Fender Classic Player Baja '60s Telecaster £689
The Big F hasn't been short of new products in the past couple of months – check out the new '68 Custom Vibrolux Reverb and Squier Vintage Modified Baritone Jazzmaster – but it's still managed to prepare a raft of new guitars and basses for September, with four new Custom Shop Master Builder-designed additions to the Classic Player series, plus new entries and finishes for Squier's Classic Vibe and Vintage Modified lines.
First up is the Fender Classic Player Baja '60s Telecaster, which updates Custom Shop Master Builder Chris Fleming's design with 60s features, including American Vintage Single-Coil '58 Tele and '52 Tele pickups, '60s C shape maple neck and Alder body. Of course, the original Baja's S-1 switching returns, and the '60s version comes in three finishes: Faded Sonic Blue, Candy Apple Red and 3-Colour Sunburst (£729).
Fender Classic Player Triple Tele £689
Custom Shop Master Builder Todd Krause is behind this unusual take on the Tele, which features three slanted Nocaster single-coil bridge pickups, plus five-way Strat-style switching, a thick C shape neck profile and standard Tele bridge with three brass saddles. The Triple Tele comes in one finish only: black, with black scratchplate.
Fender Classic Player Strat HH £699
The Strat HH combines 60s and 70s styling with modern-day performance, courtesy of Custom Shop Master Builder Yuriy Shishkov's design. A five-way pickup selector offers the ability to split the pair of Wide Range Special humbucking pickups for single-coil-esque tones, while the '60s C-shaped maple neck, Synchronized vibrato and 70s-style machineheads nod to the past. Oh, and that finish? Dark Mercedes Blue.
Fender Classic Player Rascal Bass £749
Perhaps the most distinctive-looking addition to the Classic Player range is the Rascal Bass, a short-scale model originally created in the Fender Custom Shop by Master Builder Jason Smith. The Rascal's 762mm (30-inch) scale length is joined by a 60s-era Bass VI body, a trio of Seymour Duncan lipstick Strat pickups (complete with five-position selector switch) and a Coronado-style headstock. It only comes in the Ocean Turquoise finish you see above, but who could complain about that?
Squier Classic Vibe Stratocaster '50s £349
With the same spec as the 60th anniversary-celebrating 60th Anniversary Classic Vibe '50s Stratocaster, the Classic Vibe '50s Strat delivers era-defining tones and vibe, thanks to three vintage-style single coils, Synchronized vibrato and C shaped maple neck. And of course, there's that new Sherwood Green finish, too.
Squier Classic Vibe Stratocaster '60s £359
This isn't a new model as such, rather a snazzy new finish for the Classic Vibe '60s Strat: Burgundy Mist, to be precise, with matching headstock and three-ply mint green pickguard, no less. Elsewhere, the Classic Vibe Stratocaster '60s features the same basswood body, trio of custom vintage-style single coils and C shape maple neck as the existing '60s Strat.
Squier Vintage Modified '72 Thinline £339
Woof! We like the looks of this one: a cut-price incarnation of of the classic '72 Thinline Tele design, with two Wide Range humbuckers, a semi-hollow ash body, maple neck and fingerboard and six-saddle bridge. It comes in two finishes: Three-Colour Sunburst and Natural, both with pearloid pickguard.
Steffi Stephan Jazz Bass V
This five-string has been built for German bass player Steffi Stephan, of Panikorchester and the Pretty Things. His signature model features a basswood body in Olympic White, with a 'Kings of Panic' upper-horn graphic and matching headstock. Elsewhere, Steffi's sig boasts a maple neck and fingerboard, vintage-style bridge and a pair of Duncan Designed JB 105 Alnico V pickups.
