Fender Announces 'American Original' Series

In a nice refresh of the American Vintage series, Fender just announced it's American Original series, a revamp and rebranding of the long running production (since 1982).

The biggest change is that the fretboard radius on these axes will be a flatter moden 9.5' instead of the vintage 7.25', which makes playing a bit easier. However the rest of the specs will be true vintage, down to pickups, the nitro laquer finish, color options, and neck profiles. The series no longer specifies the actual year it's trying to replicate, rather the decade (which combines a few things together).

Kinda pricey, and although the colors are awesome they are down to two or three options per guitar. Would have loved more options.

Here's the full lineup (not including the left hand models), more on www.fender.com:

50's Stratocaster

60's Stratocaster

50's Telecaster

60's Telecaster

60's Jazzmaster

60's Jaguar

50's Precision Bass

60's Precision Bass

60's Jazz Bass

70's Jazz Bass

Fender Drops American Standard, Renamed American Professional Series

Fender announced that their American Standard series of guitars & basses will be rebranded as the American Professional Series.

It adds some new improvements to their existing line, most notably the pickups will be all replaced by V-Mod pickups designed by Time Shaw, new neck profiles (more vintage-like), taller frets, new hardshell case, and other minor changes. Here's a full comparison:

See the new set below; I like the changes but the color choices are very limited and I'm sad they dropped the turtleshell pickguards off the basses. They look very bland now.

Stratocaster

Stratocaster HSS

Stratocaster HH

Telecaster

Jazzmaster 

Jaguar

Precision Bass (5 String also available)

Jazz Bass (5 String and Fretless also available)

New Fender Basses for Fall 2016

New Fender bass guitars have been announced; a new Flea (of Red Hot Chili Peppers) Signature Bass, and three upgrades to old models; here we go:

Flea Jazz Bass

Deluxe Active Precision Bass Special (has a passive/active switch now!)

Deluxe Active Dimension Bass (4 & 5 string)

Deluxe Active Jazz Bass (4 & 5 string)

Thoughts:

The Flea Bass was a nice surprise; Flea has been using his vintage Fender Jazz a lot and to make a replica of it is a sign of his true love for it. He's had many endorsements previously with Modulus, but this thing is a bare-bones powerhouse. 

Apart from the P-Bass Special, which now has a much needed passive/active switch, the other new upgrades aren't worth mentioning. I don't even know what's new about the Jazz Bass. 

Nothing too revolutionary, but with Fender you don't really need that.

New Fender Guitars / Basses for 2016

Another year another NAMM show!

This year, Fender announced some new models, although I am not happy with the slim offerings. The biggest news is that they renamed the American Deluxe Series to American Elite (a throwback to the 80's and 90's for sure). The series continues the same look of the American Deluxe, with some minor upgrades, like a flatter, compound radius neck.

Also, a new series of acoustics and amps.

 They also discontinued several old models and reduced the color options on current ones (always a bad idea!).

Review: DYI Fender Blacktop Precision Bass

A few months ago I wrote a piece on some news tidbits over the new year, which mentioned I got a new bass.

That bass is my DYI Fender Blacktop Precision Bass. That brings my total Fender bass tally to five!

Here's the review and breakdown of what I think about it: (again excuse the low quality pics, I'm no photographer. Taken at my office.)

Body

First a quick history of the bass: The Fender Blacktop Precision Bass started production a few years ago, and is an affordable P-Bass with two humbucking pickups. These pickups are a huge departure from the standard issue single split-coil pickup of a usual P-Bass. It's made in Mexico.

What I did (to save some money) was to first buy the body on Ebay:

Neck

Then, through my friend Mubarak, I got his Classic 70's Precision Bass neck, which is maple and has black binding and blocks, and the 'TV logo' made famous in the 1970's and attached them together:

Under The Hood

Finally, I strung it with DR Black Beauties, to match the overall theme of black.

Sound

Monstrous! Those humbuckers are hotrodded with high output and rumbling lows and, surprisingly, clear highs. Of course it's not crispy clear, so don't expect it to be used for fusion, hi-fi sounding music.

I used it for a few gigs for a reggae band, with great results:

The lows were perfect for the bassy dub sound that reggae needs... it's also perfect for rock and punk music.

Overall, a cheap ($ 500) project that adds a new dimension to my arsenal.

2015 Fender Guitars & Basses

It's that time of year again folks!

Every winter the latest Fender guitars and basses are announced, and here I have complied them all for you!

I can't say I'm very excited for these models this year though. Go to Fender's website for more information.

GUITARS

AMERICAN STANDARD STRATOCASTER HSS SHAWBUCKER 

 LIMITED EDITION AMERICAN SPECIAL STRATOCASTER HSS 

 LIMITED EDITION AMERICAN SPECIAL STRATOCASTER 

SANDBLASTED STRATOCASTER

STANDARD STRATOCASTER HH

STANDARD STRATOCASTER HSH 

 STANDARD STRATOCASTER HSS WITH FLOYD ROSE

SPECIAL EDITION '60S STRATOCASTER LACQUER 

SPECIAL EDITION DAVID LOZEAU ART STRATOCASTER® (4 models)

DAVE MURRAY STRATOCASTER 

SERGIO VALLIN SIGNATURE GUITAR 

SANDBLASTED TELECASTER 

STANDARD TELECASTER HH 

ROAD WORN '60S JAGUAR 

60S JAGUAR LACQUER 

ROAD WORN '60S JAZZMASTER 

60S JAZZMASTER LACQUER

STANDARD JAZZMASTER HH 

BASSES 

SANDBLASTED PRECISION BASS 

DELUXE ACTIVE PRECISION BASS OKOUME

DEE DEE RAMONE PRECISION BASS 

STEVE HARRIS PRECISION BASS 

SANDBLASTED JAZZ BASS

U.S.A. GEDDY LEE JAZZ BASS

DELUXE ACTIVE JAZZ BASS OKOUME 

DELUXE ACTIVE JAZZ BASS V OKOUME 

 STANDARD JAGUAR BASS 

 STANDARD DIMENSION BASS IV