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"Guitars that never were, but should have been."

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As the archetypal 'heritage' company, Fender has a long history that, as we know, is dominated by two guitars: the Stratocaster and the Telecaster.

Other models such as the Jazzmaster and Jaguar have become more popular in recent years, but outside these famous four designs (and numerous variations thereof), there's little - a lone Mustang, for example - to reflect Fender's many other electric creations. Yet with the new Pawn Shop series, that looks set to change.

We wanted to use the innovative (if also eccentric) time of the mid-sixties as a new place to mess around with history, have a little more freedom from vintage constraints and open up a platform for some new designs - things that are different, yet distinctly Fender," explains Justin Norvell, product director for Fender Guitars and Basses.

"The CBS-era [the owners of Fender between 1965 to 1984] is less of a dark period at least as far as the more outsider design stuff goes - from Jonny Greenwood playing his Starcaster to Alex Turner favouring the Bronco. It's also a place for us to experiment with more humbucking designs.

"The goal is to have lots of concepts and designs here and throw a lot of ideas against the wall - some will catch on and may become mainstream, some will be curios in the history books years from now."

All three Pawn Shops are made in Japan - again a rarity these days for Fender, with only the Geddy Lee Jazz Bass, Marcus Miller Jazz Bass, Jaguar Bass, Jazzmaster, '62 Tele Custom and Jaguar HH sharing this country of origin. So, three 'new' designs then. Or are they?

Fender '51

New to the Fender line, the Fender '51 will be very familiar to those who enjoyed the sub-£150 Squier '51, which was first released back in 2004 and discontinued in 2006.