender Stratocaster on stage… but this time, there’s a bit of a twist.

Back in May this year, Mayer was pictured playing a Custom Shop Strat that once belonged to the late Jeff Beck – a fact that has been confirmed by Joe Bonamassa.

As reported by YouTuber Justin Jeske and Instagram account JohnMayerGear, Mayer used the eye-catching Strat during Dead & Company’s residency at The Sphere, with many spectators sharing snaps of the mystery model.

JohnMayerGear hypothesized the guitar resembled a Jeff Beck Strat with a reverse headstock, complete with a split roller nut, block saddles and a two-point bridge.

The account then went on to note the guitar in question was similar to the reverse headstock-equipped Strat the Fender Custom Shop had built Beck around 2014, and theorized this was another custom model commissioned specifically for Mayer.

However, Bonamassa – whose eye for guitar identification is world-renowned – then confirmed it wasn’t a copy, but the exact model. As it turns out, Mayer has been lent the guitar for a few of the Dead & Company shows, and it looks like he's been putting it to good use.

According to the post, he played Black Peter and Days Between using Beck’s Strat. And, through the clips shared by Jeske, it’s clear Mayer looked to double-down on the Beck vibe by fingerpicking his way through some solo licks, all while enthusiastically waggling the whammy bar.

Mayer’s respect for Beck’s playing is well-documented, so it’s no surprise he’d seize the opportunity to pay homage to one of his biggest heroes.

As Jeske notes, Mayer previously used a Jeff Beck Master Built Strat to perform his track Heartbreak Warfare. This time, though, he’s got his hands on “a guitar of one of his heroes”, which is the real deal.

Earlier this year, Mayer discussed his adoration for Beck, telling Conan O’Brien how Beck’s presence allowed him to finally relax about his guitar playing, saying, “Jeff Beck was in the room – and I was relaxed!

“It was like, ‘Oh, [for once] I don’t have to think about how I play the guitar, because the best is in the room. And it’s not me!’”

When he's not using Beck's Strat during Dead & Company's Sphere residency, Mayer has been playing his Dead Spec Silver Sky, which is inspired by Jerry Garcia's Alligator guitar.

Fender has celebrated the first anniversary of its flagship Tokyo store by releasing an unprecedented special edition Stratocaster – and it’s unlike any Strat you’ve come across before.

Last July, the Big F opened its four-floor Tokyo store – a huge emporium of electric guitars, acoustic guitars and bass guitars, with spaces dedicated for artist models, lifestyle goods, and a “Dream Factory” Custom Shop department.

The unveiling was marked with the release of three custom Acoustasonics, and now to commemorate the milestone, Fender has once again turned its attention to celebratory designs.

The headline of the collection is undoubtedly the Urushi Stratocaster, a guitar that uses a never seen before finish and utilizes an “ancient Japanese coating material”. Safe to say, it’s unlike anything currently available on Fender’s US books.

Sure, at a distance it looks like a standard black-on-black Strat with gold hardware, but take a closer look: the deep, jet-black finish has a unique mottled and matte character, which has been achieved through “Tsui-koku”.

Tsui-koku, according to Fender, is a traditional Japanese practice, and is dubbed “the most highly skilled of the many lacquer techniques”. It applies “Urushi” and “Kiso Tsuisha” – a specific lacquer designed as a national tradecraft – over a base of black lacquer.

Then, a mold called a ‘tampo” is placed on top, helping to create the final aesthetic, which comprises multiple meticulous layers. 

It was created with lacquer hot shot Yuji Iwahara of Miku Urushi Kogei, one of the best lacquer painters and winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 53rd National Lacquer Ware Exhibition. So, yeah… not just your standard black Strat.

Understandably, Fender is eager to wax lyrical about the Urushi Strat, saying it “combines the skills of the finest craftsmen and the traditions cultivated by Fender”.

Underneath all that traditional beauty, the guitar “inherits Fender’s authentic lineage down to the smallest detail”. That means there’s cross-wired single-coils, a six-point tremolo, and all the other trimmings of a standard ‘60s-style Strat.

Such is the exclusivity of the guitar, it will only be available to preorder via a lottery, which is currently open on the Fender Japan website. Winners will be contacted on the 26th June, following which they’ll have to hand over 495,000 Japanese Yen (approx. $3,160) to buy the guitar.

To find out more, visit Fender Japan.