This week has already delivered Foo Fighters fans the signature guitar they have all been waiting for, with Epiphone announcing the launch of the Dave Grohl DG-335, the brand’s latest high-end collaboration with the Gibson Custom Shop. But there is another Foos signature model coming, with Chris Shiflett revealing that Fender is releasing another US-made Telecaster with his name on it.
Speaking to MusicRadar, in an interview during which Shiflett discussed his embrace of digital amp modellers with Neural DSP Quad Cortex, and argued why the Gibson Les Paul was a great guitar for country music, Shiflett let on that Fender has been developing a new signature model for him based on his master-built Custom Shop Telecaster Deluxe.
“I don’t know how familiar you are with my signature model, but the original one is a production model that has humbuckers in it,” said Shiflett. “It was really geared towards rock and what I do in Foo Fighters. Then we did a super duper fancy master-built version that had P-90s and it was really expensive.
“One was really affordable and one was really really expensive, so we’ve got one that’s coming out kind of down the middle that’s an American-made production version of the one with P-90s.”
Shiflett did not give us much of a clue as to when these will be released but he did say that he had already road-tested a few of the prototypes at a gig in Washington D.C., and judging by the picture from the gig at the top of the page, one of those finish options looks like Charcoal Frost with a white or mint green pickguard.
What Shiflett could tell us however is that, while this new model might not have the Fralin P-90s of his master-built Tele Deluxe, Fender's electric guitar pickup guru Tim Shaw was involved with design of these.
“The master-built version had noiseless Lindy Fralin P-90s in it. The production model has sort of a Fender version of that, I believe Tim Shaw designed them. And it sounds really good. Like, it’s very close to the Fralins.”
Shiflett’s Fralin-equipped Custom Shop Telecaster Deluxe was designed by Fender Master Builder Greg Fessler, and featured a two-piece alder body with a belly cut for comfort.
You might know it better as The Cleaver, so-called for its ability to cut through the mix. Might these upcoming US Tele Deluxes also take the name? That’s all TBC. But it does look like it will have block inlays on a rosewood fingerboard, and a painted headstock to match the body’s finish. Shiflett has already given it his sign of approval.
“We did a Foo Fighters gig last night out here in D.C. and it was the first time I got to play one of the prototypes through my actual touring rig, and sound check with it, tweak it, and really see what it does,” he said. “It sounds f**king amazing. It sounds really good.”
We’ll bring you more news of Shiflett's new Tele as and when it breaks. You can read our interview with Shiflett here.
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