NAMM 2019: It’s not often we get wind of Fender’s plans this far ahead of NAMM, but in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, CEO Andy Mooney has let slip the guitar giant's aims for 2019.
“We’ve always been strong in $1,000-or-below acoustic guitars, but we’ve never really had American-made acoustic guitars of the levels that artists would feel really good about playing onstage,” he reveals.
That has been a two-year R&D project for us and you’ll see the fruits of that labor coming out at a trade show in January of next year
“That has been a two-year R&D project for us - my treasured R&D project - and you’ll see the fruits of that labor coming out at a trade show in January of next year.
“The artists have been completely blown away by what we’ve been able to do, because it feels completely new for Fender to have that quality level of an acoustic instrument.”
Mooney goes on to say that none other than Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen has been one of said artists to be impressed by the new range.
“Last week, we had a funny situation where we had Phil Collen of Def Leppard come into our Corona factory to work on a signature heavy metal Charvel guitar. He saw the acoustic we were building there, picked it up and wanted to use it onstage that night.
“We had to say, ‘No, but as soon as we get it out in the spring of next year we’ll give it to you!’”
Future perfect?
Given the quality of Fender’s mid-priced Paramount range, Martin and Taylor had better watch their backs; the Big F could end up being a real disruptor, and land a spot or two on our list of the best high-end acoustic guitars.
That's not all we can expect from the world's biggest guitar manufacturer, either; there's also the small matter of Ryan Adams' long-awaited signature Strat, plus Stanley Clarke's recently revealed Stratocaster-esque bass.
This news follows Fender’s report that half of all new guitar players are female, based on the company’s recent sales statistics.
