Scottsdale, AZ (September 6, 2013) -- The Fender Custom Shop is pleased to announce its 2013 collection of limited and artist series models. These include the return of the ever-popular Rosewood Telecaster guitar, as well as Geddy Lee, Dusty Hill and Sean Hurley signature artist series bass guitars.
Limited Edition – Closet Classic Rosewood Telecaster
In the late ’60s, Fender built several instruments made completely from hand-selected rosewood. These instruments were not built for long and are highly collectible on the vintage market now. Jimi Hendrix reportedly had one of the first Rosewood Stratocaster guitars and George Harrison of the Beatles used one of the original rosewood Telecaster guitars on Let It Be, and for the infamous concert on the roof of Apple Records.
The Rosewood Telecaster guitar is once again offered as a limited edition for 2013. Each guitar comes with a limited edition decal, certificate case and neck plate, and is a replication of one of the most desirable guitars in Fender history. Other features include: rosewood body and neck with satin finish, late ’60s Telecaster neck profile, no skunk stripe or plug, “Fender” decal, vintage hardware, 9.5” radius, 6105 frets, modern wiring, Twisted Tele® pickups and a satin urethane closet classic finish.
Limited Edition – Limited Geddy Lee 1972 Jazz Bass
One of the world’s most recognizable Fender Jazz basses has to be Geddy Lee’s famous black ’72 Jazz Bass, purchased circa 1977 from a pawnshop in Kalamazoo, Mich. Lee bought it as is, with no original case, for $200.
Lee first used it for a couple songs on enormously successful 1981 Rush album Moving Pictures. At the sessions for that album, he used the Jazz Bass to record “Vital Signs,” “Witch Hunt,” and two of Rush’s biggest and most enduringly popular hits, classic rock staples “Limelight” and “Tom Sawyer” (the bass also appeared in the “Limelight” and “Vital Signs” videos).
After that, Lee used the Jazz only sparingly on various Rush tracks throughout the rest of the ’80s and into the early 1990s. When it came time to record 1993’s Counterparts, however, engineer Kevin “the Caveman” Shirley insisted that Lee return to the black Jazz Bass rather than use the more contemporary basses of the era that Lee had experimented with. Lee fell in love with his Jazz Bass’s tone and feel all over again; this time for good—ever since, he’s played it full-time as his number-one bass on all Rush albums and tours. For Lee, it remains the benchmark against which all other basses are judged.
Lee’s beloved Jazz Bass is now on its third neck, crafted in the Fender Custom Shop and featuring white binding and pearl inlays (as opposed to the original black), and the original tuners, bushings and string tree. When the neck was replaced, Lee opted for an oil finish on the back (instead of poly) because it’s smoother and faster (and indeed all his touring basses are now set up that way).
Now, the Custom Shop has meticulously replicated every detail in neck shape, wiring, pickups and more in creating the Limited Edition Geddy Lee Jazz Bass, including the wear and tear of nearly 35 years of touring. Additional features include a nitrocellulose-lacquered alder body, maple neck with a Custom Oval “C” back shape, bound maple fingerboard with a 9.5” radius and medium jumbo frets, custom ’75 hand-wound single-coil Jazz Bass pickups, Leo Quan Badass II bridge, custom Jazz Bass wiring, and Nickel/Chrome hardware.
Limited Edition – Gold Top Dusty Hill Precision Bass
After selling more than 50 million records, ZZ Top’s Dusty Hill knows a thing or two about Fender bass tone. The new Dusty Hill signature Precision Bass is a thumping tone machine and is not just another P Bass® guitar. A custom designed Seymour Duncan pickup, unique custom neck shape, and rear routed controls add to the low-down sound and playability of this instrument.
This special Gold Top Limited Edition is exactly like the one Dusty is currently on tour with, and only 50 of these basses will be available worldwide. The bass features an okume body with binding on the top and a unique nitrocellulose lacquer metallic gold Relic® finish. Additional features include a one-piece quartersawn maple neck with reverse headstock, a 9.5” radius fingerboard and vintage frets, rear-load volume/tone controls, and vintage wiring and hardware.
Artist Collection – Sean Hurley Signature 1961 Closet Classic Precision Bass
Bassist Sean Hurley has certainly made his mark in Los Angeles, playing bass for Vertical Horizon and co-writing Robin Thicke hit “Lost Without U” (covered by Marcus Miller on 2008 album Marcus) while maintaining an astonishing pace as an in-demand studio bassist with artists including: Ringo Starr, Annie Lennox, Miley Cyrus, Michael Jackson, Alanis Morissette and Colbie Caillat. Hurley has also won acclaim as John Mayer’s bass player on several of the superstar singer/songwriter’s world tours and recordings. He has accomplished all of this with his well-worn Fender Precision Bass guitar.
The Fender Custom Shop now replicates Hurley’s favorite Precision Bass in three colors – Three-color Sunburst, Olympic White and Charcoal Frost. And when we were spec’ing out Hurley’s original bass, we noticed a piece of foam he’d stuffed under the strings in front of the bridge to deaden the strings, so we designed a special Fender string mute that can easily be engaged at any time during a song – and which has never been offered on a Fender bass. Additional features include a select nitrocellulose-lacquered alder body, quartersawn maple neck with a custom “C” back shape, rosewood fingerboard with a 7.25” radius and vintage frets, handwound Precision Bass pickups, vintage wiring, and Nickel/Chrome hardware.
For more information:
Fender
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Peterson StroboStomp Mini Pedal Tuner
| The StroboStomp Mini delivers the unmatched 0.1 cent tuning accuracy of all authentic Peterson Strobe Tuners in a mini pedal tuner format. We designed StroboStomp Mini around the most requested features from our customers: a mini form factor, and top mounted jacks. |
But by gosh, if delay—and its sister effect, reverb—haven’t always been perfect for the music I like to write and play. Which brings us to the Fishman EchoBack Mini Delay. The EchoBack, along with the standard delay controls of level, time, and repeats—as well as a tap tempo—has a toggle to alternate between analog, tape, and digital-delay voices.
I hooked up my Washburn Bella Tono Elegante to my Blues Junior to give the EchoBack a test run. We love a medium delay—my usual preference for delay settings is to have both level and repeats at 1 o’clock, and time at 11 o’clock. With the analog voice switched on, I heard some pillowy warmth in the processed signal, as well as a familiar degradation with each repeat—until their wake gave way to a gentle, distant, crinkly ticking. Staying on analog and adjusting delay time down to 8 o’clock and repeats to about 11:30, some cozy slapback enveloped my rendition of Johnny Marr’s part to “Back to the Old House,” conjuring up thoughts of Elvis trapped in a small chamber, but in a good way. It sounded indubitably authentic. The one drawback of analog delay for me, generally, is that its roundness can feel a bit under water at times.
Switching over to tape, that pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top. With the settings at the medium-length mode listed above, I could see the empty, glass hall the pedal sent my sound bouncing down. I heard several pronounced pings of repeats before the signal fully faded out. On slapback settings (time at 8 o’clock, repeats at 11:30), rather than Elvis, I heard something more along the lines of a honky-tonk mic in a glass bottle. Still relatively crystalline, which actually was not my favorite. I like a bit more crinkle—so maybe analog is my bag....“That pillowy warmth evaporated, and in its place came a very clear, pristine replication of my tone—but with just a bit of the highs shaved off the top.”
Next up, digital. Here we have the brightest voice, and as expected, the most faithful repeats. They ping just a few times before shifting to a smooth, single undulating wave. When putting its slapback hat on, I found that the effect was a bit less alluring than I’d observed for the analog and tape voices. This is where the digital delay felt a little too sterile, with the cleanly preserved signal feeling a bit unnatural.
All in all, I dig the EchoBack for its replications of analog and tape voices, and ultimately, lean towards tape. While it’s nice having the digital delay there as an option, it feels a bit too clean when meddling with time of any given length. Nonetheless, this is surely a handy stomp for any acoustic player looking to venture into the land of live effects, or for those who are already there.
