ELECTRICIZED

Fender Strat Plus

1987-1999
Alder or Ash / Maple / Maple or Rosewood

By many considered one of Fender’s finest, the Plus series was released and introduced a lot of new props. It was the first Strats to featured Gold Lace Sensor pickups as well as locking tuners. Those pickups were appreciated for keeping a 50s feel, but without the hum. Hear it

Fender Precision Bass Plus

1989-1993
Alder or Ash, Maple, Rosewood

Nicknamed “Boner P-Bass” because of its elongated horn, it is one of the first 22 frets american made bass. Two Lace sensor pickups (one Jazz + one precision). Hear it

Fender Voyager

2012
Maple,Ebony

One of Fender’s prototype at NAMM 2012 this winter was the Fender Voyager. Designed by former Charvel master builder Josh Hurt, the Voyager has their pickups hidden below the pickguard, just like on the original Fender Marauder

Fender Hellecasters Jerry Donahue

1997-1998
Alder, Maple

Fender has honored each of the three member of the Hellecasters band with a signature stratocaster Fender. Jerry Donahue is a Telecaster player, so he “telifyed’ his MIJ signature strat by requesting a metal plate under the bridge pickup. Overall this rarebird (450 made) is considered very well crafted guitar and simply sounds fantastic.

Photo by Cliffsjam

Fender Wallpaper Telecaster

1968-1969
Alder, Maple

Fender wanted to give the Telecaster a popularity boost among the then important Hippie community. To do so, Leo issued two Telecaster models with a psychedelic touch. One had a blue floral pattern, the other one a pink paisley. That cheap move didn’t convey enough flower power to pump up the sales and the production of the nicknamed ‘Wallpaper’ telecaster got stopped a year after its introduction.

It took a rockabilly guitarist to immortalize the model — Well not any rockabilly guitarist, we’re talking about the Master of the Telecaster, James Burton. Since Burton brought the Pink Paisley to fame, several reissues of that telly have been produced in the last two decades. Hear Burton make it swing.

If you can afford it, it’s for sale

Fender Katana

1985-1986
Maple, Rosewood

Designed by Dan Smith to compete against the Jackson models of that era, its pretty safe to say the Fender Katana is one of the Fender guitar ever made. That’s probably what people thought at the time since it was pulled off from catalogs a year after its introduction.

Looks aside, its a high quality model made in Japan. Set neck, Tbx tone control, it has a surprisingly snappy sound despite the dual coils. A much more common squier version with the same name exist. Scott Grove’s Youtube review

Fender TC-90

2004-2007
Ash, Maple, Rosewood

Ever tried to pull a Gibson sound from a Telecaster? Perhaps this thinline TC-90 and its two Seymour Duncan P90s could help.

Double cutaway, neck-through, the Korean made TC-90 is not your average Tele, but according to Scott Grove, it “smokes the american stuff”. The Jim Adkins model (JA-90) released in 2007 is originally a single cutaway version of the TC-90.

Photo by terminal3

Fender Princeton

1947-1986

Here is one of the most popular studio amps Fender ever made. The Princeton was introduced in 1947 as an entry level amp, along with the Fender Champ. The Princeton was a fairly basic 15 Watts amp that has been particularly priced for its recording qualities. The Princeton Reverb was added in 1964, which was basically a version with reverb and vibrato. That amp is also the home of the very first Mesa Boogie mods.

While the classic model was discontinued in 1979, Fender kept the popular Princeton Reverb in the catalogs until 1982. It was then replaced by a 22 watts version, the Princeton Reverb II. 8000 units of the version 2 were produced before Fender dropped the series from the catalog. Fender reissued some of the Princeton series in 2006. Hear the Fender Princeton roar

For sale

Mike Oldfield Fender Telecaster

1966

The most popular instrumental rock of all time (and first record ever released by Virgin) was recorded using this guitar. In fact, it was the only six string used for the entire album. I’m talking about Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, of course.

This 1966 Fender Telecaster was originally blonde, and the property of Marc Bolan. An extra Bill Lawrence pickup was added to the classic Tele configration.

The guitar went up for auction in 2007, but didn’t reach the reserve price. Hear it

Fender Custom / Maverick

1969-1971
Maple, Rosewood

Just like the Fender Swinger, this is one of the ‘aftermath’ guitars that Fender created out their surplus stocks. Designed by Fender Employee Virgilio “Babe” Simoni, the Fender Custom was made out of leftovers from the Fender Electric XII and the bridge of a Mustang

Initially labeled ‘Custom’, the guitar quickly got rebranded Fender Maverick. Just like on the Electric XII, the Maverick bears the hockey cross headstock and the split pickups.

Not really a success, the production stopped after two years in 1971. It was only offered in Sunburst. Hear it shine

Fender Performer

1985-1986
Alder, Basswood, Maple, Rosewood

Originally designed by John Page in 1983, the Fender Performer was supposed to be Fender’s entry point to a competitive metal market, dominated at the time by brands like Jackson or BC Rich. The headstock is somewhat reminiscent of the one of a Fender Swinger and has probably the worst looking Fender logo decal ever produced. The body looks vaguely like a Parker Fly with pointed horns. What’s quite unique to the performer is a pair of slanted humbuckers that are surprisingly versatile. A mini-switch allows to choose between single-coil or humbucker mode. Hear Scott Grove make them purrr!

As the stories goes, this model would have been made with leftover scraps from strats. Not a problem for the Fuji-gen factory who manages to pull out a great sounding guitar in 1985. Sadly, the performer never conquered any crowd and faded out of the catalogs a year after its release.

Photo: Bill Rushing

The Fender Factory

Passing by Corona, California, make sure you tour the legendary Fender Factory. The 8,600 square foot facility has opened its door to the public last year, now everyone has an opportunity to take a closer look at the birth of a Fender. 

Of course the plant is not the same as when it started. If you want to get back in time, Leo’s time, here is a video of the factory in 1959, shot with 8mm. Vintage process.

Photo: Mr.Littlehand

The Zappa / Hendrix Stratocaster

There is no proof Jimi Hendrix ever burned a guitar at the 1968 Miami Pop festival. What’s been established is that Frank Zappa was given a burned strat by Hendrix’s roadie during the Miami concert. Zappa kept the torched guitar as a wall decoration for years before having it restored. He used it in 1976 on “Zoot Allures”, but as he recalls: “I haven’t played it all that often, because unless you’re in the right environment and you’re standing in exactly the right relationship to the amplifier, it likes to feed back all the time.”

The Zappa/Hendrix strat disappeared for a time during the eighties. Dweezil Zappa, Frank’s son, eventually found it in pieces under the staircase at home and decided to put it back together. After two failed attempts to be sold at auction (the iconic guitar never reached the astronomical asking price of $1 Million), Dweezil kept updating the axe. Hear him talk about the restoration in more details.

The World without Leo

Today is the 21st anniversary of Leo Fender’s death. 

Hard to imagine what the world would have been without Leo. For sure, there wouldn’t have been any tele, strat, or any other caster. In fact, there wouldn’t have been any Fender at all. If Clapton, Vaughan, Gilmour, Richards, Knopfler and hundreds of others didn’t come across one of his creations, perhaps they would not have managed to unleash as much talent as they did. Jimi Hendrix without his stratocaster?

Most certainly, the horde of guitarists that we are would have a very different shape, our record collection could be miles away from today, and this very present blog might not even exist.

Yes, M. Fender, Put aside a few slices of gratitude to the elders (thirties, forties) we owe you almost everything. You are very much missed.

Fender Bass VI

1961 — 1975
Alder, Maple, Rosewood

Don’t be mistaken, despite all appearances this is not a Jaguar, its is a six string bass. Although not as popular as the Fender precision, the VI got adopted by a bunch of well known bass players (John Entwistle, Noel Redding…). A 2006 Custom shop version was also released. Hear it play