Press Release: Fender is proud to release several new Limited Edition American Standard Series guitars, new Classic Player Series models and a Special Edition Blacktop Series guitar.
The venerable American Standard Stratocaster® now comes in a new limited edition model featuring Fender’s innovative channel-bound compound-radius fingerboard and the time-honored look of a Dakota Red or Sonic Blue gloss finish. The fingerboard is inlaid into the neck in a design with an elegant appearance and a distinctive fretting-hand feel in which both edges are comfortably rounded, with no side seam between neck and fingerboard. Further, the fingerboard’s 9.5”-14” compound radius graduates smoothly from a more rounded profile at the nut (great for chording) to a more flattened profile near the body (great for soloing).
The workhorse American Standard Telecaster® is also available as a new limited edition model featuring Fender’s innovative channel-bound compound-radius fingerboard and the time-honored look of a Dakota Red or Sonic Blue gloss finish.
In addition, Fender introduces two brilliant new limited edition looks for the American Standard Stratocaster—Vintage White with a tortoiseshell pickguard and rosewood fingerboard, and Mystic Aztec Gold with a parchment pickguard and maple fingerboard. All the acclaimed features, sound and style of the archetypal American Standard Stratocaster, now in even more beautiful finish options.
Former Fender Custom Shop Master Builder Chris Fleming has taken his previous design for the Classic Player Baja Telecaster and upgraded it with full-on 1960s features and vibe, including a rosewood fingerboard and a comfortable ’60s “C”-shaped neck profile. The guitar also features an alder body, 9.5” fingerboard radius and 21 medium jumbo frets, single coil American Vintage ’52 Tele (neck) and ’58 Tele (bridge) pickups with special four-way (including both pickups in series) and S-1™ switching, three-ply pickguard, American Vintage string-through body Telecaster bridge with three brass “barrel” saddles, special Custom Shop neck plate engraving and more.
Fender Custom Shop Master Builder Yuriy Shishkov has designed an entirely new model for the Classic Player series that blends ’60s and ’70s styling with modern high-performance. The Classic Player Strat® HH has special touches including dual Wide Range Special humbucking pickups, five-way switching with coil splitting for more traditional single-coil Stratocaster sounds, and a sultry Dark Mercedes Blue gloss finish with a matching headstock. Other features include a maple neck with a comfortable ’60s “C”-shaped profile, bound rosewood fingerboard with 9.5” radius and 22 medium jumbo frets, three-ply black pickguard, two-point synchronized tremolo bridge with modern plate and vintage-style saddles, and vintage-style Fender “F”-stamped tuners.
Fender Custom Shop Master Builder Todd Krause has designed an unusual take on the Telecaster for the Classic Player series. The high-performance Classic Player Triple Tele® rocks three slanted Nocaster single-coil bridge pickups for truly distinctive modern tone and the classic look of a black finish and pickguard paired with a one-piece maple neck/fingerboard. Other features include a thick “C”-shaped neck profile, 9.5” fingerboard radius and 21 vintage-style frets, five-way Stratocaster-style switching, vintage-style string-through-body bridge with three brass saddles, special Custom Shop neck plate engraving and more.
Originally created in the Fender Custom Shop by Master Builder Jason Smith, the Rascal Bass joins the Fender lineup as a sleek short-scale Classic Player model loaded with distinctive features and personality. With its ’60s-era Bass VI body, three Seymour Duncan® lipstick Stratocaster pickups, 30” scale and gorgeous gloss Ocean Turquoise finish with matching Coronado-style headstock, there’s no other Fender bass like the Rascal. Other premium features include a flat-sawn maple neck with a comfortable “C”-shaped profile, 9.5”-radius rosewood fingerboard with 21 medium jumbo frets and special inlay scheme (bass-side dot markers from 3rd to 9th frets, double dots at 12th fret, treble-side dot markers from 15th to 21st frets), vintage-style heel-end truss rod adjustment, white pearloid pickguard, five-way pickup switch with chrome “barrel” tip, push-pull master volume control that delivers seven pickup configurations, master tone control, distinctive bridge with four adjustable steel “barrel” saddles, vintage-style tuners and more.
The Blacktop Jazzmaster® is now available in a scorching special edition HH model with dual humbucking pickups for even more supercharged tone. Further, a new all-black look features a Candy Apple Red racing stripe that takes a sleek cue from the great “competition stripe” Fender models of the late ’60s and early ’70s.
For more information, go to www.fender.com.
