“We’re thrilled to be back”: Why 2024 marked a major milestone for Fender – and saw a surprising turnaround for 2025

Fender 70th Anniversary American Professional II Stratocaster
(Image credit: Future / Phil Barker)

2024 Year in Review: March saw Fender celebrating seven decades of their best-selling model by roping a whole host of guitar talents for a rousing cover of Jimi Hendrix classic Voodoo Child (Slight Return).

Tom Morello and Nile Rodgers were joined by Ari O’Neal, Rebecca Lovell, Tash Sultana, Jimmie Vaughan, Mateus Asato, Tyler Bryant, Rei and Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil.

A month later the company announced that they would be returning to NAMM for 2025, having been absent since their last attendance in 2020.

“When NAMM closed during Covid and we were compelled to come up with a plan B, we developed this online dealer event and reallocated the money we would have spent going to the show into increased marketing,” revealed CEO Andy Mooney, while admitting he’d been waiting for the right time for the company to make their return.

“We’re thrilled to be back, we missed being there, and I’m excited to see everyone again back in Anaheim.”

Voodoo Child (Slight Return): Forever Ahead of Its Time | The Year of the Strat | Fender - YouTube Voodoo Child (Slight Return): Forever Ahead of Its Time | The Year of the Strat | Fender - YouTube
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Amit Sharma

Amit has been writing for titles like Total GuitarMusicRadar and Guitar World for over a decade and counts Richie Kotzen, Guthrie Govan and Jeff Beck among his primary influences as a guitar player. He's worked for magazines like Kerrang!Metal HammerClassic RockProgRecord CollectorPlanet RockRhythm and Bass Player, as well as newspapers like Metro and The Independent, interviewing everyone from Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy to Slash and Jimmy Page, and once even traded solos with a member of Slayer on a track released internationally. As a session guitarist, he's played alongside members of Judas Priest and Uriah Heep in London ensemble Metalworks, as well as handled lead guitars for legends like Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols, The Faces) and Stu Hamm (Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, G3).