- Manufacturer: Fender®
- Model: Custom
- Condition: Used
- Country of Manufacture: USA
- Weight: 7.60 pounds
- Case: Fender® Gig Bag
- FREE SHIPPING - CONTINENTAL U.S.!
This is a guitar that was built as a NAMM demo guitar for our ToneShaper product.
Fender sold replacement bodies and necks through 2004, that were made in the Corona plant. Essentially US '57 Reissue and '62 Reissue parts, these were available in several body colors, and with either a maple of rosewood fretboard. They discontinued selling these parts in 2004, and we promptly stashed some for future projects.
In late 2008 we used these parts to build two guitars, this one and a red one, that were used to demo our ToneShaper product at NAMM. This black guitar subsequently went to Kenny Rardin, who did a full ToneShaper review in the December 2009 issue of Premier Guitar Magazine, where he awarded it a perfect 5.0 score. It consequently received a Premier Guitar Premium Gear Award. Kenny liked this guitar so much that he asked if it was sale, but it wasn't. Now it is.
The red guitar made a trip to Seattle in 2010 so that Tim Lerch could do the video above for the ToneShaper. If you're not familiar with this product, then please watch Tim's video, and you can also check out the ToneShaper section of our website for more detailed information. If you read the PG Mag review, you'll read a few comments from Kenny about the guitar.
Now it's time for this guitar to find a new home. It can be yours! It has all US Fender parts, but the pickups are Don Grosh '60s Fat, with a baseplate on the bridge pickup to fatten it up further. The guitar has a 3-ply parchment Callaham pickguard w/ full shield plate, and Fender aged white knobs/covers.
The fretboard was compound radiused, from 7.25" at the nut to about 10" at the heel. This allows for lower action without the problem of notes fretting out when bending. Of course, the re-radius removed the lacquer from the fretboard, so tinted lacquer was re-applied, and then the guitar was fretted with 6105 fretwire. This wire is taller than the wire used on the Fender Reissue guitars, and makes it much easier to bend strings. The lacquer on the back of the neck has been de-glossed to reduce friction.
The body was never fitted for a rear cover plate, nor was one installed to cover the ToneShaper routing. Many players leave the back cover off anyway, so we just never installed one in the first place.
So, all in all, a very, very nice guitar. It's a great-playing, great-sounding guitar that any pro could go gig with. It has a few dings and chips, including a largish one where we carelessly chipped the edge of the cavity while routing through the back for the ToneShaper access. Ouch! Oh well, who sees the back anyway? We Sharpie'd it. Otherwise, nothing extreme.
Hey, it's a used guitar, so it's not a new guitar.
Capisce?
Acme also sells hot-rod guitar parts, and we build spec hot-rodded Fender® guitars that are available for immediate shipment. Most guitars can be improved upon, especially lower-priced guitars including Fender's Mexican production, and we take pride in turning these basic building blocks into pro-level instruments. (All original parts are included with the guitar.)
You can click the images above for large ones, and both the images and the video are of this particular guitar.
Don't like these options? Then contact us and let us build one for you to your specs. We do great work; most of the work on these guitars is done in-house by a gold-level Fender® Authorized Service Technician (gold level is Fender's highest).
So get a lot of guitar for not a lot of money! These guitars are the real deal, and we speak from first-hand experience having owned or worked on nearly every guitar in the industry, from the biggest factories to the boutique guys.
We can ship this guitar worldwide.