The Fender Custom Shop is introducing the Eric Clapton “Brownie” Stratocaster, modeled after Clapton’s famous two-tone ’50s sunburst Strat. The guitar is limited to a 100-piece run and will be made available at Guitar Center Platinum stores on March 21, 2013. Some people don’t like these kind of tribute models, but I think they’re an interesting way to pay homage to classic guitars and guitarists.

Clapton himself seems impressed by the reproduction:

This is an interesting new guitar from Fender: the Vince Ray Voodoo-Bucket 300CE:

You get skulls and skeletons, motorcycles, black cats and serpents, demons and witches, disembodied hands beating bongos from hell, fortunes told and spells cast, stars, flames, headstones and more. In short, you get the mind of Vince Ray himself embodied in a 500-instrument run of guitars that look they jumped straight out of the previews from some drive-in B-movie nightmare.

Speaking of acoustics, Fender seems to be really ramping up their acoustic guitar production with the introduction of a new Acoustic Custom Shop:

(Press Release)

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.  (January 22, 2013) – Fender is thrilled to announce its all-new Fender Acoustic Custom Shop, located in New Hartford, Conn. Operated by Fender’s most experienced guitar luthiers, the Fender Acoustic Custom Shop is committed to delivering the highest levels of acoustic guitar craftsmanship.

New from the Acoustic Custom Shop are the Pro Custom Series and Master designed models, which include the TPD-1 Dreadnought,TPDCE-1 Dreadnought, Traditional Triple-”O” Custom Shop Designed, and Newporter™ Custom Shop Designed.

The Pro Custom Series includes the TPD-1 Dreadnought and TPDCE-1 Dreadnought, which feature a solid Engelmann spruce top and solid mahogany back and sides, a convenient cutaway on the TPDCE-1, scalloped “X” bracing shifted forward for more traditional tone, a mahogany neck with soft “V”-shaped profile and dual-action truss rod, 20-fret ebony fingerboard with bone nut and mother-of-pearl inlays, bone bridge saddle and pins, a nitrocellulose lacquer finish, and Fishman® electronics on the TPDCE-1.

Part of the Master Designed Series, the Traditional Triple-”O” Custom Shop Designed and Newporter™ Custom Shop Designed feature a striking solid Carpathian spruce top, forward-shifted scalloped “X” bracing and solid figured walnut matched back and sides. The models’ two-piece neck in figured curly maple has a soft “V” profile with comfortably rolled edges, 10″ radius ebony fretboard, bone nut and a traditional three-on-a-side headstock (Stratocaster® headstock on the Newporter Custom Shop Designed).

The New York Times recently profiled Fender and its struggles amid the economic downturn and its failed IPO attempt earlier this year. It’s an interesting read and sheds some light on how hard the economic downturn has been on not just Fender but all music instrument makers. I do, however, take issue with this statement:

Like many other American manufacturers, Fender is struggling to hold on to what it’s got in a tight economy. Sales and profits are down this year. A Strat, after all, is what economists call a consumer discretionary item — a nonessential.

Nonessential? Maybe I could live without my Strat, but I sure wouldn’t want to!

When John Mayer released his album Battle Studies, he played a televised album release show at the Beacon Theatre in New York. On the track “Perfectly Lonely”, Mayer played a Telecaster that I had never seen before. I later found out that it was a Fender Custom Shop La Cabronita Especial. At the time, no regular production model of the guitar was available. Fender heard the requests for an affordable version of this guitar, and they have introduced a Mexican-made Cabronita Telecaster:

A guitar with a lot more attitude, the Cabronita Telecaster rocks a highly distinctive take on a classic design and spits out fiery, full-voiced Tele tone from two sharp new Fideli’Tron™ humbucking pickups. Other premium features include an alder body (ash on White Blonde model), comfortable modern C-shaped maple neck with a 9.5” radius and 21 medium jumbo frets, single-ply pickguard and single control knob (volume), and a string-through-body hardtail bridge with six cast saddles. Available in Three-color-Sunburst, Black and White Blonde.

The black one looks pretty nice to me:

I received the following press release about new additions to Fender’s 2012 Custom Shop Limited Edition Collection:

Additions push the “Dream Factory’s” boundaries to superior levels of innovation

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (July 17, 2012) — The Fender Custom Shop is proud to introduce five striking models to its 2012 limited collection; four guitars and one bass. The new additions join 10 previously released models, making for an impressive family built for the most discerning musicians.

New to the collection is the 1963 Heavy Relic® Stratocaster®, which offers upgraded features and a serious relic treatment. Available in Black, it has a carefully selected alder body, mid-’60s oval “C”-shaped maple neck, 9.5”-radius rosewood fingerboard with medium jumbo frets, Texas Special pickups (neck, middle), Duncan® JB Model™ SH-4 pickup (bridge), five-way switching and a push-pull volume pot that splits the bridge pickup.

The 1969 Relic Stratocaster has the Custom Shop’s most requested features, including a hand-selected alder body, reverse-headstock maple neck with 1969 “U”-shaped profile, 9.5”-radius round-lam maple fingerboard with medium jumbo frets, ’69-style Stratocaster pickups hand-wound by Abigail Ybarra, five-way pickup switching and modern wiring.

A workhorse tone-machine, the 1959 Heavy Relic Telecaster® offers the kind of premium features usually reserved for master-built models. Available in Celadon Green, it features a Twisted Tele® neck pickup and Nocaster® bridge pickup—a blistering combination further intensified by a four-way pickup selector switch. Other features include a hand-selected alder body, maple neck with ’57 soft “V”-shaped profile, medium jumbo frets, and custom wiring.

The latest additions to the growing Cabronita™ family are the Relic La Cabronita “Boracha” Jazzmaster® and Relic La Cabronita “Boracho” Bass. Released in 2011 with a single pickup, the Cabronita Jazzmaster is now upgraded with monster-sounding dual TV Jones® Power’Tron™ pickups. Other features include a hand-selected lightweight ash body, one-piece maple neck with large “C”-shaped profile, and custom S-1™ switching. The “Boracho” bass sports a reverse lightweight ash Jazzmaster body, one-piece maple neck with “U”-shaped profile, bold-sounding TV Jones® Thunder’Blade™ pickup, and custom Greasebucket™ tone circuit. Both models are available in Black.

All models include case, limited edition neck plate, Fender Custom Shop decal and certificate of authenticity.

The new 2-pickup La Cabronita “Boracha” Jazzmaster is my favorite from the new collection:

This past week, Fender canceled their planned IPO. USA Today is reporting the reason as uncertain market conditions:

Fender CEO Larry Thomas said current market conditions and Europe’s ongoing economic woes wouldn’t support an IPO that values the company appropriately.

I’m glad to see them pull this back, for now. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them try this again in the future, but I’d personally like to see Fender remain a private company.

The folks have Fender have produced a video about the process of building a Stratocaster, titled A Strat is Born:

“A Strat is Born” takes you on a high-speed ride through the creation of a Fender Stratocaster guitar at Fender’s U.S. manufacturing facility in Corona, Calif., showing you every step from bare wood to onstage and set to a pulse-pounding soundtrack by Wayne Kramer.

Fender have announced a few new guitars for 2012 to add to their Pawn Shop Series. The new models are the Jaguarillo, the Offset Special, and the Reverse Jaguar Bass. I think the Offset Special looks pretty cool. I’ve heard good things about the Pawn Shop Series, but I haven’t had a chance to play any yet. I look forward to trying these out. Check them out below:

Offset Special

Jaguarillo

Reverse Jaguar Bass

Fender have recently introduced upgrades to their flagship American Standard models. Most interesting to me are the upgrades to the Stratocaster. The 2012 model now features Fender Custom Shop Fat ’50s pickups. Check out the press release for all the details:

Fender’s acclaimed American Standard series guitars and basses have been upgraded for 2012, resulting in the latest iterations of the company’s four archetypal instruments—the Telecaster®, Stratocaster®, Precision Bass® and Jazz Bass® guitars. They’re the same great best-selling go-to instruments they’ve always been, and now feature Fender Custom Shop pickups, as well as other distinctive new design touches.

Ideal for every gig from the garage to the club to the stadium, the American Standard Telecaster has been upgraded with a comfortable new body contour and classic-sounding Fender Custom Shop Twisted Tele® (neck) and Broadcaster (bridge) pickups, making it ring more fully, brightly and crisply than ever. Left-handed model also available.

The American Standard Stratocaster has been upgraded with aged plastic parts and full-sounding Fender Custom Shop Fat ’50s pickups for the very essence of Stratocaster tone. Its high-output hot-rodded sibling, the American Standard Stratocaster HSS, has also been upgraded with aged plastic parts, with Fender Custom Shop Fat ’50s pickups in the neck and middle positions and a Diamondback™ humbucking bridge pickup for an added measure of muscle that makes it more graceful and powerful than ever. Both instruments are also available in a left-handed model.

The American Standard Precision Bass and five-string American Standard Precision Bass V are now upgraded with a seismic Fender Custom Shop ’60s Precision Bass split single-coil pickup, making the latest incarnations of the indestructible workhorse instrument that revolutionized popular music, stronger and more indispensable than ever. The four-string version also comes in a striking new Jade Pearl Metallic finish option, and both basses are available in a left-handed model.

The American Standard Jazz Bass, in right- and left-handed models, is now upgraded with Fender Custom Shop ’60s Jazz Bass single-coil pickups and a striking new Jade Pearl Metallic finish option, making the latest incarnation of our timeless bass hit sing, snarl, groove and growl more powerfully than ever. The five-string American Standard Jazz Bass V and the gracefully voiced American Standard Jazz Bass Fretless now feature the Custom Shop ’60s Jazz Bass single-coil pickups; the fretless model is also available in the new Jade Pearl Metallic finish.