NAMM 2011: Fender announces the Wayne Kramer Stratocaster

Electric Flag? No, we're talkin' MC5 with Fender's Wayne Kramer Strat

PRESS RELEASE: Fender introduces a replica of the starred-and-striped Stratocaster guitar that infamous MC5 guitarist and Detroit proto-punk Wayne Kramer used back in the late 1960s and early 1970s to kick out the jams and kill hate. It bears his distinctive US flag finish, with a red-and-white striped body and white-stars-on-blue-background pickguard and headstock.

"Every band needs its own identity," Kramer says of his homemade design. "When I founded the MC5 and we started to play out, I wanted to develop a look. I was a big fan of Pete Townshend, and I noticed that Pete had a sport coat made out of the Union Jack motif - the British flag - and I thought, 'What a great idea, but I'm American.'

"I figured my motif could be the American flag, the stars and stripes, and so I decided to paint my guitar in that color scheme to advertise my patriotism and total opposition to the direction the country was going in 1968."

Special features include a roaring Seymour Duncan '59 humbucking middle pickup and a commemorative neck plate engraved with "This Tool Kills Hate." Other features include an alder body, lacquer body finish, maple neck with C shape and large '70s-style headstock, 21-fret rosewood fingerboard with 7.25" radius and vintage-style frets, vintage-style single-coil Stratocaster neck and bridge pickups, American Vintage hard-tail string-through-body bridge, Fender/Schaller vintage-style 'F' tuners and chrome hardware. Deluxe gig bag included.

Information taken from the Fender website. For more, visit Fender.com.

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