Fender reveals new JV Modified series of Tele and Strat guitars

Fender has looked back to its own past reissue success with the new JV Modified series of Tele and Strat electric guitars – the early '80s Japanese vintage model reissues that are now highly sought after by players. Vintage Fender and modern playability sounds like a winning combination to us on four guitars coming in March.

Let's take a closer look…  

JV Modified ‘50s Stratocaster HSS ($1,329.99, £1,299, €1,499, $2,599 AUD, ¥162,800)

A ‘50s Stratocaster with two vintage-voiced single coil and one humbucker pickups combines early Fender trailblazing design brilliance with huge versatility for your tones. 

A push-pull pot on Tone 2 splits the humbucker coils to take that even further. Body here is basswood – as it is on all the JV models – with a soft 'V'-shaped maple neck with satin finish and 9.5” radius maple fingerboard with medium jumbo frets.

Vintage-style locking tuners and a 2-Colour Sunburst finish also feature here. 

JV Modified ‘60s Stratocaster ($1,299.99, £1,249, €1,449, $2,499 AUD, ¥162,800)

The ’60s Stratocaster has added depth for its single-coil pickups with a push-pull pot on Tone 2 to add the neck pickup to pickup positions 1 and 2 – something we were big fans of with the American Professional II Strat.

Again, it's a soft “V”-shaped satin maple neck, 9.5” radius maple fingerboard and medium jumbo frets. This Olympic White model also comes equipped with a 6-point synchronised tremolo with bent steel saddles. Like all the JV models it's also fitted with vintage locking tuners. 

JV Modified ‘50s Telecaster ($1,299.99, £1,249, €1,449, $2499 AUD, ¥162,800) 

It's great to see a traditional Tele with the added versatility of a four-way switch – a popular mod that allows both pickups to be selected in series as well as parallel. In addition, a push-pull tone pot allows you to flip the pickups in and out of phase in positions 2 and 4 – so a lot of sounds on offer here! 

The bridge features three brass barrel saddles and the same neck, fretboard and tuner specs as the other JV models. Finish here is White Blonde. 

JV Modified ‘60s Custom Telecaster ($1,349 USD, £1,299, €1,499, $2599 AUD, ¥162,800) 

The Firemist Gold and double bound body is a winning combination here. This is also the only new JV model with a rosewood fingerboard. 

The same four-way mod with phase options as the '50s Tele are here too, so this could be our potential favourite of the bunch.