If you're familiar with the Japanese genre of art known as ukiyo-e the name Katsushika Hokusai will be very familiar, but even if you aren't his Great Wave Off Kanagawa is one of the most instantly recognisable works of all time. And now it's coming to the Fender Esquire, along with two other Hokusai classics.
The trio of special finishes from Hokusai's early 1830s Thirty-Six Views Of Mount Fuji series celebrate the first-year anniversary of Fender's Tokyo store. And the Esquire proves to be the perfect platform for this latest addition to the Fender Art Canvas series, allowing more interrupted space for Hokusai's landscapes. They're undoubtedly our favourite examples of the series yet and have already featured on Japan-exclusive Acoustastonic Teles.
Alongside The Great Wave Off off Kanagawa, the other two Esquire Art Canvas guitars feature Hokusai’s Thunderstorm Beneath The Summit and Tama River In Musashi Province works. They're a stunning trio.
The single pickup models feature an American Vintage ‘58 single-coil, with the three Esquire switching modes of standard single-coil bridge, pickup routed through volume pot only and thirdly, pickup with the tone control bypassed.
These Japan-exclusive guitars are priced at 198,000 yen according to the Japanese press release, which converts to around $1,254.
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Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.
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