First Look: Fender Vintera II Series—'50s Jazzmaster, '60s Stratocaster & '70s Jaguar
PG straps in and takes a spin with three brand new entries from the ace but accessibly priced, Mexico-built Vintera II series.
Fender Vintera II '50s Jazzmaster
The Vintera II ‘50s Jazzmaster features an alder body and a maple neck with rosewood fingerboard for classic Fender tone that’s full of punch and clarity. The late-‘50s “C”-shape neck lends a comfortably familiar grip that feels just right in your hand, while the 7.25” radius fingerboard with vintage-tall frets provide vintage comfort with ample room for big bends and expressive vibrato. Under the hood, you’ll find a pair of vintage-style ‘50s single-coil pickups that deliver all the sweet and sparkling, warm and woody tone that made Fender famous. The vintage-style floating tremolo lets you dive and wail with abandon, while vintage-style tuning machines provide classic looks with a finer gear ratio and enhanced tuning stability to complete the package.
Specs
- Alder Body
- Vintage-Style ‘50s Single-Coil Jazzmaster Pickups
- Maple, Late ‘50s “C”-Shape Neck
- Rosewood, 7.25” radius fingerboard
- 6-Saddle Vintage-Style Adjustable bridge with “Floating” Tremolo Tailpiece • Deluxe Gig Bag included
Fender Vintera II '60s Stratocaster
The Vintera II ‘60s Stratocaster features an alder body and a maple neck with rosewood fingerboard for classic Fender tone that’s full of punch and clarity. The slim “C” shape neck is based on a classic ‘60s profile for an intuitive and inviting feel, while the 7.25” radius fingerboard with vintage-tall frets provides vintage comfort with ample room for big bends and expressive vibrato. Under the hood, you’ll find a trio of vintage-style ‘60s pickups that deliver all the sweet and sparkling, warm and woody tone that made Fender famous. The vintage-style synchronized tremolo lets you dive and wail with abandon, while vintage-style tuning machines provide classic looks with a finer gear ratio and enhanced tuning stability to complete the package.
Specs
- Alder Body
- Vintage-Style Mid ‘60s Single Coil Strat Pickups
- ‘60s “C”-Shape Neck
- Maple, 7.25” radius fingerboard
- Vintage-Style Synchronized Tremolo
- Fender Vintage-Style tuners
- Deluxe Gig Bag included
Fender Vintera II '70s Jaguar
The Vintera II ‘70s Jaguar features an alder body and a maple neck for classic Fender tone that’s full of punch and clarity. The late-‘70s “C”-shape neck lends a comfortably familiar grip that feels just right in your hand, while the 7.25” radius fingerboard with vintage-tall frets provide vintage comfort with ample room for big bends and expressive vibrato. Black blocks and binding add a premium feel and look with distinctive ‘70s style. Under the hood, you’ll find a pair of vintage-style early-’70s single-coil pickups that deliver all the sweet and sparkling, warm and woody tone that made Fender famous. The vintage-style floating tremolo lets you dive and wail with abandon, while vintage-style tuning machines provide classic looks with a finer gear ratio and enhanced tuning stability to complete the package.
Specs
- Alder Body
- Vintage-Style Early-‘70s Single-Coil Jaguar® Pickups
- Maple, Late ‘70s “C”-Shape Neck
- Maple, 7.25” radius fingerboard
- 6-Saddle Vintage-Style Adjustable bridge with “Floating” Tremolo Tailpiece • Fender® Vintage “F” Stamped tuners
- Deluxe Gig Bag included
The Grammy-winning duo takes Premier Guitar through their live rig.
For more than two decades, trailblazing acoustic guitarists Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero have been blending metal, flamenco, pop, and jazz with their Grammy-winning duo Rodrigo y Gabriela, and they’re not showing any sign of slowing down. They’re currently on the road in support of their seventh full-length album, In Between Thoughts…A New World, released in April. It’s a characteristically adventurous endeavor, arranged as a single, album-length composition and augmented with electronics and orchestral elements.
The eclectic guitar maestros toured PG’s John Bohlinger through their respective rigs before their show at Nashville’s Historic Ryman Auditorium.
Brought to you by D’Addario Pro Plus Capo.
Nylon Niceness
Sánchez’s main acoustic guitars are custom-built Yamahas based on the company’s NX series. They are the latest in a line of different versions and prototypes; his current stage models are the sixth and seventh iterations. They run in stereo, with one channel running the signal from the pickup beneath the saddle. The other boosts a series of Piezo pickups placed in strategic positions within the body for when Sánchez keeps rhythm on the guitar like a cajon. Sánchez replaced the undersaddle Yamaha pickup system with an LR Baggs Element Active system.
Sánchez’s Yamahas feature nato wood (AKA eastern mahogany) back and sides, with spruce tops and rosewood fingerboards, which are strung with D’Addario EJ45 strings. When he’s not fingerpicking, Sánchez goes for Jim Dunlop 47R3S Nylon Jazz picks. The duo’s veganism means they don’t use any genuine leather straps.
Silver and Black
In the past, Rodrigo y Gabriela have always performed with both players on acoustics, but Sánchez started bringing electrics into the mix beginning in 2020—including this all-stock Gibson Les Paul Custom Silverburst he bought in Nashville in 2008. Sánchez strings his electrics with D’Addario EXL115s, and switches to Jim Dunlop 44R1.0 Nylon picks.
Blue Cats
Sánchez also hauls two gently modded dark blue Fender ’60s Jaguars with a sparkle finish. There’s not much messing around with them—the top and bottom switches stay taped in place.
Slidin' Down Broadway
The final electric in Sánchez’s tour arsenal is this stock Gretsch G5700 Electromatic Lap Steel, finished in Broadway Jade. It features a Gretsch single-coil pickup and a mahogany body.
Rack City
Sánchez’s acoustic signals leave his guitar via a stereo jack into two Shure transmitters. The two signals are then sent to two different inputs: the undersaddle pickup goes to the input of his Fractal Axe FX XL+ via his pedalboard, and the body’s piezos go straight to a separate channel via DI box. For the acoustics, the Fractal is simply used on a basic bypass patch, with no effects beyond a noise gate on the input and a dB boost on the output.
This same rig is used when switching to electric. The wireless frequency channel used for the undersaddle on the acoustic is used to send the Jaguar or Les Paul to the Fractal, where the Axe FX’s basic Marshall- and Fender-style amp and cab sims are engaged along with some delay, reverb, and occasionally the odd flanger or overdrive out front.
Above Board
The pickup return from the wireless rack goes to the volume pedal via a Lehle 3at1 switcher, then out to a Lehle P-Split signal splitter. The direct out from the P-Split goes to another Lehle splitter, while the ISO line out runs to the rest of the pedals before ending up at the Fractal. (The ISO out of the first splitter goes to the JHS Mini A/B pedal into the BOSS OC-3, then to a separate channel on the desk.)
Pardon The Quinterruption
Quintero tours with two Yamaha prototypes based on the manufacturer’s NTX series, with spruce tops and nato wood backs and sides. Over the years, Quintero has swapped in different undersaddle pickups, but like Sánchez, she’s settled on the LR Baggs Element system for nylon-string guitars. Quintero’s Yamahas take D’Addario EJ45s, which are plucked only with fingers.
The guitars have five custom-made Yamaha piezo pickups loaded directly onto the soundboard in different places, plus an extra piezo directly under the fingerboard inside of the body. These piezos are run through a three-channel Yamaha preamp, and out on the ring of the stereo output jack. That’s not all: there’s also a DPA 4099 mic fitted inside the guitar.
Three different Shure wireless transmitters handle all of this input. The first channel sends out the soundboard’s piezos; the second handles the LR Baggs Element; and the third relays the DPA’s signal. From the wireless receivers, the first two channels are run to Quintero’s pedalboard. The DPA runs directly to a DI, which hits the front of house and monitors.
Do The Splits!
Quintero’s pedalboard funnels the first two channels—the undersaddle and the body’s piezos—into a stereo volume pedal. From there, they run through a Dunlop Crybaby. The signal is then split, with the first side going back to the DI, and the second running through a Dunlop volume pedal into a BOSS OC-3 for an extra bottom octave.
With such a flashy flame top, the Silvertone 1445 was built to catch the eyes of department store shoppers.
I don’t know what’s going on lately, but I’m breaking down all over and my shoulder is the latest to crumble. When I was a kid I would practice guitar in my bedroom near a radiator with an ungrounded amp plug and I’d get a zap right through my guitar and into my hands. Well, my shoulder pain is like that now, only without the cool story of rock ’n’ roll survival. I simply woke up one day like this. After a few weeks of discomfort, I figured I’d try out a new pillow, since mine are flattened like a wafer. I ventured out to the mall and, much to my sadness, saw the local Sears store shuttered, with weeds growing up from the sidewalks and concrete barriers blocking the large glass doors. I know I don’t get out much, but, man, was I sad to see the Sears store I’d known since childhood closed-up like that. My wife was laughing at me because apparently it had been closed for some time. But since I seem to exist on a separate timeline than most folks, it was all news to me.
The 1445 combines an elegant sunburst top with surfy accoutrements and makes a few noticeable nods toward both Fender Jaguar and Mosrite styles.
In the parking lot, I stretched my shoulder and gave some thought to Sears and department stores in general. Back in the day, I would see stacks of new vinyl records in the store, alongside the classic, huge hi-fi stereo systems. I feel like I grew up during a great time, where I had one foot in a bygone era and the other foot pointed towards gigantic technological breakthroughs like computers. But I also feel kind of bummed about missing out on the whole electric guitar/department store connection. My good buddy Mike Dugan recalls those times, and while most kids were charging towards the toy section, he was checking out the electric guitars and amps. Can you imagine?
“I feel kind of bummed about missing out on the whole electric guitar/department store connection.”
For those of you who also missed the Sears guitars, here’s a quick primer: They were almost all branded Silvertone and, in the late ’50s and early to mid ’60s, were manufactured by either Danelectro, Harmony, or Kay. By the tail end of the ’60s, a lot of Silvertone guitars were Japanese imports that were priced and aimed at beginners. I’ve always felt that the Silvertone guitars were a bit on the conservative side of the spectrum, and there weren’t many crazy designs or finishes.
The headstock on this 1445 , with binding and its sloped shape, is an elegant touch for a beginner’s guitar.
This Silvertone 1445 model hails from around 1969. It’s a cool 3-pickup model that features an offset shape with some exaggerated lines. Built at the Kawai factory, the guitar has an ebony fretboard and some standard Kawai appointments, like the in-house vibrato, electronics, and pickups. There is an on/off mini switch and volume knob for each pickup as well as a single tone knob. Around this time, Kawai was starting to cut corners in subtle ways, one of which included underwinding the pickups, which, in most cases, resulted in a thinner sound. Luckily, the series wiring in these guitars can produce quite the powerful sound. The finish is a nice-but-kinda-blah sunburst with some flamed wood. The flame veneer was a new thing for the Japanese guitar makers at the time, and I think there was some elegance attached—especially for a guitar targeted toward beginning players.
Strapping on one of these late-’60s 1445s is a familiar-feeling experience, offering up a cross between a Fender Jaguar and a Mosrite vibe. Often, Kawai electrics of this era were neck-heavy and the headstock would take a dive on you when slung around your shoulder. But the 1445 features a thicker body with a thin laminated neck. Kawai had basically perfected that laminate-neck-making technique, mostly to prevent warping, and these guitars usually hold up very well, even though the necks on are quite slender and narrow.
The Silvertone triple-pickup 1445 cost $78.95 in the 1969 Sears winter catalog and only lasted for a few years. I’ve seen all sorts of variations on this model, like bound bodies and necks, different colored pickguards, and different knobs. I suspect a lot of you out there started on a Silvertone. One has to marvel at the sizable influence Sears stores had on generations of folks. I’m really going to miss that local Sears and the feeling of nostalgia it evoked. Not quite like the electric zaps flowing into my shoulder right now, but still powerful!