The limited-edition Joe Strummer Masterbuilt Telecaster by Fender Custom Shop offers a faithful recreation of the Clash guitarist's 1966 Telecaster.
The Limited Edition Master Built Joe Strummer Telecaster | Fender Custom Shop | Fender
Fender Senior Master Builder, Paul Waller, said: “For me growing up listening to all of this music and then working for a brand like Fender to have access to instruments like these is pretty powerful and a full circle moment.
Building a guitar like this is both rewarding and difficult. I’m trying to be accurate and create a product that means a lot to so many people, which is why we always try and pair the right builder with the right artist.”
Limited Edition Joe Strummer Masterbuilt Telecaster ($20,000 USD)
As celebrated front man of The Clash and The Mescaleros, Joe Strummer’s raw, passionate stage presence and socio-political songwriting defined the punk rock movement that kicked off in the late-1970’s - all with his now infamous 1966 Telecaster by his side. To honour his legacy, Fender Custom Shop Senior Masterbuilder Paul Waller meticulously recreated every aspect of Strummer’s cherished instrument for a limited edition run. The resonant two-piece select alder body, impeccably worn mid-‘60s “C” profile neck and round-laminated rosewood fingerboard, gives players the feeling of holding a road-tested piece of punk rock history, mirroring all the features found on highly sought after 1960s Fender guitars. Finished in Super Heavy Relic Aged Black over Three-Color Sunburst lacquer— including a matching painted pickguard—all the wear and tear from decades of touring is perfectly recreated on this incredible limited edition. Loaded with a pair of Josefina Campos hand-wound ’67 Telecaster pickups, this guitar exudes all the same raw, expressive tones found throughout both The Clash’s and The Mescaleros’ widely celebrated discographies. Other premium features include 7.25” (184.1 mm) radius, 21 Jescar Vintage (45085) frets, Modern Tele wiring, 3-way switch, 6-saddle string-through-body Tele bridge with steel barrel saddles, Schaller M6 Mini Tuners, brass nut, wing string tree with tall metal spacer, replica touring case, limited edition Joe Strummer Strap and certificate of authenticity.
Limited Edition Joe Strummer 13’ Instrument Cable ($34.99 USD)
Punk icon, musician and composer, Joe Strummer spent his life smashing musical and cultural boundaries both as the singer of The Clash and as a solo artist. Celebrate Joe Strummer’s unparalleled style and substance with his signature cable. This eclectic instrument cable is designed to be unique -- with a 13’ length, pink PVC jacket with leopard print housing, and Joe’s very own signature on the cable’s shrink wrap.
Limited Edition Joe Strummer Guitar Strap ($39.99 USD)
Celebrate Joe Strummer’s unparalleled style and substance with this leopard print strap. Designed to match his legendary Telecaster, this strap features faux leopard print animal fur with a Joe Strummer signature leather badge and is backed by tubular nylon for maximum comfort.
Features:
- 2-Piece Select Alder body with Offset Seam
- Plain-Grain Maple neck with a ‘60s Oval “C” Back-Shape and 7.25” (184.1 mm) Radius
- 3A Rosewood fretboard
- 21, Jescar Vintage frets
- 6-Saddle String-Through-Body Tele bridge with Steel Barrel Saddles
- Custom Shop Hand-Wound ‘67 Single-Coil Tele pickups (Bridge & Neck)
Alongside the Telecaster, there will be a range of Joe Strummer accessories available to purchase that include:
- 13’ Pink Instrument Cable with custom leopard print housing and signed cable wrap
- Faux leopard print animal fur guitar strap
- Pink vinyl wrapped 3-ply hardshell wood case, with soft crushed acrylic plush interior lining in leopard print
- Limited Edition Joe Strummer Signature Telecaster Pickup Set
For more information, please visit fender.com.
The All-Pedal Microdose is a mind-altering experience, but it’s not for the faint of heart.
Endless sounds and tweakability, from subtle to brain-melting.
Expensive. Probably too much firepower for most users.
$325
All-Pedal Microdose
allpedal.com
When it comes to effects like phase, chorus, and vibrato, many of us tend to have a staple (and sometimes cheesy) sound in mind. But such preconceptions obscure the reality that these effects can be much more radical than their best-known applications.
If you’ve ever thought that phaser pedals are one-trick ponies, All-Pedal’s new Microdose, a digital phaser collaboration with Portland’s Spaceman Effects, will happily relieve you of that notion. The Microdose is to the MXR Phase 90 what the modern smartphone is to an old Nokia flip phone: It’s so feature-packed and overflowing with an embarrassment of tone riches that it feels barely related at all to its humble ’70s ancestor.
“It gets percussive, punchy, and juicy, turning single-note runs into intergalactic transmissions, and full chords into blasts of alien goop.”
Discoveries From the Outer Reaches of Space(man)
The Microdose is an evolution and expansion of Spaceman’s Explorer Optical Phaser. It’s maximalist in terms of both enclosure art and functionality, and can feel a bit cluttered as a result. Between eight knobs, two switches, two footswitches, and a groovy font and graphics vying for visibility there is a lot to take in. There are a lot of sounds too. The crowning achievement here is the collection of 16 wave forms—more than triple the Explorer’s five—all of which are selectable via an 8-stop rotary knob and a switch that moves between standard or alternative (and weirder) versions of each wave form. Each setting can be treated to two-, four-, or eight-stage phasing, and the level control provides a hearty boost for the effect to make sure that when its engaged, differences between settings won’t get lost.
Rate, multiplier, blend, and depth knobs all function as you’d expect them to, but the Microdose’s resonance and warp controls breathe new life into familiar sounds. Resonance controls phaser feedback, generating gentle, tried-and-true phase sweeps at low settings and more prominent, insistent phasing when cranked the other way. Coupled with the depth knob, it allows for precise tuning of intense phase sounds. The warp knob, meanwhile, does exactly what it says: At noon, the phase wave form remains unaltered, but turning it in either direction produces varied modifications to each wave form.
The Microdose’s tap tempo is a welcome addition that adds flexibility and more control over complex modulations—especially in live situations. But with such a vast expanse of sounds on tap and no preset functionality, the pedal’s usefulness on stage can feel limited. While dedicated phase jockeys will no doubt find a spot for it on their gigging boards, it sometimes feels more like a piece of studio kit.
Mind-Expanding Tones
The Microdose lives up to its name. It can give you a subtle, just-fun-enough, vintage experience if that’s what you’re after. But it can also blast way beyond that into sci-fi, psychedelic, and fearsome ghost-in-the-machine meltdowns that sound nothing like guitar.
Set for a classic, two-stage sine wave phase with all controls at noon, the Microdose is surprisingly unassuming, adding just a sliver of movement and dimension. This is where the pedal’s dense tweakability really shines. You can dial in a modest always-on sound that breathes life and unusual texture into rhythm or lead parts without overpowering your signal. Deep depth and blend will swing you well into Waylon Jennings territory, but that’s just the start.
Things get trippy in the best way possible as you add phase stages and explore the alternative wave form algorithms, which are a lot of fun on their own and even more so with a wiggle of the warp knob. With each bump up in stages, the effect gets waterier and three-dimensional, which feels like splashing around in some interstellar swamp. When you max out at eight, the effect is in the driver’s seat. It gets percussive, punchy, and juicy—turning single-note runs into intergalactic transmissions, and full chords into blasts of alien goop.
The Verdict
There’s a whole world of sounds here between the Microdose’s extremes. It can probably execute every single phase sound you’ve ever dreamed of—plus some wackier than what your puny human brain could come up with without lysergic inspiration. If you’re up for a phase experience, Microdose is a trip you’ll want to take. PG
Brent Mason has picked for the biggest and best names in country music: Alan Jackson, Willie Nelson, Shania Twain, Brooks & Dunn, Blake Shelton, and George Strait are just a few of the country stars on whose records you can hear Mason’s Fender-on-Fender fretwork. But his solo on “Southbound Train,” the closing track on Travis Tritt’s 2000 record Down the Road I Go, might be his hottest work of all.
As Mason explains, the song scoots along at his favorite country tempo—a Cajun two-step, Mason says—which provides the rhythmic framework for his face-melter lead. Mason says the melodic and structural components came in part from his familiarity with jazz, and the mixing of jazz and blues with his usual twangy conventions. In fact, Mason’s furious note barrages occasionally earned him some raised eyebrows (and some choice words from Conway Twitty) in the more traditionalist Nashville studio system.
This might be the toughest solo our host has taken on so far on Shred With Shifty. The key to wrestling it? “You gotta keep playing [it] til you wanna pull out all your teeth and hair,” says Mason. Which Nashville producers and stars would let Mason off-leash in the studio? How does a session ace deal with hand injuries? Listen on, shredders. And if you’re brave enough, send in your take on Mason’s solo.
Credits
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering Support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editors: Dan Destefano and Addison Sauvan
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.