The best guitar April Fools 2021: ambidextrous Fenders, dream pedal collaborations and extraterrestrial whammy bars

It feels like only yesterday we were writing up 2020’s roundup of the best guitar April Fools – probably because we’ve barely left our homes since then – but it’s that time of year again, so you’d best limber up that funny bone and ready your sides for some serious splitting.

Among this year’s wise-cracks are the usual bevy of chortle-inducing Photoshop hoaxes, an unlikely Guitar Center offshoot and a documentary about the (nudge, nudge, wink wink) rarest pedal of all time from Reverb.

Here are a few of the higher-profile hijinks from around the web.

Fender Equality Series

LeftyFretz are all about equality between left- and right-handed guitarists. So it makes sense that the creators of the Ambicaster double-neck would take the concept one step further with a series of dramatically double-cutaway models that are suitable for players of all dexterities – meet the Equality Series.

Yep, there are two input jacks, two sets of controls, two sets of tuners and – in the case of the Strat and Mustang – even two tremolos. Justice for southpaws, at last!

Marshall Backbreaker

Back in the early ’60s, Pete Townshend demanded Jim Marshall build him an 8x12 cabinet to accompany the company’s new high-power amps. Marshall warned him the roadies wouldn’t be pleased. They weren’t. And thus, the 4x12 as we know and love it was born.

It’s nice to see Marshall pay homage to its history in 2021 with what we assume to be an 8x12 Bluesbreaker combo. As if roadies haven’t had it hard enough over the past year…

Walrus Audio JHS Overdrive

OH, SNAP. Taking aim at the JHS Bonsai, Walrus Audio launched its own multi-format overdrive pedal, which crams “all the JHS drive options you need in one box”, from the Morning Glory to Paul Gilbert’s PG-14.

To be honest, if this were actually available to preorder today for $229, we’d have a $229 hole in our bank balance.

Electro-Harmonix Always-On Big Muff Pi

A nice, simple, to-the-point jest here. And, given EHX has made the odd limited-run Big Muff in the past (see: Mogwai Muff) totally plausible. This would be a Mudhoney signature pedal, surely?

Chibson Wild Whammies

Over on the Chibson Instagram account, every day is April Fools’ day, but this year, the parody account upped the ante once more with the launch of a new physical product: Wild Whammies.

Utilizing alien technology and built from intergalactic 303 stainless steel, the Wild Whammies promise “more control and range than [whammys] forged on Earth”.

Three models are available from Reverb: the 1ft, fairly regular Whammy Hagar; 2ft, pretty out-there Whammy Faye Baker; and the 4ft monstrosity that is Whammy Davis Jr. We want to believe…

PRS Sunset Sky

It seems several years too late to be mocking up alternative versions of the Silver Sky, but perhaps inspired by recent Tele-esque models from Ibanez and Schecter, UK retailer GuitarGuitar has knocked up its own T-type design for John Mayer, the Sunset Sky.

There have been more sightings of Mayer with a Jackson than a Tele over the years, but – assuming those pickups and hardware are all built to custom PRS specs – this is solid ’shoppery.

Guitar Center becomes Hair Center

Sure, we’re all getting excited for the return of live music. But let’s face it, our hair is in no fit state to gig. Enter The Hair Center, Guitar Center’s new ’80s-themed spinoff brand.

Promising everything “from wig racks to hair curlers”, the Hair Center aims to help guitarists find the right hairstyle for every genre.

It’s even identified ways to appropriate guitar accessories into mane-tamers, with its guide to 5 Radical Products to Pump Up Your Hairstyle, including Dunlop hair curlers (aka capos), ponytail ties (cables) and head bands (straps, naturally).

“We're excited to announce the launch of ‘The Hair Center’ to help our customers take their performances to the next level,” says Ron Japinga, CEO and President of Guitar Center. “Comb on down and get the latest gear and accessories to get your rock & faux-hawk on – all in one convenient spot.”

Atkin The Eighty-Five

One of the UK’s most respected acoustic builders went electric – on today of all days – with a double-cut shredder that couldn’t be further away from its regular heritage-inspired flat-tops.

Yet, we were left umming and ahing about whether to include the Eighty-Five, given the company actually built it. You can see it in action below.

We’ll check back next week to see if this really is a dramatic change in direction for the brand.

YouTube

Watch On

Tallah become Talladdin

YouTube

Watch On

Now, we’re all for a good pun here at GW, but even we may concede that nu-core upstarts Tallah took things a little too far with their new Disney covers band direction, under the name ‘Talladdin’.

It’s an excellent gag, of course, but sadly not entirely true. Yet their punishing cover of Aladdin fave Friend Like Me is entirely real, and comes from an also-very-real EP of covers from the Disney classic. Looking forward to the brutal breakdown in A Whole New World.

Reverb plays the rarest guitar pedal ever

YouTube

Watch On

When The Most Trusted Man in Pedal Demos™ crops up on screen, you tend to believe every word he says. Yet Andy Martin tests the credulity of even the most besotted of ProGuitarShop fans in this remarkably in-depth mini-documentary on the rarest guitar pedal of all time.

His dead-pan delivery while discussing the hitherto unknown history of Maggie Cutlass – effects-building protégé of Roger Mayer – is truly commendable. If only that battery had lasted longer…