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Fender Introduces The Road Worn Series Guitars

Fender Road Worn Series

The new Fender Road Worn series of guitars feature aged design aesthetics with modern functionality and playability.

The Road Worn ’50s Tele has an ash body, maple neck, vintage-style tuning machines, three-saddle string-through-body bridge and single-ply white pickguard, and is available in Two-Color Sunburst and Blonde.

The Road Worn ’50s Strat has an alder body, maple neck, vintage-style tuning machines, synchronized tremolo and single-ply pickguard, and is available in Two-Color Sunburst and Black.

The Road Worn ’60s Strat has an alder body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, vintage-style tuning machines, synchronized tremolo and three-ply mint green pickguard, and is available in Three-Color Sunburst and Olympic White.

Fender

Blackbird Rider Nylon

Blackbird Introduces The Rider Nylon

The Blackbird Rider Nylon, a humidity-proof and nearly indestructible carbon fiber instrument challenges the notion of the guitar form with every aspect of its design serving to maximize resonance in a highly compact form.

Until the Blackbird Rider Nylon's debut, players were left with the option of risking their fragile classical guitar while on the road or substituting it with an inferior travel instrument. Blackbird's patent-pending, one-piece, hollow body, neck, and head construction mark a major departure from traditional guitar design — it transforms the entire guitar into a sound box — enhancing loudness, frequency-range and sustain. To further increase the air volume of the sound box, the guitar's right shoulder extends up to the tenth fret, dubbed the Soundscoop. The Soundscoop also serves as the ideal location for the sound hole, while creating more surface area on the ultra-thin carbon-fiber sound board which further increases tonal response. A secondary sound port projects sound that travels from the soundbox through the hollow neck to the head. These innovations work in harmony to create a seemingly physics-defying voice.

The comfort and playability was also a prime consideration in the design. The hollow neck contributes to greater physical balance while the sulpted back makes for a very comfortable seated playing position. For all the non-traditional design features, the 2" wide neck, super-premium Gilbert side-address tuners and wide string spacing translates to a familiar playing experience for the nylon string guitar player. The beautifully handmade Blackbird Rider Nylon string starts at $1899. The smaller Rider steel-string starts at $1599.

Blackbird

Fender Jim Adkins Ja-90 Telecaster

Fender Introduces The Jim Adkins JA-90 Telecaster

Based on Fender’s distinctive double-cutaway TC-90 Thinline guitar, the JA-90 puts Adkins’ own personal spin on the classic model, resulting in a single-cutaway, semi-hollow ash-body instrument all its own. Features include a mahogany set neck with a 12"-radius rosewood fingerboard and 22 medium jumbo frets, Seymour Duncan Custom SP90-3 and Vintage SP90-1 “soapbar” pickups with volume and tone controls for each and three-way switching, a three-ply black/white/black pickguard and an Adjusto-Matic bridge with stop tailpiece. It comes in Crimson Red and Ebony transparent finishes.

Adkins was very hands-on in designing and testing the guitar. Through several prototype stages, he personally studio- and road-tested the model extensively, collaborating with Fender designers and craftsmen every step of the way. In fact, he tracked most of Jimmy Eat World’s 2007 hit album Chase This Light with an early incarnation of the JA-90.

Available at Musician's Friend

Fender Jim Adkins JA-90 Telecaster Electric Guitar Ebony Transparent

Fender

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Stratocaster

Fender Announces The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Stratocaster

A sleekly elegant addition to Fender’s stable of artist Strat models, the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Stratocaster is based on Shepherd’s own ’61 instrument (which will soon be on display at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum) and welds vintage style to modern features. Most distinctively, Shepherd’s new signature model boasts a blueswailing voice of its own thanks to its three custom-voiced Kenny Wayne Shepherd pickups.

Other features include an alder-body, maple neck with 12”-radius rosewood fingerboard and 21 jumbo frets, vintage-style synchronized tremolo bridge with Graph Tech saddles and Fender vintage-style tuning machines. The guitar comes in three polyester finishes—a Black model with a three-ply black-white-black pickguard and racing stripe body graphic, and Three-color Sunburst and Arctic White models that each have a three-ply mint green pickguard (with cross graphic on the Arctic White model).

Available at Musician's Friend

Fender Kenny Wayne Shepherd Stratocaster Electric Guitar 3-Tone Sunburst

Fender

David Gilmour Signature Series Stratocaster

Fender Announces The David Gilmour Signature Series Stratocaster

Fender Custom Shop has announced the highly anticipated release of one of the most iconic musical instruments of the past 50 years — the David Gilmour Signature Series Stratocaster guitar. Based on Gilmour’s famous “Black Strat” guitar, the instrument will be available at select Fender retailers worldwide beginning Sept. 22, 2008.

The Fender Custom Shop worked hand-in-hand with Gilmour and his longtime guitar technician, Phil Taylor, to create this signature model, a detailed reproduction of the Black Strat — complete in its unmistakable look, sound and feel. The new reproduction features an alder body, black over three-color sunburst finish, a black pickguard, a one-piece straight-grain maple neck, custom pickups and Gilmour’s now-infamous electronics and shortened vintage tremolo arm. Beautiful, powerful, unique and as idiosyncratic as Gilmour’s playing, the guitar will be produced by the Fender Custom Shop in N.O.S. (new old stock) and Relic versions.

Fender

Reverend Roundhouse RT

Reverend Debuts The Roundhouse RT

The Roundhouse RT features a classic recipe: two RevTron pickups loaded in a single-cutaway solidbody. Plus classy binding and block inlays, Pin-Lock tuners, Bass Contour control, and custom designed pickups. The bridge pickup is slightly hotter then the neck pickup for balanced tone. Reverend wound the RevTrons about 5% hotter overall than the original RevTrons, so it's also a great blues and rock guitar.

This RT delivers warm, focused tone with an aggressive upper-midrange chime that cuts through. The solid korina body guarantees a resonant, light, and lively instrument that responds to the player's touch. Finish options are Silver Sparkle or Black. List price $849, street price $649.

Reverend

Gibson 2008 Les Paul Standard

Gibson Announces The 2008 Les Paul Standard

Gibson USA has announced the 2008 Les Paul Standard — an elegant revision of a true classic, with several upgrades and new features. Beginning with a new asymmetrical neck profile that makes it one of the most comfortable and playable necks ever offered on any guitar. The neck also features an enlarged neck tenon for maximum wood contact between the neck and body.

Locking Grover tuners are also a first for the Les Paul, giving the 2008 Standard an improved gear ratio of 18:1. Plus all newly designed controls, including custom-made, gold-plated potentiometers made by Bourns. It also utilize the revolutionary Plek system — a computer-controlled setup that carefully measures and dresses each fret, accurately measuring the height between the fingerboard and each string, virtually eliminating string buzz and providing great playability.

A chambered mahogany body gives the 2008 Standard enhanced resonance, and a plain or flame maple top pays homage to the Les Pauls of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Other new features include TonePros’ locking Nashville Tune-o-matic and stopbar tailpiece in chrome finish and strap lock buttons. The 2008 Les Paul Standard will be available at select dealers beginning August 1, 2008.

Gibson

Gibson Joan Jett Signature Melody Maker

Gibson Announces The Joan Jett Signature Melody Maker

Carefully developed in close cooperation with Jett herself, Gibson’s Joan Jett Signature Melody Maker features a lightweight, slab mahogany body with a Worn White finish. The slim-tapered neck profile is handcrafted to the same specs as Jett’s original guitar, with an ebony fingerboard and Gibson’s classic, silk-screened gold logo on the headstock. The tuners are mini-Grovers with authentic “witch hat” knobs, exactly as they are on Jett’s guitar. A “kill” switch replaces the normal Gibson toggle switch, and the body is outfitted with a period-correct black vinyl pickguard.

The classic, snarling growl of Jett’s original Melody Maker is accurately captured by a single Gibson Burstbucker 3 zebra humbucker, slightly overwound with asymmetrical coils, unpolished Alnico II magnets, and all the punch and power of an original Gibson PAF pickup. Add some typical Melody Maker appointments — 24 ¾-inch scale length, and standard Gibson Tune-o-matic and stopbar tailpiece — and the result is a painstaking and heartfelt tribute to one of the most fearless, groundbreaking artists in rock and roll. Each Joan Jett Signature Melody Maker comes with a Gibson USA hard case and has a MSRP of $839.

Gibson

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