The guitar world is full of inevitabilities, and one that is becoming increasingly apparent is the certainty that, every once in a while, Fender Japan will come along and release a mesmerizing electric guitar that will send jaws dive bombing to the floor.
Now, from the brains that brought you Miyavi’s souped-up super-Tele, Kenji Hino’s ultra-versatile Jazz Bass and Daiki Tsuneta’s radical-looking Swinger six-string comes an all-new guitar – a nautical-themed Original Canvas Esquire design in collaboration with Heather Brown.
The seaside-inspired, “wavy”-in-every-sense-of-the-word Telecaster features the artwork of renowned Hawaii-based surf artist Brown, and will be released as part of an absurdly limited run comprising only 15 units.
It’s another home-run for the Big F’s Japanese branch, which has offered up arguably its nicest-looking six-string to date – of course, that’s entirely down to Brown’s chosen color palette and gorgeously crafted canvas.
If the no-frills spec sheet is anything to go by, though, the streamlined six-string looks like it will sound just as good as it looks, with the model boasting an ash body, a modest U-shaped maple neck and 21-fret rosewood fingerboard.
Other specs include a 25.5” scale length, 9.45” fretboard radius, white dot inlays and a bone nut. As for the electronics, the guitar comes equipped with just one pickup – an American Vintage ‘58 single-coil Tele unit.
This is controlled by master tone and master volume controls, as well as a three-position blade switch. Rather than being used as a pickup selector, the toggle instead flicks between Tone Off, Tone On, and Treble Roll-Off settings.
As was the case with previous Fender Japan releases, folks outside the country won’t be able to get their hands on it, even if they are able to cough up the 165,000 Yen (approx $1,500) price tag. Enter that in the list of totally rad guitars that we totally want but totally can’t buy.
To add further insult to the injury, the brand has also recently revived the mega-quirky Super-Sonic shape for a limited run that, as you probably guessed, is only available in Japan.
Anyone else starting to get a little bit jealous of Fender Japan’s monopoly on the cool-guitar market, or is it just us?
To find out more, visit Fender Japan – just remember to change your location and have your translator enabled.
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