The Ultra II Strat—all models in the line feature new noiseless pickups.
Today, Fender launches their Ultra II line, an update to their modern Ultra Series, released in 2019. The new line was previewed at a media event in New York’s Lower East Side last week, where attendees got their hands on demo models of the Ultra II Stratocaster, Telecaster, Jazz Bass, and Meteora guitar and bass. Session and sideman guitarist Isaiah Sharkey and touring bassist and vocalist Annie Clements were on hand to give an impromptu performance on the new Stratocaster and Jazz Bass models.
If there’s one instrument that feels more representative of the forward-leaning line as a whole, it’s the Meteora. This high-end, high-performance take on the sleek, futuristic Meteora design is the only offset guitar in the Ultra II series, replacing the Jazzmaster, and features the company’s new Haymaker humbuckers. Fender Executive Vice President of Product Justin Norvell tells PG that when the team asked themselves, “What is an Ultra-level Jazzmaster?,” The Meteora was the answer.
The Ultra II Meteora also features the new Haymaker humbuckers.
Across the line, the Ultra II models feature aesthetic changes, including new body contours, smoother finishes on their anodized pickguards, updated tints and satin finishes on their compound-radius necks, and Luminlay side dots. The basses feature new preamps, and all Ultra II models also feature all-new noiseless pickups that Norvell says are “totally different from the Ultra I. We’re trying to get back to more of an alnico sound that feels more warm.”
The new Ultra II Meteora bass.
“For an 80-year-old company, we could just be doing reproductions,” Norvell says. “Leo didn’t: A 1954 Strat was different by ’57—it had a V neck, it was alder, it had a different burst, you get into 3-tone guards, you get into rosewood. It was always moving. That is what we keep doing.”
All Ultra II models, including this Tele, feature updated body contours.
The Ultra II Jazz Bass in demonstration.
The body shape of this 6-string seems surprisingly ergonomic, but that perception changes when you hold its neck!
And so it goes that I pondered this proliferation of Virgos and Libras, and my hypothesis came into focus. Were we all the result of our parents’ Christmas and New Year’s celebrations?! I have to say, there was a camaraderie discovered among my fellow party babies when I presented my findings to them. Now, being born in the early ’70s also had me thinking of the culture of the times. Hippie life was fading as young people started to realize they had to get a job, and alas, long hair and beards were being replaced by staid 9-to-5 gigs that could slowly suck the life out of you. So, given the cultural mores of that era, I thought that this month I should write about the Sorrento Swinger.
“Hippie life was fading as young people started to realize they had to get a job.”
Born around 1967—maybe in September—these Swingers hailed from the “crazy” design period of the Kawai Co. Kawai produced some of the coolest guitar designs from 1967 to ’69, and there were some very creative guitar designers there on the job. Kawai had poached some of the finest employees from the wreckage of the Shinko Gakki factory (Pleasant, Intermark, etc.) and through the purchase of the Teisco brand. In this era, Kawai usually used three different standard pickups and they all sound great, plus the units are always wired in series, which is just awesome.
For a 25-buck, Japan-made guitar from the ’70s, the Swinger has an elite-looking headstock—and, on this example, most of its tuners.
Now, the Swinger (and similar Kawai-made guitars) came from an era where U.S. importers would order small batches of instruments that were often unique and extremely gonzo. The guitars might have been destined for medium-sized music stores or direct-order catalogs, but whatever the case, the importer usually gave the guitars names. In this instance, it was Jack Westheimer who featured this model as an “exclusive” design. In Westheimer Corporation catalogs from the time, the Swinger carried the A-2T model name (there was another one-pickup model called the A-1) and sold wholesale for $25 in 1967! As the catalog mentioned, these were “priced for the teenaged trade.” This particular guitar featured the Sorrento badge, and was sold through some sort of music store that’s probably long out of business, but all the Swingers were the same.
The Swinger’s large mahogany neck (sans truss rod) is robust and beefy in all the nicest ways. Like, when I was a kid, I was considered a “husky” fit. That’s this neck: husky! The striped pickguard is a Teisco holdover and the controls are as simple as it gets. Two knobs (volume, tone) and two pickup selectors is all there is, but the beauty is in the body. That lower bout is shaped like some sort of 1969 lounge chair. The strap pin is totally in the wrong place, but the big bottom swoop is worth it. Yep, the Swinger was ready to bring in the dawn of the 1970s, but alas, the guitar came and went in a blink.
The Tube Store Guitar Amp Tube Packages
Here you will find brands like Fender guitar amps, Marshall amps, Vox amps, Mesa Boogie guitar amps, Orange amps, and many other tube amps listed. You will find replacement tube sets in different option levels ranging from Value to Premium to Ultimate. Purchasing guitar amp tubes couldn't be easier.
Tube Amp Doctor Tube Sets
Go and see the doctor: Find all of our products here: our newest product line of high-end Redbase tubes, our famous premium selected tubes, and the equipment we manufacture like our Class A Converters, the Bias Master or the Silencer. Furthermore our TAD reverb cans, condensers and of course the amp kits on boutique level.