Updated entry-level line of instruments boasts new pickups and finishes and enhanced electronics.
Fender has unveiled its new American Performer Series guitars and basses. The entry-level line, which updates and replaces the company's American Special Series, offers instruments beginning at $1,099.99.
New features on the American Performer guitars and basses include Yosemite single coil pickups and patent-pending DoubleTap humbuckers, the latter incorporating a coil-splitting system; ClassicGear tuning machines; special circuitry and enhanced electronics; a silver, Seventies-style logo on all models; an oversized Seventies headstock on Stratocaster models; and five brand-new gloss colors and two satin finishes (Arctic White, Aubergine, Honeyburst, Penny, Satin Surf Green, Satin Sonic Blue and Satin Lake Placid Blue).
Telecaster Honeyburst
There are also enhanced electronics, including a new push-pull pot that provides different tonal features across models and a Greasebucket tone circuit that makes it possible to cut treble without loss of gain or clarity.
“As the popular music and live performance landscape evolve, so do the needs of performers and that includes the guitars they rely on,” said Max Gutnik, Vice President, Fender Electric Guitars and Basses. “Fender was built from the ground up on artist feedback, and that philosophy has remained our guiding light for our continued innovation. The American Performer sets out to make every performance seamless by creating solutions for performers, so they can deliver at their best in the moment.”
Jazzmaster Penny
The American Performer Series features nine models: Stratocaster, Stratocaster HSS, Telecaster, Telecaster Hum, Mustang, Jazzmaster, Precision Bass, Jazz Bass and Mustang Bass. All guitars and basses are available beginning today, December 4, with the official debut of the line scheduled for Winter NAMM in Anaheim, California, in January.
Rich is the co-author of the best-selling Nöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the '80s Hard Rock Explosion. He is also a recording and performing musician, and a former editor of Guitar World magazine and executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He has authored several additional books, among them Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, the companion to the documentary of the same name.
